Paths cross again

I found a surprise this morning on A2 of the Topeka Capitol-Journal. It came in the form of a small picture of a soldier eating. The caption:

"U.S. Navy hospital corpsman Michael Gehrz eats lunch at a U.S. Marine base about 200 miles west of Baghdad, Iraq." The photo credit was Jacob Silberberg/The Associated Press.

As soon as I finish this post, I'll put a pic up of the page.

The name was special indeed. In Washington, I interviewed a photographer from the Minneapolis Star-Tribune named Jim Gehrz who won the 2004 photography award from Scripps. (I wrote the story about him that was in the program for the awards dinner, he was a finalist for the Pulitzer, by the way).

During the interview, Jim talked a little about his son, Micheal, a Navy medic who at the time was shipping out to Iraq. Guess what? He's the same Michael Gehrz seen in today's Capitol-Journal.

I emailed Jim about it, and he confirmed it as some colleagues had shown it to him when it came off the wire. I scanned the page and sent it to him, call it a spare father's day gift.

And I find it ironic that I'm talking to an award-winning photographer again, when my new digital kit arrives tomorrow.