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thedrifter
07-13-05, 06:10 AM
July 18, 2005
Sergeant’s combat photos garner journalism awards
By Laura Bailey
Times staff writer

An arresting series of photos of a gunnery sergeant struck by an insurgent’s bullet as he tried to save a fatally wounded Marine in Iraq has won several military awards for photojournalism.
Sgt. Joel A. Chaverri, 22, a Reserve combat correspondent mobilized with 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, took the photos in November while traveling with an infantry company in Fallujah.

While the military normally does not publish photos of dead service members, it made an exception for this series, which some say illustrates the heroism of the Marine Corps at war.

Chaverri’s series of photos received the Defense Department’s Thomas Jefferson Award for photojournalism, the Marine Corps Combat Correspondents Association award for photojournalism and the Leatherneck Magazine Lou Lowery Award for best photo of 2004.

Chaverri returned from Iraq in March and is attending college in Dallas.

As Chaverri tells the story, he was with Bravo Company on Nov. 9, the morning after Marines entered Fallujah. The men had just reached the first major intersection in the northern sector of the city, and they split up to cross.

As 1st Platoon maneuvered across the intersection, an enemy bullet struck and killed Sgt. Lonny D. Wells, 29, of Vandergrift, Pa.

Gunnery Sgt. Ryan P. Shane rushed from his position nearby to recover the fallen Marine, who was sprawled face down on the ground.

Before he could pull the wounded Marine to safety, Shane was wounded by enemy gunfire, Chaverri said.

Meanwhile, a Navy corpsman had run out to help, but he had to pull back in the face of intense gunfire.

Split-second decision

At the same time, Chaverri, who was in a nearby courtyard with the rest of the platoon, had a choice to make.

“I had to decide ‘am I’m going to shoot with my rifle or am I going to shoot with my camera?’” he said.

It wasn’t a popular decision at the time, but Chaverri followed his photographer’s instincts.

Just as Shane began pulling on the wounded sergeant’s collar to drag him away, Chaverri stepped out from the courtyard and began snapping.

Seconds later, Marines barked at Chaverri to get back and start firing; he captured the images before putting the camera aside in favor of his rifle. Shane was pulled from the street along with the fatally wounded Marine and survived the attack.

In the weeks that followed, Marine public affairs officials in Iraq scrutinized the photos to decide whether they should be released.

Normally, military ground rules bar publishing images of identifiable, fatally wounded Marines, citing the need to be respectful to families, but Chaverri’s photos had a chance of publication because the Marines’ faces were undistinguishable.

Once the Marines ensured the family had been properly notified of the sergeant’s death, Chaverri said there were many meetings to weigh other considerations, such as whether the photos were too graphic.

“We had to ask ‘is it too gruesome?’ ‘Are we displaying the theme that the Marine Corps is losing?’” he said.

Chaverri said the public affairs Marines agreed the story needed to be told.

It took three weeks, but the photos were posted on the Marine Corps’ Web site, www.usmc.mil, in December.

Ellie

yellowwing
07-13-05, 09:23 AM
Found the photos, really dramatic:
http://www.ywg-web.com/images/war-1.jpg
http://www.ywg-web.com/images/war-2.jpg
http://www.ywg-web.com/images/war-3.jpg

Osotogary
07-13-05, 10:16 AM
Yellowwing-
Thanks for pulling these pictures up. I think there was a discussion, on this website, about the legitmacy of these photographs when they were first shown. I remember searching for the website that produced them and , if my memory is somewhat intact and active, found out that the website harbored extreme type photos and videos. I think there was also a discussion on the blue building in the background and wether the photographer was moving left to right or right to left. Either way...the photographs are quite moving.
Thanks again.

BC22
07-14-05, 12:29 AM
Wow, those are some very powerful images.