By: Greg Mitchell In one of the most ambitious and extensive projects to come out of the Iraq war, Knight Ridder has produced an unusual print and multimedia package unveiled in its chain of newspapers on Sunday, and available online this week.
The effort focuses on the final weeks of 12 U.S. marines from one company and the impact of the deaths on their families. A feature player in the report was Philadelphia Inquirer photographer David Swanson, who was embedded with Echo Company, 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines, this past April.
Echo Company, based at Camp Pendleton in California, has lost 22 of its 185 men, more than any other Marine or Army Company.
The Web site package, at www.krwashington.com, features articles, photos by Swanson and others, audio and video, and letters, and is partly based on the Marines' classified After Action reports obtained by Knight Ridder.
The audio clips include moving testimonials from wives, friends and mothers.
A lengthy article published in KR papers on Sunday was written by Swanson and Joseph L. Galloway, with the help of reporters at eight of the chain's newspapers. An excerpt:
"Two weeks after they buried Chris Cobb, his mother received his last letter home: 'I am coming home alive and in one piece,' he wrote. 'I promise you that mom.'
"His cousin Kaylee Morris, 18, said she screamed when she heard of his death. 'Why would God take such a young person from us?' she asked.
"A few days after Cobb's funeral, Kaylee got back a package that she'd sent to Cobb with a four-page letter and a bundle of beef jerky. 'I just saw it there on my doorstep and started crying,' she said. 'It's the little things like that that make it hard.'"
John Walcott, KR Washington Bureau chief, calls the package an "an unprecedented perspective on the war through the eyes of the soldiers and their families."
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