Philip Jones Griffiths VIETNAM. Quang Ngai. This guerrilla fighter had just thrown a grenade, killing one member of the platoon and wounded two others. In the resulting fracas, he too was killed. The incident occurred i (...)
n what had once been a quiet hamlet in central Vietnam, probably in the very field in front of his home where he'd spent his youth tilling the soil. 1967 © Philip Jones Griffiths | Magnum Photos
Philip Jones Griffiths This was a village a few miles from My Lai. It was a routine operation - troops were on a typical " search and destroy" mission. After finding and killing men in hiding, the women and children wer (...)
e rounded up. All bunkers where people could take shelter were then destroyed. Finally the troops withdrew and called in an artillery strike of the defenseless inhabitants. Quang Ngai, Vietnam. 1967. © Philip Jones Griffiths | Magnum Photos
Philip Jones Griffiths Mekong River. Vietnamese were the foreign "Other," as in General Westmoreland's telling Comment, "The Oriental doesn't put the same high price on life as the Westerner - life is plentiful, life is (...)
cheap, in the Orient." Vietnam. 1967. © Philip Jones Griffiths | Magnum Photos
Philip Jones Griffiths The battle for Saigon. U.S. policy in Vietnam was based on the premise that peasants driven into the towns and cities by the carpet-bombing of the countryside would be safe. Furthermore, removed f (...)
rom their traditional value system they could be prepared for imposition of consumerism. This "restructuring" of society suffered a setback when, in 1968, death rained down on the urban enclaves. Vietnam. 1968. © Philip Jones Griffiths | Magnum Photos
Philip Jones Griffiths VIETNAM. Quang Ngai. Mother with wounded child, Vietnam. The american policy of annihilating as many Vietnamese as possible while claiming to be saving them from the 'horrors' of Communism could be (...)
confirmed by visiting any hospital. 1967 © Philip Jones Griffiths | Magnum Photos
Philip Jones Griffiths This woman was tagged, probably by a sympathetic corpsman, with the designation VNC (Vietnamese civilian). This was unusual. Wounded civilians were normally tagged VCS (Vietcong suspect) and all (...)
dead peasants were posthumously elevated to the rank of VCC (Vietcong confirmed). Vietnam. 1967. © Philip Jones Griffiths | Magnum Photos
Philip Jones Griffiths VIET NAM. Pham Thi Thuy Linh, 11 years old, was born in Ho Chi Minh City with no arms and first learned to write using her feet. She has now graduated to mastering the computer keyboard. Her grandf (...)
ather was an army officer in the former regime and worked on an aircraft that carried and dispersed Agent Orange during the war. © Philip Jones Griffiths | Magnum Photos
Philip Jones Griffiths This woman's husband had been a truck driver on the Ho Chi Minh trail, who had been sprayed often with Agent Orange. Americans practiced ecocide on the land by spraying millions of acres with this (...)
defoliant, containing dioxin, which damages human genes thus causing birth defects for future generations. Both daughters were born blind. Vietnam. 1980. © Philip Jones Griffiths | Magnum Photos
Philip Jones Griffiths VIETNAM. Minh Vin Gung, born in Long An Province in 1993 with no trace of eyes. It is likely that in Agent Orange the dioxin blocks the receptors in the developing fetus thus preventing the hormone (...)
s that would normally instruct the cells to form eyes. 2004. © Philip Jones Griffiths | Magnum Photos
Philip Jones Griffiths VIETNAM. Uyen Hung village. VO Trong Thuy, 13, lives in a wood and straw mat hut behing a pagoda. Thuy was born with his arm permanantly locked against his shoulder and the fingers and thumb of his (...)
hand frozen together. After multiple operations in Germany, his arm now works almost normally, and he can use the fingers and thumb of his hand. Thuy's hamlet was not sprayed directly with Agent Orange, but the family took drinking water that came from a canal leading to a nearby contaminated river. 1994 © Philip Jones Griffiths | Magnum Photos
Philip Jones Griffiths VIETNAM. PHAM Thi Thuy Linh, nine, was born in Ho Chi Minh City with no arms and has learned to write using her feet. Her grandfather was an army officer in the former regime and worked on an aircr (...)
aft that carried and dispersed Agent Orange during the war. 2002 © Philip Jones Griffiths | Magnum Photos
Philip Jones Griffiths VIETNAM. During the war the lack of doctors and specialized surgical techniques led to the adoption of amputation as a timesaving measure. In post-war Vietnam the production of artificial limbs ha (...)
s become a major industry. With the country's recent change in economic direction, limbless beggars have become a common sight. 1980 © Philip Jones Griffiths | Magnum Photos
Philip Jones Griffiths VIETNAM. Phnom Penh. Penh, fourteen, was born in the Tramkok district, Takeo Province. He begs with his parents, who have also moved to the city. With his handsome good looks he specializes in targ (...)
eting open-air restaurants. 2000 © Philip Jones Griffiths | Magnum Photos
Philip Jones Griffiths VIETNAM. The battle for Saigon. American G.I's often showed compassion toward the Vietcong. This sprang from a soldierly admiration for their dedication and bravery; qualities difficult to discern (...)
in the average government soldier. This VC had fought for three days with his intestines in a cooking bowl strapped onto his stomach. 1968 © Philip Jones Griffiths | Magnum Photos
Philip Jones Griffiths VIETNAM. The parents of young children were rarely present in the village of Vietnam. Americans often wondered where all the children came from. The fathers were often away fighting for one side or (...)
the other, and the mothers had jobs servicing the G.I.'s. Whether officially called cleaning, laundering, shoe-shining, or even car-washing, "servicing" usually meant prostitution. 1970 © Philip Jones Griffiths | Magnum Photos