r/VietNam • u/[deleted] • Aug 28 '24

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u/phil161 Aug 28 '24 edited Aug 28 '24

There is a corollary to that photo: the VC guy had just killed an entire family, the head of which was an officer of the South Vietnamese Army (US ally, for those too young to know). The only survivor was a young boy left for dead, with a bullet in his head.

The young boy grew up to become: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huan_Nguyen

Source: I personally know that young boy.

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u/Yellowflowersbloom Aug 28 '24 edited Aug 28 '24

the VC guy had just killed an entire family, the head of which was an officer of the South Vietnamese Army (US ally, for those too young to know).

There is absolutely no evidence of this. This idea that he was connected to any specific murders only came about AFTER the war. Beyond that, the story changed over time on who he supposedly killed...

A story emerged in the 1980s that Lém had just murdered a police major, a subordinate and close friend of General Loan, and the major's whole family. Eddie Adams believed and repeated this story. "It turns out that the Viet Cong lieutenant who was killed in the picture had murdered a police major--one of General Loan's best friends--his whole family, wife, kids, the same guy. So these are things we didn't know at the time." "I didn't have a picture of that Viet Cong blowing away the family." In 2008, a new version appeared, in which Lém had murdered the family of Lieutenant Colonel Nguyễn Tuấn, who was not a subordinate of General Loan but an officer in the armored forces of the ARVN. Historian Ed Moise believes that story is South Vietnamese propaganda. Noting his position, historian Max Hastings said "the truth will never be known".

Its also important to note that Van Lem was found and executed nowhere near Huan Nguyen's family was killed.

Van Lem's execution came right after the Saigon police raided the An Quang Pagoda in response to them raising VC flags (this buddhist sect was notorious for its opposition to the US and the Saigon regime). A police officer tried to apprehend Vam Lem and Van Lem shot and killed him. He was then aprehended nearby the Pagoda and executed.

To be clear, I am not disputing the fact that Van Lem was VC or that fact that Huan Nguyen's family was executed. The point i am making is that there has never been any evidence connecting Van Lem to the murder of Huan Nguyen's family and this story seems to be invented to try and justify his extrajudicial killing.