Who was the best photographer in Vietnam

[hochiminhtrail]

sorry mate, it was copied from the net, but i made some changes.

cheers

Alex

[kammo man]

My eyes went square !!!!!

And this morning they were round .


owen

[hochiminhtrail]

LOL

[kammo man]

you know it AP

[hochiminhtrail]

Here some more infos,

has anybody ever heard of those two deserters ? "Larry Humphrey and Clyde McKay" you will find them on the text below


A FALSE ASSUMPTION
It may be the last shot, but this isn’t the first time Page has tried to find out what happened to Flynn and Stone. In 1990, Page went to Cambodia and conducted a search, featured in his book 'Derailed in Uncle Ho’s Victory Garden' and in the British television programme Danger on the Edge of Town.
Page’s investigation led him to the town of Sangke Kaong, where Stone and Flynn were held for a period of time before being turned over to the Khmer Rouge when Vietnamese forces left the area. From there, the trail leads to the town of Bei Met, where eyewitness accounts told of two western prisoners being killed in early 1971, and where a grave containing teeth and fillings was uncovered. Forensic tests indicated the teeth belonged to a tall man and a short man and that both had died violently.
Advanced DNA testing was still in its infancy at this point, and without any known samples to test against, it was impossible to say with certainty that these were the remains of Flynn and Stone. Page, however, felt that he had found his friends. “I was pretty sure in 1990-91, but there was still so much missing from the jigsaw puzzle,” Page says. “I made — I’ll cop to it — false presumptions. Obviously, I wanted resolution.”
After his search, Page went on to create Requiem, a photo essay book and exhibition with a permanent display at the HCM City War Remnants Museum that pays tribute to the combat photographers from every nation that died in Indochina.
NEW INFORMATION
Page’s original conclusion, however, didn’t stand up to the test of time. Earlier this decade, the Joint Task Force-Full Accounting (JTF-FA), the Hawaii-based U.S. organisation that handles POW/MIA issues, was able to conclude that the teeth matched a different pair of western prisoners — Larry Humphrey and Clyde McKay. Humphrey had been a U.S. Army deserter, and McKay was one of a pair of mutineers who overtook the Columbia Eagle, a merchant vessel carrying napalm to the U.S. air bases in Thailand. McKay and his partner Alvin Glatkowski (later extradited to the United States) took control of the ship as an anti-war protest and brought it to Cambodia.
They expected to be welcomed as heroes, but were instead arrested by U.S.-backed forces loyal to Lon Nol days after they arrived. McKay escaped imprisonment and sought out the Khmer Rouge. He was never seen again. Based on the DNA samples and other evidence, Humphrey and McKay were taken off the MIA list by the JTF (which is now known as JPAC, the Joint POW-MIA Accounting Command).
The organisation further concluded that one of the samples may in fact belong to Dana Stone, based on the DNA supplied by his brother Tom, a U.S. Army medic killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan in 2006. The match was not conclusive, but it has been enough to have Stone removed from the priority list of MIAs. Sean Flynn remains on the list.
In 2001, Zalin Grant, an army officer and a Time and New Republic correspondent during the war, conducted his own search for Flynn and Stone. He concluded that the two were most likely kept alive until 1975, and were executed in Kratie. In 2002, another theory saw the light of day. In Jeffrey Meyer’s dual biography Inherited Risk: Errol and Sean Flynn in Hollywood and Vietnam, the author puts forward the suggestion that Flynn was in fact suffering from malaria and had been taken to a hospital in June 1971, where he was given a lethal injection. Meyers did not know where the hospital was. This theory is based on a never-published 1974 interview of a Khmer Rouge cadre who was present at the alleged execution, by AP reporter Matt Franjola. Tim Page was given a transcript of the interview in the late 1990s by Franjola, but did not follow up on it at the time.
PUTTING SPIRITS TO REST
Page couldn’t leave the case alone, however. Or perhaps the memories of Sean Flynn wouldn’t leave Tim Page alone. Last year, after having surgery to treat old war injuries, the photographer said that images of Flynn started coming to him. “I had a dream about him,” says Page. “He’s sitting on my shoulder, waiting to be found.”

