14. “Saigon Execution” riddled with tragic events leading up to the execution.
Another iconic image from the Vietnam War. This Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph captures the cold-blooded brutality of war. It was February 1, 1968, two days after the Viet Cong and the forces of the People’s Army of Vietnam had set off the Tet offensive by invading South Vietnamese cities. Associated Press photographer Eddie Adams was out on the streets of Saigon capturing the aftermath of the invasion. He came across what he thought was the interrogation of a prisoner.
The man holding the pistol was the chief of the national police, Brigadier General Nguyen Ngoc Loan, and the prisoner was Nguyen Van Lem, who was the captain of a terrorist squad who had reportedly killed the family of one of Loan’s friends. Adams watched in horror as Loan calmly raised his .38 calibre pistol and executed Lem in cold blood.