War Is Personal

Eugene Richards

Reportage by Getty Images

RICHMOND HEIGHTS, OHIO, 2008. Shurvon Phillip, 27, a Marine Reservist, was returning to base in Iraq when an anti-tank mine exploded beneath his Humvee. He received a traumatic brain injury that left him unable to speak and in need of constant care. His mother, Gail Ulerie, now sleeps beside him every night, fearful that she might wake up and find him not breathing. Whenever she can, she holds her grandchildren close. Feeling them drifting off to sleep somehow lessens the dread.

Eugene Richards, "War Is Personal," in POYi Archive, Item #44694, http://archive.poy.org/items/show/44694 (accessed November 23, 2024).