I survived a landmine

Jerry White's incredible story of survival

Jerry White was embarking on the adventure of a lifetime when his right leg was blown off by a landmine. Today, he’s a Nobel Peace Prize-winning activist who still hopes for a victim-free world.

“All I could smell was blood, burnt flesh and metal. The explosion had ripped my right foot from my ankle and thrown me into the air. My left leg had been blown open and there was bone sticking out of my calf. I could see my knee-cap where the shrapnel had lacerated my skin and I was bleeding profusely, shouting out: ‘I have no foot, I have no foot.’”

It was April 12, 1984 and Jerry White’s life changed forever in a matter of seconds. Today, as co-founder of Survivor Corps, he is a recognized leader of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines and a co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. Back then, he was just another 20-year old traveler in Israel.

Jerry and two friends, Fritz Balwit and David Kenyan decided to go camping in the Banyas - the northern-most tip of Israel near the Syrian border, on the edge of the Golan Heights.

“It was gorgeous,” Jerry recalls. “Very hilly and green with lush vegetation and waterfalls flowing.” The three friends hiked up through some woods and ended in an area near a ridge; on one side they could see down into Syria, and the other, onto the Kibbutzes of Israel.

“But little did we know we were also looking down onto a one-time Syrian stronghold from the ‘Yom Kippur’ Arab-Israeli war of 1967,” Jerry says. “There were no fences to keep us out and no signs warning of any danger. I was with my two best friends in the best camping spot imaginable.

“I lead the way,” he says. “It was a beautiful, sunny day – just us and the green hillside and overgrown brush scrub. There was no path and we picked our way down through the rocks.”

Then there was the explosion.

“I thought we were under terrorist attack,” Jerry says, “I thought a rocket had landed at my feet and it was only a matter of time before the next explosion. Little did I know we were standing on a notorious minefield.

“David and Felix screamed at me to freeze. When they eventually reached me and turned me over I looked down to see my foot had been blown off, and a searing, thirsty pain came over me. I thought I was losing all liquid from my body – that I was, quite literally, being drained of life - and for the next three hours I would beg for water constantly.”

Kenyan, who was studying medicine, fashioned a tourniquet from a t-shirt to tie around Jerry’s leg. Most landmine survivors are said to be conscious through their entire experience; landmines are designed to maim, not kill.

“Felix and David picked me up, my arms over each of their shoulders,” Jerry explains. “There was no going back and we couldn’t scream for help. At times like that the only thing you can do is pray.”

Kenyan and Balwit chose the most difficult descent, through rocks and brush scrub, to avoid the minefield. Creating a chair with their arms, they began to carry their friend to safety.

“I was six feet three and weighed 14 stone,” Jerry says, “and on three occasions they went tumbling into rocks and bushes.”

Incredibly, he still manages a little humour when recounting his horrific story. “The fact these guys saved my life was expected; dropping me was unforgivable.”

Eventually they decided Balwit should go ahead to get help and Kenyan would stay with Jerry. “At the local hospital I had my first amputation. Earlier, Fritz had looked for my foot in the minefield and found my Timberland walking boot but there was nothing inside.”

Jerry spent six months in various hospitals. “I learned more from other amputees than from any expert. They arranged for another amputee to speak to me and he came in wearing jeans and walked perfectly. He told me the biggest battle I had to face was in my head. “You have a nose cold,” he said. “Get over it.” I was on an I.V. drip and not really in the mood for jokes but it was so important to get that peer support.”

It wasn’t until 10 years later that the Israeli government admitted in a report that there was no security in the area where Jerry was blown up. Back in the 1980s, he says, nobody wanted to admit there were no warning signs.

The recovery process was tough and the pain compounded by sadness and depression, but eventually Jerry was able to play tennis again, go skiing and start running.

“People have a habit of telling amputees: ‘I knew a guy with one leg who climbed Mount Everest’, but that’s just not helpful,” says the 41-year-old. “I didn’t want to be a superhero – I just wanted to do what I used to do. So if you lower that bar, you become happier, faster.”

After meeting a fellow victim, Ken Rutherford in 1993, Jerry discovered that experts estimate 25,000 people lose their lives to landmines every year and that somebody steps on one every 20 minutes. The Landmine Survivors Network (LSN) – later to become Survivor Corps – was born. Two years later Princess Diana visited Angola with the International Red Cross and raised the profile of the campaign globally.

In 1997 the International Treaty to Abolish Landmines was introduced. To date, 158 countries have joined, but the U.S is still not among them. China, India and Russia have also refused to join. There are still between sixty and eighty million unexploded landmines in over 80 countries around the world.

“Many victims in the developing world wish they had died than lived as an amputee because society discards them,” Jerry says. “There are 600 million people with disabilities in the world and eighty per cent live in developing countries. We are still working for a victim-free world, one survivor at a time.”

For more information on Jerry and the work of Survivor Corps, visit www.survivorcorps.org. He is the author of I Will Not Be Broken: Five Steps to Overcoming a Life Crisis, available from www.amazon.co.uk