'Freep' Photog Flattered by Neil Young Notice, But Not Star-Struck

By: Joe Strupp Detroit Free Press photographer David Gilkey is flattered that his Page One photo of a military cargo plane-turned-hospital inspired one of rocker Neil Young's newest songs.

But the 10-year Free Press shooter says he would have been as happy if any reader had been so impacted by the war-related photo. "I'm not star-struck," Gilkey, 40, told E&P Monday, just days after learning of the Young connection. "I am just as flattered if it sparks someone else into action."

Still, Gilkey contends that having a prominent celebrity acknowledge his work is meaningful. "I am glad that it made an impression on him, I really am," said Gilkey, referring to the photo that appeared on the front page of USA Today March 27, along with a story by USA Today reporter Gregg Zoroya. "It is not everyday that you have someone at that level notice what you are doing."

Young's new CD, "Living with War," contains several anti-war songs. He told Rolling Stone recently that it was Gilkey's March 27 photo that inspired him to write one of the songs on the disc, "Families," and possibly helped influence the entire album.

"I went down to the coffee machine and there was USA Today. The cover showed a large military craft converted into a flying hospital. The caption said something about how we are making great strides in medicine as a result of the Iraq conflict," he told the magazine. "That just caught me off guard, and I went upstairs and wrote 'Families' for one of those soldiers who didn't get to come home. Then I cried in my wife's arms. That was the turning point for me."

Gilkey said he heard about the Young story third-hand from someone who had read the Rolling Stone item and called him at his Grosse Point, Mich. home. "I had no idea until a friend called me to tell me last week," Gilkey said, adding that he has yet to speak with Young. "He had seen the photo and recognize what Neil Young was talking about."

Gilkey, who has been to Iraq six times since the 2003 invasion, said he only went on the most recent trip because other USA Today photographers were just returning from covering the Olympics in Italy. USA Today and the Free Press are both owned by Gannett Co. Inc.

Gilkey and Zoroya spent two weeks on the story, in late February and early March. The story focused on the many innovations in medical treatment and response that are being developed as a result of the war.

"It was about all of the advances, unfortunately, that come out of having that many patients to deal with," Gilkey said. "It was a super-important photo because it was part of the story we are not seeing -- that you have a lot more living than in the past because of these medical advances."

The reporting also sparked two Free Press Website videos related to the story, including one in which Gilkey discusses covering the war as a whole. Both can be found here.

"The story wasn't pro-war or anti-war, it was just stating facts," Gilkey said. "I'm not trying to be a war voyeur, but it is shocking when people are so blas? about it, it is not always on their mind."

As for Young, Gilkey says he is not a big fan, although he has heard lots of Young's music, and likes "Rockin' In The Free World," among others. But he adds: "I grew up with Pearl Jam."