Nina Berman: Ty and Renee Ziegel
Photo Journalism by Nina Berman:
Love is not simply concerned with the question of: How much would you sacrifice for what you love?
Love is also equally concerned with finding answers to these questions:
What can I do to prevent or reduce the need for others to make sacrifices?
What policies, innovations, or ideologies can I help create or support so that loved ones don’t have to so often make sacrifices?
Praise to those who make honorable sacrifices.
Praise to those who fight every day so fewer need do the same.
Thank you to the Ziegels and Nina Berman for continuing to demonstrate their courage, bravery, and love.
The above images are all copyrighted. If you would like to contact the photographer or see larger versions of the images, please visit the photographer’s website: http://www.ninaberman.com. Also, there are several more images from this series at the photographer’s website.
Marine Sgt. Ty Ziegel was seriously wounded by a suicide car bomber while serving in Iraq in 2004. He spent 19 months recovering at Brooke Army Medical Center in Texas. He was supported during this time by his family and his fiancée Renee Kline. Ty and Renee married in October 2006.
Anyone seeking to help should send donations to http://www.fisherhouse.org, an organization which aids military families and which helped Ty and his family during his rehabilitation.
© All rights reserved by Nina Berman/Redux.
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Update: On Nov. 17, 2007 that before their one year wedding anniversary, the Ziegels decided to separate.
Update August 21, 2009: Yesterday, the existing article about Ty Ziegel was deleted from Wikipedia. As of today, if you search for “Ty Ziegel” on Google or other major search engines, the top search result will lead you to a dead link, article removed notification.
To view the Wikipedia users’ stated reasons for eliminating the explanatory information about Ty Ziegel, here is the related discussion page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/Tyler_Ziegel
So, for at least the time being, anyone trying search the internet to learn the story behind Nina Berman’s 2007 World Press Photo competition winning photo, will have to search somewhere other than Wikipedia.
I don’t understand Wikipedia’s editorial decisions all the time. I personally don’t agree with censoring information about these truthful and important events.
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Related Posts:
Katherine Cathey and 2nd Lt. James J. Cathey:
Timothy Greenfield-Sanders: Soldiers & Dignity:
(Click on the images if you wish to read the posts.)
© All rights reserved by the respective artists.
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Thank you so much. We have already seen the images. Very impressive but after all, as Angela Mac Cluskey says: “Love is stronger than death”….life is stronger than death.
Amazing. We are all humbled before you.
True Marine.
Semper Fi to both of you! Semper Fi
hooorah Sergeant, you rewards are in heaven. And take car of the cutie next yourside semper fi commarade
sorry i didnt take spelling for marines MCI hahaha
Your a true Marine. Congratulations to you both.
Semper Fi and God bless
GOD BLESS YOU BROTHER, AND SEMPER FI…….A FORMER JARHEAD
i feel so bad for you and thanks for serving are contry GOD BLESS YOU. <3 <3 <3 <3
You realize, of course, she dumped him before their 1 year anniversary. I don’t know how this story could have been more sad. This Leatherneck was screwed so many ways till Tuesday. “Thank you for your service.” seems an insult.
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SIA: Thank you Jefferson for the information. I watched the CNN video online that reported their separation, and I updated the blog post. I don’t have information to support your assertion that she dumped him. As with all break-ups, it’s usually not just from one direction. I can’t imagine the difficulties both of them have faced these last several years. I admire their hard work and admirable efforts to do what they thought was right. My best wishes to both of them.
my son want to be a marine a so praud of you and your wife. good bless you. puerto rico
Thank you Marine for all you have done.
i wish you all the best,
stay positive, stay sharp. look forward to the afterlife for there you shall be rewarded for your sorrow and sacrafice.
sincerly,
RAG
From another marine I salute you Semper Fi
i love my m.o.s n what i do. but i dont think we get paid enough for the struggles that we go through in life. Finding a true loyal love is hard n u motivate me to keep my love.
semper fi.
hola solo quiero decir que eres un gran soldado y que mujeres como tu esposa ya no existen que Dios te bendiga
NOT ONLY IS HE A REAL HARD CORE MARINE, SHE IS ALSO A REAL WOMAN.CONGRATULATIONS TO BOTH OF YOU
i want to be in the marines
Marine Sgt. Ty Ziegel you are a true marine , it saddens me that you and your wife seperated ,but i respect her for being there for you when you really needed someone….
