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Paula Zahn Now

Jennings Announces He Has Lung Cancer; American Nun Murdered in Brazil

Aired April 05, 2005 - 20:00   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.


PAULA ZAHN, HOST: Thank you so much, Anderson. Good evening. Welcome. Glad to have you with us tonight. In just a minute, the latest on preparations for the pope's funeral, and the unbelievable story of an American nun in Brazil who was murdered because she fought for the poor.
But we begin tonight with the news that ABC anchor Peter Jennings has lung cancer.

Since 1964, Jennings has covered the world, first and foremost as a journalist, and for the past 22 years as anchor for ABC "World News Tonight." At a time when NBC's Tom Brokaw and CBS's Dan Rather have stepped aside, Jennings is still on the air, but he was also a smoker for quite a few years.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN (voice-over): This year, every year, roughly 160,000 Americans will die from lung cancer. It's the leading killer among cancers, claiming more lives every year than breast, prostate and colon cancer combined. 82 percent of lung cancer deaths are blamed on smoking, 82 percent. And Peter Jennings was a smoker.

PETER JENNINGS, ABC NEWS ANCHOR: Yes, I was a smoker until about 20 years ago, and I was weak, and I smoked over 9/11. But whatever the reason, the news does slow you down a bit.

ZAHN: There have been a number of famous smokers who died from lung cancer: Edward R. Murrow, Chet Huntley, Harry Reasoner, as well as Walt Disney, John Wayne and Yul Brynner. Because lung cancer is usually well advanced before it is detected, just one in five victims lives for more than five years after being diagnosed. But Jennings says he plans to continue anchoring ABC "World News Tonight."

JENNINGS: I have been reminding my colleagues today, who have been incredibly supportive, that almost 10 million Americans are already living with cancer and I have a lot to learn from them. And living is the key word. The National Cancer Institute says we are survivors from the moment of diagnosis. I will continue to do the broadcast on good days -- my voice will not always be like this. To be perfectly honest I'm a little surprised at the kindness today from so many people. That's not intended as false modesty. But, even I was taken aback by how far and how fast news travels. Finally, I wonder if other men and women ask their doctors right away, okay, doc, when does the hair go? (END VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: We're rooting for you, Peter.

Joining me now, senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Sanjay, it had to be so tough for him to share this with us publicly. Peter did not divulge the stage of his disease, but what we do know, when have you stage one lung cancer, it can be treated through surgery and is usually curable. He's going to be treated with chemotherapy. What does that suggest to you?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, there's a couple of things. Again, as you mentioned, we don't know the stage of his lung cancer. It could mean either the lung cancer is not as advanced, or it could mean that it's more advanced. The reason is, if someone doesn't have a particular advanced lung cancer, a lot of times going to get surgery first to try to remove the localized tumor. More advanced cancer, sometimes they give chemotherapy first. It is really hard to say based on that alone, Paula.

ZAHN: How treatable is lung cancer if found early?

GUPTA: You know, it's interesting. We have done a lot of homework on this. They haven't made particularly great strides in the treatment of lung cancer, not over the last 10 years. If you look at everybody that has lung cancer, about six out of 10 people will die within the first year, and within a couple of years, seven or eight out of 10, so not great.

Some of the symptoms of lung cancer more well known. Coughing, some shortness of breath, pressure in the chest sometimes, fatigue, all those sorts of things can happen. But it can be very difficult to diagnose, and that's the hard part, Paula, because a lot of patients are caught late in their diagnosis of lung cancer.

ZAHN: Peter made reference to the weakness of his voice tonight and said it's not always going to be like that. But he also went on in his e-mail to his colleagues to expand on the idea, we heard him say on the air, where he said almost 10 million Americans are living with cancer. I'm sure I will learn from them how to cope. How might the chemo treatments slow him down?

GUPTA: They are probably going to slow him down. I mean, chemo -- it's a toxic medication. It has a purpose, which is to try to kill these cells, but in the process, unfortunately, it kills other cells, as well. Sometimes it can cause side effects. These are well-known. Sometimes changes in blood pressure, they can cause diarrhea, they can cause hair loss, they can cause sores in the mouth, as well.

What happens here, Paula, is that if, you look at the tumor cells, they divide very rapidly, and the chemo sort of targets the fact that they divide rapidly. There are other cells in the body that divide rapidly as well, such as your hair, for example. The cells in your GI tract, which is why people get sick to the stomach and they lose their hair with chemotherapy, Paula. ZAHN: We mentioned at the top of this piece how many people have died from lung cancer. What are the lessons to be learned from those cases and everything we know about smoking today? I know it's not going to make you too popular with the tobacco lobby out there, Sanjay, but you are a doctor first and foremost.

GUPTA: They know this as well, Paula. Everybody know this is. Here have you one of the most cogent, well-defined relationships ever in medicine. Smoking causes lung cancer. People know this. Don't smoke. You can't say it enough on television. You can't say it enough times period. Right now, if people listen to us, we can save more lives by people stopping smoking than anything else I will do in my entire career as a physician. It's a really important relationship. Don't smoke.

ZAHN: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thank you.

GUPTA: Thank you.

ZAHN: In just a minute, we change our focus. The shocking story of the killing of a missionary

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: An American nun murdered in Brazil.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She had this price on her head for a long time.

ZAHN: Fighting the powerful. Dedicated to the poor and to God. Tonight, the life and death of Sister Dorothy Stang when PAULA ZAHN NOW continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ZAHN: An absolutely incredible scene. 2:00 in the morning Rome time, the faithful just keep on coming in hopes of paying their last respects. Lots of new developments in Rome today. A continuous crush of visitors, security headaches, lots of questions about the pope's burial.

Let's turn to Anderson Cooper, who is standing by in Vatican City, to share with us a little of what he has witnessed today. Anderson, I have heard these stories all day long, people spending 24 hours in cars to get to line where they wait for another 12 hours so they can see the pope for two seconds. What have they told you today as they waited through these tremendous lines?

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's an incredible scene here. It's about 10 past 2:00 a.m., as you said, and this line stretches as far as the eye can see. You can see St. Peter's Basilica behind me, and the line, I mean, even though we're relatively close, the line -- this is still about a two or three hour wait from where I'm standing. And people, just to get here, have been standing in line some for 10 hours. We just talked to a man from the United States who has been here for 10 hours. He came here directly. He still had his bag from the airplane. He plans to sleep here.

The people who are here right now, they are not moving anywhere probably until dawn when they reopen St. Peter's Basilica. So it will be -- I mean, upwards of 16 hours for some of these people.

And yet a lot of them are staying. I mean, they aren't leaving. We see a few people who have left the line when they were told that the basilica is closing right now, but we have also seen a number of people actually passing out. I know we have some video of that. But I mean, this is quite a common sight. I have been walking around this line for about three or four hours. I have seen at least half a dozen people collapse, being taken away on stretchers, taken away by ambulance. They have water that -- authorities have water that they are handing out to people. They are also giving people just sugar packets, just to keep their energy up. They are giving them blankets, because it does get quite cold here at night, and yet the people still keep on coming.

A million people by now, according to Vatican officials, 18,000 people going through those doors of St. Peter's Basilica every hour -- 18,000 every hour. Tomorrow is expected another 600,000 people at least.

It is an extraordinary event, Paula.

ZAHN: It's incredible. And I guess what impresses me the most is the sense of discipline you see in these lines. You get a sense of orderliness there. When someone passes out, no one is pushing, no one is shoving. It's not an American line, is it, Anderson?

COOPER: Well, yeah. You know, I think if we had an event like this in America it would probably be the same. But it's definitely not like a rock crowd. It's not like lines for standing in lines for movies, you know, in New York. We all know how tough that can be.

I was in the line earlier this evening, and suddenly everyone in the crowd started yelling "Massimo, Massimo." And it turned out one of the police officers who was in that area -- his name was Massimo -- and they were alerting him that someone had fainted in the midst of the crowd. And they immediately parted. Paramedics went in and pulled this man out of the crowd. He must have been in his 60s. And they just took him away to a medic tent.

It is just a very -- there's a real sense of community here. And it's a sense of reverence. And as the line gets closer to St. Peter's Basilica, it quiets down, and it becomes more somber, as is appropriate as one is approaching the pope, Paula.

ZAHN: I guess what I'm having trouble understanding, Anderson, is how an area that's usually controlled by 200 military personnel is so effectively restraining and containing these crowds when you're talking about maybe by the end of the week a couple million people passing through here.

COOPER: Yeah, yeah, very likely. I mean, they had estimated two million people. They are already at a million. It's likely to well surpass that two million figure.

They are pouring in resources, pouring in police, undercover police. Once dignitaries start to arrive here for the funeral on Friday, of course, there will be snipers, there will be the security we see and the security we don't see, Carabinieri and the like. Security is very tight here. You know, we have special passes that have allowed us to sort of cut through the crowds just to get here. But it is very tight, and there are a lot of police on the ground, Paula.

