Nguyễn Ngọc Loan
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- This is a Vietnamese name; the family name is Nguyễn, but is often simplified as Nguyen in English-language text. According to Vietnamese custom, this person properly should be referred to by the given name Loan.
| Nguyễn Ngọc Loan | |
|---|---|
| December 11, 1930 - July 14, 1998 (aged 67) | |
 General Nguyễn Ngọc Loan |
|
| Nickname | Nguyen Ngoc Loan |
| Place of birth | French Indochina - (what is now Vietnam) |
| Place of death |  - Burke, Virginia, a Washington, D.C. suburb. |
| Allegiance |  - Republic of Vietnam |
| Service/branch | Army of the Republic of Vietnam |
| Rank | Taken out of action when he was a brigadier general of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam |
| Battles/wars | Tet Offensive |
General Nguyễn Ngọc Loan (December 11, 1930[1]–July 14, 1998) was the Republic of Vietnam's Chief of National Police. Loan gained international infamy when he executed Nguyễn Văn Lém, a Viet Cong prisoner, on February 1, 1968 in front of Vo Suu, an NBC cameraman, and Eddie Adams, an Associated Press photographer. The photo (captioned "General Nguyen Ngoc Loan executing a Viet Cong prisoner in Saigon") and film would become two of the most famous images in journalism and started to change the American public's views on the Vietnam War.
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[edit] Biography
Nguyễn Ngọc Loan was a former Brigadier General of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam. A few months after the execution picture was taken, Loan was seriously wounded by machine gun fire that led to the amputation of his leg. Again his picture hit the world press this time as Australian war correspondent, Pat Burgess, carried him back to his lines.[2]
In 1975, during the Fall of Saigon, Loan left Vietnam. He moved to Virginia, USA, and opened a pizza restaurant. In 1991, Loan was forced into retirement when his identity was publicly disclosed. One patron wrote "we know who you are" on a restroom wall in his restaurant.
Loan was married to Chinh Mai, with whom he had five children. He died of cancer on July 14, 1998 in Burke, Virginia, a Washington, D.C., suburb.
[edit] Prisoner execution
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This section does not cite any references or sources. (February 2008) Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. |
General Nguyen Ngoc Loan Executing a Viet Cong Prisoner in Saigon is a photograph taken by Eddie Adams on February 1, 1968. It shows South Vietnamese National Police Chief Nguyễn Ngọc Loan executing a Viet Cong officer in Saigon during the Tet Offensive. The event was also captured by NBC News film cameras, but Adams' photograph remains the defining image.
There is some dispute as to the identity of the man who is being executed in the photograph. It has been claimed that he was either Nguyễn Văn Lém or Le Cong Na, a similar looking man who was also a member of the Việt Cộng and died during the Tet Offensive. The families of both men claimed that the Việt Cộng officer in the photo looks very similar to their relative. Neither family could say for sure, because the Việt Cộng officer's face was swollen due to a severe beating by South Vietnamese police prior to the execution.
Some South Vietnamese sources said that Lém commanded a Viet Cong assassination platoon, which on that day had targeted South Vietnamese National Police officers or, in their stead, the police officers' families. Photographer Adams confirmed the South Vietnamese account, although he was only present for the execution. Lém's widow confirmed that her husband was a member of the Viet Cong and she did not see him after the Tet Offensive began. Shortly after the execution, a South Vietnamese official who had not been present said that Lém was only a political operative.
Some critics claim that Nguyễn Ngọc Loan's action violated the Geneva Conventions for treatment of prisoners of war. The rights of POW status were accorded to Việt Cộng members only if they were seized during military operations. Nguyễn Văn Lém had neither been wearing a uniform nor fighting enemy soldiers in the alleged commission of war crimes.
The photo won Adams the 1969 Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography, though he was later said to have regretted the impact it had. The image became an anti-war icon. Concerning General Nguyễn and his famous photograph, Eddie Adams later wrote in Time:
| “ | 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? | ” |
Eddie Adams later apologized in person to General Nguyễn and his family for the damage it did to his reputation. When General Nguyễn died, Adams praised him as a hero of a just cause:
| “ | The guy was a hero. America should be crying. I just hate to see him go this way, without people knowing anything about him.[3] | ” |
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ THIẾU TƯỚNG NGUYỄN NGỌC LOAN (Vietnamese)
- ^ Lucas, Dean (2007-02-17). Famous Pictures Magazine - Vietnam Execution (HTML). Famous Pictures Magazine. Retrieved on 2007-07-21.
- ^ Image Canon - Historic Images
[edit] External links
- The exact location of this event happened on the west section of "Lý Thái Tổ" street, right in the center of this satellite map, and looking East as shown in the execution picture.
- VNAF The South Vietnamese Air Force - Không Quân Việt Nam Cộng Hòa
- Voice autobiography of execution by Photographer Eddie Adams
- General Nguyễn Ngọc Loan's Obituary from The New York Times, July 16, 1998
- Republic of Vietnam Armed Forces Reunion 2003
