Lynch, 19, a mechanic with the 507th Maintenance Company, was rescued April 1 from an Iraqi-held hospital in the southern town of Nasiriyah where she had been held for more than a week.

Lynch is to be released early Tuesday from the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, then fly by helicopter to Parkersburg, in her home state of West Virginia.

From there she will drive in a motorcade to the town of Elizabeth, close to her hometown of Palestine, said Jodi Omear, a spokeswoman for West Virginia Governor Bob Wise.

Elizabeth was chosen because it was better equipped than Palestine to handle the hundreds of news reporters that have traveled to cover the story, Omear said.

Lynch is expected to arrive in Elizabeth at 2:00 pm (1800 GMT) and read a statement to reporters, but take no questions, she said, then drive in another motorcade to her home in Palestine.

According to initial news reports, Lynch fiercly fought Iraqi soldiers after sustaining multiple gunshot wounds when her convoy of supply trucks was ambushed on March 23.

Eleven of the 33 soldiers in the convoy died in the attack.

The official report released on July 10 however indicated that Lynch was injured when the speeding Humvee she was traveling in crashed into the back of a five-tonne Army truck after her unit took a wrong turn. She was later captured and then rescued from an Iraqi hospital.

Lynch reportedly has no memory of the incident.

WAR.WIRE