ZAHN: Well, it's a stunning thing to watch from here. Thanks so much, Anderson.

The pope's funeral forced a delay in plans for Britain's latest royal wedding. Coming up, the rocky road from the meeting to the marriage. Is there a curse at work here?

Also ahead -- two lives that were even more profoundly affected by a meeting with the pope.

First, though, time to check in with Erica Hill of HEADLINE NEWS to see what else is going on tonight. Hi, Erica.

ERICA HILL, HEADLINE NEWS: Hi, Paula, good to see you. We're actually going to start back in Vatican City and in Rome. As you heard Anderson say, more than a million people have now passed by to view the body of Pope John Paul II, some 18,000 an hour. Where to put all these people? Well, the ancient Roman circus Maximus has actually been converted to a free campground for visitors. The pope will, of course, be buried in a tomb beneath St. Peter's. President Bush will head the U.S. delegation to Friday's funeral. Cardinals, meantime, have still not set a date for the conclave to make their choice for who will be the next pope.

Back in the U.S., Terri Schiavo's parents are holding a funeral mass for her tonight in Florida. Schiavo died last week, nearly two weeks after her feeding tube was removed. Her body was cremated on Saturday at her husband's request. Michael Schiavo is planning another service in Pennsylvania, where he will bury her remains. A court order requires he tell Terri's parents where and when that will happen.

And you may not want to forget your passport the next time you head to Canada, Mexico, Panama or Bermuda. The State Department official says by 2008, Americans will need their passport to re-enter the United States. Up until now, you've only needed your driver's license or government-issued ID. This move, all part of the intelligence reform bill passed by Congress last year.

Day two of America's largest anti-terror drill ever, focused on hospitals. Fake victims flocked to the decontamination tent in New Jersey and Connecticut after simulated biological and chemical weapons disasters. The $16 million exercise is meant to find problems in the nation's emergency planning.

And no, these are not fish. A closer look and you will see they're thousands of sharks swarming in South Florida's Juno Beach. That beach remains closed. Marine biologists say this kind of behavior, by the way, isn't out of the ordinary for this time of year, though still a good reason to keep me, at least, out of the water. Those are the latest from HEADLINE NEWS, Paula.

ZAHN: Thanks, Erica, and I will be thinking about the theme song from "Jaws" all night.

HILL: From "Jaws," yes.

ZAHN: I really appreciate that.

HILL: Whatever I can do.

ZAHN: Just when you thought it was safe. See you a little bit later on.

Time now for all of you to choose your favorite person of the day. Every day, you can vote on our Web site, cnn.com/paula. Today's choices: The mourners pouring into Rome, spending hours in line to pay their respects to the pope. Medal of Honor winner Sergeant Paul Smith for giving his life to save so many of his fellow soldiers in Iraq. And British Prime Minister Tony Blair, calling for a new election, even though his party has lost support in the polls.

We'll have the results for you a little bit later on in the show. But coming up next, a woman who some say is a martyr.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She had her Bible with her. And I understand that she held it up to protect herself when they went to shoot her, to kill her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: Please stay with us for the story of a nun whose passion was protecting the poor and the land they live on. It cost her her life.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ZAHN: And as millions pay their respects to Pope John Paul II, we turn now to the story of an American nun who also devoted her life to serving the poor. She was murdered in Brazil's Amazon jungle. It happened a couple of months ago. Her killers have already confessed, admitting they were paid about $20,000 to carry out the crime. But why did she become a target? The story from Drew Griffin.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These are the haunting images of Sister Dorothy Stang's last day, February 12, 2005. Her 40-year mission working with the poor in the Amazon ended in a murder that he sent shockwaves across Brazil. Days later Brazilians were shocked again as the confessed killers re-enacted their brutal crime. Refant Mina Salis (ph) showed the court and the media how he aimed a gun at Sister Dorothy's head, fired repeatedly. And as she laid dying in the mud, shot her again in the head. Salis and an accomplice said, they had been hired by wealthy ranchers and land holders who the prosecutors claim wanted the nun out of the way so they could continue to clear out the Amazon forest.

SISTER MARY GILLESPIE: She had her bible With her because she was very much a woman of the gospel. I understand that she held it up to protect herself when they went to shoot her, to kill her.

GRIFFIN: Sister Mary Gillespie lost one of her closest friends that day.

GILLESPIE: It's kind of horrifying for me even to -- to even have to say this. I just can't even envision why someone would want to kill this woman who was 73-years-old, and had only done good with her whole life, who would want to kill her.

GRIFFIN: How could they kill her? Because, say some locals, she had made enemies, lots of them. What began four decades ago as a mission to educate and care for the poor had carried Sister Dorothy to the hot center of a violent land conflict in which hundreds have died. Her journey began about as far from the dense Amazon jungle as you can imagine. Dorothy Stang grew up in this comfortable home just outside Dayton, Ohio, one of nine children in a close knit Catholic family. At age 14, just after World War II, she decided to join the Catholic order, the Sisters of Notre Dame De Namur and devote her life to the poor. She moved to Brazil eventually to the lawless Amazon region to work with peasant farmers.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is a land area that was totally degraded.

GRIFFIN: For decades she taught them to respect there fragile environment and to clear only enough land to grow the crops they needed to live. But Sister Dorothy, also saw the Amazon change. Two summers ago in a rare interview, she spoke to a British student documentary filmmaker.

SISTER DOROTHY STANG: The more and more that I'm here, I've been seeing the damage that's being done to the Amazon forest.

GRIFFIN: As the years went by, Sister Dorothy became more and more convinced that large ranchers and loggers were destroying the forest and the life it supports, leaving the land barren.

STANG: This has been totally -- it's become useless.

GRIFFIN: As her anger grew she began to speak out against the powerful ranching and logging interests.

STANG: And Brazil has about 30 percent of the world's bio- diversity. So, can you imagine when somebody chops down a tremendous area that burns for 10 days and we have lost forever all that bio- diversity that took thousands of years for all of this -- this plant life to originate and to develop, and we've lost in one fire. It's gone forever.

GRIFFIN: Words like these made some ranchers hate her.

DAVE STANG, BROTHER: She had this price on her head for a long time. We just never thought that such evil and cruelty would happen.

GRIFFIN: Dave Stang at age 67, is Dorothy's baby brother, a former priest himself.

D. STANG: What kind of human being would put the price on the head of another human being? Not just a nun, but what kind of world do we have that we do that -- to someone who's trying to give life.

GRIFFIN: In search of answers Dave journeyed to the Amazon frontier and one of his questions was why local officials did not protect his sister.

D. STANG: And she would say, I would go to the police and they would do nothing. They certainly did not protect my sister's life.

GRIFFIN: Local police say they did offer to protect Sister Dorothy but she had refused. Dorothy's friends say she never had a chance. On the day of the assassin shot her Sister Dorothy lay on the ground for hours bleeding to death as a soft rain fell.

GILLESPIE: We know that she laid there for five or six hours and all the blood and the rain and everything just merged together. And I guess if she was going to die, I think Dorothy would have died that way happily. She embraced the spirit.

GRIFFIN: And hundreds embraced her. Walking miles through the jungle to her funeral in the tiny frontier town where she lived. In fact, Sister Dorothy's death seems to have shamed Brazil into action. Within days of her death, Brazil declared some 20 million acres forever off limits to loggers including much of the forest Sister Dorothy fought to protect.

Dave Stang's pilgrimage finally ended at his sister's grave.

D. STANG: People have to be very careful to not need so much wood. To use what they have and reuse it and fix it. And not going after always more and more things. So, we have to learn to have the necessary things of life, and not ask ourselves what do we want, but what do I need? Because the planet only has so much to offer.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: A stand that cost her her life. CNN's Drew Griffin reporting from Brazil's rain forest. In one of her last letters to a friend Dorothy Stang wrote about her battles against the ranchers, quote -- "They see the forest as fast money. We see it as life,for the planet." And at her memorial service in Brazil, Sister Stang was remembered as the angel of the Amazon. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) ZAHN: So much for just wanting to get married and live happily ever -- after, that is. The British tabloids have been buzzing about the curse hovering over Prince Charles. First he and Camilla Parker- Bowles, his bride to be, can't get married in Buckingham Palace. And then the queen says, she won't come anyways. And now the pope's funeral has forced the to bump their Friday wedding to Saturday, even though two days ago they said they refused to bump the wedding. Well, tonight Charles and Camilla are "Our People in the News."

Here's Richard Quest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He's the heir to the throne, regal, stern, and destined for duty. She is the outdoorsy socialite, who long ago captured the prince's heart. Now after more than three decades of heartbreak and drama, the two are finally tying the knot.

CAROLINE GRAHAM, AUTHOR, "CAMILLA: THE TRUE STORY": People always say, why on earth did Charles pick Camilla over Diana. Diana was this beautiful, young, gorgeous fairy-tale princess, and Camilla is this sort of rather frumpy, dowdy, matronly kind of woman that looks like she hasn't had a good wash in a week. And, the answer is, that Camilla and Charles have always been soul mates.

