Kandy Johns talks about her son, Lance Cpl. Jordan Lee Chrobot, USMC, 24, a Frederick native who was killed in combat in Afghanistan. Jordan's brother, Connor Johns, sister, Morgan Chrobot and stepfather Jerry Johns are in the background Chrobot was shot in the chest while on patrol in Helmand province, a Taliban stronghold.
One of the hardest things to have to shoot as a newspaper photographer is a funeral. Even harder can be going to the home of a fallen soldier to do photos of the grief-stricken family.
It is a bit easier when you are accompanied on the assignment with the writer. They kind of act as a distraction while you make some images. I think it helps to put the family at ease and they are not as aware that you are there.
Being the son of a career Marine who served in WWII, Korea, and Vietnam, I always feel a certain bond with these families even though my father came out of the service unharmed.
Yesterday I was invited into the home of Kandy Johns, whose son, Lance Cpl. Jordan Lee Chrobot, USMC, 24, was killed in combat in Afghanistan. Chrobot was shot in the chest while on patrol in Helmand province, a Taliban stronghold.
I have attended four military funerals and visited the homes of about six families of fallen soldiers.
Even though everyone has always made me feel welcome, I do not think I will ever get to the point where I feel at ease intruding into their time of grief.
Recognition is always nice. So when I opened the august issue of News Photographer Magazine, I was thrilled to see an advertisement for ZUMA Press, the agency that represents me, with one of my photographs. ZUMA is all about doing photos big when they use them. Whether it is in their advertisements or in their [...]
I had some time to kill before an assignment near the White House and decided to swing by and see if there might be some sort of protest. There always seems to be someone there protesting something. I was disappointed to see nothing was happening so I headed across Pennsylvania Ave. to Lafayette Park looking [...]
Kenneth Feinberg (born October 23, 1945, Brockton, Massachusetts)[1] is an American attorney, specializing in mediation and alternative dispute resolution. Feinberg was appointed Special Master of the U.S. Government's September 11th Victim Compensation Fund and currently serves as the Special Master for TARP Executive Compensation, popularly called the "pay czar." Additionally, Feinberg currently serves as the government-appointed administrator of the BP Deepwater Horizon Disaster Victim Compensation Fund.
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Dear Sir,
I can not begin to tell you how much I appreciate your comments about Jordan and the feelings you had being in this home; however, to truly appreciate the grief of this family, you needed to be with those who never left Jordan- his father, my cousin, Walter Lee Chrobot, Jr. While it is unnecessary to sling family dirt, especially at this time, it has been painful to watch the quiet nature of my cousin in his time of grief and need suffer when he, and he alone, was the parent who was always there for Jordan. He never missed a hug, a kiss, or a day in this young man’s life. Unlike his mother who takes this time to showcase herself as if she represents the true man behind that purple heart. Only a true human would never leave their children without a goodbye or a lookback. Walter is that man. Jordan was that man. And Jordan’s sisters, his true blood relatives, too share this genuine characteristic. The world is always sad for a grieving mother, but what defines a parent is something more, and his father, was a dad!