The man with the gun is South Vietnamese National Police Chief General Nguyễn Ngọc Loan. The man in the plaid shirt, who is or is about to be shot in the head (his death is shown in NBC News footage taken at the same time), is thought to be Nguyễn Văn Lém (or possibly Le Cong Na), and was either a Viet Cong officer or a political operative. His face was disfigured because he had been beaten. The title of the photo, which became instantly famous around the world, is “General Nguyen Ngoc Loan Executing a Viet Cong Prisoner in Saigon”
The man in plaid has been shot in his head. this picture was taken before the bullet had exited his skull.
This isn’t a dissenting opinion, so I apologize if it doesn’t offer you a debate :P. But I agree: a picture’s worth a...
The lesser known part of this story is how this picture ruined the life of the man with the gun. Wherever he went, he...