Caring for the Wounded: The Story of Two Marines
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Last November, 1st Sgt. Brad Kasal and Lance Cpl. Alex Nicoll were seriously injured in one of the fiercest battles of the Iraq war.
Marine 1st Sgt. Brad Kasal, who is still holding his weapon, gets help exiting the house in Fallujah. Kasal used his own body to shield Nicoll from a grenade blast. Lucian Read/World Picture News hide caption
Marine 1st Sgt. Brad Kasal, who is still holding his weapon, gets help exiting the house in Fallujah. Kasal used his own body to shield Nicoll from a grenade blast.
Lucian Read/World Picture NewsHear photographer Lucian Read talk about taking this photograph of Kasal.
Kasal and Nicoll had been with a Marine unit conducting house-to-house searches for insurgents in Fallujah. When fellow Marines entered one house, they were injured by insurgents inside. Nicoll and Kasal went in to retrieve their comrades, but soon were severely wounded themselves while temporarily cornered in a room on the bottom floor.
In the past, their wounds might have killed them. But thanks to better body armor, battlefront mini-hospitals and quick flights back to the United States for treatment, American troops injured in Iraq are probably receiving better medical care than ever. In a three-part report, NPR's Joseph Shapiro follows the two Marines' recovery.
Fellow Marines rescued Lance Cpl. Alex Nicoll from the house full of insurgents in Fallujah. This photo was taken just after he was removed from the house. Lucian Read/World Picture News hide caption
Fellow Marines rescued Lance Cpl. Alex Nicoll from the house full of insurgents in Fallujah. This photo was taken just after he was removed from the house.
Lucian Read/World Picture NewsHear photographer Lucian Read recall Nicoll's rescue.
Web Extra: Eyewitness Account
Photographer Lucian Read of World Picture News was embedded with Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion 1st Marines in Fallujah. He was with Nicoll and 1st Sgt. Brad Kasal when, during a house-to-house hunt for insurgents last November, the two Marines were wounded and close to death in some of the most intense fighting of the Iraq war so far.
Read talked about the events of that day with NPR's Joe Shapiro. Excerpts of that interview are below.
Hear Lucian Read recall...