Vietnamese Mother and Children Flee Village Bombing

Vietnamese Mother and Children Flee Village Bombing

This Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph captures a poignant and powerful moment during the Vietnam War. It shows a Vietnamese mother, holding her children, as they wade through a river, fleeing from a bombing raid that was conducted by United States aircraft. The raid was organized to eliminate Viet Cong snipers who were firing on United States Marines. The photo was taken on September 7, 1965, in the village of Qui Nhon.

(Photo by K. Sawada/Bettmann/Corbis via Getty Images)

The photograph captures the human cost of war and the devastating impact it has on civilians. The image of the mother and her children, wading through the water with their belongings, evokes a sense of fear, uncertainty and displacement. The photograph also highlights the innocent victims of war, as the mother and her children were warned to leave the village before the bombs began to fall.

Carrying Wounded Comrade

On April 6, 1967, in Tay Ninh, South Vietnam, American soldiers used a shirt as a makeshift stretcher to carry a wounded soldier out of the jungle after intense combat as part of “Operation Junction City.” The fighting took place near the border of Cambodia.

Soldiers run to a HH-53C helicopter during an assault on Koh Tang Island.

On May 15, 1975, a Marine and an Air Force pararescueman were seen running towards an Air Force HH-53C helicopter during an assault on Koh Tang Island. The mission was to rescue the crew of the U.S. Merchant ship Mayaguez, which had been seized by the Khmer Rouge, a communist group in Cambodia.

The operation was a response to the capture of the American container ship and its crew by Cambodian forces and was one of the last engagements of the Vietnam War. The mission was successful in rescuing the crew but resulted in heavy casualties among the American forces. It was a controversial operation and was criticized for the loss of lives and the fact that the crew had already been released before the operation.

The Controversial US Bombing Campaign in Vietnam

The bombing campaign, also known as Operation Rolling Thunder, was a sustained bombing operation conducted by the United States against North Vietnam from February 1965 to October 1968. The primary objective of the campaign was to interdict the flow of men and supplies from North Vietnam to the Viet Cong in South Vietnam, and to destroy North Vietnam’s transportation and industrial infrastructure.

Official U.S. Air Force photo released by the Department of Defense. (Photo by US Air Force/Getty Images)

B-52 Stratofortress was used to drop 750-pound bombs on coastal targets in the Republic of Vietnam. The campaign was criticized for high civilian casualties and causing widespread damage to North Vietnam’s infrastructure without achieving its objectives. It was halted in 1968 as part of the Paris Peace Accords.

Peace Demonstrators and Military Police at Protest

Peace protesters taunt a line of soldiers with the military police during an anti-Vietnam War protest outside the Pentagon in Washington DC.