-Future Marine
Congrats to the both of you. You both are very lucky to have eachother. You both have great courage and personality.
Thank you Sergent Ziegel for serving in Iraq. Thank God you are alive. I have great respect for you as a Marine but even greater respect for you because of everything you stand for.
Thank you Mrs. Ziegel for not doing the “Dear John” on Sergent Ziegal. It proves to the world that you really love him. I have so much respect for you, I can’t even explain it. I read this story and it is truly one of the most remarkable things I have ever heard. You are a remarkable women. You have shown as much courage and commitment as a Marine and for that I have so much respect for you.
i admire you sir, you have faced so much, you have endured so much pain and suffering, and yet you still go on with your life, i wouldn’t be able to. you sir are a true Marine, and a true and honorable human. i pray that i may see you and your wife in heaven.
“Love doesn’t need to see, because it lives on the inside”
-Unknown Poet
We went, we served, we came home changed forever.
wow all I have to say is wow true marine and an awesome wife wish the both for the best of yall hope ya’ll have a great life
oohrah semper fi! semper fi!
do or die your a us marine
Semper Fi brother.
Fine example of a person, an American, and fine example of a Marine. Thank you for all that you did and all you sacrificed to protect this country. GOD bless you and your family, as well as all of our soldiers overseas and at home. Thank you for serving. It’s great people like you that give us all the freedoms we enjoy so much. My heart and prayers go out to you. You did your duty and it’s close to being my turn to go to Iraq and fight. Semper Fi. From a Marine to a Marine.
if you two are still together my hats off to you. thanks for being one of the worlds greatest warriors. Semper Fi, once a Marine Alawys a Marine
true marine…love conquers all
We would like to start by saying thankyou for serving our country. The sacrafice that you made is one of the most honorable choices that one could make and we will forever be grateful for your courage and your services to this country. It takes a strong person to do what you did and forever will you and your family be in our hearts. Congrats on your beautiful wedding and good luck in the future.
my fiance is going into the marines..i wish u to luck and its hard to find someone that you really love and im happy that you have found eachother!
My brother is a marine, and will be deployed to Afghanistan soon. God bless you, you are the reason we get to live freely. Semper Fi, sir.
Ooh Rah. God Bless you and your family.
a true marine. just semper fi dude, you’re such an inspiration, and a heroe to all the other marines out there, thank you for being so strong <3
i Just wanna let you know that i am more thankful for what you guys are doing over anything else.
Thanks.
Gob Bless you! i am not a marine but have plans to be one in less than 2 years. my father is a former marine, i know i have not yet earned the right to say it but Semper Fi! your strength and courage is what i hope to one day have! God Bless you and thank you for all you have done for this country and everyone in it.
my brothers a marine and he will be goin to iraq in september…. and i just thank you so much because u never really know wut u got till its gone… and i think every day somethin bads goin to happen god bless u
I love my country and our fighting men. Thank God for both. Thank God for heroes like you who “more than self their country love”. God Bless You!
Thank you for everything man. I salute you.
You Sir…are Beautiful!
ooooorah!
You are a lucky man, she’s a special gal, and I wish you both the best of luck in life.
S/F,
fellow Marine
They aren’t together anymore and people are still writing “good luck to the both of you I’m glad you found eachother”…actually read the posts people!!!
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OneMoreOption: Thank you Kelli for expressing your frustration. I hear you and sympathize. As an editorial decision, I’ve chosen to not correct each person who has not taken the time to read the whole post. Instead, I choose to still publicize their sincere well wishes and deserved admiration for what both Ty & Renee did in the past.
semper fi… u r one of the strongest marines ive ever seen, both of u, strong as heck, thank you for defending.
Sgt you inspire me i’m a marine and supposed to go to iraq soon, you are hard core, i’m truly sorry for your separation it’s got to be hard. you are a brave man that has truly done more than your part. God loves you, the corps loves you, and anyone that has heard of you loves you! you are a true warrior, and marine to marine you are my hero. Just stay strong as you are and you will be just fine. I salute you!!!
you are a very strongh marine and your the reason why im becoming one thank you for fighting for are freedom…
Before I even read the update I could tell she was not happy. Wake up people – actions are louder than words. She doesn’t smile in not one photo. Nonetheless soliders like these men should be recognized more and more and attention should be brought to the things that war does to everyone including innocent people.
