10. “War is Hell” – the photograph that said it all in the Vietnam Era.
One of the most iconic photos of the Vietnam War, taken by Associated Press photographer Horst Faas on June 18, 1965. The photo has a way of drawing you in to focus on the handsome young soldiers smiling face before you see the handwritten words on his helmet, “WAR IS HELL.” The soldier in question was unidentified for decades but was later revealed to be Larry Wayne Chaffin, who was just nineteen years old when the photo was taken.
Chaffin began serving with the 173rd Airborne Brigade Battalion in May 1965, and at the time of the photo was on defence duty at Phuoc Vinh airstrip in South Vietnam. When Chaffin’s wife Fran greeted him at the airport following his discharge from the Army, he had with him the issue of Stars and Stripes magazine which had published the now-iconic photo. Chaffin remarked to Fran that someday that photo would make him rich. Unfortunately, this never came to pass. Chaffin struggled to reintegrate into civilian society after the Vietnam War and suffered from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. He was just 39 when he died from diabetes-related complications.