VIETNAM. Vietnam at Peace. Cuanh nicknamed “Cu Teo” lived with his ”grandparents”, Tra Van Bao and Tran Dhi Hang, on their small plot of land about 10 kilometres north of Ben Tre. He does the same agricultural work as all the other peasants in the area and left school for the fields because the other children taunted him. Cuanh, when five year-old, abandoned by his mother in a forest during the withdrawal from Kontum in the last days of the war in 1975. The grandparents’ son, an ARVN soldier, who brought him to Ben Tre, found him. After the war some “people” from Saigon came to Ben Tre to buy Amerasian children but the “grandparents” refused to sell the boy. On my arrival Cuanh ran away and his grandmother was visibly shaken until she was reassured that I was not there to take away the boy. 1985.

VIET NAM. Ho Chi Minh City. The aircraft graveyard at Tan Son Nhut airport. The airport was the busiest in the world during the war. The abandoned aircraft were canabalised until only carcasses remained.

VIET NAM. Ho Chi Minh City. One of the main streets, Le Loi, in downtown HCM City almost devoid of traffic in 1980. In later years the city had major traffic congestion.

VIET NAM. Ho Chi Minh City. Joyous crowds at a victory celebration.

VIET NAM. Children commemorating the end of the war in a celebration near Ho Chi Minh City.

VIETNAM. VO Van Trac with his mother MAI Thi Nghiem. Trac, born in 1969, exhibits symptoms similar to Minamata disease. He spends 24 hours a day on a wooden bed behind the house. His legs are twisted and only half-developed. He writhes and grimaces ceaselessly. The muscles in his arms and body are in constant tension. His fingers have been bent back so far by spasms that they appear double-jointed. He is unable to talk. 1998

VIETNAM. VO Van Trac with his mother MAI Thi Nghiem. Trac, born in 1969, exhibits symptoms similar to Minamata disease. He spends 24 hours a day on a wooden bed behind the house. His legs are twisted and only half-developed. He writhes and grimaces ceaselessly. The muscles in his arms and body are in constant tension. His fingers have been bent back so far by spasms that they appear double-jointed. He is unable to talk. 1985

VIET NAM. Tuyet Mai is the 13-year-old daughter of Nguyen Thi Ba. She was born in Nga Trang but the family now live in Vung Tau. Together with her sister, Be Anh, 5-years-old, she sells peanuts on the beach to visitors. Her "patch" is the part of the beach reserved for foreigners who are mostly Russian and East Europeans. She agreed that her Caucasian appearance helped with sales. She knows nothing about her father and knew nothing about emigrating to America. (I could not locate her mother). After this picture appeared in LIFE magazine in 1985, I was inundated with requests for her identity from men who had served in Viet Nam and, surprisingly, their wives. One man did manage to bring her to America but doubts were cast on his claim to be her father.

VIET NAM. Nguyen Thi Xuan Trang, Nguyen Thi Tuan Anh, are the children of Nguyen Thi Hop and Robert Z. Lewis of South Carolina who was a member of the US Airforce stationed in Can Tho. They lived together for some years. She knew he had a wife and two children in the States. Despite promises, she has not heard from him. The family lives in HCM City in little more than a shack with open sides.

VIETNAM. Cuanh nicknamed "Cu Teo" lived with his "grandparents", Tra Van Bao and Tran Dhi Hang, on their small plot of land about 10 kilometres north of Ben Tre. He does the same agricultural work as all the other peasants in the area and left school for the fields because the other children taunted him. Cuanh, when five year-old, abandoned by his mother in a forest during the withdrawal from Kontum in the last days of the war in 1975. The grandparents son, an ARVN soldier, who brought him to Ben Tre, found him. After the war some "people" from Saigon came to Ben Tre to buy Amerasian children but the "grandparents" refused to sell the boy. On my arrival Cuanh ran away and his grandmother was visibly shaken until she was reassured that I was not there to take away the boy.

VIET NAM. Le Thi Lien lived with her adoptive mother, Tran Thi Sinh, in a shop house in Cholon. Her mother died when she was three months old and she has lived with Sinh ever since. Her father was an RMK engineer in Saigon who returned to the U.S. in 1970. After her mother died the father at first made a financial contribution to help feed baby Lien but then Sinh got a letter from the father"s wife in the U.S. with no return address on it saying, "Don't ever try to contact my husband again." Now all that Lien has is an old photograph of her father and mother. Lien went to the school opposite their stationery shop and excelled at athletics and gymnastics. She has won a gold medal for shot putting. She and the family were hoping to go to the United States.

