Nguyễn Ngọc Loan: Difference between revisions

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Nguyen Ngoc Loan executes a suspected NLF officer

Nguyen Ngoc Loan (1931 - July 14, 1998) was a South Vietnamese chief of police. He was depicted summarily executing Nguyen Van Lem, a Vietcong agent, in front of an NBC cameraman and Associated Press photographer Eddie Adams on February 1, 1968. The photo and film would become two of the most famous images in journalism and started to change the American public's views on their involvement in Vietnam. The photo won Adams the 1969 Pulitzer Prize for spot news photography, though he was later said to have regretted the impact it had.

Nguyen Van Lem was captured, his hands bound, he was brought in front of the journalists. Loan pulled out his revolver and immediately executed the prisoner. Loan later insisted that this was justified because the prisoner had been the captain of a terrorist squad that had killed the family of one of his deputy commanders.

On Loan and his famous photograph, Eddie Adams wrote in Time Magazine: "The general killed the Viet Cong; I killed the general with my camera. Still photographs are the most powerful weapon in the world. People believe them, but photographs do lie, even without manipulation. They are only half-truths."

"What the photograph didn't say was, 'What would you do if you were the general at that time and place on that hot day, and you caught the so-called bad guy after he blew away one, two or three American soldiers?'"

During the U.S. withdrawal, Loan left Vietnam in 1975. He moved to Virginia and opened a pizza restaurant, which he gave up after his past had been disclosed to the public in 1991. He died of cancer in 1998 in Washington.

Notable ARVN Generals

External links

Footage of Nguyen Van Lem execution. Warning: Very graphic material.
Obituary from The New York Times, July 16, 1998

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 [[Image:Nguyen.jpg|right|thumb|250px|Nguyen Ngoc Loan executes a suspected NLF officer]]
-'''Nguyen Ngoc Loan''' (1931? - [[July 14]], [[1998]]) was a [[South Vietnam]]ese chief of police. He was depicted summarily executing [[Nguyen Van Lem]], a Vietcong agent, in front of an [[NBC]] cameraman and [[Associated Press]] photographer [[Eddie Adams (photographer)|Eddie Adams]] on [[February 1]], [[1968]]. The photo and film would become two of the most famous images in journalism and started to change the [[United States|American]] public's views on their involvement in [[Vietnam War|Vietnam]]. The photo won Adams the 1969 [[Pulitzer Prize]] for spot news photography, though he was later said to have regretted the impact it had.
+'''Nguyen Ngoc Loan''' (1931 - [[July 14]], [[1998]]) was a [[South Vietnam]]ese chief of police. He was depicted summarily executing [[Nguyen Van Lem]], a Vietcong agent, in front of an [[NBC]] cameraman and [[Associated Press]] photographer [[Eddie Adams (photographer)|Eddie Adams]] on [[February 1]], [[1968]]. The photo and film would become two of the most famous images in journalism and started to change the [[United States|American]] public's views on their involvement in [[Vietnam War|Vietnam]]. The photo won Adams the 1969 [[Pulitzer Prize]] for spot news photography, though he was later said to have regretted the impact it had.
 Nguyen Van Lem was captured, his hands bound, he was brought in front of the journalists. Loan pulled out his revolver and immediately executed the prisoner. Loan later insisted that this was justified because the prisoner had been the captain of a terrorist squad that had killed the family of one of his deputy commanders.