QUEST: From the time he first met Camilla, the Prince of Wales knew she was the one, much to the dismay of many in British aristocracy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think Camilla is from the gentry, the British gentry. She's not an aristocrat in any sense of the word. She's somebody that is a bit of a chancier, she's done rather well for herself.

GRAHAM: When she started out with, Prince Charles the real aristocracy were going, well, goodness, she's mutton dressed as lamb. She is not the real deal.

QUEST: Some of her most notable relatives live across the pond. She shares ancestor with pop star Celine Dion and Madonna. Though hardly a material girl herself, Camilla Parker Bowles will soon sit at the highest echelons of royal establishment. It's a far cry from her early days as a rebellious tomboy.

GRAHAM: When she was at school one of her friends told me she would sneak out and have cigarettes on the top of the school building. She was a little rebel, a naughty little girl.

CHARLES, PRINCE OF WALES: I, Charles, Prince of Wales, do become your liege man, of life and limb.

QUEST: Young Prince Charles was a far more obedient child, with duty and destiny dictating his course. There was simply no room for rebellion. LADY COLIN CAMPBELL, ROYAL BIOGRAPHER: His parents never put him first, but his grandmother did, so he had the classic thing of getting what he wanted from the wrong source.

QUEST: Insulated from others his own age, the prince was an awkward teenager. As a student at Cambridge University, the prince made an effort to be more outgoing, acting in student plays. It was around the time of his graduation that he first hooked up with a girl named Camilla.

GRAHAM: Charles and Camilla first met on a wet polo field back in 1970. According to legend, Camilla went up to Charles and said, my great grandmother was your great grandfather's mistress, so, how about it?

QUEST: There is truth to Camilla's presumed chatter. Her great grandmother, Alice Keppel, was indeed King Edward VII's mistress at the turn of the last century. But Charles and Camilla have more than a family history binding them together. They both relished horses, hunting, and the outdoors. The two were said to be mad for each other and marriage was a possibility.

GRAHAM: The wife he chose had to be a virgin. Of course, Camilla, she certainly was by no mean as virgin. When he proposed the first time she knew that, a) she couldn't accept his proposal, and secondly she didn't want that kind of life for herself.

QUEST: The prince, having been turned down, followed his family's tradition of military service. He was away on naval duties when he heard that Camilla had married Andrew Parker Bowles, an officer in the Queens Cavalry. Though Camilla was involved with her own marriage, it was only a few years later before the prince and his old flame were back in touch.

GRAHAM: Andrew Parker Bowles was a womanizer. He had his own girlfriends, and when Camilla resumed her relationship with Prince Charles, it was something of a feather in Andrew's cap, having your wife sleeping with the future king of England is something that -- it might sound extraordinary to ordinary people -- but in that circle it's actually a little bit of a social kudos, if you will.

QUEST: In fact, Andrew and Camilla chose the prince as godfather to their first born. They will go on to have a second child, and all the while Camilla maintained her friendship with Charles and even helped him find a suitable bride.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's no doubt she vetted his girlfriends and did give the nod to Diana and even chaperoned her in those early days.

QUEST: On July 29, 1981, the world tuned in to see the wedding of Charles and Diana. But even amid this fairy tale fanfare, Camilla was never far from Charles' heart.

GRAHAM: On the eve of his wedding, Prince Charles gave Camilla Parker Bowles a bracelet entwined with the letters G and F for Gladys and Fred, which was their nicknames for each other, and they, indeed, still call each other, in private, those names, to this day.

Princess Diana found this bracelet, knew the nicknames because she'd heard him talking to Camilla on the telephone, and was absolutely devastated.

QUEST: Within a year, Princess Diana gave birth to an heir to the thrown, Prince William. On the surface, they seemed like a happy family. But by Prince Harry's birth in 1984, Diana had grown convinced that Charles was fooling around with Camilla.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She confronted Charles and said, well, now, why is this woman always around? She said that Charles came back to her with, do you expect me to be the only Prince of Wales who doesn't have a mistress?

QUEST: By 1992 Charles and Diana had separated. Divorce wouldn't come for another four years. In the meantime, the public would hear all the torrid details of a royal marriage dying from the inside out and, if there was any doubt about Camilla's role, that disappeared in 1993, when the tabloids printed graphic transcripts of recorded phone conversations between Charles and Camilla.

The next year Charles admitted adultery in a TV interview. The Queen Mother banned Camilla from the royal residences. The following year, it was Diana's turn, this time to sit doe-eyed before the BBC's camera.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you think Mrs. Parker Bowles was a factor in the breakdown of your marriage?

PRINCESS DIANA: Well, there were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded.

QUEST: After these revelations Camilla became a national pariah. While shopping in a supermarket, angry patrons hurled dinner rolls at what they saw as the scheming other woman. In the middle of it all, her own husband divorced her. Camilla's social shut-out was complete, and yet things were about to get even worse.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: Part II when we come back: Camilla riles the commoners. Oh, boy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GRAHAM: Diana had just died. This beloved character had gone off in the most horrendous way and Camilla was just loathed. At one point, she went out in the street and was shouted at by people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: The woman the British love to hate, right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) ZAHN: We continue now with part two of our "People in the News." Our royal watcher Richard Quest on Camilla Parker Bowles' struggle to win over the British public.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: By 1995, Princess Diana was at the height of her popularity. Camilla was a lady in disgrace, derided as the spoiler of the fairy tale marriage. But with the help of Prince Charles, the woman Diana had called the "rottweiler" set out to redeem herself.

GRAHAM: She had many of Prince Charles' advisers helping her through this quite troublesome time. She became a patron of the National Osteoporosis Society, which is a charity that's still very dear to her heart. Her mother died of it.

QUEST: Though careful never to appear before the cameras together, Charles and Camilla gradually gained acceptance as a couple in London's highest society. In July of '97 Charles threw a 50th birthday bash for Camilla. Among the friends in attendance, Camilla's ex-husband and his second wife.

GRAHAM: He's very close to both Camilla and Charles to this day. They are still great friends. They see each other all the time. He's always condoned the relationship.

QUEST: Her close friends may have been forgiving, but the British public still had a long way to go in approving Camilla. And the national tragedy would soon provide another obstacle to Camilla's acceptance.

GRAHAM: Diana had just died. This beloved character had gone off in the most horrendous way, and Camilla was just loathed. At one point, she went in the street and was shouted at by people.

QUEST: Camilla stayed out of the public eye. Within a year of the funeral, at a closed door meeting, she made a breakthrough. She had tea with Charles. Prince William dropped in for a visit. It was Camilla and the young prince's first meeting. Though she told friends she required a stiff drink after the encounter, the two reportedly got on well.

CAMPBELL: That, I think, allowed the British public to feel that, oh, well, you know, maybe we can accept her, too. And so there's been a groundswell of acceptance.

QUEST: Prince Charles was now openly making it clear that his relationship with Camilla was, in his words, non-negotiable. The couple chose another family affair to face the media glare, as a couple for the first time.

(on camera): It was here at the Ritz Hotel in London that we got confirmation of sorts that Charles and Camilla were now an item. They were attending a birthday party. The press had been tipped off. At the end of the evening, the couple would appear together. (voice-over): The photographers' flashes were so intense, TV stations ran the footage in slow motion, to prevent the strobe-like effect from sparking seizures in epileptic viewers. In later photos, of course, it was Charles and Camilla who took things slowly, carefully seeking and gradually gaining at least some public acceptance.

At Queen Elizabeth's jubilee celebration in 2002, Camilla was allowed to sit in the royal box, but not permitted to sit next to Charles. Protocol and tradition continued to be formidable barriers.

GRAHAM: The turning point for Prince Charles came in November 2004, at a very large society wedding in London, of Lady Tamara Grosvenor and Edward van Cutsem, who is Prince Charles's godson. And when he announced that he would be bringing Camilla, they insisted on her not sitting beside Charles for protocol reasons. Prince Charles then said to his advisers and also to his mother the queen, this is crazy, enough is enough. You know, I have been with this woman 35 years. I want to marry her. And that was when the wedding plans first went into motion.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How are you feeling, ma'am?

CAMILLA PARKER BOWLES: All right.

QUEST: At a photo call of the happy couple, Camilla sported an eight-carat diamond engagement ring, one that belonged to the late queen mother.

GRAHAM: The queen mother hated Camilla. And I think while she was alive, the question of Charles marrying her was totally out of the question. The queen mother remembered the abdication crisis of Edward and Mrs. Simpson, and while she was around, you know, no way would Camilla marry Charles.

QUEST: Royal servants had only eight weeks to plan this wedding. To lay the groundwork for what can only be described as arrangements that turned into farce.

