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| "Sometimes Breathtaking. Sometimes Horrific Each photo has the power to inspire." One new Photo added Everyweek! |
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Posted on July 14, 2008 - Total Views 76781
This picture was shot by Eddie Adams who won the Pulitzer prize with it. The picture shows Nguyen Ngoc Loan, South Vietnam’s national police chief executing a prisoner who was said to be a Viet Cong captain. Once again the public opinion was turned against the war.
| Photographer : Year : More Info : |
Eddie Adams 1968 Wikipedia |
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(30 votes, average: 4.93 out of 5)
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Tags : 1968 • Eddie Adams • Execution • National Police • Nguyen Ngoc Loan • Police Chief • Public Opinion • Pulitzer Prize • South Vietnam • Viet Cong
August 26th, 2008 at 5:53 pm
That dude owns a restaurant in my town!
August 26th, 2008 at 7:01 pm
america has given him exile and a job. god bless america
August 26th, 2008 at 7:13 pm
This is a photo that is wrong. The photographer actually regrets ever publishing the photo because of the way it has been interpreted around the world. It was shown that the man being shot was Viet Cong, and had just participated in slaughtering the shooters family. You tell me you wouldn’t be doing the same thing he is in those circumstances. And I am curious, why do we never see the photos of the thousands of South Vietnamese being slaughtered by the Viet Cong? They destroyed whole villages of people, but we all like to forget that happened, and the fact that the North crushed them and are still ruining their civil rights, because that goes against the whole anti-Vietnam war thing that most people seem to have. By the way, if any of you think this has not happened in every war, you are kidding yourselves. It is not unique to Vietnam, there was just no one around to catch other people in the act.
August 26th, 2008 at 11:24 pm
Sara, I hadn’t heard that before. Very interesting! It definitely skews your initial impression of this image. Though personally, I think the photographer shouldn’t doubt his first instinct. The scene still speaks volumes to the pointlessness of war, even in this instance of righteous retaliation. You may sympathize with the shooter, but then you look at the Viet Cong and wonder what precipitated his actions. What did THAT scene look like? Like you said, where are the other pictures? I wonder how much of that is the American media vs. actual lack of coverage? Even now, there are many photos of the daily atrocities in Iraq and Afghanistan for those who look, but few ever make it on CNN, etc. Pictures like these are sadly timeless.
August 27th, 2008 at 1:08 am
You Americans are being held stupid on a massive scale. Just last week in a bombing in Afghanistan, you killed over 90 innocent CIVILIANS and you published it was a mere 5 civilians and just over 20 taliban warriors. just an example.
August 27th, 2008 at 1:26 am
Mustard - Excuse me. I killed 90 innocent civilians? Not every American wants these godammned stupid wars. Just because my out of control criminal government has done this doesn’t mean I consented to this or think it is right in any way shape or form.
Stop your ignorant blanket blaming tactics.
August 27th, 2008 at 1:49 am
Uh… Sarah… I heard it quite differently. I wish I could site the documentary, but it came from the mouth of the photographer, so I’m going to go with his version. The photographer (an American) had been following the shooter’s S. Vietnamese company and had become friends with the Major (who is the shooter). The man being shot did not just kill the shooter’s family (please site the source and don’t say it was your high school social studies teacher). He was simply a suspected member of the Vietcong. The photographer never said he regrets the publishing of the photo, he said he regretted the effect the photo had, as he believed in the war effort at that time.
Trust me, there is a difference in regretting what you’ve done or made and regretting the perception of what you did or made.
August 27th, 2008 at 2:43 am
Sara in re: to the high school social studies teacher as a reference comment I simply mean that while there is an element of “truth” in what you say regarding the photographers reaction, it seems, (from what I’ve seen and heard re: the photo) to be 2nd or third hand reporting, especially the bit about him killing the entiire family. As it stands I would wager my entire paycheck against that killing the entire family bit…. but hey, maybe I’m thinking of another photo that changed the world.
August 27th, 2008 at 2:46 am
and of course, what I mean to say is I have heard no evidence about the man being shot having killed the shooter’s entire family or any other family… but again, maybe I’m thinking of another photo that changed the world. (Hey when are they going to have a website for online comments that changed the world?)
August 27th, 2008 at 7:19 am
you’d have to be pretty angry before shooting someone - i want to hear the full story first
August 27th, 2008 at 1:32 pm
I could not agree with Jeremy more. I do not condone what my country does wrong, but most Americans are unable to do anything about it. Could you do something about it, Mustard? Of course not. Then, don’t criticize.
