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Dying to Tell the Story Dietrich BonhoefferMartin Luther King Terry Lloyd Richard Wild Jesus of Nazareth |
The Church's Year: Lent
DYING TO TELL THE STORY
His name is on the Iraq war memorial in St Bride’s, and his photograph hangs proudly on the wall of the Frontline Club in west London. In a piece written for the Observer in April 2003, Richard describes the human face beneath the military uniforms of soldiers serving on Iraq. Last Monday, two soldiers were allegedly sent back to Britain for questioning the legality of the war and whether they should be called upon to shoot innocent civilians. Their lawyer Gilbert Blades claimed that ‘as soon as they expressed these views to other soldiers they were then removed.’ The combat zone is not, of course, the place for political debate. Yet without including a day-to-day image of the soldiers, we lack a complete sense of the war experience. Until then it is difficult to see the soldiers as anything beyond executors of government business. These are not poets, nor warriors but ordinary men and women who, by choice of profession, have left home comforts and freedoms to face great danger. On the whole they remain a mystery and will be remembered after this war by medals, not words. But it is important when watching fleeting, silent television coverage to remember that beneath the uniforms are people coming to terms with a life of overwhelming intensity. If only we could hear, they manage to preserve their human voice. |
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Richard was a young Scottish television producer on one of his first foreign assignments when he was shot dead in Baghdad by an Iraqi sniper in July 2003. He was adventurous, brave, and determined to follow his journalistic calling, but not unaware of the risks he faced. He died before he could fully tell the story, but full of promise and an inspiration to those committed to the exciting and challenging work of the foreign correspondent.