NBC's David Bloom, 39, dies in Iraq
From MSNBC:
David Bloom, an NBC News correspondent embedded with the U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry Division outside Baghdad, died Sunday, NBC announced. Bloom, a 39-year-old husband and father of three, died of an apparent pulmonary embolism, the company said. He was the second American journalist to die in Iraq since the war began.
I am shocked and saddened to read of David Bloom's death. I can only hope that his family will find the strength to go on.
I liked David Bloom and was familiar with his work.
On the first day of the war, his image was beamed around the world via TV and Internet -- a young war correspondent standing up in the turret of a tank, shades one, no helmet, hair blowing back, looking like a kid on his way to spring break.
A few weeks later (maybe a couple of days before his death) I was shocked when I saw him on TV: his eyes had a vacant, distant, glassy look, his hair was a mess, his skin was dark and blotchy. When he talked, his hands clutched at the air; with the sound off, he looked like a haunted man. I was stunned at the transformation. Later that same morning I heard that Michael Kelly had been killed.
I thought perhaps Bloom had taken Kelly's death a bit harder than most; I believe they were both embedded with the 3rd Infantry.
Now this news puts a different slant on how Bloom looked that last time.
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