By the way, us Americans being stupid? Very old news…
August 27th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
All i ever see here is a bunch of America bashing. I wish you would all leave this country if you hate it so much! You’re free to live and ***** in another place. If I could choose not to defend you I would. What’s wrong with our country these days is that we have to many self loathing fools like you.
August 27th, 2008 at 9:03 pm
double r
Actually you don’t have to be “angry” at all. Serial killers for example are usually never angry, in fact many of them really quite enjoy it. And I suppose if your job is to kill people it would become rather routine. Don’t believe me? Try hitting a cow with a sledgehammer to death. Makes you cringe a bit, right, or cutting off a chickens head…. you’d have to be pretty angry at that cow right? Point being while disgusting at first, once you get that job in the slaughter house or have been in a war for (by the date of this photo) possibly 10 years and this isn’t your first time killing and you believe it’s him or me… or even, if I was captured he’d do the same to me… well it gets easier and easier I imagine.
August 27th, 2008 at 9:15 pm
Here’s your full story…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nguy%E1%BB%85n_Ng%E1%BB%8Dc_Loan
while it says the man being shot (according to S. Vietnam) was suspected of leading a terror squad which may have tortured and killed ploice men’s families…. the man shooting is not a police man, and it says nothing about his family being harmed. Therefore…. it is what it looks like and there is not vengeance angle.
August 27th, 2008 at 9:29 pm
sorr, there is “no” vengeance angle here (and I should add) as far as we can see.
I’m a little confused as to why people are seemingly insisting or wanting to believe this was somehow personal issue…. You have seen the other photos on this site… do the Abu Gahrib photos look like revenge kills/torture? Did those Iraqis also kill the torturer’s family’s?????
I don’t mean to sound uh impatient here BUT if you want the “full story” you can easily search it using the same machine you’re using right now! You may have noticed a mouse in front of you (not a real mouse of course), but one that will guide you all on your journey through what Al Gore and I like to call the internet.
Enjoy!
August 27th, 2008 at 9:38 pm
Sorry, don’t mean to be so…(whatever) but these photos are so powerful, I find it hard to listen to baseless assertions about them, it’s actually quite annoying.
August 28th, 2008 at 12:08 am
@random soldier: I vote, I have a right to *****. And you, sir, have chosen the duty of protecting my right to do so. Any “bitching” you see out of Americans about the way the government runs things is all based on our disapproval of it and our frustration with the fact we can’t do anything about it, no matter how hard we try to go about the ways promised to us by the Constitution. You’re a lousy soldier, and I don’t feel to comfortable with you as our international ambassador.
August 28th, 2008 at 1:57 am
Everybody is wrong! That is a German shooting a Jew! Do not you people get it. If you don’t get it,you don’t get it!!!
August 28th, 2008 at 4:38 am
دنيا ستمگران را هرگز به حال خود رها نخواهد كرد و روزي اينان بايد تاوان ستم خود را بپردازند
August 28th, 2008 at 8:21 am
Wait! I was there. The guy in the plaid shirt has the hiccups and the other guy is just trying to help by scaring him.
August 28th, 2008 at 11:50 am
They say this police officer said: “Game Over” before pull the trigger.
August 29th, 2008 at 1:30 pm
he was sponsored by playstation. american brand, yes?
August 29th, 2008 at 4:27 pm
That’s Another Brutal Image of (MotherFucker) American Government’s War.
August 29th, 2008 at 5:42 pm
There is NEVER a reason to kill a man in cold blood like this. Imagine having your hands tied behind your back and this happening to you. The shooter is on a power trip. Some people thrive on wartime conditions because it affords them an importance that they would never attain in civilian life, as with the IRA middle order in Ireland.
August 30th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
I just want to say that as an American, I don’t support our government’s choices when it comes to staying in a war, but I DO support our brave soldiers who are fighting for us. Many of them had no choice in the matter. If you join a branch of the military to become an engineer or operations, and there aren’t enough people in infantry, you’re job description just changed drastically. You’d be put on the front line in a heartbeat, even if that’s not what you signed up for. So bash our government, but DO NOT ridicule the people willing to give up their lives to protect you and your right to *****.
August 31st, 2008 at 1:03 pm
Summary execution of captured spies, enemy combatants in civilian clothing, and terrorists is legitimate under the rules of war. Police chief Nguyen Ngoc Loan is a hero who should have been given a medal.