I was reading all the posts to see if anyone else noticed this. Not knowing the details, I’ll try not to be too harsh. There were only two photos with her in it, but she does not look at all happy. This is supposed to be the man you love with all your heart.
To Ty, thank you for all you have done and survived. It takes a strong man to step and do what’s right. May you have more happiness than you can handle in yor present and future.
it’s people and marines like you that keep this country free. GOD BLESS YOU. HOORAH!!!!
Learn from the past, live in the present, and look forward to the future.
My oldest brother is a U.S. Marine and i couldn’t miss him more
Semper Fi
The photos aid in the worlds appreciation for the troops. This Marine’s honor should not be subjected to any public scrutiny. Praise him and his heroism in his moment. Thanks, Dan (101st Airborne, Iraq 03)
thank you guys that are in the marines you guys and girls are doing all of us a favor and we all thank you for it. and hey just showing some love
She did not dump him, it was a mutual decision the two of them came to, you dont know the problems and the situation so before you asume anything maybe you should check your facts.
Wow. I am completely speechless. I have read these 3 stories, and I don’t know what to say. My heart goes out to everyone involved.
As for the snide comments being posted in here, there is a time and place for everything. This is not the place for that sort of talk.
Semper Fi Marine, God Bless. I love you guys and appreciate everything you have done for this country.
CGW
NJROTC Petty Officer
Future Marine.
those are thee most touching fotos i have ever seen. just proof of the true strength of love. god bless all of you.
Ty I am so grateful for everything you and the marines do for your country. I think i speak for everybody. Semper Fi
once a marine, always a marine. god bless you
From a WW2 Veteran,I humbly salute you young man and your ex wife. I only hope that it was a mutual agreement to separate and hopefully maintain your friendship.GOD BLESS the two of you
Semper Fi Marine Take Care Of Yourself
haven’t most of you read the post? She left him. Stop saying, “love conquers all”. Look at the pictures of her. She looks miserable. I’m a former marine and a veteran. I’m not taking anything away from his service or sacrifice. I’m just so sick of this. That marriage was doomed from the start. You can see it in her eyes. It’s a lousy state of affairs but it’s reality. We need to get out of that place and let them kill each other. It’s not worth the pain and suffering that it’s bringing to one more American family.
thank you for serving our country. you are a true hero. god bless you. From a future Marine. your are a inspiration to me. thank you
Well first… Holy shit! talk about the ultimate sacrifice. And second… people dont you think (if he read this) that he would get tired of hearing that “God Bless” and “Thank you for serving our country”. well what ever
My future husband is there now. My heart pours out to you. You are an immensely strong woman
War is not kind. All veterans pay the ultimate sacrifice. And some, not if all ask themselves “WHY?”
U.S.M.C 1995-1999 SEMPER FI.
im so glad you are being strong and i wish you the rest of your happy life best i hope you fill better.
Love, honor, freedom and respect is what you have sgt…
It has been said that “The Impossible is done with the Lords help and a few good men…” I pray that God will continue to use you in a mighty way. You have touched so many lives. I pray that others only see what they have and how cherished it is.
Semper Fi
Albert
You are a true marine bro!You got more than guts!
SEMPER FI!!!
I give you my thanks for defending us with your life and my god bless you in the future
I have such respect for these service men and women. You know I just can’t understand why she supported him all that time why in the world did she leave him before thier anniversary. After everything he went through. My heart goes out to him he is brave. I feel for him he fought for our country. My son is in the service and waiting to go over to Iraq and he wants to go just like alot of these other marines. Again, thank you for all you do my heart goes out to you.
