They call him Lion Heart for his fierce and determined spirit. When the 9-year-old Iraqi boy, picked up a bomb mistaking it for a toy, the explosion killed his older brother and severely injured him. Saleh Khalaf lost his right arm, most of his left hand and one eye.
While Saleh is one of the innocent victims of the war, he was also lucky. His father pleaded with American troops for help, and he and his son were flown to the U.S. where doctors in California treated him.
The photographer Deanne Fitzmaurice and reporter Meredith May met Saleh in a hospital in Oakland. What started as a simple human interest story turned into a 15-month project that recently earned the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography. Operation Lion Heart — one family’s story of recovery and reunion.
Guests:
Deanne Fitzmaurice, photographer for the San Francisco Chronicle and winner of this year’s Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography
Meredith May, reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle and author of “Operation Lion Heart,” which won the feature writing award from the Society of Professional Journalists.