29 sad, lonely & tough images from the Vietnam war

War dominated 30 years of Vietnam’s history last century. The struggle that began with communists fighting French colonial power in the 1940s did not end until they seized Saigon and control of the whole country in 1975. The period that Americans refer to as the “Vietnam War” – and the Vietnamese call the “American War” – was the US military intervention from 1965 to 1973.

The Vietnam War was a long, costly armed conflict that pitted the communist regime of North Vietnam and its southern allies, known as the Viet Cong, against South Vietnam and its principal ally, the United States. The divisive war, increasingly unpopular at home, ended with the withdrawal of U.S. forces in 1973 and the unification of Vietnam under Communist control two years later. More than 3 million people, including 58,000 Americans, were killed in the conflict.
A med evac off Mutters Ridge, 2nd Bn 3rd Marines.
A Navy lieutenant aims his flaming arrow at a hut across the river that conceals a Viet Cong bunker.


Marines of Delta 1/5 caring for their wounded at HUE, 1968
Rare picture of an HH-43 Pedro evacuating casualties during operation Abilene.

Khe Sanh, South Vietnam – April 12, 1971

B-52 Vietnam war

Tunnel rat Melvin Sherrell, KIA December 13, 1966.

A med evac off Mutters Ridge, 2nd Bn 3rd Marines.

An RTO guides a Chinook delivering a sling load of materials and supplies at Fire Support Base Pershing, near Dau Tieng. Name and date unknown.

A LRRP team leader, unit D, 1st Squadron, 4th Cavalry, 1st Infantry Division makes it signals his men during a patrol in 1967.

M551 Sheridan of the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment.

American soldiers after burning a village.

A young Marine goes into battle. Vietnam, 1965.Photograph by Eddie Adams
American F-4C Phantom jet streaming contrails from wingtips while regaining altitude after bombing small village known to be a Vietcong stronghold during Vietnam War.
American infantrymen look up at the tall jungle trees seeking out Viet Cong snipers firing at them. June 15, 1967
U.S. Army 2nd Lt. R.C. Rescorla, Platoon Leader of 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division – Ia Drang Valley, South Vietnam. November 16, 1965. 2nd Lt. Rick C. Rescorla, Platoon Leader of 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, Ia Drang Valley, South Vietnam – November 16, 1965.

Born in England, he first served in the British Army, then joined the U.S. Army. Rick Rescorla, who was head of security for banking firm Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, is credited with saving 2,700 people by making sure they left the World Trade Center’s South Tower before it collapsed. He was killed when he went back in to rescue more people.
(Colourised by Doug Banks)
Getting very “short,” a 1st Air Cav trooper near Bong Son keeps close track of his last remaining  days in Vietnam (SPC5 Frank Moffitt/U.S. Army/National Archives).
LCpl William G. Cox emerging from a VC tunnel discovered in the Batangan Peninsula. When mapped, it was over 158 yards long and two levels deep.

Operation “Billings” Medic from the 1st Battalion, 16th Infantry, 1st Infantry Division, searches the sky for a Medevac helicopter to evacuate a wounded buddy, following air assault into LZ Rufe in June 1967. (U.S. Army/National Archives)


A U.S. military helicopter sprays Agent Orange over Vietnam in this undated photo from the war.
South Vietnam, March, 1968: A U.S. Marine’s helmet tells a story during the prolonged assault by Viet Cong forces on the base at Khe Sanh. John Olson, Stars and Stripes
A US Marine sniper team at work in Khe Sanh, South Vietnam, February 1968. By David Douglas Duncan.

The M60 gunner who looks more than tired

A Navy lieutenant aims his flaming arrow at a hut across the river that conceals a Viet Cong bunker.
A fast patrol craft on Cai Ngay canal during the Vietnam War in 1970

A dated close call

An exhausted marine sobs after carrying wounded and dead marines from a battle on An Hoa Island, South Vietnam, July 9, 1965 by Pulitzer Prize winner Eddie Adams.

American soldiers in Vietnam keep a lookout over Da Nang airforce base on November 1, 1965