The New York Times and the Sunday Times have featured Sir Don McCullin's recollections of the Vietnam War to mark the 50th anniversary of the fall of Saigon.
Ending the 1975 Spring Offensive, the 30th of April saw the capture of the South Vietnamese capital city of Saigon by North Vietnamese forces, leading to the collapse of the South Vietnamese government and evacuation of US personel. This effectively ended almost twenty years of brutal and devastating warfare in the country.
McCullin's photographs of the conflict are among some of his most powerful, enduring and best-known images. By the time Saigon fell, McCullin was blacklisted from entering the country as a result of his devastating images of the Battle of Hué- one of which, Citadel Wall, Hue, Vietnam, 1968, is currently on show in our exhibition From the Roster which is running until the end of May.
Speaking to the Sunday Times, McCullin shared that he thinks of the Battle of Hué "every day of my life, particularly at night.” He also adds that despite the unrelenting brutality of the environment he was operating in there were still moments that took on a poignant form of beauty: “The funny thing about war is that you see beautiful things, things you don’t expect to see. There’s a lot of tenderness in wars.”
Image: Citadel Wall, Hue, Vietnam, 1968 © Don McCullin
From the Roster runs until May 31.