ET on March 19.
I suppose I felt like a reader myself as I started to learn these things.
Ive got to talk about what happened, my memories, whats happening now, how I got out.
Benjamin HallBook cover: Will Bremridge; photo of Ben Hall’s rescue via Fox News
HALL:I wanted to learn more.
To this day, I still think back to that.
Does that moment continue to run through your mind?
Benjamin Hall during physical therapy in San AntonioBen Hall
HALL:Every day, every day.
And you know, I didnt just hear my daughter.
And I just think that when you break everything down to the very core, family is very basis.
Thats whats right there.
And Ive spoken to a number of people who have had near death experiences, people in similar attacks.
Whether that was my daughter or whether that was an angel, someone came and got me out.
DEADLINE:In the aftermath of the strike on your vehicle, you still had your reporters instincts.
You describe how you took a photo of your legs and then deleted it.
You didnt want your wife or your family to see it.
HALL:For a long time I thought about looking up the deleted photos, and I never did.
Its funny because I never thought that I was going to die.
But I did think of her that if I did, I didnt want that photo to be there.
And right at its core, that family bond that is still something that brings them joy.
And thats how you got to get through something like this.
Theres always something good and positive to look forward to.
DEADLINE:How common is that feeling among war correspondents?
HALL:It is a huge spectrum.
… Its amazing how different many people can be, and then youre all brought together in one place.
You bump into the same people wherever you go.
Might be totally different people, but youre certainly united by some something similar.
Thats one of the things that I always wanted to do.
I loved covering wars.
I found it was something exhilarating.
I enjoyed being out there.
I was young and carefree, and I did what I wanted.
So you develop much stronger relationships that you have gone through.
But it is it makes you feel alive.
I remember being asked to go and cover like royal stories, for example, and my heart dropped.
I was thinking, I am going to Windsor and cover Harrys wedding?
DEADLINE:You had most recently been covering the State Department, which entailed going to briefings.
I had three young children, and it was an ongoing discussion.
The move to the State Department seemed like the natural one for me.
It was still geopolitics, it was still international affairs, and so it seemed like the right way.
But even quite early, within the first couple months there, it wasnt the same.
It didnt feel the same as the job I had done for so many years.
I wasnt that connected to it.
Honestly, its I think its a battle for any war correspondent you speak to.
DEADLINE:How much do you think youve learned from Pierre?
You write, He taught me how to find beauty in the ugliest places.
HALL:Pierre and I worked together from my first day at Fox.
He was someone who just loved the world, every corner of the world.
And everywhere he went, he was interested in the people.
It was about talking to the people at the bottom as well.
DEADLINE:You wrote that you find it too hard to watch the footage that he shot that day.
Do you think youll go back and really examine it at a certain point?
HALL:Ill be honest: Its one of the few things that I havent quite done.
Rather than the moment and what went wrong, I take a stab at remember the positives of it.
DEADLINE:You described a meeting with a psychologist in San Antonio.
And he kind of keyed in on the whole idea of survivors guilt.
How has that been a challenge?
I think that being out there covering wars, neither of us would have changed our careers.
Why am I the only one to survive?
I just think that I have survived, and I have to make the best out of it.
So I dont think I have been plagued with survivors guilt.
I think about it, and I talk to the families as well.
I talked to Pierres family, and thats very difficult.
Because I was given everything back.
I get to go, come home and Ive got my wife and my children.
you could replace almost anything but not after death.
And so speaking to them is tough, but weve got to make the most out of it.
DEADLINE:Returning home to your wife and your daughters, you worried about the reaction of your children.
But they seemed to have adapted very quickly.
I tell them about the leg.
Daddy has no leg left or no feet left, expecting really big repercussions.
Oh, you got a robot leg?
I pick them up at school and every kid comes around and wants to talk about the leg.
So they are in it at the deep end, and all their friends ask them about it.
So I need them to be prepared for that as well.
Ive been so proud of them and my wife too, because theyre the real heroes here as well.
HALL:Youre crazy if you hadnt thought about them, but I dont dwell on them.
I think about what happened.
And again, how can we find and do something good out of this?
I dont think that reporters should stop going to wars.
I dont think they should stop telling these stories.
DEADLINE:You have said you would like to interview Ukraine President Zelensky.
Any chance that would happen?
I think the discussion that has to happen first is with my wife about heading back into Ukraine.
So were not certain yet.
So I do want to focus on that, and I am almost certain I will go back.
The question is when, but there are no plans at the moment.
HALL:Thats certainly what Putin will be looking for as well.
Can he outlast the support and funding that you are getting from the West?
It is going to be a concern.
I think with the Biden administration, that wont change.
But in a few years.
I cant understand what drives them to do that.
I dont feel hatred.
I feel passionate that they need to be stopped.
Look what they did.
But I dont feel that.
