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Horst Faas / AP
Hovering U.S. Army helicopters pour machine gun fire into the tree line to cover the advance of South Vietnamese ground troops in an attack on a Viet Cong camp 18 miles north of Tay Ninh, Vietnam, northwest of Saigon near the Cambodian border in March 1965.
AP
In this 1967 file photo Associated Press photographer Horst Faas works in Vietnam.
Horst Faas / AP
Women and children crouch in a muddy canal as they take cover from intense Viet Cong fire at Bao Trai, about 20 miles west of Saigon, Vietnam, in January 1966.
Associated Press reports:
Hoang Dinh Nam / AFP - Getty Images
German photographer Horst Faas (C) and Vietnamese-American photographer Nick Ut (R) meet with Vietnamese photographer Dinh Dinh Phuoc during a party held, in this April 28, 2005, file photo in Ho Chi Minh-City. Ut under Faas's guidance won one of the news agency's six Vietnam War Pulitzer Prizes.
As chief of photo operations for The Associated Press in Saigon for a decade beginning in 1962, Horst Faas didn't just cover the fighting — he also recruited and trained new talent from among foreign and Vietnamese freelancers.
The result was "Horst's army" of young photographers, who fanned out with Faas-supplied cameras and film and stern orders to "come back with good pictures."
Faas, a Pulitzer Prize-winning combat photographer who carved out new standards for covering war with a camera and became one of the world's legendary photojournalists in nearly half a century with the AP, died Thursday in Munich, said his daughter, Clare Faas. He was 79.
Read more about the life and work of Horst Faas
Editor's note: Some images included in this post include graphic content.
Horst Faas / AP
A wounded U.S. soldier is given water on a battlefield in Vietnam. Faas was best known for covering Vietnam and won four major awards including the first of his two Pulitzers.
Horst Faas / AP
A father holds the body of his child as South Vietnamese Army Rangers look down from their armored vehicle. The child was killed as government forces pursued guerrillas into a village near the Cambodian border. This image is one of several shot by Associated Press photographer Horst Faas which earned him the first of two Pulitzer Prizes,
AP
In this May 11, 1965 file photo, Associated Press photographer Horst Faas tries to get back on a U.S. helicopter after a day out with Vietnamese rangers in a flooded plain of reeds.
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The AP had been viewed as cheerleaders until the reports of people like Faas, Adams, Ut, Esper, and many others continued getting back. With network television showing what was happening, it became harder for local newspapers to not run what the AP and UPI were offering on the wires. Back when newspapers still carried weight in much of the country, public acceptance of the war began to change.
What was it that was happening? Two Democratic administrations were trying to avoid a reframing of the GOP chant of "Who lost China?" into "Who lost Vietnam?" One Nixon secret plan to end the war later -- so much later that the end actually happened in the Ford administration -- and it was still a contest of wills.
Who paid the price? As in the past and in the present, those who left their bootprints and so much, much more over there. Before politicians recommit troops to battle, the words of Lee and Sherman should be processed and reprocessed.
That was a War, My Dad was there twice, Unlike the debacle of today those Soldiers in Nam had it tough No A/C everywhere No Big Screen TV's to watch Races and Games on No X-Box No Px's like these Soldiers have today in a War Zone? Those guys got No Respect when They Returned Unlike today these guys come back from playing X-Box and watching Sports during their Deployment and have all these great War Stories about how they save their Company from an Attack (Yeah Right) They expect everybody over here to Kiss their AZZ. Like they did me a Favor Oh! i forgot if it weren't for them I would be Kidnapped by an Insurgent and held in a Iraq Prison Yeah Right.
I haven't met one soldier yet who has "expected me to kiss his a$$" I see and talk with them quite often while traveling and they are always respectful and professional.
IT IS AMAZING that anyone who has been on the front lines will tell you war is not the answer, we have millions of pictures, videos, rooms full of shoes from the dead, yet we STILL keep allowing our leaders to put our people into more wars. WHEN WILL WE STAND UP and SAY NO, WAR IS NOT THE WAY?!
My dad graduated high school in 1942 and went to North Africa with the Army, he's 88 now, says there is no glory in war, only suffering, death and sorrow.
Njofaustintx … you choose to go and kill your fellow man because you believed all the BS you were force fed as a kid. It sounds like you still believe it also. We certainly did not learn anything from this war because we
keep repeating it. War is not the answer and it never will be. The military learned to keep these photographer guys out of the battle field and to not use the draft to raise an army. Now we are doing the dirty work from radio controlled killing machines in the sky. I was drafted in 1966 and served four years but I knew that if I ever got the orders to go there I would be in Canada the next day. There was no way that I was going to participate on this nightmare.
