Above, one of the most important photographic images of the twentieth century, a Pulitzer Prize winner shot by photographer Eddie Adams. On a sweltering Saigon afternoon, a Viet Cong officer is summarily executed by South Vietnamese national police chief Brig. Gen Nguyen Ngoc Loan, forty-two years ago today. There’s also a widely seen film of the gruesome incident. The photo galvanized the U.S. anti-war effort, but interestingly, Adams regretted taking it, saying that the circumstances around such a photo could never be adequately explained and Nguyen Ngoc Loan appeared to be a villain when perhaps he wasn’t. Such complex considerations are no longer a serious worry for war photographers. Due to Pentagon restrictions, it’s highly unlikely an image like this could now be captured. 

We ran across this 1970s-era Japanese celebrity magazine Movie Information featuring Chris Noel on the cover and absolutely had to share it. She was a notable figure during the Vietnam War due to her “A Date with Chris” radio program, which she broadcast twice weekly to American troops. The show was immensely popular. In fact she was thought by the Viet Cong to be such a morale boost that they reportedly placed a $10,000 bounty on her head. They never managed to kill her, but helicopters in which she rode often took ground fire, and two crash-landed with her aboard. Her efforts to make personal contact with U.S.troops were remarkable when you consider she had already established herself in b-movies and on television and may have been on the verge of becoming a star. Yet she put Hollywood on hold and instead became a radio broadcaster in a war zone. After Vietnam she tried to return to movies but the reception in Tinseltown was icy for a minor actress who was perceived to have supported a U.S. war of aggression. Eventually she gave up and opened a shelter for homeless veterans, which she still runs today. All in all it’s a remarkable—perhaps even movie-worthy—story.

History has written a last draft on Vietnam. The event is remembered by the majority of the world as an error, one that cost the U.S. considerable prestige, and resulted in a humanitarian disaster for the Vietnamese—more than two million civilian deaths according to the most conservative tallies. Even the war’s chief architect, Robert McNamara, who died recently, declared the conflict a colossal mistake. Today Vietnam remains under communist rule, but has restored diplomatic ties with the U.S. and is one of the most welcoming nations in the world, a placewhere American vets comment with amazement upon the Vietnamese ability to put the war behind them despite the ghastly suffering they endured. But whatever history’s take on that divisive period, personalities like Chris Noel are worth admiring. During a time when politicians, pundits, and protestors fought a war of their own over the direction of the United States, Chris Noel rejected the glitz and glamour of Hollywood in order to serve the grunts who were sacrificing their lives on the firing line.