Nguyễn Văn Lém (; 1931/1932 – 1 February 1968), often referred to as Bảy Lốp, was an officer of the

Viet Cong , , war = the Vietnam War , image = FNL Flag.svg , caption = The flag of the Viet Cong, adopted in 1960, is a variation on the flag of North Vietnam. Sometimes the lower stripe was green. , active ...

in the rank of captain. He was

summarily executed A summary execution is an execution in which a person is accused of a crime and immediately killed without the benefit of a full and fair trial. Executions as the result of summary justice (such as a drumhead court-martial) are sometimes include ...

Saigon , population_density_km2 = 4,292 , population_density_metro_km2 = 697.2 , population_demonym = Saigonese , blank_name = GRP (Nominal) , blank_info = 2019 , blank1_name = – Total , blank1_ ...

during the

Tet Offensive The Tet Offensive was a major escalation and one of the largest military campaigns of the Vietnam War. It was launched on January 30, 1968 by forces of the Viet Cong (VC) and North Vietnamese People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) against the forces o ...

in the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

, when the Viet Cong and

North Vietnam North Vietnam, officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV; vi, Việt Nam Dân chủ Cộng hòa), was a socialist state supported by the Soviet Union (USSR) and the People's Republic of China (PRC) in Southeast Asia that existed f ...

ese forces launched a massive surprise attack. Before being captured, Lém had allegedly murdered

South Vietnam South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam ( vi, Việt Nam Cộng hòa), was a state in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975, the period when the southern portion of Vietnam was a member of the Western Bloc during part of th ...

ese officer Nguyễn Tuân as well as six members of Tuân's family. Lém was brought to South Vietnamese general

Nguyễn Ngọc Loan Major General Nguyễn Ngọc Loan (; 11 December 193014 July 1998) was a South Vietnamese general and chief of the South Vietnamese National Police. Loan gained international attention when he summarily executed handcuffed prisoner Nguyễn ...

, who then immediately shot and killed him in the street. The event was witnessed and recorded by Võ Sửu, a cameraman for

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

, and Eddie Adams, an

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

photographer. The photograph and film became famous images in contemporary American journalism, and won Adams the 1969

Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography The Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography is one of the American Pulitzer Prizes annually awarded for journalism. From 2000 it has used the "breaking news" name but it is considered a continuation of the Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photogr ...

Background

Nguyễn Văn Lém was a

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

in the Viet Cong and was known by the code name Bảy Lốp. His wife, Nguyễn Thị Lốp, explained that his code name consisted of "Bảy" for a seventh son, and "Lốp" from her own name.

Execution

Lém was captured in civilian clothing near the

Ấn Quang Pagoda An Quang Pagoda (, meaning: "Temple of the Light of the (Dharma) Seal") in Master Van Hanh Street is a meeting place for Vietnamese Buddhist leaders in Ho Chi Minh City and is a site of the Institute for Dharma Propagation. It has been at t ...

on 1 February 1968, during the

. He was brought to Brigadier General

, Chief of the

Republic of Vietnam National Police The Republic of Vietnam National Police – RVNP ( vi, Cảnh sát Quốc gia Việt Nam Cộng hòa, links=no), Police Nationale de la République du Vietnam or Police Nationale for short ( vi, Cảnh sát Quốc gia, links=no – CSQG) in Frenc ...

, at 252 Ngô Gia Tự Street, District 10 (), near the present-day Chùa Trấn Quốc temple. Loan

Lém using his sidearm, a

.38 Special The .38 Special, also commonly known as .38 S&W Special (not to be confused with .38 S&W), .38 Smith & Wesson Special, .38 Spl, .38 Spc, (pronounced "thirty-eight special"), or 9x29mmR is a rimmed, centerfire cartridge designed by Smith & ...

Smith & Wesson Bodyguard The Smith & Wesson Bodyguard is a family of small J-frame revolvers with shrouded hammers manufactured by Smith & Wesson. They are available chambered in either .38 Special or .357 Magnum. Models Model 38 The Model 38 is aluminum-framed, has ...

revolver, to shoot him through the head. Loan was reported to have said afterwards: "If you hesitate, if you didn't do your duty, the men won't follow you." Lém was 36 years old at the time of his death.