(on camera): Charles and Camilla had originally intended to get married amidst the splendor of Windsor Castle, but that's when the problems started. The authorities discovered that the castle doesn't actually have a license where marriage ceremonies can be conducted. To get a license would mean anyone else could get wed there for the next three years. And that was too much for the royal family.

So now on their wedding day, the couple will travel from the castle past the Reject China shop, the trendy clothes store and the tacky souvenir store, to the local Guild Hall.

(voice-over): The queen caused a stir when she announced she would not be attending the marriage ceremony. She will, however, attend the church blessing afterwards. Though not an actual wedding ceremony, the blessing will present the appearance of a proper Cinderella wedding. And unlike the civil ceremony, camera crews will be allowed. Image management remains a priority in the royal family. When Camilla marries Charles, she won't use the title "Princess of Wales." That's a designation deeply associated with Princess Diana. Instead, Camilla becomes the duchess of Cornwall. The prince's office says that when her husband becomes King Charles II, Camilla won't take the title of queen. Instead, they'd made up a title. She will be known as the princess consort.

CAMPBELL: Camilla will become queen, whether she is known as queen or not. Unless there is an act of Parliament -- I promise you, there will be no such act of Parliament -- whether she calls herself a bar of soap, her royal highness the princess consort, or Queen Camilla, she will still be queen of England.

QUEST: If not completely innocent, Camilla has nevertheless survived public anger, royal distemper, and the fury of the press. Now, after 35 years of hiding in the background, of trying to keep her love a secret, she will at least become a member of the family, at the highest level, an accepted pillar of society. She is finally taking her place beside her soul mate.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: Camilla, a survivor to say the least. Rich Quest reporting from -- for us from all over London. Prince Charles will represent the queen at Pope John Paul's funeral in Rome. Camilla will not be joining him.

Still ahead -- a mother's struggle becomes easier after being touched by the pope. Was it a miracle?

And please, don't forget to go to cnn.com/paula, and tell us if our person of the day should be the papal mourners, the Army sergeant whose memory is being honored by the nation's top military decoration, or Britain's prime minister, who's just put his political future on the line announcing a new election.

We're going to find out a little bit later on, but first, about 14 minutes before the hour, time to check in one more time with Erica Hill of HEADLINE NEWS. Hi, Erica.

HILL: Hi, Paula. We start in Washington, where President Bush's lead law enforcers are now urging Congress to renew the Patriot Act. Both Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and FBI Director Robert Mueller told the Senate Judiciary Committee the Patriot Act is needed because it is helping fight the war on terror. Gonzales did acknowledge, however, concern some lawmakers have that the law tramples on civil liberties and told them he is open to suggestions for changing that.

A federal report released today on the World Trade Center reveals building violations there. The report says the impact of the planes and ignited jet fuel on September 11th were not in themselves enough to bring the towers down, but investigators say if the fireproofing had remained in place, the skyscrapers likely would not have collapsed. The findings are a part of three reports issued by the National Institute of Standards and Technology. British Prime Minister Tony Blair is officially seeking a third term. He says it will be his last. He announced national elections will be held on May 5th. And while most observers don't expect Blair to lose, anger over the Iraq war could easily cost his Labor Party much of its parliamentary majority.

A tip from "America's Most Wanted" helps reunite a woman with her family 10 years after she was kidnapped. The woman, Bobbie Parker, is the wife of an Oklahoma prison warden. Escaped killer Randolph Dial allegedly kidnapped her. Dial was tracked down yesterday in Texas. Parker was then found working at a nearby chicken farm. She said she was forced to stay with Dial out of fear for her family.

And that's a quick look at the top stories from HEADLINE NEWS at this hour. Paula, back to you.

ZAHN: Thanks so much, Erica. "LARRY KING LIVE" is just ahead at 9:00. He's in town; he's down the hall. And Larry, I know you're starting off tonight talking about Peter Jennings. We are all so sad to hear the news he shared with his audience tonight.

LARRY KING, HOST, LARRY KING LIVE: We're going to do the whole show about Peter. We're going to have two people who have lung cancer, two relatives who have lost people to lung cancer, and an oncologist who specializes in it.

Lung cancer is the topic. We'll be including viewer phone calls, as well. This is a really sad day. And Peter begins his chemotherapy next week. It is inoperable. We'll find out all about that at 9:00 Eastern. Thanks, Paula.

ZAHN: I thought it was so nice, the way he expressed his thanks so much for all of the good wishes of everybody that's e-mailed him and called him today. He's going to need a lot of support.

KING: Sure will.

ZAHN: Thanks, Larry.

KING: Thanks.

ZAHN: See you a little bit later on. Please stay with us, everyone, for a story of a family's faith and whose prayers were answered after an encounter with the pope.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ZAHN: As millions of people are expected to converge on Rome to pay their respects to Pope John Paul, we're starting to focus in on the many lives that have been changed by his ministry. To really understand how he touched people, you have to hear their individual stories.

Here's Maria Hinojosa with one of them.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) MARIA HINOJOSA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Barbara Cherot (ph) and her 30-year-old son, Kerry (ph), are coming from yet another doctor's appointment. Kerry has cerebral palsy and mental retardation. He can't speak or fend for himself, but his mother and his love of the pope have enriched Kerry's life.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ready? We are going to go down to church, knell down and pray. Your going to say a prayer for the pope?

HINOJOSA: Barbara works at St. Peter's Church in Yonkers, New York. She and Kerry can pray there whenever they want, when no one else is around. Like the afternoon the pope was declared gravely ill.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's very sick now. Are you going to say some prayers for him? Pray that God won't make him suffer. Do the sign of the cross.

HINOJOSA: Kerry's fate is visible. He wants to pray out loud, forming words that he just can't get out.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Light this candle for the pope.

HINOJOSA: Kerry's way of showing his faith is right for him, and he knows it's OK because the pope touched him, blessed him just the way he is. In 1993, Kerry was chosen to receive communion from the pope at the youth rally in Denver. His mother was there, too.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He touched my face. Tears were streaming down my face and then he gave me communion.

HINOJOSA (on camera): And what was that?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No words were exchanged, of course, because he was, you know, sacred moment. He was giving out communion. But it was like -- you know, it was almost like him saying, you know, great job. You're doing a great job.

HINOJOSA (voice-over): The communion with the pope 12 years ago changed Barbara's life.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, we have been over hurdles, but we get through them all now. We get through them all. You know, it's been a lot of tough times in our lives, but we've got through them. From then on, things just got easier for me.

HINOJOSA: Within a year of the pope's blessings Kerry made a huge break through. At 20-years-old he was finally able to feed himself. Barbara says Pope John Paul reached out to the disabled years before he himself would become disabled unable to walk. And like Kerry, unable to care for himself. This pope says, Barbara was the people's pope.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're praying. We're just praying. You know, hoping that the next pope will continue on. Don't let things go backward.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: A thought we should all live by. That was Maria Hinojosa reporting another story of a life deeply touched by Pope John Paul II. In just a minute, your choice for the "Person of the Day." Find out if you picked the papal mourners, Sergeant Paul Smith, winner of the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest military award, or British Prime Minister Tony Blair, whose just called election -- when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ZAHN: Drumroll, please. The voting's done. It's time to reveal our "Person of the Day." The choices once again, the pope's mourners for spending up to eight to 12 hours in line to spend two seconds to say good-bye to the pope. Sergeant Paul Smith, the first winner of the nation's highest military honor, the Medal of Honor in the Iraq War. And Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair for calling new elections risking his party's hold on power.

And the person you chose -- Medal of Honor winner Sergeant Paul Smith.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN (voice-over): At the Pentagon today, they unveiled a photograph and plaque honoring Army Sergeant Paul Smith.

DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: We stand in awe of the heroism described in Sergeant Smith's citation.

ZAHN: On April 4, 2003, alone at a machine gun, Sergeant Smith held off more than 100 attacking Iraqis, drawing their fire killing at least 50 of his enemies and losing his life.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He could have had any one of the soldiers get up there, but instead he put his life on the line to protect us, the fellow soldiers in his platoon.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: His actions in that courtyard saved the lives of more than 100 American soldiers. Scripture tells us as the general said, that a man has no greater love than to lay down his life for his friends.

ZAHN: Yesterday, sergeant Smith's son and widow took part in a White House awards ceremony.

BIRGIT SMITH, WIFE OF MEDAL OF HONOR RECIPIENT: I've gotten many letters and they thank me in those letters that their sons and husbands made it home. And they're sorry for my loss, but if Paul wouldn't have done that day what he did they wouldn't have made it home.

ZAHN: Sergeant Smith is the first Medal of Honor recipient from the Iraq War, only the third to win the medal since Vietnam.

SMITH: He just took over like always. And it cost him his life. He saved a lot of lives and he gave his own for his soldiers. ZAHN: Sergeant Paul Ray Smith, our "Person of the Day."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: Since the Medal of Honor was created in 1861, more than 3,400 members of the U.S. Military have received it.

That's it for all us here tonight. Thanks so much for being with us. We'll be back same time, same place tomorrow night.

