Most people only see the murder of a civilian prisoner. What they are really seeing is the man who saved Saigon from butchers who slaughtered innocent women and children for their own power and to enslave the population.
"The film footage of the shooting, while ghastly, doesn't evoke the same feelings of urgency and stark tragedy."
But the photo did not – could not – fully explain the circumstances on the streets of Saigon on 1 February 1968, two days after the forces of the People's Army of Vietnam and the Viet Cong launched the Tet Offensive. Dozens of South Vietnamese cities were caught by surprise.
Heavy street fighting had pitched Saigon into chaos when South Vietnamese military caught a suspected Viet Cong squad leader, Nguyen Van Lem, at the site of a mass grave of more than 30 civilians.
Eddie Adams captured one of the most famous images of the Vietnam War but he was haunted by it.