August 31st, 2008 at 3:09 pm
alternative medical practitioner Yu Stin Ki Puh tests his new remedy for impacted earwax…
September 1st, 2008 at 2:02 pm
[...] Execution of a Viet Cong [...]
September 1st, 2008 at 4:17 pm
its truth and consequences, truth is, in war if the enemy captures you your dead, whatever you did before or what ever your aspirations were, they cease when the enemy has a decision of life or death for you in time of war.that pic just speaks volumes, you can add whatever you want, the consequences of war is death to civilian and soldier alike.
September 1st, 2008 at 10:58 pm
doesnt he realize blood and brain matter will blowback onto his nice jacket?
September 2nd, 2008 at 12:32 am
You can bet your bottom dollar that Little Johnny will never throw rocks at Mr. Spooner’s house again!
September 2nd, 2008 at 1:21 am
thats a cute little pistol, where would you get one of those?
September 3rd, 2008 at 1:43 am
All this mindless bickering distracts me. Shut the **** up and absorb the true meaning of the photo, I beg of you.
September 3rd, 2008 at 2:50 am
@roxy…your good!!!
September 3rd, 2008 at 4:07 pm
I don’t care how many others would do something like this. We are Americans. We do not condone this. Period.
September 3rd, 2008 at 8:02 pm
Sorry to bring up this trivial point, but this photographer did not have lightning quick reflexes that allowed him to shoot this commie scum at the very second he was, well, being shot himself. He used a cheap movie camera and selected the exact frame he wanted for publication.
September 3rd, 2008 at 11:38 pm
My g-d, that’s such a shame…….that the executor held the gun so close to the head as he did, because that greatly increased the chance of bone fragments blowing back into the barrel of the gun. When executing commie scum sucking turds, you should always hold the gun at least three feet from the target.
September 4th, 2008 at 3:06 am
HEHEHEHE—HOLD ER STEADY FELLA– PECKERHEADED SUMBITCH
September 4th, 2008 at 7:41 am
That definitely has to be one of my all time favorite photos. Just whish I went to college and got to fly a bomber so I could drop tons of bombs and kill all them camel humpers an bring our boys home. Veitnam—U.S.M.C.
September 4th, 2008 at 8:21 am
To sara, yes you should cite your sources if you really want people to hear you.
To YOU, come on man, you were spouting first, then researching, then ” what i mean to say..”-ing, then spouting some more. It looks like your mouth…err..fingers started going before your brain could think…uhh..google the photo significance.
To me this photo means lots of things. Hatred, revenge, justice, cruelty, stark reality…
September 4th, 2008 at 9:32 am
What people don’t seem to realize is that during wartime if you have on civilian clothes and go behind enemy lines to conduct hostile operations such as espionage or assassination, you are not protected by the Geneva Convention and if captured you are at the mercy of your captors and are subject to execution.
September 4th, 2008 at 3:51 pm
if you were to fall you will be honord as a warrior willing to fight and give it all for what you bealive in this is the greatist privliege if i were to fall know all is forgiven war or no war death is a part of a life that sould be lived to the fullist these men should be rememberd for what they gave and what it takes no matter right or wrong or whos side you may find yourself on one must always complete the task at hand and you can hardly judge someone else for there decisions unless you willing to stand and make your own you may start to see things a littel differant what it means to live your life and find happyness
September 4th, 2008 at 7:31 pm
I wonder, is he squinching his eyes up in anticipation of the shot or is he squinty eyed to begin with?
September 5th, 2008 at 3:42 am
xdnmpou dlmpzsby kfxqpw qflbwkmc dycpweq mexdipkcg dygjreaft
September 5th, 2008 at 11:42 pm
whaaa?
September 8th, 2008 at 3:21 am
The man in the picture is Lt. Colonel Loan.
He was the chief of police in Saigon. Saigon was under martial law, which means that anyone caught assisting the Viet Cong, or trying to overthrow the government while not wearing the uniform of a combatant, or anyone who was caught looting was subject to summary execution. That was the law in Saigon at the time, and Lt. Colonel Loan executed the Viet Cong legally, under martial law.
As noted noted, Mr. Loan lived in America for thirty years and was never prosecuted for “murder” because what he did was legal under both Vietnamese law and International law. Think that through folks. He lived here under both Democrat and Republican administrations and was never prosecuted… because he did nothing wrong.
Now… as to what happened.
The North Vietnamese and their Viet Cong proxies defied the partition agreement they signed in the 1950’s and invaded the south. Since the VC took up arms in mufti, and not in uniform, they were considered spies, and under international law, they were subject to immediate execution. This rarely happened, but in this case, it did happen. The Colonel’s actions were legal and appropriate. So solly, cholly.
