Reliving Memorial Day 2006

CBS' Dozier Tells How A Car Bombing In Baghdad Changed Lives Forever

(CBS)  On Memorial Day 2006, CBS News correspondent Kimberly Dozier and her camera crew, cameraman Paul Douglas and soundman James Brolan, were on patrol with the 4th Infantry Division to cover a story when a car bomb exploded.

The bomb, made up of at least two artillery shells and weighing between 300 and 500 pounds, was placed in a car and remotely detonated.

The bomb struck with deadly force, killing Douglas, Brolan, an Army captain and his translator; Dozier and six others were injured.

What followed is a story of survival, sacrifice and heroism.

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It has taken many excruciating months for Kimberly Dozier to travel the long road from Baghdad to Baltimore, where this past February she was at the University of Maryland Medical Center preparing for yet another round of surgeries.

Asked how many surgeries she has had since the car bomb changed her life forever, Dozier tells Katie Couric, "I've lost count. More than 25."

"If you had to go through a laundry list, Kimberly, of what you've experienced since you were wounded, can you tick it off for me?" Couric asks.

"The car bomb went off on this side of me," Dozier says, referring to her right side. "So most of the damage was to this side of my body."

One of her leg bones was broken in three places from the force of the blast. "My legs have rods in them," Dozier explains.

"Seeing that, it’s a lot more messed up than I realized," she says, looking at an x-ray of her legs. "I try not to think about this as me...it sometimes hits me later."

"My eardrum was blown out," she adds.

"There's some shrapnel floating somewhere in here," Dozier says, touching her head. "I've seen it on the x-rays, it’ll probably always be there."

Aside from shrapnel injuries, she also suffered burns, mostly to her right leg.

"I went in and out of the O.R. so many times that, like breathing, it was just another thing I had to do every couple of days," she says, reflecting on her many surgeries.

"I just wondered if you wake up incredulous that you have gone through all that you've gone through?" Couric asks.

"For the first six, seven months, whenever I'd wake up, it would all come back. What had happened, why I was there. How far I had to go before I could get back to normal, back to where I was. And the people I'd lost. The people we all had lost that day," she replies.

A year ago, Kimberly Dozier was reporting for CBS News from Iraq. "Coming back to Iraq is like coming home," she says. "Since the invasion, I spent most of my working life there."

"That was my family. The CBS Baghdad bureau. I had moved into one of the rooms," she remembers.

When Dozier returned to Baghdad at the end of last May, she was assigned to work with cameraman Paul Douglas, soundman James Brolan, and producer Kate Rydell. Their first assignment was to produce a story for Memorial Day.

"It was a piece that The Early Show asked us to do about Memorial Day, that the soldiers don't get a holiday," Rydell recalls. "It's any other day for them. They don't get to sit back and have parties and hot dogs. They're at work."

[Mal0410]

I was totally engrossed watching "Flashpoint" tonight. It was so well done and I admire the courage of Kimberly Dozier. Politics aside, we must continue to support our troops and their families. My prayers and best wishes to all the soldiers of the Fourth Infantry Division of Fort Hood and to the troops of the Iowa National Guard. The doctors, nurses, pilots and all the others who are involved in the care of our wounded must never be forgotten either. They are truly life savers. I'd just like to let the troops know that, politics aside, we support you and pray for your safety and want you home soon. I personally feel that CBS News and, in particular, Kimberly Dozier should be nominated for an Emmy for bringing the sometimes ugly truth about PTSD and recovery to us tonight. Well done!

[shae2004]

I was moved by the report. I feel for the families that lost loved ones and for Kimberly and her continued struggles. I only wish I that Kimberly could have covered the whole story, telling it through her experience instead of questions asked by Katie. She should have interviewed the soldiers whom she has a bond that will never be broken. I only wish that Bush watched this show to know the true affect on the soldiers and their families. Great story, we need more like these.

[pfmjil]

Dear Kimberly,
I want to thank you for your courage to share your story in it's fullness, from beginning to present. Watching you tell each story/report from the war zone brought you close. When you spoke, I always stopped to listen, knowing you put yourself in harms way each time you made a report. I admired you and do even more so tonight. You have told the story of our wounded soldiers from this war, to past wars like no one else but a reporter could tell. And you tell it first hand. To see you wounded, brought the war to my home as I had become so familiar with your name, your face and your voice telling me, all of us, all about what our young men and young women faced every day. You became a frind I trusted and listened to. I can not even begin to express my sorrow, thinking of you all and your familes. I appreciate your exposed pain at the loss of Paul and James, it tore my heart for you and all who loved them. There are no words to fully describe the heroric sacrifices many have given selflessly. My deepest admiration goes to you all. I couldn't stop crying during your touching story as well as the team wounded and lost with you.
Thank you Kimberly. . . You are amazing. I continue to pray for you and your continued success, and all affected by war. I just happen to feel I know you as my friend.
P. Fabbri
Houston, TX

[m2wxgirl]

My heart is heavy tonight. I'm still hanging on to my box of tissues as I write this. This story was very moving and touched me on a very personal level. As a military member myself, my heart breaks every time I hear a story from Iraq or Afghanistan whether someone lives to tell their story like Kimberly or those whose stories are told by others. I feel for those who return from war and cannot shake the memories of what they experienced.
My deepest prayers go out to Sgt Farrar and his family. To carry that kind of burden - I can't even imagine.
Capt Funkhouser's wife is incredibly strong! My prayers go out to her and her family.
To the 4th ID team - you showed strength and teamwork and I am proud to serve with you!
I agree with the earlier posting that Kimberley should have told her story without Couric and I hope she will soon write a book of her personal struggles during her time in Iraq and her recovery.
Finally, thank you Kimberley for sharing such a difficult time with us. My prayers are with you. Thank you for giving us a glimpse into the real pain and fear that is experienced on a daily basis in a war zone. You truly brought the story home.