I would just like to say that I am so proud of both this Marine and his wife. I lost my son in Iraq.(He was a Marine). I am so proud of this Marine for fighting to get where he is. Keep up the fight Ty! I’m sure you have your own personal battles even since you came home. I will always remember Ty’s sacrifice. Every soldier is my HERO. God Bless this man and his family, Sincerely, Jacque
thank you for you service. you are more of a man than most will ever become. the only way ANY person could equal you is if they go through the same difficulties that you have gone through. i’m currently enlisted in the marines, tho i haven’t gone to boot camp yet. after boot camp i think i may become an officer, but even as an officer i will refer to you as “sir.” again, thank you for your service, and god bless you.
dude i feel so bad for u but u are doing our world a good thing and one day i want to be a marine to and make our world a better place
thanks to all that protect this united states and for the lost ones i weep but i aim to fallow in foot steps as i am in the proses of becoming a marine i support those who fight the war and those who will thank you and best to yo and yours
I hope you realize that you are not the one to lose! Anyone who has gone through your type of ordeal has to have the strongest character and biggest heart. I do not know you, but I have the greatest respect and love for any of our service men,women and their families. They sacrifice more than anyone else on the face of this Earth. Our nation should thank the Lord for each and everyone of you. My Dad was a marine,so Semper Fi!
He was just doing his job, following orders… quit talking about sacrifices
It’s horrifying to see such a calamity and I do hope a charity will, to put it bluntly, help rebuild this man’s face. I’ve been against this war since its inception and I will continue to shake my head in disgust and amazement as the men sacrificed for an inarguably unjust occupation make their stories known.
Our slain, burned, disfigured heroes will always be our youngest and bravest fighters, but the same is true of all nations’. Ironically, the extremist fighters view their sacrifice in the same honorable perception we do and perhaps even take it a stage further in the form of martyrdom.
History proves you can’t pacify a nation that doesn’t want you there and resorts to violence proving the point. It’s been long overdue that we pack our bags and leave. I supported the overthrow of Saddam yet to ignore the reality that is bedlam in Iraq is nothing short of insanity — the misrepresentation of a non-directional, 11% increase in troop strength dubbed the “Surge” has succeeded as a consortium of bribes and voluntary, self-imposed lock-down by Sadr forces, combined with a substantial decrease in US patrols.
I would never dare to suggest this man and his peers aren’t heroes. Yet I will never feel their “sacrifice”, rather their incidental near-death experience, made my life any more safe.
Blessings to you my fearless brother. I congratulate you on your service to our people who live free and proud in the greatest country ever! Thank you. And though I served in another branch – SEMPER FI!!
another victim of the lunatic president of the usa.
I’ve cried buckets watching these photos. I, too, believe we should be out of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, as well as Korea; nevertheless, I support our troops unconditionally. I have one “adopted” trooper who has just returned from Iraq in one piece after spending over a year there, I thank God. I have three more: one in Iraq and two in Afghanistan. Y’all want to help support these soldiers/marines/navy/airmen? Then go to http://www.asoldierswishlist.org and volunteer to “adopt” one of our own. The organization receives 25 requests daily from troopers asking to be adopted. Our letters & care packages mean the world to them! Put money where your mouth is! HELP and ADOPT a trooper.
No one knows what us marines and other services go through not only being away from our loved ones for long periods of time. And having to worry about them and keeping your head head in the game at the same time because someone is trying to kill you in the name of allah.
thank you so much for this article. i have chills all over my body. damn all of us americans for not caring about these soldiers, the war and all that comes with it. we are an apethetic and spoiled and disgusting bunch. i am so humbled and moved that i cant even express anything further except i am so ashamed of how we as amerciasn treat of soldiers – which is to completely block them out. we are wrong!!!
I saw these pictures in NYC in March. It’s truly impactfull. And it’s sad, very sad. Even more when you come to think off the fact that these poor people suffer or die in wars that are started to support the oil and weapon industries. And guess who’s profiting from that? Indeed, the former US president, Cheney and so on. Indeed US foreign policy is wrong. Let’s hope this will change with Barack Obama.
Kym, please speak for yourself about not caring for our men and women in uniform living with us and departed. I respect them ultimately for their commitment to freedom, not just our freedom, but for uplifting and protecting and preserving freedom in the world, and I weep for them and their families frequently.
Many of them see their service and sacrifice as a high calling, for many no calling higher, than giving all they can for their families and their nations security and welfare.
In the wars our men and women have fought since the Revolutionary War that earned us our freedom and the rights guaranteed to us under our Constitution, over 650,000 lives have been given and lost. Without their sacrifice we could have been speaking German, Japanese, Russian, or possibly Arabic right now, and without the freedom and rights we continue to hold so dear.
Our casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan total about 4200.
Yes, war is stupid, and their are economic interests that play a part, no different than the decisions we make about our personal lives. I do not believe that our primary reason for being in the Middle East is only, or even primarily about oil, or Cheney, or many of the devisive reasons given superficilly by so many.