"LARRY KING LIVE" is next, have a great night.

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 April 5, 2005 - 20:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, HOST: Thank you so much, Anderson. Good evening. Welcome. Glad to have you with us tonight. In just a minute, the latest on preparations for the pope's funeral, and the unbelievable story of an American nun in Brazil who was murdered because she fought for the poor.
But we begin tonight with the news that ABC anchor Peter Jennings has lung cancer.

Since 1964, Jennings has covered the world, first and foremost as a journalist, and for the past 22 years as anchor for ABC "World News Tonight." At a time when NBC's Tom Brokaw and CBS's Dan Rather have stepped aside, Jennings is still on the air, but he was also a smoker for quite a few years.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN (voice-over): This year, every year, roughly 160,000 Americans will die from lung cancer. It's the leading killer among cancers, claiming more lives every year than breast, prostate and colon cancer combined. 82 percent of lung cancer deaths are blamed on smoking, 82 percent. And Peter Jennings was a smoker.

PETER JENNINGS, ABC NEWS ANCHOR: Yes, I was a smoker until about 20 years ago, and I was weak, and I smoked over 9/11. But whatever the reason, the news does slow you down a bit.

ZAHN: There have been a number of famous smokers who died from lung cancer: Edward R. Murrow, Chet Huntley, Harry Reasoner, as well as Walt Disney, John Wayne and Yul Brynner. Because lung cancer is usually well advanced before it is detected, just one in five victims lives for more than five years after being diagnosed. But Jennings says he plans to continue anchoring ABC "World News Tonight."

JENNINGS: I have been reminding my colleagues today, who have been incredibly supportive, that almost 10 million Americans are already living with cancer and I have a lot to learn from them. And living is the key word. The National Cancer Institute says we are survivors from the moment of diagnosis. I will continue to do the broadcast on good days -- my voice will not always be like this. To be perfectly honest I'm a little surprised at the kindness today from so many people. That's not intended as false modesty. But, even I was taken aback by how far and how fast news travels. Finally, I wonder if other men and women ask their doctors right away, okay, doc, when does the hair go? (END VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: We're rooting for you, Peter.

Joining me now, senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Sanjay, it had to be so tough for him to share this with us publicly. Peter did not divulge the stage of his disease, but what we do know, when have you stage one lung cancer, it can be treated through surgery and is usually curable. He's going to be treated with chemotherapy. What does that suggest to you?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, there's a couple of things. Again, as you mentioned, we don't know the stage of his lung cancer. It could mean either the lung cancer is not as advanced, or it could mean that it's more advanced. The reason is, if someone doesn't have a particular advanced lung cancer, a lot of times going to get surgery first to try to remove the localized tumor. More advanced cancer, sometimes they give chemotherapy first. It is really hard to say based on that alone, Paula.

ZAHN: How treatable is lung cancer if found early?

GUPTA: You know, it's interesting. We have done a lot of homework on this. They haven't made particularly great strides in the treatment of lung cancer, not over the last 10 years. If you look at everybody that has lung cancer, about six out of 10 people will die within the first year, and within a couple of years, seven or eight out of 10, so not great.

Some of the symptoms of lung cancer more well known. Coughing, some shortness of breath, pressure in the chest sometimes, fatigue, all those sorts of things can happen. But it can be very difficult to diagnose, and that's the hard part, Paula, because a lot of patients are caught late in their diagnosis of lung cancer.

ZAHN: Peter made reference to the weakness of his voice tonight and said it's not always going to be like that. But he also went on in his e-mail to his colleagues to expand on the idea, we heard him say on the air, where he said almost 10 million Americans are living with cancer. I'm sure I will learn from them how to cope. How might the chemo treatments slow him down?

GUPTA: They are probably going to slow him down. I mean, chemo -- it's a toxic medication. It has a purpose, which is to try to kill these cells, but in the process, unfortunately, it kills other cells, as well. Sometimes it can cause side effects. These are well-known. Sometimes changes in blood pressure, they can cause diarrhea, they can cause hair loss, they can cause sores in the mouth, as well.

What happens here, Paula, is that if, you look at the tumor cells, they divide very rapidly, and the chemo sort of targets the fact that they divide rapidly. There are other cells in the body that divide rapidly as well, such as your hair, for example. The cells in your GI tract, which is why people get sick to the stomach and they lose their hair with chemotherapy, Paula. ZAHN: We mentioned at the top of this piece how many people have died from lung cancer. What are the lessons to be learned from those cases and everything we know about smoking today? I know it's not going to make you too popular with the tobacco lobby out there, Sanjay, but you are a doctor first and foremost.

GUPTA: They know this as well, Paula. Everybody know this is. Here have you one of the most cogent, well-defined relationships ever in medicine. Smoking causes lung cancer. People know this. Don't smoke. You can't say it enough on television. You can't say it enough times period. Right now, if people listen to us, we can save more lives by people stopping smoking than anything else I will do in my entire career as a physician. It's a really important relationship. Don't smoke.

ZAHN: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thank you.

GUPTA: Thank you.

ZAHN: In just a minute, we change our focus. The shocking story of the killing of a missionary

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: An American nun murdered in Brazil.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She had this price on her head for a long time.

ZAHN: Fighting the powerful. Dedicated to the poor and to God. Tonight, the life and death of Sister Dorothy Stang when PAULA ZAHN NOW continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ZAHN: An absolutely incredible scene. 2:00 in the morning Rome time, the faithful just keep on coming in hopes of paying their last respects. Lots of new developments in Rome today. A continuous crush of visitors, security headaches, lots of questions about the pope's burial.

Let's turn to Anderson Cooper, who is standing by in Vatican City, to share with us a little of what he has witnessed today. Anderson, I have heard these stories all day long, people spending 24 hours in cars to get to line where they wait for another 12 hours so they can see the pope for two seconds. What have they told you today as they waited through these tremendous lines?

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's an incredible scene here. It's about 10 past 2:00 a.m., as you said, and this line stretches as far as the eye can see. You can see St. Peter's Basilica behind me, and the line, I mean, even though we're relatively close, the line -- this is still about a two or three hour wait from where I'm standing. And people, just to get here, have been standing in line some for 10 hours. We just talked to a man from the United States who has been here for 10 hours. He came here directly. He still had his bag from the airplane. He plans to sleep here.

The people who are here right now, they are not moving anywhere probably until dawn when they reopen St. Peter's Basilica. So it will be -- I mean, upwards of 16 hours for some of these people.

And yet a lot of them are staying. I mean, they aren't leaving. We see a few people who have left the line when they were told that the basilica is closing right now, but we have also seen a number of people actually passing out. I know we have some video of that. But I mean, this is quite a common sight. I have been walking around this line for about three or four hours. I have seen at least half a dozen people collapse, being taken away on stretchers, taken away by ambulance. They have water that -- authorities have water that they are handing out to people. They are also giving people just sugar packets, just to keep their energy up. They are giving them blankets, because it does get quite cold here at night, and yet the people still keep on coming.

A million people by now, according to Vatican officials, 18,000 people going through those doors of St. Peter's Basilica every hour -- 18,000 every hour. Tomorrow is expected another 600,000 people at least.

It is an extraordinary event, Paula.

ZAHN: It's incredible. And I guess what impresses me the most is the sense of discipline you see in these lines. You get a sense of orderliness there. When someone passes out, no one is pushing, no one is shoving. It's not an American line, is it, Anderson?

COOPER: Well, yeah. You know, I think if we had an event like this in America it would probably be the same. But it's definitely not like a rock crowd. It's not like lines for standing in lines for movies, you know, in New York. We all know how tough that can be.

I was in the line earlier this evening, and suddenly everyone in the crowd started yelling "Massimo, Massimo." And it turned out one of the police officers who was in that area -- his name was Massimo -- and they were alerting him that someone had fainted in the midst of the crowd. And they immediately parted. Paramedics went in and pulled this man out of the crowd. He must have been in his 60s. And they just took him away to a medic tent.

It is just a very -- there's a real sense of community here. And it's a sense of reverence. And as the line gets closer to St. Peter's Basilica, it quiets down, and it becomes more somber, as is appropriate as one is approaching the pope, Paula.

ZAHN: I guess what I'm having trouble understanding, Anderson, is how an area that's usually controlled by 200 military personnel is so effectively restraining and containing these crowds when you're talking about maybe by the end of the week a couple million people passing through here.

COOPER: Yeah, yeah, very likely. I mean, they had estimated two million people. They are already at a million. It's likely to well surpass that two million figure.

They are pouring in resources, pouring in police, undercover police. Once dignitaries start to arrive here for the funeral on Friday, of course, there will be snipers, there will be the security we see and the security we don't see, Carabinieri and the like. Security is very tight here. You know, we have special passes that have allowed us to sort of cut through the crowds just to get here. But it is very tight, and there are a lot of police on the ground, Paula.

ZAHN: Well, it's a stunning thing to watch from here. Thanks so much, Anderson.

