"Linh, Kim
Phuc's photo (The Girl in the Photograph--Trang Bang, June 8, 1972) is a result
of a camera's click; and Nick Ut was in the right place at the right time. Your
book of poetry, Dear Daddy, comes from your blessed heart and soul."
--Kim Phuc's mother in a phone conversation
from Toronto, Canada, October 25, 1997
The Unforgettable Photographer
A few-foot by few-foot black-and-white photo
Hung dominantly at the "Newseum" in
Arlington, Virginia
The caption said, "A South Vietnam
officer executed a Viet Cong prisoner"
Around the world, the
AP’s photo captioned the same
One is taken aback, his respect for the
AP’s neutrality
Struggling to justify the news-caption game.
Remember the photo of the nine-year-old girl
Running naked down the highway
When her Trang
Bang village was being under
siege by Viet Cong?
The caption only said, "The girl is
burned by napalm..."
Ignoring the VC atrocities behind the dark
smoke,
Which the camera's lens could not see;
The photographer never had a chance to say a
word
Defending the Americans who defended his
South Vietnam
His employer, the Associated Press, had the
upper hand
They hired him...
That’s life.
But a courageous man named Eddie Adams;
He is not just an unfeeling human
He feels the injustice his photo did to
Americans
He told the truth:
"The picture lies..."
New York Times, October 11, 1995
That particular Viet Cong captain had just
murdered a family;
Hanoi’s legacy of Tet Offensive.
Sir, Mr. Eddie Adams, you are my
Unforgettable Photographer...
Linh Duy Vo
(The Boy in the Poem)
Note: The Viet Cong in the AP's photo is Captain Bay Lop, aka, Nguyen Van Lem, born 1933. He had just killed a police major who was one of Loan's best friends and knifed his entire family.
© Copyright by Linh Duy Vo. All rights reserved.