{ 張亨來 }

Gary Knight, Iraq, April 2003:

This was at the start of the invasion. We were at the Diyala Bridge, which had to be taken by the marines so they could get into Baghdad. They were the lead battalion, the ones who went on to pull down the statue of Saddam. The opposition were shelling us. It was terrifying – both the actual shelling, and the anticipation of it. It comes in waves so you can see it moving in your direction. One had exploded in the tank. If it had landed on top or a couple of feet over, I would have died. Your instinct is to bury yourself, but you can’t. You’re there to do a job. The point is to get the news out. If you keep moving, you can manage the fear. And my stress is nothing compared with civilians and soldiers. I remind myself of that all the time. I don’t have to be there – they don’t have the choice.

My wife and children were very much on my mind because the danger was so extreme. You cannot separate the rest of your life and I’ve tried not to control how much I think about them. Sometimes they have been constantly in my head, sometimes I have not thought about them at all.

From “The Shot That Nearly Killed Me: War Photographers - A Special Report” in The Guardian (June 17, 2011).