"the image of Harry falling is something I'll never get out of my mind"
"(Harry's) doing very well today."
"I won't be at ease until he's home."
"He's a great man, great shape..."
Isn't Brit going to show the interview in its entirety without all the interruptions.
Cheney: Harry is doing well. I talked with him yesterday and the heart problem seems resolved. It's a great relief but I won't be relieved until he's home. He'll be in the hospital a few more days and the problem is that there's a possibilty of complications in a 78 year old man. He's a great man, in good shape, and a good friend. I've known him in Vale 30 years ago. He's an acquaintance.
We were hutning quail late in the day in wide open space, lots of brush cover. Wild quail. I've gone to the Armstrong ranch for years and we'd hunted all day on Saturday. 10 people - guests. There wree 3 of us who got out of car and walked up to qual, coveys flusehd and we each got a bird. Harry couldn't find his. D eep cover and he went to look for it. We walked away from Harry and another covey was spotted. The outrider was between us. Bird flushed and went to right and to the west. I turned and shot and at that second saw Harry. I saw him fall.
He was dressed properly in orange; there was a gully there so he was down a little. The sun was behind him and affected my vision I'm sure. The vision of him falling is something I'll never get out of my mind.
We went over to him right away, maybe 30 yards away which was a good thing. If he'd been closer, the damage would have been greater. He caught part of the shot on the right part of his face, neck and upper torso.
I ran over to Harry and he was lying on his back, bleeding. I could see where the shot had scuffed him. I've always got a medical team covering me and the physicians's assistant administered first aid.
Harry was conscious and I said, "Harry, I had no idea you were there". He was stunned and tried to figure out what happened to him.
I had no idea how serious it was going to be. It's a ot of shot that hit him. Or about his eyes. Fortunately he was wearing hunting glasses. We always had an ambulance at the ranch and within 30 minutes he was on the way to the hospital.
I didn't go; the ambulance was crowded.
At 7:00 at night we got reports but they were confusing. Early reports are always wrong. Early reports from the ambulance said he was doing well, eyes were open.
In the ER they checked him out further and lifted him by helicopter to Corpus Kristi. He was in Kingsville within less than an hour after leaving the ranch.