On Jan. 29, 2006, Bob Woodruff, newly named co-anchor of "ABC World News Tonight," was on assignment with the Iraqi Army doing a "stand-up," rising out a tank, talking to the camera when the driver called, "Sit down."
"I didn't hear," Woodruff told a rapt audience at Salem State's O'Keefe Center last night.
As his convoy approached a grove of palm trees, someone touched off an improvised explosive device.
Woodruff remembers a blast of air but not the hail of shrapnel — mostly stones — sprayed at super speed from the explosion. He dropped. "I could see my body just floating." Stones penetrated his skull, ripped his face, sliced open his throat. One rock lodged near the carotid artery, where it may never be removed.
Both Woodruff and his wife, Lee, told their story as part of Salem State's lecture series. Seated on easy chairs at the front of the hall, they bantered back and forth, drawing laughs. Yet after a career as a foreign and national correspondent, Woodruff's best story might be his own. And despite the couple's easy manner, it offers equal measures of horror and hope.
The explosion loosed a virtual cascade of near-death experiences with Woodruff comatose throughout. His translator held a hand over the gash in his throat, keeping him alive. Iraqi and American troops poured out, defending the convoy from attacking insurgents.
A rescue chopper was despatched, but the pilots were advised to turn back due to heavy fire. They ignored the order. The Woodruffs met them later, with Lee astonished to meet a 19- and 20-year-old.
"Ma'am, this is just what we do," they told her. "It's our job."
Woodruff was rushed to a facility in Balad, Iraq. A doctor later told Lee her husband's chart was labeled "Not expected." As in, "Not expected to live."
His brain was reacting to the trauma by swelling. With a rush of casualties, he might have been left to die. Instead, despite a mortar attack, doctors and nurses went to work on him in full armor, shearing off a portion of Woodruff's skull to relieve the swelling.
Lee got the word while on a trip with the four kids to Disney World, the ABC executive so careful with his words that she blurted, "Is Bob still alive?"
Woodruff was moved first to Germany and then to Washington. Lee described her husband's brain swelling to the size of a volleyball, tubes and wires everywhere, one side of his face scraped raw.
The outcome in doubt, the Woodruffs' 12-year-old daughter wanted to see her father. To no avail, Lee suggested that it might be better to wait.
At the hospital, seeing the injuries for the first time, "I heard my little girl draw her breath and gasp. Then she sat down and started to talk to her dad. ... One thing they tell you about people in a coma — keep talking." In the end, "She bent down and kissed his cheek."
Moments later, Lee said, "A tear came down his good eye."
It was the first sign Bob was connecting to the world. He roused himself from the coma after 36 days, barely able to form sentences, hearing- and vision-impaired. Unable to find the words in English, he began speaking in French and Chinese, languages he speaks.
Lee credits the three "F's" with his recovery. Family. Faith. And friends.
Today, Woodruff shows few obvious signs of the blast. He's warm and personable, quick with a quip. Despite a pledge to avoid war zones, he recently visited Afghanistan for ABC with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Michael Mullen. Lee decided Mullen's security would be heavy enough to keep her husband safe.
In an interview Woodruff told the News he feels no guilt having left his family to cover the war. "I never thought I would be hurt this badly. I don't think I ever imagined this."
His experience has inspired the couple to alert the public to the large number of American war casualties suffering with brain injuries. The Bob Woodruff Foundation (remind.org) is seeking $1 from each American to help GIs who have come home permanently disabled.
The Woodruffs heard loud and spontaneous applause from the audience every time they mentioned the sacrifice of the American military.
Man Falls Off Crane, Dies After Police Standoff
Raw Video: Cop Shoots Man Eating Another's Face
Russia Condemns Ally Syria Over Massacre of 108
Raw Video: Earthquake Shakes Evacuees in Italy
Dairy Farm Uses Chiropractor to Help Cows
Unexpected Smog in Pristine National Parks
Air Canada Plane Makes Emergency Landing
New Ticks Spread Across Southeast, Diseases Rise
Bring Your Own Tech Programs Charge Up Students
Pope's Butler Vows to Help Vatican Investigation
Mother of Allegedly Abused Girl Denies Claims
Raw Video: 19 Dead in Qatar Shopping Mall Fire
Service Dogs Help Wash. Soldiers Battling PTSD
Raw Video: Heckler Bursts in on Blair Testimony
Japan Farmers Plant, Seek Radiation-free Rice
Vatican in Chaos After Butler Arrested for Leaks
