[vikingchick]

I must admit I don't know the story behind the Vietnamese photo of the guy pointing the gun at the other one's head, although I have seen it before. Can anybody tell me what was going on? Did he actually kill him? Who were they? Thank you.

[WhiteKnuckles]

Link

SPRINGFIELD, VA (AP) - Nguyen Ngoc Loan, whose execution of a Viet Cong prisoner on the streets of Saigon in 1968 became one of the most chilling images of the Vietnam War, died Tuesday. He was 67. The former South Vietnamese general died of cancer at his home in Burke, a Washington suburb. He fled South Vietnam in 1975, the year the communists overran the country, and moved to Virginia, where he opened a restaurant.

On Feb. 1, 1968, Loan was director of South Vietnam's national police and the North Vietnamese had just begun the Tet Offensive, their huge military push southward. Firefights had broken out all over Saigon, and Loan's police were trying to rid the South Vietnamese capital of Viet Cong guerrillas. Loan led the prisoner, his hands bound, onto a street corner and in front of a group of journalists pulled his pistol and shot the prisoner point-blank in the head. The general told the newsmen that the prisoner was a known Viet Cong captain.

Eddie Adams' photo of the execution won a Pulitzer Prize for The Associated Press. NBC also showed film of the execution. Adams said yesterday that Gen. Loan's actions were misinterpreted because of the picture. "The guy was a hero. America should be crying," said Adams, now a free-lance photographer. "I just hate to see him go this way, without people knowing anything about him." Adams said the man Loan shot had been seen killing others and that Loan was justified in executing him.

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HTH

[Steel Wolf]

If memory serves, this is a police chief in Saigon executing a VC operative who had just been captured. He actually pulls the trigger a second after this picture. The VC in question was operating out of uniform, hence the summary execution, however the film is pretty shocking.

I don't exactly agree with the artists concept of trying to link the two situations together, however. I get it, but I don't entirely buy it.

[zoen]

yes he shot the guy in the head and fell with a gush of blood out of the hole in his head like a fountian on the street

[billhilly]

Yes, he did kill him. The picture that is so famous was taken a second before the bulet slammed into the head of the Viet Cong soldier. As I recall, the picture was not a compliment to the marksmanship, or zeal, of the shooter.

[floriduh voter]

My cat just did a post and she's not even registered. I think the cartoon will incite more violence in Iraq against our soldiers.

[BenLurkin]

My recollection of the event is in post 591. The photo is a still from a video and, yes, the guy's brains were blown out.