Qingwen photographer

After winning the prize, eddie adams fell into a deep sense of guilt, and the shadow of guilt hung over his life.

He once said that two people died in this photo, one was killed by a bullet and the other was killed by a 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 not just a story you know. ...

There are three characters in this story: Ruan Yuluan, the police chief of South Vietnam, Ruan Wenlin, the guerrilla captain of the Viet Cong, and eddie adams, a war photographer of the Associated Press.

Shoot the Viet cong

The familiar story is:

This is a photo taken during the Vietnam War. The photos are very famous. I believe everyone has seen it. The name of the photo is "Shoot the Viet Cong".

1968 On the street of Saigon, the police chief of South Vietnam shot and killed a Viet Cong guerrilla captain in the street. At the moment of shooting, Associated Press reporter eddie adams recorded the most classic scene in the Vietnam War. After taking the photo, he immediately sent it back to China with the news headline "General Ruan Yuluan executed the captain of the Viet Cong".

Because this photo won him the Pulitzer Prize for Journalism in 1969, which is the highest honor award for journalists, equivalent to the Oscar in the press, so this award has become the ultimate dream of all journalists.

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

The next day, all the newspapers in the United States put this photo on the front page. NBC played a video at night, and the scene of head blooming and blood splashing caught the American public.

In the eyes of Americans, it is cruel to execute the death penalty in a street fight without a verdict, not to mention that the other party is wearing plain clothes. The controversy over this matter has been going on in the United States for several years.

This news quickly prompted students to oppose the war, and gradually spread to major cities in the United States, especially in Europe, where leftists regarded photos as a classic symbol of anti-war.

Within a year, the American public who supported the war dropped from 4 1% to 37%, and then went down all the way. A large number of anti-war activists do not support "freedom war", but hate the United States.

At that time, in addition to Adams' camera recording this moment, a reporter from National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) also happened to record this video. The following animation ends with this video:

Maybe what we don't know is:

After winning the prize, eddie adams fell into a deep sense of guilt, and the shadow of guilt hung over his life.

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

Associated Press war photographer eddie adams

1968 65438+1October 3 1, the second day of the Vietnamese Lunar New Year.

Despite the civil war between the North and the South, according to the practice of the past few years, both sides will abide by the temporary ceasefire agreement during the Spring Festival and have a good holiday.

The whole south is immersed in the festive atmosphere, and half of the military and police are on holiday.

In order to welcome the New Year, the South Vietnamese authorities temporarily lifted the ban on setting off fireworks and firecrackers.

In the early morning, the streets of the capital Saigon suddenly rumbled, and many people mistakenly thought that someone was setting off firecrackers to celebrate the New Year. As the noise became stronger and stronger, they heard the sound of AK-47 shooting in the street, and then they understood that the war broke out.

This war not only broke out, but also was the biggest ground military action during the Vietnam War-the famous "Spring Festival offensive" of the Viet Cong.

1October 30th,1968,65438+The Viet Cong army has attacked six cities in the south. Although the U.S. and South Vietnamese troops canceled the ceasefire and ordered the troops to enter a state of readiness, they seemed to be used to it, thinking that it was only a local attack and their alert was quite relaxed.

The real war didn't start until 3 am the next day. With the cooperation of guerrillas, more than 80,000 regular troops of the Communist Party of Vietnam suddenly launched an all-round general attack on more than 0/00 towns in South Vietnam/Kloc.

The presidential palace, airport, national radio station, American embassy and military camp in Saigon have become key targets, and the situation is very fierce.

1 968 February1day In the street fighting in Saigon, Ruan Yuluan, the chief of the South Vietnamese National Police (once served in the South Vietnamese army, with the rank of brigadier general), was leading the troops to defend a hospital. His men brought a Vietnamese communist party captain Nguyen Van Loon. After a brief questioning, Ruan Yuluan pulled out his gun and shot the other person in the head, because Ruan Wenlin had just executed 34 "counter-revolutionaries" before he was arrested.

One of the policemen was a good friend of Ruan Yuluan, and all six of them were killed by Ruan Wen, the leader of the Viet Cong guerrillas.

