Gulf War
World Press Photo of the Year, prize singles
27-02-1991
While being evacuated to a hospital by helicopter, wounded US Sgt. Ken Kozakiewicz gives vent to his grief as he learns that the body bag next to wounded Cpl. Michael Tsangarakis contains the remains of his friend Andy Alaniz. On the last day of the Gulf War, 'friendly fire' claimed Alaniz's life and injured Kozakiewicz and Tsangarakis in the Euphrates Valley, Iraq.
Kozakiewicz, Tsangarakis and Alaniz were part of the extremely well-armed US 24th Infantry Division. They were exhausted, having been on the move almost continuously for the last 63 hours, crossing from Kuwait into Iraq towards the Euphrates River Valley. Kozakiewicz, Alaniz and Tsangarakis were in different Bradley military vehicles approaching the airfield in order to sweep the area. A US tank unit, meant to protect them, instead mistook their group of vehicles for the enemy and fired between six and 18 rounds of depleted-uranium, hitting three vehicles. Tsangarakis lost consciousness and suffered burns to the face when his Bradley was hit, while the explosion broke Kozakiewiczs left hand. Alaniz was killed while driving his Bradley to aid Kozakiewiczs damaged vehicle.
Photo Credit: David C. Turnley
American photojournalist David C. Turnley (Fort Wayne, Indiana, 1955) is the winner of two World Press Photo of the Year awards, one Pulitzer Prize, and the Overseas Press Clubs Robert Capa Gold Medal. He started photographing while studying French Literature at University of Michigan. After earning his Bachelors degree, he became a photojournalist. Between 1980 and 1997, he was a staff photographer at the Detroit Free Press. From 1985 to 1987 he was based in South Africa, where he photographed the country under Apartheid rule. From Paris, where he lived between 1987 and 1997, he covered the student protests in China, the revolutions in Eastern Europe, the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the First Gulf War.
Commissioned by: Detroit Free Press / Black Star
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