THE RORY PECK AWARDS 2005
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Geof Thorpe-Willett

US Marine Assault on Fallujah

Finalist: The Rory Peck Award for Hard News

This close-shot footage shows squads of Marines caught up in urban warfare, advancing through streets, clearing houses, being caught up in firefights and nervously yelling in English at suspected snipers. As embeds, Thorpe-Willett and the crew were on their feet all day running from one building to the next.

Cameraman's Comment

Thorpe-Willett says this was "without doubt my toughest assignment…we didn't know what would happen next, so we tried to position ourselves where we could see the action, and not necessarily from a position of safety…you are already in Fallujah. It doesn't get much more dangerous than that."

Biography

Geof Thorpe-Willett is a multi-skilled operator who has worked in newsgathering since leaving the British Army. His first assignment was with ABC News during Desert Storm as an uplink engineer. He has been a regular freelancer for ABC News, EBU, CNN, Newsforce and CBS, covering stories in Bosnia, Somalia, Rwanda, Zaire, Yemen, Iraq, Kosovo. In 2003 he was embedded with the 3rd Infantry Division alongside correspondent Jim Axelrod and Mario De Carvalho of CBS News, being the first crew to reach Baghdad Airport and broadcast live. Geof lives in the south-west o France with his wife Isabelle, and 2 year old son, Elliot.

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