Yahoo News BBC’s Clive Myrie shares the sobering moment in war reporting when he had to write goodbye letter to family
BBC News reporter Clive Myrie has shared the sobering memory of a goodbye letter he once had to write to his family while working in a war zone.
The foreign correspondent has travelled to more than 80 countries for his job since 1996 and has been praised this week for his reporting from Kyiv, Ukraine as the country is under attack from Russia.
Read more: Clive Myrie appears to 'shed tear' while reporting on Ukraine crisis
He shared the tough realities of his work with The Big Issue as he said: "It’s interesting talking to soldiers, and to those who do go into battle. You never ever think, really consciously, that you’re going to be the one who gets shot or blown up or killed. Something has to present itself to you that makes it clear that you could be the one.
"So for instance, when I was embedded with the Royal Marines going into Iraq in 2003, we all had to write goodbye letters to our families, a sort of last will and testament I suppose. Just in case we didn’t come back.
"That process, saying goodbye in letter form, does remind you that you might not get back."
Read more: Mastermind's Clive Myrie speaks out on racist abuse from viewers
He added that there was an "adrenaline rush" involved in reporting from dangerous places, but said that for him it was not about the danger but about "telling stories from incredible places".
Scary indeed. Siren goes off in #Kyiv during a BBC broadcast by Lyse Doucet and Clive Myrie. They take break to reappear in flak jackets. #RussiaUkraineCrisis pic.twitter.com/X7aZch4PLo
— Lubna U Rifat (@lubnaurifat) February 24, 2022
Myrie said that he didn't think he'd ever really thought about the danger in situations he had reported from, although BBC News viewers this week were aware of it as they saw Mastermind presenter Myrie and his colleague Lyse Doucet change into flak jackets midway through their report from Kyiv.
He told viewers: "We heard the air raid sirens, we have put on our flak jackets.
"One wonders what the people of this city and indeed right across this country are now thinking. They prayed for peace and with all the diplomacy over the last few weeks and months, they hoped that would be the case.
"Now we are in a major conflict."
Watch: New Mastermind host Clive Myrie replaces John Humphrys after nearly two decades