The man in question, Nguyen Van Lem, was a Viet Cong. He had the alias of Bay Lap. He was a member of the National Liberation Front, otherwise known as the Vietcong. As you can plainly see in this photograph, he was not in uniform, and he was shot by the police chief of South Vietnam, legally, under their laws and under all international laws.
It wasn’t pretty, but it was quick. Although it does not matter, Nguyen Van Lem was apprehend near a ditch that held 34 disemboweled bodies of policemen and their families.
There is a film of this monster being brought to the Colonel’s attention, so you do not have to rely on the stills. When one of the Vietnamese policemen tells the police chief what had happened at the hands of this butcher, the Colonel pulls his pistol and shoots the man on the spot. You would have done the same if it was your family or the family of a friend whom this ******* had just murdered.
connect the dots… then get out of your basement and get some sun.
http://www.psywarrior.com/VietCongAtrocity.html
September 8th, 2008 at 9:04 pm
@afterthoughts… then we can chalk this one up to “blind American ” justice…
September 9th, 2008 at 9:59 am
I won’t waste a minute of my time researching but, I know for a fact the shootee was in fact brought to the shooter who was a police chief specifically because he was caught at the shooters house after having been part of the squad that killed members of his family and raped a daughter. Look it up yourself
September 15th, 2008 at 1:34 pm
The picture would be much more beautiful if Mr. Loan was using a Desert Eagle pistol. So that yellow-son-of-a-***** would have a real motive to cry like that.
By the way, does anyone have the picture AFTER this picture?
I’d like to see the Viet Cong behavior after a head shot.
September 17th, 2008 at 6:43 pm
@hertless..probably flopped around like a chicken with its head cut off.
September 20th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
When you learn the full story behind this pisture, you’ll understand why Adams regrets taking it. You have to realize the man who was executed was part of a group murdering police officers, including their families. Anyone, and I do mean ANYONE, would have shot this man dead themselves if they knew that fact. The police chief did what I constantly hear everyday citizens talk about. Giving criminals a lasting judgement. Leave Nguyen Ngoc Loan alone and realize the war put him in that position.
September 27th, 2008 at 7:27 am
There is another picture which describes my emotions on this particular photo…
http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/5980/122246852271ni7.jpg
It is relevant.
September 27th, 2008 at 6:07 pm
anonymous you are an evil sick ****** hahahahaha!
September 27th, 2008 at 11:45 pm
Hmmm… the real published image shows the blood coming out of the right side of his head. I can’t seem to find that one, however.
September 29th, 2008 at 5:24 pm
I’m working on a research project for school. Although this photo deeply moves me, i really wonder what is everyone’s first impression. And then their educated impression after learning the situation of the photo. How did you think it changed the world? Please no blaming, i don’t care to hear you “he said/she said” or any “they, them, and us”. It bores me, frankly, and it’s just passing the buck around. Use names, for example, the photographer name Eddie Adams. Please feel free to use references, the more specific the better.
Thank you, i’ll be checking in later.
October 6th, 2008 at 4:21 am
To Tyger. Sorry dear, but we already established (quite some time ago) that the photographer does not regret TAKING the picture. Eddie regrets the EFFECT it had.
Jessa, i failed to understand what your actual question was.
It changed the world because Eddie Adams (theres a name for you) took a picture that shows people the hardship of war, people ARE (not were) for this killing or against it. It’s changed the people in the world, the opinions they have and the political side of shi,t not the world itself.
October 6th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
Why does anyone would mind about those ********??
They are just like animals.
To say the true I like my doggy much more than this yellow scum.
SHOOT!
October 7th, 2008 at 12:39 am
Agreed.
October 7th, 2008 at 6:51 am
That is a very powerful picture
October 7th, 2008 at 9:53 pm
these godless heathens will burn in eternal torment.
October 9th, 2008 at 7:04 am
Seconds later the Viet Cong ducked and forward rolled 16 times and successfully made it over the border.
October 9th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
Jeff is right - this was a single frame on part of a cine film. The first bit of the film shows the crime for which he is being executed - the dead bodies. I saw this thirty years ago. Someone must still have a copy
October 12th, 2008 at 9:42 pm
@rabbit,dont tell me he’s another damned illegal alien!?
October 14th, 2008 at 12:00 am
he is im sorry. shoot the ****** down!
October 17th, 2008 at 1:28 pm
Sarahs right. I’ve researched extensively into a lot of the photos on these websites… lets just say moving photography catches my interest.