The pope's funeral forced a delay in plans for Britain's latest royal wedding. Coming up, the rocky road from the meeting to the marriage. Is there a curse at work here?

Also ahead -- two lives that were even more profoundly affected by a meeting with the pope.

First, though, time to check in with Erica Hill of HEADLINE NEWS to see what else is going on tonight. Hi, Erica.

ERICA HILL, HEADLINE NEWS: Hi, Paula, good to see you. We're actually going to start back in Vatican City and in Rome. As you heard Anderson say, more than a million people have now passed by to view the body of Pope John Paul II, some 18,000 an hour. Where to put all these people? Well, the ancient Roman circus Maximus has actually been converted to a free campground for visitors. The pope will, of course, be buried in a tomb beneath St. Peter's. President Bush will head the U.S. delegation to Friday's funeral. Cardinals, meantime, have still not set a date for the conclave to make their choice for who will be the next pope.

Back in the U.S., Terri Schiavo's parents are holding a funeral mass for her tonight in Florida. Schiavo died last week, nearly two weeks after her feeding tube was removed. Her body was cremated on Saturday at her husband's request. Michael Schiavo is planning another service in Pennsylvania, where he will bury her remains. A court order requires he tell Terri's parents where and when that will happen.

And you may not want to forget your passport the next time you head to Canada, Mexico, Panama or Bermuda. The State Department official says by 2008, Americans will need their passport to re-enter the United States. Up until now, you've only needed your driver's license or government-issued ID. This move, all part of the intelligence reform bill passed by Congress last year.

Day two of America's largest anti-terror drill ever, focused on hospitals. Fake victims flocked to the decontamination tent in New Jersey and Connecticut after simulated biological and chemical weapons disasters. The $16 million exercise is meant to find problems in the nation's emergency planning.

And no, these are not fish. A closer look and you will see they're thousands of sharks swarming in South Florida's Juno Beach. That beach remains closed. Marine biologists say this kind of behavior, by the way, isn't out of the ordinary for this time of year, though still a good reason to keep me, at least, out of the water. Those are the latest from HEADLINE NEWS, Paula.

ZAHN: Thanks, Erica, and I will be thinking about the theme song from "Jaws" all night.

HILL: From "Jaws," yes.

ZAHN: I really appreciate that.

HILL: Whatever I can do.

ZAHN: Just when you thought it was safe. See you a little bit later on.

Time now for all of you to choose your favorite person of the day. Every day, you can vote on our Web site, cnn.com/paula. Today's choices: The mourners pouring into Rome, spending hours in line to pay their respects to the pope. Medal of Honor winner Sergeant Paul Smith for giving his life to save so many of his fellow soldiers in Iraq. And British Prime Minister Tony Blair, calling for a new election, even though his party has lost support in the polls.

We'll have the results for you a little bit later on in the show. But coming up next, a woman who some say is a martyr.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She had her Bible with her. And I understand that she held it up to protect herself when they went to shoot her, to kill her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: Please stay with us for the story of a nun whose passion was protecting the poor and the land they live on. It cost her her life.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ZAHN: And as millions pay their respects to Pope John Paul II, we turn now to the story of an American nun who also devoted her life to serving the poor. She was murdered in Brazil's Amazon jungle. It happened a couple of months ago. Her killers have already confessed, admitting they were paid about $20,000 to carry out the crime. But why did she become a target? The story from Drew Griffin.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These are the haunting images of Sister Dorothy Stang's last day, February 12, 2005. Her 40-year mission working with the poor in the Amazon ended in a murder that he sent shockwaves across Brazil. Days later Brazilians were shocked again as the confessed killers re-enacted their brutal crime. Refant Mina Salis (ph) showed the court and the media how he aimed a gun at Sister Dorothy's head, fired repeatedly. And as she laid dying in the mud, shot her again in the head. Salis and an accomplice said, they had been hired by wealthy ranchers and land holders who the prosecutors claim wanted the nun out of the way so they could continue to clear out the Amazon forest.

SISTER MARY GILLESPIE: She had her bible With her because she was very much a woman of the gospel. I understand that she held it up to protect herself when they went to shoot her, to kill her.

GRIFFIN: Sister Mary Gillespie lost one of her closest friends that day.

GILLESPIE: It's kind of horrifying for me even to -- to even have to say this. I just can't even envision why someone would want to kill this woman who was 73-years-old, and had only done good with her whole life, who would want to kill her.

GRIFFIN: How could they kill her? Because, say some locals, she had made enemies, lots of them. What began four decades ago as a mission to educate and care for the poor had carried Sister Dorothy to the hot center of a violent land conflict in which hundreds have died. Her journey began about as far from the dense Amazon jungle as you can imagine. Dorothy Stang grew up in this comfortable home just outside Dayton, Ohio, one of nine children in a close knit Catholic family. At age 14, just after World War II, she decided to join the Catholic order, the Sisters of Notre Dame De Namur and devote her life to the poor. She moved to Brazil eventually to the lawless Amazon region to work with peasant farmers.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is a land area that was totally degraded.

GRIFFIN: For decades she taught them to respect there fragile environment and to clear only enough land to grow the crops they needed to live. But Sister Dorothy, also saw the Amazon change. Two summers ago in a rare interview, she spoke to a British student documentary filmmaker.

SISTER DOROTHY STANG: The more and more that I'm here, I've been seeing the damage that's being done to the Amazon forest.

GRIFFIN: As the years went by, Sister Dorothy became more and more convinced that large ranchers and loggers were destroying the forest and the life it supports, leaving the land barren.

STANG: This has been totally -- it's become useless.

GRIFFIN: As her anger grew she began to speak out against the powerful ranching and logging interests.

STANG: And Brazil has about 30 percent of the world's bio- diversity. So, can you imagine when somebody chops down a tremendous area that burns for 10 days and we have lost forever all that bio- diversity that took thousands of years for all of this -- this plant life to originate and to develop, and we've lost in one fire. It's gone forever.

GRIFFIN: Words like these made some ranchers hate her.

DAVE STANG, BROTHER: She had this price on her head for a long time. We just never thought that such evil and cruelty would happen.

GRIFFIN: Dave Stang at age 67, is Dorothy's baby brother, a former priest himself.

D. STANG: What kind of human being would put the price on the head of another human being? Not just a nun, but what kind of world do we have that we do that -- to someone who's trying to give life.

GRIFFIN: In search of answers Dave journeyed to the Amazon frontier and one of his questions was why local officials did not protect his sister.

D. STANG: And she would say, I would go to the police and they would do nothing. They certainly did not protect my sister's life.

GRIFFIN: Local police say they did offer to protect Sister Dorothy but she had refused. Dorothy's friends say she never had a chance. On the day of the assassin shot her Sister Dorothy lay on the ground for hours bleeding to death as a soft rain fell.

GILLESPIE: We know that she laid there for five or six hours and all the blood and the rain and everything just merged together. And I guess if she was going to die, I think Dorothy would have died that way happily. She embraced the spirit.

GRIFFIN: And hundreds embraced her. Walking miles through the jungle to her funeral in the tiny frontier town where she lived. In fact, Sister Dorothy's death seems to have shamed Brazil into action. Within days of her death, Brazil declared some 20 million acres forever off limits to loggers including much of the forest Sister Dorothy fought to protect.

Dave Stang's pilgrimage finally ended at his sister's grave.

D. STANG: People have to be very careful to not need so much wood. To use what they have and reuse it and fix it. And not going after always more and more things. So, we have to learn to have the necessary things of life, and not ask ourselves what do we want, but what do I need? Because the planet only has so much to offer.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: A stand that cost her her life. CNN's Drew Griffin reporting from Brazil's rain forest. In one of her last letters to a friend Dorothy Stang wrote about her battles against the ranchers, quote -- "They see the forest as fast money. We see it as life,for the planet." And at her memorial service in Brazil, Sister Stang was remembered as the angel of the Amazon. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) ZAHN: So much for just wanting to get married and live happily ever -- after, that is. The British tabloids have been buzzing about the curse hovering over Prince Charles. First he and Camilla Parker- Bowles, his bride to be, can't get married in Buckingham Palace. And then the queen says, she won't come anyways. And now the pope's funeral has forced the to bump their Friday wedding to Saturday, even though two days ago they said they refused to bump the wedding. Well, tonight Charles and Camilla are "Our People in the News."

Here's Richard Quest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He's the heir to the throne, regal, stern, and destined for duty. She is the outdoorsy socialite, who long ago captured the prince's heart. Now after more than three decades of heartbreak and drama, the two are finally tying the knot.

CAROLINE GRAHAM, AUTHOR, "CAMILLA: THE TRUE STORY": People always say, why on earth did Charles pick Camilla over Diana. Diana was this beautiful, young, gorgeous fairy-tale princess, and Camilla is this sort of rather frumpy, dowdy, matronly kind of woman that looks like she hasn't had a good wash in a week. And, the answer is, that Camilla and Charles have always been soul mates.

