On March 23rd, 2003, the 507th Maintenance Company was ambushed near the town of Nasiriyah, Iraq. Eleven soldiers were killed and five were captured by Iraqi soldiers as prisoners. Among the POWs was a 19-year-old blonde hair blue eyed female soldier named Jessica Lynch from Palestine, West Virginia. Jessica’s rescue story quickly took center stage and her ordeal was used by the government to deflect negative attention away from the Iraq war. The Jessica Lynch incident ultimately extended beyond her persona to engage the nation in discussions of gender, race, war, and patriotism. Sources ranging from her personal biography, internet images, and news articles were used to generate a fictional Jessica Lynch who engages in a philosophical meditation on war. Notes and images “collected” by Jessica becomes the basis of this self- reflexive video diary where she confronts her past and discusses her personal friendship with best friend Lori Piestewa. “Dear Lori” combines both original and found footage to explore personal and collective memory, the media, women in war, and the notion of nationhood.