Max Hastings Sir Max Hugh Macdonald Hastings (; born 28 December 1945) is a British journalist and military historian, who has worked as a foreign correspondent for the BBC, editor-in-chief of ''The Daily Telegraph'', and editor of the ''Evening Standard' ...

, writing in 2018, said that Lém was alleged to have personally executed South Vietnamese Lt. Col. Nguyễn Tuân, his wife, six children and the officer’s 80-year-old mother shortly prior; he also wrote that American historian Ed Moise "is convinced that the entire story of Lém murdering the Tuân family is a post-war invention" and that "The truth will never be known." In 1978, a report by the United States

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

concluded that Nguyễn Văn Lém's summary execution would have been illegal under South Vietnamese law.

Photograph

Associated Press photographer Eddie Adams and

NBC News NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, a division of NBCUniversal, which is, in turn, a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's var ...

television cameraman Võ Sửu witnessed the event. Adams later recalled that he believed Loan was going to "threaten or terrorise" Lém, and took out his camera to record the event. The photograph he subsequently captured showed the moment the bullet entered Lém's head.Eddie Adams' iconic Vietnam War photo: What happened next
''BBC'' The photograph and film were broadcast worldwide, galvanizing the anti-war movement in the United States. Adams' photo of the event became one of the most famous and influential images of the war, winning him the 1969

. The photo also came to haunt Adams: "I was getting money for showing one man killing another. Two lives were destroyed, and I was getting paid for it. I was a hero." He elaborated on this in a later piece of writing: "Two people died in that photograph. The general killed the Viet Cong; I killed the general with my camera." Adams later stated he regretted he was unable to get a picture "of that Viet Cong émblowing away the uânfamily". Ben Wright, associate director for communications at the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, said of the photo: "There's something in the nature of a still image that deeply affects the viewer and stays with them. The film footage of the shooting, while ghastly, doesn't evoke the same feelings of urgency and stark tragedy."

Aftermath

Lém's wife, Lốp, learned about her husband's death when she was given a newspaper with the photo on the front page. It is unknown what happened to his body. In 1975, Loan fled South Vietnam during the

Fall of Saigon The Fall of Saigon, also known as the Liberation of Saigon by North Vietnamese or Liberation of the South by the Vietnamese government, and known as Black April by anti-communist overseas Vietnamese was the capture of Saigon, the capital of ...

, eventually emigrating to the United States. Pressure from the

U.S. Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is Bicameralism, bicameral, composed of a lower body, the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives, and an upper body, ...

resulted in an investigation by the

. In 1978, the

Immigration and Naturalization Service The United States Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) was an agency of the U.S. Department of Labor from 1933 to 1940 and the U.S. Department of Justice from 1940 to 2003. Referred to by some as former INS and by others as legacy INS, ...

(INS) contended that Loan had committed a war crime. They attempted to deport him, but President

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...

personally intervened to stop the proceedings, stating that "such

historical revisionism In historiography, historical revisionism is the reinterpretation of a historical account. It usually involves challenging the orthodox (established, accepted or traditional) views held by professional scholars about a historical event or times ...

was folly". Loan died on 14 July 1998 in

Burke, Virginia Burke is an unincorporated section of Fairfax County, Virginia, United States, traditionally defined as the area served by the Burke post office (Zip Code 22015). Burke includes two census-designated places: the Burke CDP, population 42,312 in ...

, at the age of 67. The sole survivor of Lém's alleged killing of Tuân's family was

Huan Nguyen Huan Nguyen (born ) is a South Vietnamese engineer and retired rear admiral (United States), rear admiral in the United States Navy. Personal life The son of South Vietnamese military ranks and insignia#Commissioned officer ranks, Lieutenant Co ...

; aged nine at the time, he was shot twice during the attack that killed his family and stayed with his mother for two hours as she bled to death. In 2019, he became the highest ranking Vietnamese-American officer in the U.S. military when he was promoted to the rank of

rear admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star "admiral" rank. It is often regarde ...

in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

. In 2012, Douglas Sloan made the short film ''Saigon '68'' about Adams' photograph. This film details the influence it had on the lives of Adams and Loan, along with the larger impact it had on public opinion of the Vietnam War.

References

External links