Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Michael Weisskopf

Michael Weisskopf (59 years old) is a journalist that have been working for 20 years at The Washington Post. In 1997, he is join at TIME magazine. One of the duty that he must take as a journalist is to make a report of US soldier in Iraq War on December 10, 2003.

This tragedy was happened when he was riding in the back of an open humvee along with TIME photographer James Nachtwey and two young soldiers, Private Orion Jenks and Private First Class Jim Beverly. No one of them realized there was something that was thrown away to their car, but Michael knew it. Michael rose halfway, leaned to the right, and cupped the object. He might as well have plucked volcanic lava from a crater. He could feel the flesh of my palm liquefying. Pain bolted up my arm like an electric current. In one fluid motion, I raised my right arm and started to throw the mass over the side of the vehicle, a short backhand toss. Then everything went dark.

After he was conscious, he shocked because he lost his right hand. That was make Michael so desperate. Fortunately, there was nurse that encouraged him and so proud of Michael because he already saved a lot of lives by threw away the bomb even it was injured himself, he was a hero.

To reduce Michael's trauma, he was sent to hospital in German that specialize to handle trauma. After that, Michael was sent to military hospital Ward 57 at Walter Reed, Washington. This hospital was specialize to take care soldier that lost part of his body. In this hospital, Michael saw and struggle with other patient pain. Not just physical pain but also depression.

From that Michael came up from his trauma and write his experience in to book. His book title is Blood Brothers : Among the Soldiers of Ward 57. His book is released on October 2006.

Because his brave, Michael Weisskopf has received the George Polk Award, Goldsmith Award for Investigative Reporting, National Headliners Award, Daniel Pearl Award for Courage and Integrity in Journalism the U.S. Army's Fourth Estate Award and the Urbino Press Award 2007 (Italy).

"Life that not maximal is not because on what you don't have, but it is because you don't maximal what you have now"


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