Asahi Pentax K1000, 35mm SLR, images of Viet Nam page 2

The US war, as it tends to be referred to, is never far from sight. It's impact upon the country's people, ecology, politics and psyche is an ever present reminder of the events that concluded with the Communist North taking the US supported South in 1975. The defeat is for me illustrated here, by the contorted and smashed remains of these once impressive Boeing B52s. The wreckage, above, still lies incongruously where in fell in 1972 - in the middle of the flower market pond in Hanoi, brought down by a Russian surface to air missile. It appears to be a large section of fuselage between the tail and wing root junction and contains the aft landing gear. The other pictures show other B52 remains piled high elsewhere in the city, it was a little too precarious to look for serial numbers to ascertain whether of not the wreckage is from one 'plane or several of the eighteen B52s lost over Vietnam in between Dec 1972 and Jan 1973. In the South of the country in Ho Chi Minh City is the formerly named 'Museum of American War Crimes'. The name has been softened in recent years and there is an exhibition of the work of the war photographers from both sides of the conflict which serves to demonstrate the enormous power of the humble still camera in skilled hands. Probably, we can all picture the image of the little girl, Kim Phuc, running towards us after the napalm bomb strike, taken on 8th June 1972, which over 30 years later is an illustration of that power. from the K1000 Vietnam Gallery

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