NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
A decorated naval surgeon and member of the group Save Our Allies, which helped rescue the seriously injured Fox News correspondent Benjamin Hall from Ukraine, on Wednesday revealed new details about the evacuation, which included medical transport from a war-torn combat zone required.
SAVE OUR ALLIES CO-FOUNDER DISCUSSES UKRAINE FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT BENJAMIN HALL’S RESCUE MISSION
dr Richard Jadick, known as the most decorated military doctor to have served in Iraq, was teaching a course in Tennessee when he received a call from Save Our Allies asking him to help conduct rescue operations in Ukraine. Days later, Hall was hit by fire from Russian forces outside of Kyiv.
“I got the call, went home. Packed my stuff, got on a plane and let my family know where I was going,” Jadick told The Story. “Later in the week we received a call to move to Kyiv where we had to evacuate a seriously wounded patient.”
Benjamin Hall (L) and Pierre Zakrzewski (R) (Fox News)
“I went upstairs and saw Ben,” Jadick recalled. “I said, ‘Ben, you don’t know me. I’m Rich Jadick. I’m a doctor. I’m here to get you out.’ And he said, ‘When do you want to go?’ I said we’ll get ready in 20 minutes, we’ll pack you up and find a way to get you out of here.”
Jadick said he was grateful to be “in the right place at the right time, with the right people,” and credited “Save our Allies” for positioning the group in the region.
To get Hall out of the combat zone, the group worked with the Pentagon and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin along with the Polish and Ukrainian military. The on-site effort was led by a “special operations and intelligence veteran,” the group revealed, as the team ensured Hall was stabilized and monitored by military medical personnel while he was in transit.
“Ben had some critical injuries that required a lot of attention,” Jadick said. “One of the hallmarks of evacuating a patient is that in harsh conditions, patients get worse when they get out of a bad situation. And the bad situation could have been made worse if you just got into the wrong kind of evacuation situation, so we worked hard to put together the right scenario to get him out safely,” he explained.
After successfully evacuating Ukraine, Hall was transported across the border to Poland and eventually to Landstuhl Medical Center in Germany, where he is being cared for.
“I want to tip my hat to the guys I’ve been with who put it all together. ‘Save Our Allies’ are those who put us in the right position to do what Ben needed, which was a safe, easy recovery,” said Jadick.
Hall was wounded in the same attack outside of Kyiv that killed Fox News cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski and journalist Oleksandra “Sasha” Kuvshynova while covering the Russian invasion.
Save Our Allies, a non-profit organization, was founded back in August with the goal of rescuing Americans and other US allies trapped behind enemy lines following the US withdrawal from Afghanistan and subsequent Taliban takeover.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
To support Save Our Allies’ continued efforts in Ukraine, visit their website.