Firstly, yes war should never be the answer. Second, I graduated from HS early and enlisted at 17 and I was in Vietnam before my 18th birthday. The oath I took, To Protect and Serve, is an oat many have taken since before we became a nation. God, my family and my country come above all else.
Let me ask you...Why did you even go when called by the draft? You should have gone to Canada then instead of waiting to see if you had to go in-country! Your words tell me you are a hypocrite i.e., a person who pretends to be what he or she is not; one who pretends to be better than is really so, or to be pious, virtuous, etc. without really being so' You took an oath on entering the service that you intended to betray anyway so why did you do it?
How do you feel when someone says Thank You for serving your country, when in fact, you did not. Yeah, you went through the motions of wearing the uniform and pretending you cared for your country and swore to defend your CIC's orders.
All who served in a branch of service see each veteran as a brother or sister, seen stronger in war but all the same a special bond among veterans exists. If I met you personally and knew your beliefs I could never consider you a brother in arms!
Yes, I did believed the BS as all Americans still believe the BS (including you) today! Because of my lessons learned in Vietnam, I am a very cautious cynic (contemptuously distrustful) of anything our government tells us today.
SO I figure you believe it was wrong for us to go to these wars we fight now after over 3000 Innocent American (I emphasize INNOCENT) died in our own country in 2 hours on 9/11? The technology has saved soldiers lives. Compare 4794 deaths among US and Coalition forces since 2001 versus 58,269 in Vietnam (1961 - 1975). So technology has certainly allowed many more sons and daughters to come home!
Do I still believe the BS I was fed then...Hell No! But, I can at least go to my grave knowing I was not a hypocrite!
Njofaustintx--I am apalled at all the ignorant comments on this thread in regards to the VietNam War. I think people forget that it was a different era where children were taught to trust their government and many young men upon graduation either entered into the workforce or enlisted in the military.
Today, there is media that was unimaginable back in the 60's and 70's. People have more resources available to them and more life options to choose from.
I may not agree with the military action that was taken in Vietnam and I feel that many young men were mis-led by the government, but I will say Thank You to any Service Man or Woman I see. Thank you for caring enough to enlist knowing that one day you may have to defend my freedoms or you have already fought to defend them.
People in the military deserve all of our respect, no question.
So, again, thank you. Thank you for reminding us that there is so much more to a situation than what we have seen or read. Thank you for being an American Soldier.
Thank you DThomas, I really appreciate your comments. Man of the folks on this threat were probably not even born during Vietnam. The history book lack a lot of information about that war. As an example, my oldest boy had a high school report to do on the Vietnam War in 1997. I helped him on it and was very disappointed the book only had a little over one page of information. I sat down with him and explained the war through my eyes and the government control over the war, the unrest and anger of the American people over the war and the distrust of the American people towards service members due to My Lai incident caused by 2Lt Calley and his Charlie Company! He used much of the information I gave him and I brought him to the my VFW to talk to other Nam vets. Many of the stories of the war, the 60's and 70's were much the same. Of course the "Sprayed and Betrayed" attitudes of the vets came out due to the governments deniel that Agent Orange, Blue and Red was harmless.
I figured he would get a really good grade on the report! Most of his report reference sources were actual people who experienced the war and the times. He called me from school upset the day he got his grade. A "D"! Reason, he had not used enough "written" references for his information. I was so damn angry I went directly to the school and confronted the teacher, guidance counselor and AP. They tried to explain to me their rules on reports and source information. I did not fall for it. What better way to report on history then through the eyes of the very people who experienced it!
Not to be outdone, I advised them I would be back with more of the references they needed. Two days later I scheduled an appointment with the same people and showed up with 27 nam vets and the local 7-on our side news team. That was enough for the school to change their policy on reports to include living references. His grade was bumped up to a B+. Made no sense to me but I figure it was all purely out of ignorance on their part. Most were not born until the 70's. Of course, they also did not want the local news reporting the school refused to accept first hand reports from Veterans.
Times have changed for the good. Service members today are treated with respect and dignity for their sacrifice to this nation. In my time on return from Vietnam I told no one I did not know well I was over there...just told them I had been shot in a bar brawl and lost my leg in a car accident. I could not even join the VFW then because the VFW did not consider Vietnam a "WAR"! Wasn't until 5 years after Vietnam ended in 75 that it was recognized. AND, it took 10 years after 75 to get a monument for the dead and missing. That could not have happened for it not for veterans of the war pulling 80% of the funds needed to get the monument erected. It is a wonderful, but heartbreaking monument that allows those who served to visit their comrades, brothers, sisters they served with and lost.
