Mary Cronk Farrell - Close-Up on War: The Story of Pioneering Photojournalist Catherine Leroy in Vietnam

The Republic of Vietnam*

A government established in the southern city of Saigon** whose leaders often subverted the rule of law and democratic norms, causing problems for the United States. The United States supported the government and sent money and military advisers to organize and train South Vietnamese military forces, called the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN).

Democratic Republic of Vietnam

A Communist government established by H Ch Minh in the northern city of H Ni. In 1954, Hos followers the Vit Minh formed the Peoples Army of Vietnam (PAVN), called by Americans the North Vietnamese Army.

National Liberation Front of South Vietnam

A Communist organized armed resistance movement in South Vietnam. It fought against the ARVN and the US military. Its members and guerrilla fighters, the Peoples Liberation Armed Forces (PLAF), were called the derogatory name Vit Cng by Americans.

* The American spelling of Vit Nam, Vietnam, is used in this book to reflect American perspective.

** The American name Saigon is used in this book. Today, the city is named H Ch Minh City.

I met Cathy Leroy when I was a young war photographer in Vietnam, and she was already famous for her pictures in Life magazine. I was very impressed that she was as brave and as professional as my male photographer colleagues. In later years, Cathy and I became friends in Los Angeles, where she had moved, and I was with the Associated Press bureau there. We both covered the 1992 Los Angeles racial riots, where I saw again how daring and talented Cathy was in such a dangerous crisis. In the years before her death, she would visit the AP bureau and we would lunch at a nearby dim sum restaurant and talk about the old days in Vietnam.

-Hunh Cng t, known professionally as Nick Ut, a Vietnamese American photographer for the Associated Press (AP), winner of both the 1973 Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography and the 1973 World Press Photo of the Year for The Terror of War, depicting children in flight from a napalm bombing during the Vietnam War

All photographs taken by Catherine Leroy

( Dotation Catherine Leroy [DCL]), unless otherwise noted.

Please see for Image Credits.

Each letter in the chapter openers is an excerpt from an actual letter written by Catherine Leroy. Her letters were typed or handwritten but have been adjusted here for design and readability purposes. Certain elements like the recipient, date, and location are accurate to the original letter so arent always consistent in form. An original letter is reproduced on .

Caption for previous spread: Catherine Leroy, photographed by French colleague Gilles Caron, during an operation with the 1st Air Cavalry Division, Vietnam, December 1967. ( Fondation Gilles Caron)

Cataloging-in-Publication Data has been applied for and may be obtained from the Library of Congress.

ISBN 978-1-4197-4661-1
eISBN 978-1-68335-968-5

Text 2022 Mary Cronk Farrell

Edited by Howard W. Reeves

Book design by Melissa Jane Barrett

Published in 2022 by Amulet Books, an imprint of ABRAMS. All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher.

Amulet Books is a registered trademark of Harry N. Abrams, Inc.

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To the photographers and
journalists imprisoned,
murdered, or killed while
working to get the facts

A MANS WAR

Vientiane, Laos

February 1966

Maman [Mom],

A very long and tiring journey. Here are my first impressions of East Asia. Vientiane, comparable to a second category provincial town, but very much dirtier, many kids (too many), a great many stray dogs, very poor but welcoming people.

Cath

F-100Ds of the 481st Tactical Fighter Squadron over South Vietnam, February 1966. Early F-100s were unpainted when they arrived in Southeast Asia like the foreground aircraft, but all eventually received camouflage paint like the aircraft in the back. (Credit: National Museum of the US Air Force)

Aerial view of Tan Son Nhut Air Base, Saigon, Vietnam, c. 1966. (Credit: Dudley Foster Collection, History of Aviation Collection, Special Collections and Archives Division, Eugene McDermott Library, University of Texas at Dallas)

Catherine Leroy first saw Vietnam from the sky. Jade-green rice paddies spread like chenille over the countryside, miniature villages set in blotches of palm trees, and in the distance, swells and peaks cloaked in verdant jungle. This short flight from the neighboring country, Laos, was the last leg of Catherines longer journey from her home in Paris, France. It was 1966, and shed been planning the trip for months.

Now below lay the capital city, Saigon, and the Mekong River flowing into the brilliant China Sea. Her parents and friends did not understand her desire to leave home, travel across the globe, and drop herself into danger. For Catherine, it was simple.

I want to become a photojournalist, and the biggest story at the moment is the Vietnam War.

Catherines plane circled over Tn Sn Nht Airport while a constant stream of bomb-laden aircraft took off and landed. Fast becoming one of the busiest in the world, the airport was a strategic hub for all four branches of the US military engaged in South Vietnam.

Below on an airport runway, a blue-striped Pan American jet crawled by needle-nosed Phantom fighters bristling with deadly missiles. Numerous Skyraiders lined up nearby, prop blades on their noses, bombs under their wings. Esso gasoline tanks, army jeeps, and tiny men scurried like ants between the aircraft.

As the DC-8 pilot waited for an open runway and permission to land, a male journalist told Catherine, The war is all about men. And he made it clear that he felt women had no business there.

She didnt reply to his pronounced opinion. Shed made up her mind. In fact, nobody had been able to tell her what to do since she was thirteen. As a child, Catherine had been small and slightly built. In response, she developed a strong, rebellious personality.

Catherine had always been fascinated by the pictures in Paris Match, Frances number one news magazine. So at a young age, she decided to become a war photographer. And though she barely knew how to use a camera and didnt speak much English, at the age of twenty-one, she flew to Vietnam on a one-way ticket.