Richard Edwards (reporter) and Jon Mills
(photographer) from the Western Daily Press were positioned with 42
Commando, from the Royal Marines.
In order to work with the Royal Marines, they had to be physically
fit and prepared to endure austere living conditions. They were
also warned that they would be out in the open and inside trenches,
and would have to walk for miles with the units.
On the first night of the conflict, the Western Daily Press
produced a 4am edition of the newspaper, which devoted six pages to
the beginning of the war.
The first edition had already been
prepared, but was abandoned. A special team was brought in at 3am
and a new edition of the newspaper was produced for an early
deadline, which was met, by one and a half minutes.
With the headline Baghdad Blitz, and a picture of a Tomahawk, it
provided information on the SAS, special services and fears of oil
refinery attacks.
During the conflict, Jon's photographs were used widely across the
national press, and since returning to England, Richard was named
British Trainee of the Year by Newstec for his coverage of the
conflict. He was nominated in the Young Journalist of the Year
category and won the award for Photographer of the Year at the
Press Gazette Regional Press Awards 2003.