The Other Side
Saigoneer has some excellent photos of North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces from all years of the American War in Vietnam. Two are particularly striking. The first is of local militias firing at US warplanes. They are firing what look like SKS rifles, a a 10 round, semi-automatic weapon, against a jet bomber. I give them credit for determination. That characteristic, determination, is woven throughout the photos, whether it's hauling supplies down the Ho Chi Minh trail, performing surgery in an underground bunker, sighting a mortar, or female guerrilla fighters at the ready with their weapons.
The second striking image is of a US plane heading directly for a impact, trailing black smoke and its pilot parachuting into life as a prisoner of war. Here, too is a reminder of that determination. All along the images reveal low-tech, sometimes primitive technology. Yet in the end a mighty force is brought down by the determination of its less powerful adversary.
It's a timeless story.
postscript
I couldn't figure out a way to make a copy that would do the image justice. You'll have to go there yourself or just take my word.
Labels: photography, vietnam