To Iraq and Back

After years of dedicated reporting from some of the world's most dangerous places, journalist Bob Woodruff fulfilled his lifelong dream. In December 2005, he was named co-anchor of ABC's World News Tonight, one of the most prestigious jobs in television news.

When Bob wasn't in front of the camera, he was at home with his wife, Lee, and their four children. Lee says they had a very happy home life. "I was incredibly proud of Bob and what he had achieved," she says. "We were the luckiest family in the world."

In early 2006, Bob was dispatched to the war zone in Iraq, where he was embedded with American soldiers. Little did he know, his life was about to take an explosive turn.

On the morning of January 29, 2006—just 26 days after starting his new job—Bob was reporting alongside cameraman Doug Vogt atop a tank, which was patrolling an area just north of Baghdad. Suddenly, a roadside bomb exploded and shrapnel went flying through the air toward the two men.

In Bob and Lee's new book, In an Instant, Bob describes the horrifying seconds after the explosion. "Hundreds of rocks shot upward with the force of bullets," he writes. "The white heat of the fire power ripped through the air like an apocalypse."

The powerful blast left Bob fighting for his life with a fractured skull, a displaced jawbone and severe shrapnel wounds to the head. Doug escaped with less serious injuries.