The fact is that our State Department, regardless of who is President, has an overriding principle that guides their foreign policy. It is simply that whenever there is a potential threat to our national security, its response is to destabilize and diminish that threat.
Yes, leaders, government agencies and corporations at all levels are too often short-sighted, manipulative, self-serving, devisive, and addicted to re-election or maintaining their power above all else, but those flaws and failures are no different than our own personal defects, just on a higher level.
I personally believe that it all comes from systemic flaws in our make-up. Some call it being human. I call it sin – a jumble of rebellion, self-centeredness, selfishness, laziness, and common stupidity. We are all cursed with it in varying ways to varying degrees, and no amount of education or self-control will eliminate it.
In fact, our Constitution, when you look at it closely, bases that reality as it’s starting point. When our Founders were presented with the challenge, maybe for the first time in recorded history, of establishing the foundation for a nation, they could see that all previous nations in history had started with military dictatorships or totalitarian Divine Right of Kings. And they discovered in their vigorous research that all of their civilization had failed because power had become concentrated in the hands of a power elite who abused it and at some point a rebellion arose or a foreign power arose that conquered that nation, and another dictatorship arose, doomed to fail.
After winning our freedom from British tyranny, many wanted to make George Washington King of our new colonies, soon to become a new nation. Washington had laid down his generalship after the war, indicating that he would not impose his authority upon the colonies, and that he would not become king. He said that a King is what has caused us all our grief, and that even if he was a just and beneficent king, another who would come after him, may not be, and that as king he could do whatever he chose, and that would result in the same dilemma, a concentration of power that could not be prevented.
Look closely, everything about our Constitution is designed to separate powers and keep power from becoming concentrated in the hands of a power elite. And that wisdom of our Founders and our Constitution is what has preserved our nation and our freedoms to this day, Never take it lightly. Study it, learn it, defend and protect it.
That, above all, is what every President and every service man and woman is sworn to protect and defend, above all else, our Constitution.
Fear, not what errors, overreaching leaders will make, we are all flawed, because they can and will be corrected because our Constitution prohibits and prevents a power elite from taking control.
No, fear, under whatever disguise, and through whatever persuasive argument, any usurpers of power from convincing us that we need to rewrite our Constitution so it will become modern and up-to-date. And so according to their design, it will give them the opening, legally, to grab more and more power, and turn our freedoms and our nation of, by and for the people, into a scheme of, by, and for the power elite.
I am far more afraid of that happening now than in any time in our nation’s history. If that happens, the U.S. is over, and we will be reigned over by a world government, or ??? Whatever the outcome, our freedoms will be lost, and we will no longer be a sovereign nation governing ourselves. We will governed by others.
she divorced him a year later. looks like love doesn’t conquer all huh..
How can anyone dare to express a judgment.
I just stand in awe, of both of them.
This war is illegal; why isn’t this man in jail for murder or complicity to murder?
I’ll take time out of my day to explain it to you Fakeup…….I honor and fought for your right to disagree, but to call this man out…your a sad, pathetic little stain on the inside of your moms fat vaginal wall! If I had the chance to meet you I would kick a hole in your chest and fist fuck your heart! Fucking Commie Bitch! (by the way -blatent hostility is directed at direct attack on an this Marine…you have every right to protest the war….do it right or put the dick back in your mouth and save all our ear-holes the pleasure of listening to your sludge! PS – move out of your moms basement and stop shitting your pants…faggot!
semper fi comrad
HONOR, COURAGE AND COMMITMENT…SIMER FI…GOD BLESS
SEMPER FI MARINE SEMPER FI!!!!
With myself serving in the marines with 1/4 a co. Two combat deployments in iraq, and losing friends in the process still makes me feel that I don’t even compare to the ones who sacrifice all. Words cannot explain, actions cannot express. The few that know what freedom tastes like holds it dearly knowing that not everyone can experience it. Thank a vet and show your support. or get out of the country.
im only 14 but one day im going to be a marine
True awe and inspiring!
Semper Fi man.
As a Mom with a son in boot camp I can only say one thing to you and to all that have served before you and those that will serve after you. Thank You. Your sacrifices for our freedoms are not in vain. I look at you through the love of a mothers eyes and think you are beautiful. God bless.
Semper Fi.