Charles Eggleston
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Charles Richard Eggleston (November 1945 – May 6, 1968) was a photographer with United Press International who was killed in combat in Vietnam where he was covering the on-going war.
A graduate of Indian River Central High School in Philadelphia, New York, Eggleston moved to Gouverneur after he graduated from Auburn Community College, and enrolled in the US Navy where he became a journalist. While serving in Vietnam, he was awarded two bronze stars, two Navy commendation medals and South Vietnam's Honor Medal.
In 1966, he asked to be discharged, and became a UPI photographer in the country instead. Sometime before April 1968, he was wounded during a mortar attack against Camp Eagle where he was stationed with the 101st Airborne.
In May, a jeep carrying five journalists accidentally came across Viet Cong massing outside Saigon. Despite the journalists' attempts to dissuade the startled soldiers, they were all shot. 23-year old Eggleston swore vengenace, and announced his intention to kill as many Viet Cong as possible.
It remains disputed whether he was participating in the May 6th firefight on the Western outskirts of Saigon, or simply photographing it, when he was killed by a bullet to the skull. Most sources agree that he was at least carrying a rifle, if not actually using it. He was the 17th journalist killed in the war. His will had indicated that his possessions were to be given to war orphans.[1]
On May 17th, TIME magazine reported his death stating that he had been photographing South Vietnamese paratroopers in a house-to-house search, at the time of the firefight.[2] Other sources indicate that reporter Roger Norum was taperecording a converstaion with him during the streetfight, and saw Eggleston shot by a sniper while lighting a cigarette.[3]
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