QUEST: From the time he first met Camilla, the Prince of Wales knew she was the one, much to the dismay of many in British aristocracy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think Camilla is from the gentry, the British gentry. She's not an aristocrat in any sense of the word. She's somebody that is a bit of a chancier, she's done rather well for herself.

GRAHAM: When she started out with, Prince Charles the real aristocracy were going, well, goodness, she's mutton dressed as lamb. She is not the real deal.

QUEST: Some of her most notable relatives live across the pond. She shares ancestor with pop star Celine Dion and Madonna. Though hardly a material girl herself, Camilla Parker Bowles will soon sit at the highest echelons of royal establishment. It's a far cry from her early days as a rebellious tomboy.

GRAHAM: When she was at school one of her friends told me she would sneak out and have cigarettes on the top of the school building. She was a little rebel, a naughty little girl.

CHARLES, PRINCE OF WALES: I, Charles, Prince of Wales, do become your liege man, of life and limb.

QUEST: Young Prince Charles was a far more obedient child, with duty and destiny dictating his course. There was simply no room for rebellion. LADY COLIN CAMPBELL, ROYAL BIOGRAPHER: His parents never put him first, but his grandmother did, so he had the classic thing of getting what he wanted from the wrong source.

QUEST: Insulated from others his own age, the prince was an awkward teenager. As a student at Cambridge University, the prince made an effort to be more outgoing, acting in student plays. It was around the time of his graduation that he first hooked up with a girl named Camilla.

GRAHAM: Charles and Camilla first met on a wet polo field back in 1970. According to legend, Camilla went up to Charles and said, my great grandmother was your great grandfather's mistress, so, how about it?

QUEST: There is truth to Camilla's presumed chatter. Her great grandmother, Alice Keppel, was indeed King Edward VII's mistress at the turn of the last century. But Charles and Camilla have more than a family history binding them together. They both relished horses, hunting, and the outdoors. The two were said to be mad for each other and marriage was a possibility.

GRAHAM: The wife he chose had to be a virgin. Of course, Camilla, she certainly was by no mean as virgin. When he proposed the first time she knew that, a) she couldn't accept his proposal, and secondly she didn't want that kind of life for herself.

QUEST: The prince, having been turned down, followed his family's tradition of military service. He was away on naval duties when he heard that Camilla had married Andrew Parker Bowles, an officer in the Queens Cavalry. Though Camilla was involved with her own marriage, it was only a few years later before the prince and his old flame were back in touch.

GRAHAM: Andrew Parker Bowles was a womanizer. He had his own girlfriends, and when Camilla resumed her relationship with Prince Charles, it was something of a feather in Andrew's cap, having your wife sleeping with the future king of England is something that -- it might sound extraordinary to ordinary people -- but in that circle it's actually a little bit of a social kudos, if you will.

QUEST: In fact, Andrew and Camilla chose the prince as godfather to their first born. They will go on to have a second child, and all the while Camilla maintained her friendship with Charles and even helped him find a suitable bride.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's no doubt she vetted his girlfriends and did give the nod to Diana and even chaperoned her in those early days.

QUEST: On July 29, 1981, the world tuned in to see the wedding of Charles and Diana. But even amid this fairy tale fanfare, Camilla was never far from Charles' heart.

GRAHAM: On the eve of his wedding, Prince Charles gave Camilla Parker Bowles a bracelet entwined with the letters G and F for Gladys and Fred, which was their nicknames for each other, and they, indeed, still call each other, in private, those names, to this day.

Princess Diana found this bracelet, knew the nicknames because she'd heard him talking to Camilla on the telephone, and was absolutely devastated.

QUEST: Within a year, Princess Diana gave birth to an heir to the thrown, Prince William. On the surface, they seemed like a happy family. But by Prince Harry's birth in 1984, Diana had grown convinced that Charles was fooling around with Camilla.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She confronted Charles and said, well, now, why is this woman always around? She said that Charles came back to her with, do you expect me to be the only Prince of Wales who doesn't have a mistress?

QUEST: By 1992 Charles and Diana had separated. Divorce wouldn't come for another four years. In the meantime, the public would hear all the torrid details of a royal marriage dying from the inside out and, if there was any doubt about Camilla's role, that disappeared in 1993, when the tabloids printed graphic transcripts of recorded phone conversations between Charles and Camilla.

The next year Charles admitted adultery in a TV interview. The Queen Mother banned Camilla from the royal residences. The following year, it was Diana's turn, this time to sit doe-eyed before the BBC's camera.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you think Mrs. Parker Bowles was a factor in the breakdown of your marriage?

PRINCESS DIANA: Well, there were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded.

QUEST: After these revelations Camilla became a national pariah. While shopping in a supermarket, angry patrons hurled dinner rolls at what they saw as the scheming other woman. In the middle of it all, her own husband divorced her. Camilla's social shut-out was complete, and yet things were about to get even worse.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: Part II when we come back: Camilla riles the commoners. Oh, boy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GRAHAM: Diana had just died. This beloved character had gone off in the most horrendous way and Camilla was just loathed. At one point, she went out in the street and was shouted at by people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: The woman the British love to hate, right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) ZAHN: We continue now with part two of our "People in the News." Our royal watcher Richard Quest on Camilla Parker Bowles' struggle to win over the British public.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: By 1995, Princess Diana was at the height of her popularity. Camilla was a lady in disgrace, derided as the spoiler of the fairy tale marriage. But with the help of Prince Charles, the woman Diana had called the "rottweiler" set out to redeem herself.

GRAHAM: She had many of Prince Charles' advisers helping her through this quite troublesome time. She became a patron of the National Osteoporosis Society, which is a charity that's still very dear to her heart. Her mother died of it.

QUEST: Though careful never to appear before the cameras together, Charles and Camilla gradually gained acceptance as a couple in London's highest society. In July of '97 Charles threw a 50th birthday bash for Camilla. Among the friends in attendance, Camilla's ex-husband and his second wife.

GRAHAM: He's very close to both Camilla and Charles to this day. They are still great friends. They see each other all the time. He's always condoned the relationship.

QUEST: Her close friends may have been forgiving, but the British public still had a long way to go in approving Camilla. And the national tragedy would soon provide another obstacle to Camilla's acceptance.

GRAHAM: Diana had just died. This beloved character had gone off in the most horrendous way, and Camilla was just loathed. At one point, she went in the street and was shouted at by people.

QUEST: Camilla stayed out of the public eye. Within a year of the funeral, at a closed door meeting, she made a breakthrough. She had tea with Charles. Prince William dropped in for a visit. It was Camilla and the young prince's first meeting. Though she told friends she required a stiff drink after the encounter, the two reportedly got on well.

CAMPBELL: That, I think, allowed the British public to feel that, oh, well, you know, maybe we can accept her, too. And so there's been a groundswell of acceptance.

QUEST: Prince Charles was now openly making it clear that his relationship with Camilla was, in his words, non-negotiable. The couple chose another family affair to face the media glare, as a couple for the first time.

(on camera): It was here at the Ritz Hotel in London that we got confirmation of sorts that Charles and Camilla were now an item. They were attending a birthday party. The press had been tipped off. At the end of the evening, the couple would appear together. (voice-over): The photographers' flashes were so intense, TV stations ran the footage in slow motion, to prevent the strobe-like effect from sparking seizures in epileptic viewers. In later photos, of course, it was Charles and Camilla who took things slowly, carefully seeking and gradually gaining at least some public acceptance.

At Queen Elizabeth's jubilee celebration in 2002, Camilla was allowed to sit in the royal box, but not permitted to sit next to Charles. Protocol and tradition continued to be formidable barriers.

GRAHAM: The turning point for Prince Charles came in November 2004, at a very large society wedding in London, of Lady Tamara Grosvenor and Edward van Cutsem, who is Prince Charles's godson. And when he announced that he would be bringing Camilla, they insisted on her not sitting beside Charles for protocol reasons. Prince Charles then said to his advisers and also to his mother the queen, this is crazy, enough is enough. You know, I have been with this woman 35 years. I want to marry her. And that was when the wedding plans first went into motion.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How are you feeling, ma'am?

CAMILLA PARKER BOWLES: All right.

QUEST: At a photo call of the happy couple, Camilla sported an eight-carat diamond engagement ring, one that belonged to the late queen mother.

GRAHAM: The queen mother hated Camilla. And I think while she was alive, the question of Charles marrying her was totally out of the question. The queen mother remembered the abdication crisis of Edward and Mrs. Simpson, and while she was around, you know, no way would Camilla marry Charles.

QUEST: Royal servants had only eight weeks to plan this wedding. To lay the groundwork for what can only be described as arrangements that turned into farce.

(on camera): Charles and Camilla had originally intended to get married amidst the splendor of Windsor Castle, but that's when the problems started. The authorities discovered that the castle doesn't actually have a license where marriage ceremonies can be conducted. To get a license would mean anyone else could get wed there for the next three years. And that was too much for the royal family.

