In January of 1968, the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army launched attacks across South Vietnam targeting American bases and South Vietnamese cities. Even the capital of Saigon was hit by commandos. One of the commandos was Nguyen Van Lem (also known as Bay Lop). He was leader of a group that killed a family of a South Vietnamese police officer On Feb. 1, 1968. His wife, six kids, and 80-year-old mother were murdered. When Bay Lop was captured and brought before the national police chief of South Vietnam Brigadier General Nguyen Ngoc Loan, Loan pulled out his revolver. Associated Press photographer Eddie Adams thought he was just going to intimidate the prisoner of war, but he focused on the pistol and snapped a picture as Loan pulled the trigger. The photo caught the moment the bullet entered Bay Lop’s head. (A cameraman also recorded the moment in a gruesome visual.) Adams won the Pulitzer Prize in 1969, but regretted the photo because it ruined Loan’s life for an incident that was understandable, although clearly a war crime. The photo was worth more than a thousand words as it encapsulated the darker side of the Vietnam War. It also enhanced the belief that the war was unwinnable and not worth winning. In a post script, Loan moved to the United States and opened a restaurant. The sole survivor of the family, nine-year-old Huan Nguyen, also emigrated. In 2019, he was promoted to rear admiral, thus becoming the highest ranked Vietnamese-American in the U.S. military.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/01/world/asia/vietnam-execution-photo.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Execution_of_Nguy%E1%BB%85n_V%C4%83n_L%C3%A9m
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