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American Morning
Sergio de Mello's Angel
Aired August 27, 2003 - 07:06 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The U.N. Security Council unanimously passed a resolution demanding prosecution of anyone attacking U.N. and humanitarian workers. Yesterday's action came exactly one week after the bombing of the U.N.'s headquarters in Iraq.
U.N. envoy Sergio de Mello, who was among 23 people killed in that attack, will be buried tomorrow in Geneva.
From Baghdad, CNN's Walt Rodgers joins us now live with the story of an American who comforted de Mello as he lay dying, buried in the rubble.
Good morning to you.
WALT RODGERS, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Soledad.
Large-scale military operations, like the U.S. venture here in Iraq, are really thousands and thousands of smaller operations that involve tens of thousands of anonymous soldiers -- men and women -- in U.S. forces here. Some of their tales are extraordinary, others are heroic and others are tragic.
One such story is that of Master Sergeant Bill Van Zehle of Danbury, Connecticut, the former fire chief there, an Army reservist. A week ago when the U.N. was hit by the truck bomb, Van Zehle he was wounded in the blast; still, he crawled into the rubble, under -- literally tunneling under tons and tons of concrete to try to rescue people. He was the one who chanced upon one man, and then Sergio de Mello as well.
This is his tale.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SGT. WILLIAM VAN ZEHLE, COMFORTED DYING ENVOY: So, when we get them both out, and I seriously believe that, if it had been in the U.S. I think we would have gotten them both out successfully, because the average fire department in America has a lot more equipment -- you know, airbags, shoring equipment, things that just were not available here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RODGERS: Van Zehle labored for three hours under extraordinarily dangerous and precarious conditions. Tons of concrete could have fallen on him, as well as the man he was trying to rescue. He tried desperately to keep the U.N. special envoy to Iraq, Sergio de Mello, alive.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VAN ZEHLE: And I said, you know, 'My name is Bill.' And he said, "I'm Sergio." I asked him his name, and he said, "Sergio." And I said, 'Where are you hurting?' And he told me, you know, his legs were hurting. I said -- and I really meant it -- I said, you know, 'We're going to get you out of here.' And, you know, at the time, I truly meant we were -- I thought we were going to get him out of here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RODGERS: Sergeant Van Zehle says he feels desperately badly now, because he felt he broke his promise to Sergio de Mello.
Still, one of the men in there was rescued, and it was the best they could do under horrendous circumstances -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: All right, well, thank you for that. What a terrible story, but certainly interesting to see just what a gentleman and what an honorable person was de Mello, even as he was suffering incredible pain. Thanks for that report.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired August 27, 2003 - 07:06 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The U.N. Security Council unanimously passed a resolution demanding prosecution of anyone attacking U.N. and humanitarian workers. Yesterday's action came exactly one week after the bombing of the U.N.'s headquarters in Iraq.
U.N. envoy Sergio de Mello, who was among 23 people killed in that attack, will be buried tomorrow in Geneva.
From Baghdad, CNN's Walt Rodgers joins us now live with the story of an American who comforted de Mello as he lay dying, buried in the rubble.
Good morning to you.
WALT RODGERS, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Soledad.
Large-scale military operations, like the U.S. venture here in Iraq, are really thousands and thousands of smaller operations that involve tens of thousands of anonymous soldiers -- men and women -- in U.S. forces here. Some of their tales are extraordinary, others are heroic and others are tragic.
One such story is that of Master Sergeant Bill Van Zehle of Danbury, Connecticut, the former fire chief there, an Army reservist. A week ago when the U.N. was hit by the truck bomb, Van Zehle he was wounded in the blast; still, he crawled into the rubble, under -- literally tunneling under tons and tons of concrete to try to rescue people. He was the one who chanced upon one man, and then Sergio de Mello as well.
This is his tale.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SGT. WILLIAM VAN ZEHLE, COMFORTED DYING ENVOY: So, when we get them both out, and I seriously believe that, if it had been in the U.S. I think we would have gotten them both out successfully, because the average fire department in America has a lot more equipment -- you know, airbags, shoring equipment, things that just were not available here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RODGERS: Van Zehle labored for three hours under extraordinarily dangerous and precarious conditions. Tons of concrete could have fallen on him, as well as the man he was trying to rescue. He tried desperately to keep the U.N. special envoy to Iraq, Sergio de Mello, alive.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VAN ZEHLE: And I said, you know, 'My name is Bill.' And he said, "I'm Sergio." I asked him his name, and he said, "Sergio." And I said, 'Where are you hurting?' And he told me, you know, his legs were hurting. I said -- and I really meant it -- I said, you know, 'We're going to get you out of here.' And, you know, at the time, I truly meant we were -- I thought we were going to get him out of here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RODGERS: Sergeant Van Zehle says he feels desperately badly now, because he felt he broke his promise to Sergio de Mello.
Still, one of the men in there was rescued, and it was the best they could do under horrendous circumstances -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: All right, well, thank you for that. What a terrible story, but certainly interesting to see just what a gentleman and what an honorable person was de Mello, even as he was suffering incredible pain. Thanks for that report.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
