It’s true! This seemingly ordinary old photo killed two people

After winning the award, Eddie Adams fell into deep guilt, and the shadow of guilt enveloped him throughout his life.

He once said that two people died in this photo, one died from a bullet and the other died from the camera in his hand.

This is a well-known photo and a well-known story.

But what I want to say is that this photo is actually more than just the story you know...

There are three characters in this story: Nguyen Ngoc Luan, the chief of the South Vietnamese Police, and Yu ***Guerrilla Captain Nguyen Van Lam and Associated Press war photographer Eddie Adams.

Shooting Vietnam ***

The story we are familiar with is:

This is a photo taken during the Vietnam War. The photo is very famous and I believe everyone has seen it. However, the name of the photo is "Shooting Vietnam ***".

On the streets of Saigon in 1968, the South Vietnamese police chief shot a Vietnamese guerrilla captain on the street, and the moment of the shooting was recorded by Associated Press reporter Eddie Adams. This is the most classic moment in the Vietnam War. After taking the photo, he immediately sent the photo back to China with the news title "General Nguyen Ngoc Luan Executes the Death Penalty of Vietnamese Captain".

Because this photo won him the Pulitzer Prize in 1969, which is the highest honor award for journalists and is equivalent to the Oscars in journalism, so this award has become a lifetime reminder for all journalists. The ultimate dream.

Not only that, this photo also won him the Dutch Competition Award in 1969, which is the highest honor award in photography.

The next day, every newspaper in the United States published this photo prominently on the front page. NBC broadcast the video in the evening. The scene of the head blooming and blood splattering shocked the American public.

Execution in a street fight without a verdict is viewed by Americans as a cruel act that disregards life, not to mention that the other party is wearing civilian clothes. This matter has been controversial among all walks of life in the United States for several years.

This news soon prompted the students’ anti-war protests to intensify and gradually spread to major cities in the United States. Left-wingers in Europe, in particular, regarded the photo as a classic anti-war symbol.

Within one year, the American public's support for the war fell from 41% to 37%, and has continued to decline every year since then. A large part of the anti-war people do not support the "Freedom War". But I am disgusted with the long delay of the American ***.

In addition to Adams’ camera recording this moment, a reporter from the National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) also happened to record this video. The following animation ends with the video:

What we may not know is:

After winning the award, Eddie Adams fell into deep guilt, and the shadow of guilt enveloped him for the rest of his life.

He once said that two people died in this photo, one died from a bullet and the other died from the camera in his hand.

Associated Press war photographer Eddie Adams

January 31, 1968, the second day of the Vietnamese Lunar New Year.

Although the North and the South are in the middle of a civil war, according to the practice of the past few years, both sides will abide by the temporary ceasefire agreement during the Spring Festival and enjoy the holiday.

The entire South is immersed in a festive atmosphere, and half of the military and police are on holiday.

To welcome the New Year, the South Vietnamese authorities temporarily lifted the ban on setting off fireworks.

In the early morning, there was a sudden "bang" on the streets of Saigon, the capital. Many people mistakenly thought that someone was setting off firecrackers to celebrate the New Year. As the noise became more and more intense, they heard AK-47 shooting mixed in the street. The sound made it clear that a war had broken out.

Not only did the war break out, but it was also the largest ground military operation during the Vietnam War - Vietnam's famous "Tet Offensive."

On January 30, 1968, the Vietnamese army had attacked six southern cities. Although the US military and the South Vietnamese army canceled the ceasefire and ordered the troops to enter a state of combat readiness, they seemed to be used to it and thought this was normal. It was just a local attack, and the vigilance was still quite relaxed.

The real war started at 3 a.m. on the second day of the lunar month. More than 80,000 Vietnamese regular troops, with the cooperation of the guerrillas, suddenly launched a full-scale general attack on more than 100 towns in South Vietnam at the same time.

Saigon’s presidential palace, airport, national radio station, US Embassy, ??and military camps became key targets, and the fighting was fierce.

During the street fighting in Saigon on February 1, 1968, the Chief of the South Vietnamese National Police Nguyen Ngoc Luan (who had served in the South Vietnamese Army with the rank of Brigadier General) was leading his troops to defend a hospital. His subordinates brought a Vietnamese *** Captain Nguyen Van Lam, after a brief questioning, Nguyen Ngoc Luan drew his gun and shot a bullet in the opponent's head, because before Nguyen Van Lam was arrested, he had just executed 34 "counterrevolutionaries", most of whom were South Vietnamese police and their family members.

One of the policemen was a good friend of Nguyen Ngoc Luan, and all six of their family were killed by the Vietnamese guerrilla captain Nguyen Van Lien.

