The Shot: The Harrowing Journey of a Marine in the War on Terror

Sergeant Bill Bee’s brush with death was broadcast on TV screens and published in newspapers around the world, but behind the cloud of dirt caused by a Taliban sniper bullet is a story of heroism, tragedy, and fighting an invisible war.

Sergeant Bill Bee is the Marine in one of the defining images from the War on Terror. He responded to gunfire without protective gear when a Taliban sniper shot hit a sandbank just a few inches from his head in Garmsir, Helmand Province. When his world plunge...