was a Japanese photographer with

United Press International United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th ce ...

who received the 1966

Pulitzer Prize for Photography The Pulitzer Prize for Photography was one of the American Pulitzer Prizes annually awarded for journalism. It was inaugurated in 1942 and replaced by two photojournalism prizes in 1968: the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography and "Pulitzer Pri ...

for his combat photography of the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

during 1965. Two of those photographs were selected as " World Press Photos of the Year" in 1965 and 1966. The 1965 photograph shows a Vietnamese mother and children wading across a river to escape a US bombing. Dusty Death

The famous 1966 photograph shows U.S soldiers of the 1st Infantry division dragging a dead

Viet Cong The Viet Cong (VC) was an epithet and umbrella term to refer to the communist-driven armed movement and united front organization in South Vietnam. It was formally organized as and led by the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam, and ...

fighter to a burial site behind their

M113 The M113 is a fully tracked armored personnel carrier (APC) that was developed and produced by the FMC Corporation. The M113 was sent to United States Army Europe in 1961 to replace the mechanized infantry's M59 APCs. The M113 was first used ...

armored personnel carrier, after he was killed in a fierce night attack by several Viet Cong battalions against Australian forces during the

Battle of Suoi Bong Trang The Battle of Suoi Bong Trang (23–24 February 1966) was an engagement fought between US, Australian and New Zealand forces, and the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army during the Vietnam War. The battle occurred during Operation Rolling Stone, ...

on 24 February 1966. He also documented the

Battle of Hue A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force c ...

in 1968, for example, capturing an image of Lance Corporal Don Hammons immediately after being wounded by enemy fire; Hammons died minutes later. On October 28, 1970, Sawada and Frank Frosch, UPI

Phnom Penh Phnom Penh is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Cambodia, most populous city of Cambodia. It has been the national capital since 1865 and has grown to become the nation's primate city and its political, economic, industr ...

branch chief, were ambushed by unknown assailants and assassinated while returning to Phnom Penh by car from a news-gathering outing to Takéo Province. The bodies of the two men were found abandoned in a rice paddy near the road, riddled with bullet holes. No blood or bullet holes were found in their car, suggesting that they had been dragged from their vehicle and killed execution-style. There was no chance they had been mistaken for soldiers since they were driving in a civilian car and were wearing brightly colored civilian clothing.

Notes

1936 births 1970 deaths Assassinated Japanese journalists Japanese photojournalists People from Aomori (city) Pulitzer Prize for Photography winners Japan–South Vietnam relations War photographers killed while covering the Vietnam War Aomori High School alumni {{Japan-photographer-stub