Oregon State alum David Gilkey killed in Afghanistan while reporting for NPR
Michael M. Phillips/The Wall Street Journal
Brother David Gilkey (Oregon State) was killed yesterday in Afghanistan while on assignment for National Public Radio, along with his interpreter and Afghan National Army escort when a rocket propelled grenade struck their Humvee.
Gilkey, a photojournalist for NPR, chronicled the pain and beauty in war and conflict.
NPR Pentagon correspondent Tom Bowman and producer Monika Evstatieva were also in the convoy, traveling in a separate vehicle. They were not injured.
Tom reports that when the journalists’ remains arrived by helicopter at Camp Shorab in Helmand Province — where the U.S. Army 10th Mountain Division has a training mission — an honor guard of “dozens and dozens” of U.S. soldiers stood at attention and saluted.
David was 50 and Zabihullah, who for years also worked as a photographer, was 38.
David was considered one of the best photojournalists in the world — honored with a raft of awards including a George Polk Award in 2010, a national News and Documentary Emmy in 2007 and dozens of distinctions from the White House News Photographers Association, including 2011 Still Photographer of the Year.
It is fair to say that David witnessed some of humanity’s most challenging moments: He covered wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. He covered the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. He covered the end of the apartheid regime in South Africa. He covered the devastating earthquake in Haiti, famine in Somalia and most recently the Ebola epidemic in Liberia.
His images were haunting — amid the rubble, he found beauty; amid war, he found humanity.
His craft, he said, was about more than journalism.
“It’s not just reporting. It’s not just taking pictures,” he said. “It’s, ‘Do those visuals, do the stories, do they change somebody’s mind enough to take action?'” (Via NPR)
Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity offers its sincerest condolences to Brother Gilkey’s family and friends. To share more information and to celebrate Gilkey’s life and experience as a brother of Lambda Chi Alpha please contact the C&C at editor@lambdachi.org.
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