Page started digging into this last theory — that Flynn had in fact come down with a serious case of malaria, and was killed by an injection at a hospital, either in an attempt to save his life or as a means of execution. Page and his colleagues in Cambodia and Vietnam have since come across numerous promising leads, from newly-uncovered documents from the international NGO Document Center of Cambodia (DC-Cam) to insider “Deep Throat” tips to Vietnamese and Cambodians with relevant information.
The group is now convinced that they have found the coordinates of the former hospital, in Kampong Cham. The information is so promising that British television and film production house Wall to Wall is sending a team to Cambodia this month to start work on a documentary film about Page’s search. It’s scheduled to be shot by cinematographer Roger Deakins (Kundun, The Reader, Revolutionary Road).
Page is also working on a book about his new search, tentatively called “Bones of Contention.” He says he’s motivated not just to find Flynn’s remains, but to piece as much of the story together as possible. “What was it like to have been a POW under the Khmer Rouge for over a year, underneath the heaviest bombing campaign in history?” Page says. “What was it like to be living on a handful of rice and a chicken bone under a B-52 bomb strike? What’s it like on the ground when you’ve lost your hearing and you’re stumbling around with blood coming out of your ears?”
Just as this issue of AsiaLIFE Guide was going to press, Page and his researchers came across a document that is the strongest piece of evidence yet to support the lethal injection theory — a Khmer Rouge official report on the killing which lists heretofore unknown details. It could well be the key to unlock the entire mystery of Sean Flynn. And for Sean Flynn’s best friend, Tim Page, it will mean something more than just solving a mystery.
“I was about to die here in the hospital,” he says at the French restaurant in HCM City. “Sean came all the way from Laos and brought me a Buddha. I can’t quantifiably say that that helped save my life, but I think there is a bearing therein. It’s part of that payback.” Page goes on: “When I drive [in Cambodia], I’m in tears, I can feel him. He’s calling out, ‘Come and find me.’ It makes me feel almost stupid saying it like that. But a spirit needs a shrine, it needs a place to come home to.”
Tim Page is on the verge of finding that place one that may put both his and Sean Flynn’s spirits to rest. AsiaLIFE Guide will be following the story of Tim Page’s search for the truth about what happened to Sean Flynn in an upcoming issue.

[hochiminhtrail]

news update

Flynn’s bones found, maybe

Monday, 29 March 2010 15:05



TWO men have uncovered what they say may be the remains of Vietnam War-era photographer Sean Flynn, the son of Hollywood actor Errol Flynn who went missing in Cambodia in 1970.

Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper reported Saturday that the two men – 29-year-old Australian Dave MacMillan and 60-year-old Briton Keith Rotheram – had discovered the remains in Kampong Cham province’s Phka Dong village, based on a tip from a local villager who claimed to have witnessed in 1971 the execution of a foreign prisoner matching Flynn’s description. Previous witness statements, though never verified, have suggested that Flynn might have been killed by lethal injection in Kampong Cham’s Krauch Chhmar district in 1971.

Based on photos seen by the Post, the remains include clothes, teeth and bone fragments. MacMillan told the Daily Mail that an unnamed expert had concluded that the teeth suggested dental work performed in the US during the middle of the 20th century.

US embassy spokesman John Johnson said Sunday that MacMillan and Rotheram had given the alleged remains to US authorities, who planned to pass them on to the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), a US military institution in Hawaii that forensically analyses evidence that may lead to the repatriation of Americans killed in overseas conflicts.

“On Friday night, they dropped off possible human remains, and we’ll send them along to JPAC and they’ll go back to the US for analysis,” Johnson said, adding that it was unclear if or when JPAC would be able to positively identify the deceased.

“It really depends on what sort of material they have to work with, so it’s really hard to speculate,” he said.

