Story Behind Desert Storm Famous Photo Continues

Strangers linked by iconic Desert Storm photo finally meet 24 years later
Buffalo News
By Tim Graham
News Sports
Reporter
May 30, 2015

Veteran whose face came to symbolize Desert Storm meets comrade’s widow 24 years after tragedy that forever binds them

The face of war: Sgt. Ken Kozakiewicz, left, wails with grief after learning that the soldier in the body bag is fellow crewman Pvt. Andy Alaniz, in this February 1991 file photo. The widely published photo came to define the Persian Gulf War for many.

UNIONTOWN, Pa. – Twenty-four slow, burning years have passed since Sgt. Ken Kozakiewicz got wrecked to his soul.

Raw from a battle that ended moments before, dazed from the two missiles that smoked his Bradley Fighting Vehicle and weary from traversing an ungodly expanse of Iraq desert, Kozakiewicz did what any man would.

He read the name on the dead soldier’s identification card, looked away from the bloody body bag and wailed.

Kozakiewicz’s helpless, primal howl became the signature image of Operation Desert Storm. The picture, taken by David Turnley, showed war’s wicked truth and is considered one of military history’s most provocative photos.

Kozakiewicz, his broken left hand in a sling, had been guided into a medical evacuation helicopter after the Jalibah Airfield rout Feb. 27, 1991. The battle was among the final objectives of a dominant campaign to expel Iraq dictator Saddam Hussein’s army from neighboring Kuwait.

Kozakiewicz and Cpl. Mike Tsangarakis were about to be whisked away. Then a body bag was loaded onto the helicopter floor. Kozakiewicz demanded the dead soldier’s name.

A medic reluctantly handed Kozakiewicz the ID for 20-year-old Pvt. Andy Alaniz. In the center of the photo, Tsangarakis lifted his head bandages to glimpse the sack at his feet.
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