After Ruan Wenlin was arrested, he confessed to all these facts and was proud of them.

Nguyen Van Lam arrested

Executions occurred in various towns throughout the Tet Offensive. These people were not combatants who died in the war, but were deliberately executed by the Vietnamese. Organized mass executions of civilians, known as the liquidation of "counter-revolutionaries", had already drawn up a list in advance. They mainly targeted civil servants, police, military, religious and press groups who did not cooperate with them and their families. There were also many foreign tourists. Vietnamese people were killed.

Some of the burial pits scattered throughout South Vietnam were discovered after the war.

The largest and most numerous burial pits were later unearthed in Hue, containing nearly 3,000 people, and another 3,000 people whose whereabouts are unknown.

The victims included three West German medical professors teaching in Hue and the wife of one of them.

The unearthed corpses included a large number of old, young, women and children, most of whom were tied up with telephone wires, ropes and wires. They were killed by strangulation, stabbing, shooting, burial alive, etc.

After he shot Ruan Wenlin, he told Adams the reasons, which were later confirmed by Adams.

Later, someone asked Eddie Adams, "Why didn't you stop him from shooting?" Eddie Adams couldn't laugh or cry. For a murderer who killed 34 people (many of them innocent civilians), Why should he stop the shooting? ! Besides, as a photojournalist, Eddie Adams was just a bystander of the war and had no right to stop it.

The photo immediately became an icon of the brutality of war and made the officer who pulled the trigger, General Nguyen Ngoc Luan, an iconic villain and demon.

South Vietnam Police Chief Nguyen Ngoc Luan

A few months after the "execution photos" were published, Nguyen Ngoc Luan was shot in the leg by a machine gun during a battle on the streets of Saigon. The wound was bleeding profusely. A subordinate lay with a determined expression.

This scene was captured by Australian war correspondent Pat Burgess. It was a blow to the Western left-wing media because they exaggerated that the South Vietnamese soldiers and police had no fighting enthusiasm. However, the long-term influence of this photo Far inferior to "execution photos".

Ruan Ngoc Luan was shot in the leg during a street fight

The impact of this photo haunted Ruan like a ghost for the rest of his life.

After the war, he was scolded wherever he went.

After an Australian veterans' hospital refused to treat him, he was transferred to the United States, where he faced a massive (albeit unsuccessful) campaign to deport him.

He eventually settled in Virginia and opened a restaurant, but was soon forced to close it as the ghost of his past lingered.

"We know who you are" was scrawled on the walls and business came to a halt.

American diplomacy and military scholar James Robbins also researched more of Nguyen Ngoc Luan’s deeds in his book "This Time We Won: Looking Back at the Spring Offensive."

Within the scope of his powers, Nguyen Ngoc Luan insisted on national dignity and did not allow the US military authorities to interfere with the justice of South Vietnam. He resisted several US arrest requests and emphasized that all American journalists and soldiers in Vietnam must be subject to arrest. South Vietnam was under legal control and deeply resented the "secret dealings" between top US officials and North Vietnam.

As a result, Nguyen Ngoc Luan had a disagreement with the United States and once submitted his resignation application. However, in view of his prestige and ability, the South Vietnamese Communist Party rejected his resignation report.

In 2009, the negative of Adams' work was sold at an auction for more than 40,000 US dollars.

Adams never wanted this photo to be considered his masterpiece.

"I would like people to know more about another set of my works." He captured the scene of 48 Vietnamese refugees escaping to Thailand in a small boat, but were driven away to the high seas by the Thai military. " Because of my work and related reports, I persuaded the President of the United States to approve the admission of 200,000 Vietnamese refugees who fled in small boats.

A respected general ruined his life and photography because of this one-sided photo. As a result, the teacher became famous and became a hero who exposed war crimes. For this reason, Adams even wanted to return all the awards he received to alleviate his inner self-blame.

Adams, who had been repenting his whole life, confessed to him many times. Ruan Ngoc Luan apologized.

During Ruan Ngoc Luan's illness, Adams called him several times to express his hope that he could do something for him, but Ruan Ngoc Luan graciously told him that he should forget the past, "We were all at our respective posts at the time. "Do your duty".

After Ruan Ngoc Luan died of cancer in 1998, Adams sent flowers and a note: "I'm sorry for you, with tears in my eyes." "

Adams wrote an article in "Time" magazine to commemorate Ruan Ngoc Luan: "This guy is a hero. Americans should cry. People don't know anything else about him.

"South Vietnam(3)Adams(1)Vietnam***(1)