So now on their wedding day, the couple will travel from the castle past the Reject China shop, the trendy clothes store and the tacky souvenir store, to the local Guild Hall.

(voice-over): The queen caused a stir when she announced she would not be attending the marriage ceremony. She will, however, attend the church blessing afterwards. Though not an actual wedding ceremony, the blessing will present the appearance of a proper Cinderella wedding. And unlike the civil ceremony, camera crews will be allowed. Image management remains a priority in the royal family. When Camilla marries Charles, she won't use the title "Princess of Wales." That's a designation deeply associated with Princess Diana. Instead, Camilla becomes the duchess of Cornwall. The prince's office says that when her husband becomes King Charles II, Camilla won't take the title of queen. Instead, they'd made up a title. She will be known as the princess consort.

CAMPBELL: Camilla will become queen, whether she is known as queen or not. Unless there is an act of Parliament -- I promise you, there will be no such act of Parliament -- whether she calls herself a bar of soap, her royal highness the princess consort, or Queen Camilla, she will still be queen of England.

QUEST: If not completely innocent, Camilla has nevertheless survived public anger, royal distemper, and the fury of the press. Now, after 35 years of hiding in the background, of trying to keep her love a secret, she will at least become a member of the family, at the highest level, an accepted pillar of society. She is finally taking her place beside her soul mate.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: Camilla, a survivor to say the least. Rich Quest reporting from -- for us from all over London. Prince Charles will represent the queen at Pope John Paul's funeral in Rome. Camilla will not be joining him.

Still ahead -- a mother's struggle becomes easier after being touched by the pope. Was it a miracle?

And please, don't forget to go to cnn.com/paula, and tell us if our person of the day should be the papal mourners, the Army sergeant whose memory is being honored by the nation's top military decoration, or Britain's prime minister, who's just put his political future on the line announcing a new election.

We're going to find out a little bit later on, but first, about 14 minutes before the hour, time to check in one more time with Erica Hill of HEADLINE NEWS. Hi, Erica.

HILL: Hi, Paula. We start in Washington, where President Bush's lead law enforcers are now urging Congress to renew the Patriot Act. Both Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and FBI Director Robert Mueller told the Senate Judiciary Committee the Patriot Act is needed because it is helping fight the war on terror. Gonzales did acknowledge, however, concern some lawmakers have that the law tramples on civil liberties and told them he is open to suggestions for changing that.

A federal report released today on the World Trade Center reveals building violations there. The report says the impact of the planes and ignited jet fuel on September 11th were not in themselves enough to bring the towers down, but investigators say if the fireproofing had remained in place, the skyscrapers likely would not have collapsed. The findings are a part of three reports issued by the National Institute of Standards and Technology. British Prime Minister Tony Blair is officially seeking a third term. He says it will be his last. He announced national elections will be held on May 5th. And while most observers don't expect Blair to lose, anger over the Iraq war could easily cost his Labor Party much of its parliamentary majority.

A tip from "America's Most Wanted" helps reunite a woman with her family 10 years after she was kidnapped. The woman, Bobbie Parker, is the wife of an Oklahoma prison warden. Escaped killer Randolph Dial allegedly kidnapped her. Dial was tracked down yesterday in Texas. Parker was then found working at a nearby chicken farm. She said she was forced to stay with Dial out of fear for her family.

And that's a quick look at the top stories from HEADLINE NEWS at this hour. Paula, back to you.

ZAHN: Thanks so much, Erica. "LARRY KING LIVE" is just ahead at 9:00. He's in town; he's down the hall. And Larry, I know you're starting off tonight talking about Peter Jennings. We are all so sad to hear the news he shared with his audience tonight.

LARRY KING, HOST, LARRY KING LIVE: We're going to do the whole show about Peter. We're going to have two people who have lung cancer, two relatives who have lost people to lung cancer, and an oncologist who specializes in it.

Lung cancer is the topic. We'll be including viewer phone calls, as well. This is a really sad day. And Peter begins his chemotherapy next week. It is inoperable. We'll find out all about that at 9:00 Eastern. Thanks, Paula.

ZAHN: I thought it was so nice, the way he expressed his thanks so much for all of the good wishes of everybody that's e-mailed him and called him today. He's going to need a lot of support.

KING: Sure will.

ZAHN: Thanks, Larry.

KING: Thanks.

ZAHN: See you a little bit later on. Please stay with us, everyone, for a story of a family's faith and whose prayers were answered after an encounter with the pope.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ZAHN: As millions of people are expected to converge on Rome to pay their respects to Pope John Paul, we're starting to focus in on the many lives that have been changed by his ministry. To really understand how he touched people, you have to hear their individual stories.

Here's Maria Hinojosa with one of them.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) MARIA HINOJOSA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Barbara Cherot (ph) and her 30-year-old son, Kerry (ph), are coming from yet another doctor's appointment. Kerry has cerebral palsy and mental retardation. He can't speak or fend for himself, but his mother and his love of the pope have enriched Kerry's life.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ready? We are going to go down to church, knell down and pray. Your going to say a prayer for the pope?

HINOJOSA: Barbara works at St. Peter's Church in Yonkers, New York. She and Kerry can pray there whenever they want, when no one else is around. Like the afternoon the pope was declared gravely ill.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's very sick now. Are you going to say some prayers for him? Pray that God won't make him suffer. Do the sign of the cross.

HINOJOSA: Kerry's fate is visible. He wants to pray out loud, forming words that he just can't get out.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Light this candle for the pope.

HINOJOSA: Kerry's way of showing his faith is right for him, and he knows it's OK because the pope touched him, blessed him just the way he is. In 1993, Kerry was chosen to receive communion from the pope at the youth rally in Denver. His mother was there, too.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He touched my face. Tears were streaming down my face and then he gave me communion.

HINOJOSA (on camera): And what was that?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No words were exchanged, of course, because he was, you know, sacred moment. He was giving out communion. But it was like -- you know, it was almost like him saying, you know, great job. You're doing a great job.

HINOJOSA (voice-over): The communion with the pope 12 years ago changed Barbara's life.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, we have been over hurdles, but we get through them all now. We get through them all. You know, it's been a lot of tough times in our lives, but we've got through them. From then on, things just got easier for me.

HINOJOSA: Within a year of the pope's blessings Kerry made a huge break through. At 20-years-old he was finally able to feed himself. Barbara says Pope John Paul reached out to the disabled years before he himself would become disabled unable to walk. And like Kerry, unable to care for himself. This pope says, Barbara was the people's pope.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're praying. We're just praying. You know, hoping that the next pope will continue on. Don't let things go backward.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: A thought we should all live by. That was Maria Hinojosa reporting another story of a life deeply touched by Pope John Paul II. In just a minute, your choice for the "Person of the Day." Find out if you picked the papal mourners, Sergeant Paul Smith, winner of the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest military award, or British Prime Minister Tony Blair, whose just called election -- when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ZAHN: Drumroll, please. The voting's done. It's time to reveal our "Person of the Day." The choices once again, the pope's mourners for spending up to eight to 12 hours in line to spend two seconds to say good-bye to the pope. Sergeant Paul Smith, the first winner of the nation's highest military honor, the Medal of Honor in the Iraq War. And Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair for calling new elections risking his party's hold on power.

And the person you chose -- Medal of Honor winner Sergeant Paul Smith.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN (voice-over): At the Pentagon today, they unveiled a photograph and plaque honoring Army Sergeant Paul Smith.

DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: We stand in awe of the heroism described in Sergeant Smith's citation.

ZAHN: On April 4, 2003, alone at a machine gun, Sergeant Smith held off more than 100 attacking Iraqis, drawing their fire killing at least 50 of his enemies and losing his life.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He could have had any one of the soldiers get up there, but instead he put his life on the line to protect us, the fellow soldiers in his platoon.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: His actions in that courtyard saved the lives of more than 100 American soldiers. Scripture tells us as the general said, that a man has no greater love than to lay down his life for his friends.

ZAHN: Yesterday, sergeant Smith's son and widow took part in a White House awards ceremony.

BIRGIT SMITH, WIFE OF MEDAL OF HONOR RECIPIENT: I've gotten many letters and they thank me in those letters that their sons and husbands made it home. And they're sorry for my loss, but if Paul wouldn't have done that day what he did they wouldn't have made it home.

ZAHN: Sergeant Smith is the first Medal of Honor recipient from the Iraq War, only the third to win the medal since Vietnam.

SMITH: He just took over like always. And it cost him his life. He saved a lot of lives and he gave his own for his soldiers. ZAHN: Sergeant Paul Ray Smith, our "Person of the Day."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: Since the Medal of Honor was created in 1861, more than 3,400 members of the U.S. Military have received it.

That's it for all us here tonight. Thanks so much for being with us. We'll be back same time, same place tomorrow night.

"LARRY KING LIVE" is next, have a great night.

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