The U.S. Army at Fort Stewart in Georgia released two photos of recently deceased soldiers, Sgt. Wesley Durbin (top) and Staff Sgt. Darris Dawson (bottom). The two sergeants had been killed in the same incident, shot by another soldier at a base in Iraq.
Bob Owen, chief photographer of the
San Antonio Express-News, noticed that the photos were almost identical. All details were the same except for the soldiers' face, name, and rank. It appeared that Dawson's head had been pasted onto Durbin's body.
The Associated Press subsequently issued a retraction order on the photos, noting for each photo that "The content of this image has been digitally altered and does not accurately reflect the scene."
The army later apologized for the incident, explaining that, since Dawson's unit did not have an official photo of him, one had been created for a memorial service. The photo had apparently been released to the media by accident.
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