British photographer Tim Page, a close friend of Flynn’s when they covered the conflict in Vietnam together during the 1960s, has spent years searching for details about the fate of Flynn and other colleagues who disappeared in the region during that era. In an email last week, he expressed reservations about the way in which MacMillan and Rotheram conducted their search, adding that he had encouraged them to turn the remains over to the US embassy after their initial reluctance.

“It was not a forensic dig; they used an excavator and uncovered a full set of remains, which they removed from the site and have been taciturn about handing in,” Page said, adding that it was premature to tout the remains as Flynn’s when numerous other foreigners are thought to have been killed nearby.

“They are ignoring the strong possibility of them being the remains of another possible nine foreigners who are thought to be in the same area,” Page said.

Youk Chhang, director of the Documentation Centre of Cambodia, described the search for Flynn’s remains as a “personal and a family matter”.

MacMillan said in an email that he had received authorisation to conduct the search from Rory Flynn, Sean’s half-sister and next of kin. Local authorities and US embassy officials, Macmillan said, were “fully apprised of every stage of the operation”.

Rotheram declined to comment at length on the finding on Sunday, describing the event as “world news” and saying that he was “waiting for people to come in with exclusives”.

Journalists who covered Cambodia from 1970-1975 are scheduled to come together in Phnom Penh for a reunion next month, where a memorial stupa will be dedicated to the local and foreign journalists who died while covering the Kingdom’s 1970-1975 civil war. At least 37 journalists – from Japan, France, the United States, Sweden, Germany, India, Laos, Australia and Cambodia – were killed or disappeared during the conflict between the US-backed Lon Nol government and the Khmer Rouge, which captured Phnom Penh in April 1975.

In his statement, Page noted the “amazing” timing of the reported Kampong Cham discovery coming with the reunion so close at hand.

“I think you would agree that if this is the remains of one of our peers or brothers – in fact whoever it is, some dignity and correctness is required,” he wrote. “It will be good to be reunited in Phnom Penh and to raise a glass to

[Bob Chatt]

I just spent a couple of days with one of the Japanese Correspondents Mr Imai. Got to look through his scrapbooks, books he published during Vietnam, and see his MACV reporters cards. Pretty cool stuff. If I understood him right, he was still on the groundd in 1975 when Saigon fell and had to hide his MACV id in the soles of his bootsd.

[paul_bish@mac.c]

now this is a fascinating thread. Does anyone know if "Danger on the Edge of Town" is available as a DVD.

And my wife knows people who work at Wall to Wall the TV production company mentioned in the post above (in fact she started her career there), I can see if they are making the show in question and if so get a preview copy.

Thanks for posting all this info

[kammo man]

Great posting Alex !!!!!!
One of the weird tales of the war for sure .

And drum roll please !!!!!!!!!!!


Welcome MR Bishop to the fine pages of the WAF !!!!!



owen

[Patrick Dempsey]

The Story was also covered in todays 'Independent' newspaper. A tale with many twists and turns.

Click here for details.

[paul_bish@mac.c]

Great posting Alex !!!!!!
One of the weird tales of the war for sure .

And drum roll please !!!!!!!!!!!


Welcome MR Bishop to the fine pages of the WAF !!!!!



owen

been lurking for ages, not sure why I have never posted

[paul_bish@mac.c]

I just finished Lynne M. Black Jrs book Whiskey Tango foxtrot and Sean Flyne gets a mention in there, seems his name was used as a nom de guerre by some one Lynne met in Saigon

[leibregiment]

How is the old dog! I've meet him a few times here in the UK at various show's and events. He's a fantastic bloke, real genuine guy, his heart and mind is still firmly living the Vietnam experience!

I worked with Tim last year in Afghanistan, top bloke

[leibregiment]

Just had an e-mail from Tims partner Marianne he is in Cambodia as we speak securing the possible site of Seans burial.....

[hochiminhtrail]

good news, many thanks for keeping us updated.

cheers

alex

Just had an e-mail from Tims partner Marianne he is in Cambodia as we speak securing the possible site of Seans burial.....