For much of the world, the visual history of the Vietnam War has been defined by a handful of iconic photographs — Eddie Adams’ image of a Viet Cong fighter being executed, Nick Ut’s picture of nine-year-old Kim Phúc fleeing a napalm strike, Malcolm Browne’s photo of Thích Quang Duc self-immolating in a Saigon intersection.
Most of the famous images of the war were taken by Western photographers and news agencies, working alongside American or South Vietnamese troops.
But the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong had hundreds of photographers of their own, who documented every facet of the war under the most dangerous conditions.
All of these images were hidden until recently, for various reasons, until 1990’s when two men set out to find them and publish them. Most of the photos we see (at least here in the US in history classes) are all shot from the American POV and pushing propaganda on why the US was so great during Vietnam. These photos are the opposite.
A Viet Cong guerrilla stands guard in the Mekong Delta. “You could find women like her almost everywhere during the war,” said the photographer. “She was only 24 years old but had been widowed twice. Both her husbands were soldiers. I saw her as the embodiment of the ideal guerrilla woman, who’d made great sacrifices for her country.”
The Vietnam people hated the Chinese for hundreds of years. We were fools for getting involved. We made the Vietnamese and Chinese come together to fight us in a losing war half way around the world!
VC by Day, Whore at Night!
I was in name in 69 and 70’s. Looks very familiar
Many bad memories. Many friends killed. A stupid war, excuse me, military action.
I read a book on the war in Viet Nam from the Vietnamese perspective. The US sent soldiers on “tours” in the war which were typically a year or less. The Vietnamese were in it for the entire time or until they got killed. It was an awful time for them to NEVER get a rest or a real break. I wish I could remember the name of that book. Very enlightening.
She didn’t take that weapon from an American, more then likely it was taken from a ARVN after a firefight either it had been abandoned or it was taken from a KIA ARVN! THAT PHOTO BRINGS BACK A TERRIBLE MEMORY FOR ME AS A FEMALE NVA lifted her weapon to fire on my Lt. And me coming down into a river crossing she and a male NVA less then 25 ft. Away, we fired first killing both they were trapped in the river 2 feet of water she carried an M16 rifle like the NVA in the photo the male had an AK47 rifle, the river ran red with blood, the female was alive gasping for air when we reached her but just barely she left us in a minutes time! A vivid memory of having but seconds to live on both sides who fired first was the difference! From the amount of medical supplies in the female’s pack we suspected she had been a nurse, she also carried a lot of ammo and a couple of grenades, and a diary we had a chopper come in to take all of their equipment back,, they we both battle worn!
Sad. Know that they are free now. We shall go to our graves with all these kinds of memories. We did our job … got one another home! Many heros on both sides. You are one.
And Still Hanoi Jane has not been hung for her collaboration with our enemy. Shameful.
F Jane Fonda many years later. Traitor.
Our A1E pilots said they would strafe the Elephants with the 20MM cannons. They would shudder and fall over.
Robert, You should go back! I did. You would find out that we were on the wrong side of history. This woman and millions of others should be admired for their dedication to their sovereinty. We may be in the same boat within the near future! Our main mission was to get one another home…you know that.
If only we have the courage that the Vietnamese people had when the time comes in the near future!!
We never learned our lesson as we stayed in Afghanistan for 20 years. Sad, but true. We can’t impose our style of governing on foreign countries.
That was a horrible war because so many soldiers came home with PTSD and their lives were ruined after that. They ended up living on the streets, using drugs, drinking their self’s to death or committing crimes because nobody knew what was wrong with them. 10 years later they discovered PTSD it took another 10 years to figure out how to treat it. The one thing I can say has helped the most is having a dog which has helped so many veterans.