This photo pretty much ruined Nguyens life… this photo allegedly followed him everywhere he went, and he was looked down upon. The photographer (a now famous photographer) was friends with him, and admitted that he regretted taking the picture because of the misery it brought Nguyen and his family.
The picture is set up to make Nguyen look like the bad guy… as Eddie stated in a press report, photographs only show a small glimpse of what really happened… we were not there, we do not know what happened, photographs show no truth, and no fact to base opinion off of… and the result of this paints incorrect pictures in the viewers head.
This picture just goes to show.
October 18th, 2008 at 6:52 pm
what does this picture show? who is ngueey?
October 27th, 2008 at 3:55 am
I would like to say, because I’m not sure that many people know this, but the shooter had already shot the man he was targeting when the photograph was taken. Meaning that the photographer had enough talent, and good timing, to take the ’shot’ just after the shot was fired.`
October 28th, 2008 at 3:35 pm
Intresting photo to say the least.
October 30th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
Listen to “Never say Goodbye” (Bon Jovi) looking to this picture.
It’s so touching!
November 3rd, 2008 at 5:45 am
there is a video in the Time-Life vhs tape series on the vietnam war, for thos of you who are looking for this execution. it’s a 13 tape series. in this particular execution, the details are as follows; the gun goes off, hair and blood fly everywhere as the facial expression shows shock and pain. The fu**er falls down on his left side. His legs stretch straight out, tensely, out of shock, and then slowly fold back, into a fetal position as the exact moment of death occurs. At the same time, you can see the hole in the side of the fu**ers head, which is about 1/2″ inch in diameter, from which a guyser of blood is spurting straight up in the air, about 12 inches high. The guyser of blood slowly diminishes down to a slight trickle all over the sidewalk, and the whole body slowly relaxes.
In this tape series, there is also a close-up of an American river-boat which is cruising along one of the canals, looking for Viet Cong. They spot one who is lying, submerged in shallow murky water, his body outline showing visibly. He is breathing throught a bamboo or reed tube which is sticking straight up in the air from under the surface of the water. The gunner, manning a fifty-caliber machine gun mounted on top of the boat, selects the single-fire mode on the machine gun, and fires one 50 cal. 780 grain round into the guy, causing a huge fountain of water spray high into the air. Then you see an arm come up out of the water slowley, sort of flopping around. The next instant, 3 more rounds are fired into the *******, causing more spectacular guysers of water. Moments later, everything becomes real still, and all you can see is little wisps of smoke on the waters surface. For all of you people who lost loved ones, as I have, in that war, I say Get this series of tapes, or dvd’s, and enjoy the hell out of it!!
November 3rd, 2008 at 5:54 am
Here is a P.S. to my previous comment, for those of you who love kids. The f**cker whom the Colonel executed, had, 30 minutes earlier, blown up a school bus full of children. This was according to the commentary made on the tape by the reporter.
November 5th, 2008 at 10:53 pm
well, it was fun while it lasted anyways…..
November 5th, 2008 at 11:30 pm
NO U
November 6th, 2008 at 7:51 am
execution of a king kong
November 6th, 2008 at 7:07 pm
no tor
sony is a japanese affiliate
get your facts straight
or better
instead of making comments about americans all day
go out get a job
or perhaps
get an education
November 6th, 2008 at 9:01 pm
americans instigated this shameful act with their warmongering and shameless profiteering
November 10th, 2008 at 2:43 am
Gee, there’s some trolls and downright stupid individuals commenting here. Probably all born after the photo was taken. And of course, all of them knowing everything about everything, ‘cos they’ve got the internet.
November 12th, 2008 at 10:08 pm
this is a horrible picture, the angle is all wrong for one.
November 20th, 2008 at 3:19 pm
vc poopoo!
November 25th, 2008 at 12:52 am
Hey! Thats where JayJays got their shirts from!
December 4th, 2008 at 9:41 pm
if you squinch your face it dont hurt as much….
December 14th, 2008 at 2:24 am
do they shoot white viet cong?
December 31st, 2008 at 5:32 pm
although you may be feeling sympathy for the man being shot know that just 2 hours earlier this man killed 81 police officers and their families and when the photographer eddie adams won his Pulitzer prize he formally apologized to the general holding the gun and regretted ever taking the image. this photo essentially lost the Vietnam war for the us
January 4th, 2009 at 10:06 pm
Man I wish there was more info on the acts committed on this site, so many different accounts @_@