Hubert Van Es on that Famous Saigon Picture · 160 words posted 06/06/2005 10:10 AM
Thirty years ago, Hubert Van Es took one of the most famous pictures from the Vietnam conflict:
Thirty years ago I was fortunate enough to take a photograph that has become perhaps the most recognizable image of the fall of Saigon—you know it, the one that is always described as showing an American helicopter evacuating people from the roof of the United States Embassy. Well, like so many things about the Vietnam War, it’s not exactly what it seems. In fact, the photo is not of the embassy at all; the helicopter was actually on the roof of an apartment building in downtown Saigon where senior Central Intelligence Agency employees were housed.
He tells the story behind the story in the current issue of The Digital Journalist. According to Van Es, the photo shows the roof of an apartment building used by the CIA, and not the roof of the United States Embassy.
Great reading for photojournalists and travel photographers.
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