On Memorial Day 2006, Kimberly Dozier, a reporter for CBS, was
in a vehicle in Baghdad that was blown up by a car bomb. Parts of the car were
embedded in her legs. Several people were killed.
Here is part of an e-mail she
sent to some friends looking back on it from this Memorial Day. I am posting
this with her permission.
. . .
more than ever on this weekend every year, I am reminded that it's not about
me--and that the effects of that one car bomb--one of five that day--continue.
Jennifer
Funkhouser, Capt. Funkhouser's widow, will take her daughters Allison &
Kaitlyn to visit their dad at the Sam Houston Cemetery in San Antonio.
The
families of soundman James Brolan and cameraman Paul Douglas are cheering on a
team from the CBS London bureau who are biking
across Britain to raise money for groups like Reporters Without
Borders.
One
of the medics from that day, Izzy Flores, got a promotion and is back on his
second tour, doing time in that garden spot of Mosul. I'll be glad when he's
out of there.
The
other medic from that day has just been chaptered out of the military, after
being outed as a lesbian on her second tour, as an act of vengeance when she
turned in a superior officer who was dealing drugs.
At
least two of the Iowa National guardsman from that day report continuing
symptoms of PTSD--haven't been in touch with them lately. I bring back bad
memories for them.
Captain
Funkhouser's PSD that day Justin Farrar is being chaptered out of the army for
PTSD--that from members of his family who asked me to see if I could help.
Maybe I could, but Justin won't write me back.
There
were four other car bombs in Baghdad that day -- aimed at U.S. & Iraqi
patrols and Iraqi civilians -- so how many other casualties went unremarked and
unreported, except by their families (Iraqi and American) and/or their fellow
troops?
A lot
to think about. And that was just one single, rather unremarkable day in Iraq.
KD/CBS
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