Fox News’ Benjamin Hall urges viewers to ‘never give up’ in emotional return to live TV
Fox News journalist Benjamin Hall urged "Fox and Friends" viewers to "never give up" on Thursday in his emotional return to live television. (Fox News)
Fox News foreign correspondent Benjamin Hall urged "Fox & Friends" viewers to "never give up," as he made an emotional return to live television on Thursday following the horrific attack that left him severely injured while covering Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
"I think that when you’ve gone through something like I’ve gone through, the highs, the lows, you have to have a target, you have to get something to fight for. And this is it, trying to get back, trying to speak to you, trying to be on air and trying to tell people the stories, so perhaps it can help them," Hall said in his first TV appearance since the March 2022 attack.
"I’ve got one leg, I’ve got no feet, I see through one eye, one workable hand. I was burned all over, and I feel strong, I feel more confident than I ever have," Hall continued.
"I think that you learn a lot going through things like this, and I was surrounded by so many wonderful people – that’s why I’m here today, and I look forward to everything that comes ahead."
Hall, who has insisted journalists must continue telling "stories from war" despite what he’s been through, was wounded when the vehicle he was traveling in was struck by incoming fire in Horenka, outside Kyiv. Beloved Fox News photojournalist Pierre Zakrzewski and Ukrainian journalist Oleksandra "Sasha" Kuvshynova were killed in the attack that devastated Fox News and the journalism industry at large.
"Saved: A War Reporters’ Mission To Make It Home" hits retailers on March 14 and is available for preorder. (HarperCollins Publishers)
Hall’s upcoming memoir, "Saved: A War Reporter's Mission To Make It Home," will offer untold details of his journey. He read an emotional excerpt on air, describing how "everything went dark" as bombs went off around him.
"If I had the slightest iota of consciousness, it was a distant sense of shock waves and the feeling that every part of my body – bones, organs, sinew, my soul – had been knocked out of me," Hall read. "I was all but dead but improbably, out of this crippling nothingness, a figure came through, and I heard a familiar voice, as real as anything I’d ever known. ‘Daddy, you’ve got to get out of the car.’"
An emotional Hall then explained that seeing a vision of his three daughters gave him the strength to keep going.
"I opened my eyes and managed to crawl out of the car," he said. "If it weren’t for them bringing me back, there is no way I would be here today."
Fox News journalist Benjamin Hall was injured outside Kyiv while in the field covering Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. (Fox News)
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Hall also credited Zakrzewski for saving his life.
"The two of us laid there for about 40 minutes, and talked, he passed away," Hall said. "The journey to continue was about me being saved."
"Fox & Friends" co-host Ainsley Earhardt asked Hall how he has remained so positive throughout the horrific experience.
"I think it’s really important when you’re feeling low – there were many times when I was really at the bottom. You have to know there is good on the other side," Hall said. "If you work hard, if you dedicate yourself to getting somewhere, you don’t stop trying to achieve that – you will get there no matter how painful something is, no matter how hard it is, if you really want to and you have the support to do it, you can get there. Never give up."
Hall said he was reached by thousands of Fox News viewers who helped him along the way.
"When people reach out and tell you they’re thinking about you, they're praying for you, that gives you support as well, so for anyone else who is going through really difficult things, keep going. Never give up. It’s inside you, and it’s always good on the other side," Hall said.
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Pierre Zakrzewski in Paris, France, December 2018. (Fox News/Greg Palkot)
Hall was rescued from the war zone and eventually transferred to a military medical facility in Texas, where he underwent multiple surgeries. He has since been reunited with his wife and three daughters and was able to make it home for the holidays.
The nonprofit organization Save Our Allies helped get Hall safely out of Ukraine. To extract Hall from the combat zone, the group worked with the Pentagon and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, along with the Polish and Ukrainian militaries. The effort on the ground was led by a "special operations and intelligence veteran," the group revealed, as the team made sure Hall was stabilized and overseen by military medical personnel during the transport.
"I remember from the very day this happened, remembering and thinking that I will get back," Hall said. "I remember lying there when it happened in the middle of nowhere, very badly injured and thinking ‘I’m going home no matter what, I will crawl if I have to.’ And I thought that way throughout and that’s what got me here. It’s been a life-changing event."
Last month, Hall spoke remotely during an acceptance speech upon being awarded a 2022 Foreign Press Award from The Association of Foreign Press Correspondents at the Roosevelt House in New York.
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"I do think that this is not just an award for myself. It is an award for Pierre and for Sasha, who both died during that attack, and also for every other war correspondent who has been injured or killed covering conflicts," Hall said.
"And despite the attack, despite what happened to us, I think it is essential that people continue telling the news, telling the stories from war. I think that's the only way we truly get to understand the atrocities, the disasters and the horror that's happening out there."
"Saved: A War Reporters’ Mission To Make It Home" hits retailers on March 14 and is available for preorder.