[junga1]

I think that CBS did something absolutely wonderful and Kimberly to show, to share the
character of a combat zone how it is a web of love, hurt that transends the world. The gift of
haveing video, pictures, real time and the personel envolved. This was not political is was humanity. I feel as a vet from Nam that this gave not only what the troops and their familes go through but that the innocents locial and other wise the recorded impact of a war. Kimberly God bless you for your sharing and I pray that what
happen to you does not depress you but lifts you up, you have been there done that, life should be enjoyed with a clear sense of purpose God bless. Oh by the way is CBS going to make copies of your show available to the public, it should be required study in every high school in the nation as well as soical groups.

[dblbar]

God bless you, Kimberly, and God BLESS OUR TROUPS that endure the dangers on a daily basis. Thank you for bringing us a front seat view of their daily lives. I can only say "ditto" to the previous posts that express what we all feel for you and our wonderful military personnel. God Bless America.

[kiwi_chick]

ozilot you're out of line.

[rod889k1]

Flashpoint was a outstanding and moving tribute to the courage of all our troops and journalists who risk their lives each day for our freedom and of the sacrifices endured by their families and love ones. Thanks to Kimberly and the brave soldiers and medical personnel for sharing the intimate details of their experiences so that we may understand and appreciate the far reaching effects of war.

[kinglear2007]

I just watched "Flashpoint" and I think it was the hardest hour of TV I have ever seen and that includes the hours that I saw on 9/11. It really made me hurt for the families of the heroes that we have lost from this war on terror. But it also gives me hope by showing the great strength of the human spirit. I tried to enlist after that day but was too old. I can only wish I could have been as strong as those that have gone. They are doing what needs to be be done but it makes me realize we Have to end this war as soon as possible.
3800 is a lot of deaths but I also think of the Tens of thousands of innocent Iraq's that have also died and the families that have to live without them.
Thanx most of all to the voices of all the soldiers and the Sergants window and those gorgeous little girls, that made me cry, and especially to Kimberly for sharing such an intimate and revealing ordeal with me and the many others who hopefully watched ,I will never forget it. I pray every day for our brave heroes who will soon be coming back home. Also for all the tireless doctors and nurses who are putting our men and women back together again.
Thank you Patric

[retiredinmex]

Kimberly,

I am an Iraq veteran. Although I am 100% against this illegal and immoral war, I appreciate the sacrifices that all soldiers and civilians have made over there.

Thank you to you and all the US and "Coalition" military and civilians over there, all victims of a corrupt and misguided US president and his advisors.

[jerimiah99]

I agree with you, ozilot. I see it this way: if you take all the Flashpoint footage of Ms. Dozier and "I/me" and put it in one story, along with the footage of her kayaking in New Zealand for her recovery, and put it in a story not attached to our troops', it would be fine - that would be her story. The way the piece was, it came across to me that she was representing herself as one of the soldiers, and comparing her struggles to their's. She goes to New Zealand for recovery -our soldiers are often placed in the "other" Walter Reeds for recovery. The first thing to keep in mind is the soldiers are there to fight a war - she was there to report it. Her story, upfront, was originally supposed to be about how Memorial Day is just business as usual for the troops, no picnics, no ballgames. Instead, it turned into a piece of "Kimberly Dozier - My Struggles as a Reporter." I wonder what ever happened to the piece that she was supposed to be covering in the first place.

I support Captain Funkhouser's widows' statements completely She wants everyone to see not just her soldier but the thousands of soldiers that go through this everyday. She is the ultimate military wife - not in it to forward her career, but to honor the lives and cause of all our troops.

The odd thing is, I didn't feel this way about the Bob Woodruff, and various other reports because they honored their profession as a reporters, and didn't try to pretend to live the life of a soldier.

[dmparent]

I forgot this was on!!! I saw the previews and really wanted to watch it. Does anyone know if there will be a repeat or where I can buy a copy or see the whole episode. I'm very disapointed I fell asleep.

[jcolehi]

Why when there is such a wealth of visual materials at hand do gratuitous, annoying effects have to be layered over footage that's riveting on its own? Give the audience credit. White flashes and stuttered, slo-mo only serve to demean this horror of war transforming it into a piece of infotainment when it so clearly cried out to be a solid piece of journalism.

Sad in every way -- for the families who lost their loved ones, the soldiers and this show's audience. This programs is hard to watch, not for the subject matter, but by a lack of respect for its viewers. This truly was a lost opportunity to watch and absorb powerful imagery, undermined by an insistent belief that attention spans and interest levels are only maintained by over-editing.

Thankfully there were a few 'naked' moments without flashes and quick moves that not only let us see things, but provided poignancy. I only wish there were more.