VIET NAM. Le Thi Ut, age 13, is the black daughter of Le Thi Mai, who also has five brothers and six sisters with a Vietnamese father. She attended Vinh Phu School in Ben Tre where she was the class monitor. She knew little about her father - the name was left blank in the school records - except that he was stationed in Ben Tre during the war. She was adamant that she wanted to stay in Viet Nam.

VIET NAM. Loan Anh, with her mother, Ho Thi Thu. The family are from Ben Tre but Load Anh was born in Da Lat where her mother was a school teacher. She was a dressmaker and has taught her daughter her skills. Load Anh was busy studying English.

VIET NAM. Nguyen Duc Lam attended a primary school in Song Be, north of HCM City. Dressed in her "Young Pioneer" uniform, she was taking part in a parade to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the end of the war.

VIET NAM. Vuong Thi My Linh and her mother, Vuong Thi Mai Phuong, who worked in the USAID Club on Tran Qui Cap Street in Sai Gon. My Linh's father is Robert C. Turner who worked at the American Embassy in Sai Gon. He left in 1973.

VIET NAM. Vuong Tu Than, son of Vuong Thi Phung Mai, who worked as a secretary in the offices of the Pacific Engineer Company in Sai Gon. The father is Jerry E. Martin of Dallas, Texas who left Viet Nam in 1973. She lives with her son in her grandfather's house, in central HCM City. The grandfather spoke good French as he'd been employed in the French Embassy library during the war.

VIET NAM. Ho Chi Minh City. Portraits of the heroes of Socialism adorned the streets during victory celebrations.

VIET NAM. Ho Chi Minh City. Anniversary celebrations held in and around the city to commemorate the end of the war.

VIET NAM. Mr. Ngo Toai, at the celebrations to mark the 10th Anniversary of the war's end where he was awarded a citation by Foreign Minister Nguyen Co Thach.

VIET NAM. Ho Chi Minh City. Portraits of the heroes of Socialism adorned the streets during victory celebrations.

VIET NAM. Ho Chi Minh City. The aircraft graveyard at Tan Son Nhut airport. The airport was the busiest in the world during the war. The abandoned aircraft were canabalised until only carcasses remained.

VIET NAM. Ho Chi Minh City. The aircraft graveyard at Tan Son Nhut airport. The airport was the busiest in the world during the war. The abandoned aircraft were canabalised until only carcasses remained.

VIET NAM. Ho Chi Minh City. The aircraft graveyard at Tan Son Nhut airport. The airport was the busiest in the world during the war. The abandoned aircraft were canabalised until only carcasses remained.

VIET NAM. Waiting for the gates to open. After the war people in the South were considered unruly. The police became adept to crowd control.

VIET NAM. Ho Chi Minh City. Youths at a street corner.

VIET NAM. Ho Chi Minh City. Children at Orphanage No. 6.

VIET NAM. The Z30D (Thu Duc) re-education camp in Thuan Hai Province. It once held 2,000 inmates but after 539 were released for the Tet holiday under a "Policy of Reconciliation" the number was much reduced. Those remaining were largely operatives in the intelligence services of the old regime.

VIET NAM. Ho Chi Minh City. Visitors at the War Remnants Museum, where much of the ordnance used in the war is on display, including the guillotine widely used in the previouus war with France and later during the Diem regime.

VIET NAM. Ho Chi Minh City. A CBU55 bomb displayed at the War Remnants Museum. This bomb, considered the most destructive in America's arsenal apart from a nuclear weapon, produces a giant fireball that destroys everything below including asphyxiating anyone sheltering in a tunnel.

VIET NAM. Ho Chi Minh City. Anniversary celebrations held in and around Ho Chi Minh City to commemorate the end of the war.

VIET NAM. Ho Chi Minh City. Anniversary celebrations held in and around Ho Chi Minh City to commemorate the end of the war.

VIET NAM. A dance performance depicting the heroic deeds of soldiers of the National Liberation Front.

VIET NAM. A Young Pioneer conducts his schoolmates singing a patriotic song.

VIET NAM. Children playing on the wreck of an old warship in the Mekong Delta.

VIET NAM. The mountains of scrap metal are cut up and sorted according to their value.

VIET NAM. The remains of B52 engines at the Vicasa Metal Works at Bien Hoa.

VIET NAM. Ho Chi Minh City. Anniversary celebrations held in and around the city to commemorate the end of the war.

VIET NAM. Ho Chi Minh City. Playing football on the grounds of the US Embassy.