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

Ruan wenlin who was arrested

During the whole Spring Festival offensive, towns and cities were executing the death penalty. These people are not combatants who died in the war, but civilians who were executed on a large scale by the Viet Cong. The name is "counter-revolutionary liquidation", and a list has been drawn up in advance, which is mainly aimed at people who do not cooperate with civil servants, police, soldiers, religions and the press and their families. At the same time, many Vietnamese traveling abroad were killed.

After the war, some burial pits were found throughout South Vietnam.

Later, the largest burial pit was excavated in Hue, with nearly 3,000 people and another 3,000 missing.

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

Many of the bodies dug up were women, children, old and young, and most of them were tied by telephone lines, ropes and wires. The methods of killing people include strangulation, stabbing, shooting, burying alive and so on.

After he shot Ruan Wenlin, he told Adams the reason, which was later confirmed by Adams.

Later, someone asked eddie adams, "Why didn't you stop him from shooting?" Eddie adams is in distress situation. For a murderer who killed 34 people, many of whom were innocent civilians, why didn't he shoot? ! Besides, as a photojournalist, eddie adams is just a bystander in the war, and he has no right to stop it.

This photo immediately became a symbol of the cruelty of war, and also made General Ruan Yuluan, the police officer who pulled the trigger, an iconic villain and demon.

Ruan Yuluan, Director of South Vietnam Police Department

A few months after the "execution photos" were published, Ruan Yuluan was shot in the leg by a machine gun in a battle on the streets of Saigon, and the wound was bleeding profusely. He lay firmly on a subordinate.

This scene was captured by Australian war correspondent Pat Burgess, which is a blow to the western left-wing media because they have no enthusiasm for fighting, but the long-term impact of this photo is far less than that of the "execution photo".

Ruan Yuluan was shot in the leg in a street fight.

The influence of this photo troubled Ruan for the rest of his life.

After the war, he was scolded everywhere he went.

After the Australian Veterans Hospital refused to treat him, he was transferred to the United States, where he encountered a large-scale (though unsuccessful) expulsion campaign.

He finally settled in Virginia and opened a restaurant, but was soon forced to close because of his past.

"We know who you are" was scrawled on the wall and the business stopped.

James Robbins, an American diplomatic and military scholar, also studied more stories about Ruan Yuluan in the book "This Time We Won: Reviewing the Spring Offensive".

Ruan Yuluan, within the scope of her functions and powers, insisted on national dignity, forbade the US military authorities to interfere in the administration of justice in South Vietnam, and repeatedly demanded to be arrested by the United States, stressing that all American journalists and soldiers in Vietnam should be subject to the laws of South Vietnam, and hated the "secret transactions" between American high-level officials and North Vietnam.

Ruan Yuluan fell out with the US and once submitted his resignation application, but due to his prestige and ability, South Vietnam * * * rejected his resignation report.

In 2009, the negatives of Adams' works sold for more than 40,000 dollars at an auction.

Adams never wanted this photo to be regarded as his outstanding work.

"I'd rather people know more about my other group of works." He captured the scene of 48 Vietnamese refugees fleeing to Thailand by boat, but being driven to the high seas by the Thai military. "Because of my group of works and related reports, I persuaded the President of the United States to approve the acceptance of 200,000 Vietnamese refugees who fled by boat.

A respected general ruined his life because of this one-sided photo, but the photographer became famous and became a hero to expose war crimes. To this end, Adams even wanted to return all the awards he received to alleviate his inner remorse.

Adams, who repented all his life, apologized to Ruan Yuluan many times.

During Ruan Yuluan's illness, Adams called many times to express his hope to do something for each other. Ruan Yuluan generously told him that we should forget the past. "At that time, we all did our duty in our respective posts."

1998, after Ruan Yuluan died of cancer, Adams sent flowers with a note: "Sorry, my eyes are full of tears."

Adams wrote an article in Time magazine in memory of Ruan Yuluan: "This guy is a hero. Americans should cry. People know nothing about his other situation. "

South Vietnam (3) Adams (1) Viet Cong (1)