Reading – “Saved: A War Reporter’s Mission to Make It Home” by Benjamin Hall
Posted By RichC on June 27, 2023
This past weekend I started a new book that I’ve been looking forward to reading since “Saved: A War Reporter’s Mission to Make It Home” was released in March 2023. Benjamin Hall’s book is one I should have purchased in the spring, but since I had a pile of reading to get through, I opted to get in line for a library copy.
This past weekend it became available in the Kindle format (even better) so checked it out online and started reading Sunday night. Although I’ve heard journalist Benjamin Hall relay much of his terrifying story many times on Fox News segments, it is even a better read. I quickly ignored what was going on around me to continue reading. Midnight rolled around and shut the cover only to find myself up at 6AM making coffee and reading it before turning on the morning busienss news (my normal routine). In other words … it is well written and worth buying and reading (now also in audio).
Benjamin Hall is a veteran war reporter who only 20 days after his father’s burial in California (an impressive WWII Phillipines survival story too), was back in Kyiv reporting on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. THEN …
…on the morning of March 14, 2022, Russian bombs would nearly end his life. As a journalist for Fox News, Hall had worked in dangerous war zones like Syria and Afghanistan, but with three young daughters at home, life on the edge was supposed to be a thing of the past. Yet when Russia viciously attacked Ukraine in February 2022, Hall quickly volunteered to go. A few weeks later, while on assignment, Hall and his crew were blown up in a Russian strike. With Hall himself gravely injured and stuck in Kyiv, it was unclear if he would make it out alive.
This is the story of how he survived—a story that continues to this day. For the first time, Hall shares his experience in full—from his ground-level view of the war to his dramatic rescue to his arduous, and ongoing, recovery. Going inside the events that have permanently transformed him, Hall recalls his time at the front lines of our world’s conflicts, exploring how his struggle to step away from war reporting led him back one perilous last time. Featuring nail-biting accounts from the many people across multiple countries who banded together to get him to safety, Hall offers a stunning look at complex teamwork and heartfelt perseverance that turned his life into a mission.
Through it all, Hall’s spirit has remained undaunted, buoyed by that remarkable corps of people from around the world whose collective determination ensured his survival. Evocative, harrowing, and deeply moving, Saved is a powerful memoir of family and friends, of life and healing, and of how to respond when you are tested in ways you never thought possible.