Did we loose Vietnam, I say no. Our government just gave up on it because of the turmoil here at home!
Too many who comment have too little knowledge, no experience in life, and will never walk a mile in the boots that others have. Some went, some were drafted, but they all served. We weren't greeted by parades or friendly gatherings at the airports when they returned. I'm just glad that today's soldiers, airmen, marines, and sailors will never have to endure what we did during that period. History will never be kind to that war. Remember those who served, those who still serve, and those who will serve. They are truly the 1%. They didn't break the faith. Don't break faith with them.
Why can't someone write a cover strory about a picture from there and get it right. Anyone who went on a mission knows the helicopters in the first picture are leaving an lz who would they be shooting at with their guns at rest? Maybe eachother?
I met Mr. Faas in 1965 while serving in Vietnam. Comments on Picture #1: The helicopters are not "hovering", rather departing a Landing Zone (LZ) after inserting the troops. The helicopters are "Slicks" (troop/cargo carriers), doubtful they would be providing machine gun covering fire for the troops on the ground. Thanks for covering the story on your website.
I like the way the troops are just walking around like it was a picnic. Easy way for someone to make the picture more than it is just lie.
NOTHING was accomplished, just like in the Middle East today. Millions of our sons and daughters lives lost, maimed, or minds lost for NOTHING.
We came in when the French left, after they could not do anything to stabilize the region. But just like the Middle East our arrogant, stupid leaders believed THEY could do better than the French and Russians.
We left and the region has been stabilized ever since. It may not be what the Washington and it's allies wanted, but, it is what it is, and today it is better for it.
One of the biggest regrets I have heard over the years is all the 1/2 American children that were left behind to suffer at the hands of the North. Not a good legacy for our country.
I was there in '67 to '68, made it through the Tet offensive and was one of the lucky ones to be able to come home in one piece. At least I thought so at the time. I am now 65, and am really getting weary of people still bashing that war and the people who were largely forced to participate in it, with no mention whatsoever of what this nation did to the nation of Iraq so recently, which is still a mess now, and was fought by people who all volunteered to be in the military.
War is hell, we all know that, especially those of us that experienced it. If you haven't experienced it (like Bush, Cheney, et al) then please know that you are speaking from a position of conjecture, and you are still standing on the bandwagon. I really wish you would practice some restraint because the remarks you are making on here are still painful for those who lost fellow soldiers, friends, classmates, and especially family over there.
If you want to ask what that particular war was for, read some of the books on the subject that have been written by the educated and experienced people who know. We did not lose that war militarily, the politicians gave in to political pressure, as they always do. If not for that war Thailand would definitely now be a Communist nation, and perhaps New Zealand and Australia too. After that war the communists were broken militarily and broke financially, and had no resources to continue waging wars. After the Tet offensive the Viet Cong were decimated. The hell only happened after we abandoned the country we signed a treaty to defend, and the Communists promptly violated the treaty they had signed NOT to ever invade the south. So study up before you start spouting your bs.
I do not like war and don't know anyone who has ever participated in one that wants to be in another one, or see another one happen. By this point in the history of mankind, wars should be obsolete and antiquated things of the past, learned about only in the history books, museums, and the photographs of people like this, who also risked their lives to do their job.
If you served during this period, know that there are people out here that care deeply about you, and don't pay the bandwagon people any mind.
For those of us who were naive during the Viet Nam years (for whatever reason), I would recommend reading any of several "look-back" books on Viet Nam. If you weren't there, you owe it to those who were. "A Bright and Shining Lie" by Neil Sheehan is one that can take you into the military and political thinking of those times. And, then not only the pictures will haunt you, but the documented facts will enrage you.
Beautiful work. He will be missed.
As a Viet Nam Vet, this brings back some not so pleasant memories.
May he rest in peace.
It is amassing how a few photographs can bring back this dark time in our history in a heartbeat.
SIMSY, just to show how stuipid you are. 50K American lives, not millions. Go get an education.
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Besides all the political comments on this bolog: just wanted to thank Faas for his commitment to taking quality photos of the Vietnam war to provide them along with articles for information and awareness of the war during a period when it was not readily available except what was reported on the news networks. 10 years is a long time to provide that effort for the AP. He is another Korean era and later example of the greatest American generation that helped make our country strong and free. Best wishes to his family.