Dust, mud, filth and flies have been the companions of Camp Pendleton Marines fighting the war in Iraq. Mix that with boredom and danger, heat and cold and little opportunity to bathe, and you have just an inkling of what it’s like.
Reporter James Crawley and photographer Earnie Grafton have first-
hand knowledge. Until recently, The San Diego Union-Tribune team was with Marines from Camp Pendleton’s 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion. Through their stories and photos, they showed Union-Tribune readers the challenges faced by the Marines.
Crawley’s stories and Grafton’s photos reflected experiences they shared with the Marines. The journalists were observers, not participants in battle and non-combat operations. One of Crawley’s final stories from the front appeared Thursday and was about Shock Trauma Platoons, or portable emergency rooms for treatment of the injured or ill.
They were among hundreds of news people who accompanied the troops. Some journalists at home and readers have had reservations about the “embedding” process, questioning whether journalists would be able to present an independent and complete picture of what was happening in Iraq.
Crawley and Grafton were there to cover the Marines, not to take direction from the military on what they should write about or photograph. And like other embedded journalists, some of whom remain with the troops, they were not there to give readers a complete picture of the war. Each account was just one of myriad pieces of the puzzle.
After his computer crashed because of the blowing sand and dirt, Crawley dictated his stories via satellite phone, sometimes to a colleague, sometimes to a tape. Crawley could call the Union-Tribune, but his editors were not able to call him.
One reporter told of her frustration in transcribing a tape and trying to make sure all the names were spelled correctly. She said each time Crawley spelled a name, the phone went dead and she would get only a partial spelling. When that happened during tapings, Crawley sometimes had no way of knowing his dictation was interrupted or that words were garbled or missing.
There’s another little behind-the-
scenes story, however, that never made it into the headlines.
With virtually no mail being delivered to advancing troops, some families back home only got word about their loved ones by seeing names in Crawley’s stories. Some families outside the Union-Tribune’s delivery area read the newspaper online, searching for information.
Numerous families contacted the newspaper and asked to have a message relayed back, if possible. Others simply said they appreciated the stories that mentioned their Marines and Navy corpsmen. Often, it was the only information they had received in weeks. Many callers were emotional, said Ray Tessler, the assistant metro editor who handles military coverage.
Tessler said such phone calls and e-mails were touching and stand out in their own right. But one gave a special thrill, he said.
Early in the war, someone from SignOnSanDiego, the Union-Tribune’s Web site, forwarded an e-mail to me from Kimberly Johann of Redlands. “We are all really worried about my brother, and we know that he did not receive any of our letters,” she wrote of Cpl. Mark Johann. She asked if the editor who was in touch with Crawley could get back to her.
I forwarded her e-mail to Tessler and then forgot about it. I thought there was little chance Crawley would know anything about her brother. After all, a battalion can be anywhere from 900 to 1,000 strong.
Tessler was swamped with editing duties and put the note aside. But one night, he found he had a few moments between stories. He called and talked with the Marine’s sister and his stepfather, David Riddle. He explained it was unlikely he could get word to the young corporal. “But, I’ll try,” he told the family. What message did they wish to send, he asked.
They missed him, they told Tessler. They loved him. His daughters were doing fine.
A short time later, Crawley checked in with the metro desk. Tessler debriefed him, got his take on the daily events, and at the end of the conversation asked Crawley to give the messages to Cpl. Johann, if he saw him.
“Tell him yourself,” Crawley replied. “He’s standing right in front of me.”
The reporter handed the satellite phone to the Marine, told him Tessler wanted to talk with him, and put the two of them on the line.
Tessler delivered the family’s messages to Johann, who said he hadn’t had any contact with his family in weeks.
“Then, he halted,” Tessler recalled. “‘Thank you,’” he said. “‘This makes my day.’”
It was a nice moment that stretched to envelop his family. “It left everyone here in such a good mood,” Riddle said.
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Gina Lubrano’s column commenting on the media appears Mondays. It is the policy of The San Diego Union-Tribune to correct all errors. To discuss accuracy or fairness in the news, please write to Gina Lubrano, readers representative, Box 120191, San Diego, CA 92112-0191, or telephone (619) 293-1525. Send e-mail to:
readers.rep@uniontrib.com
