People
Seymour Hersh
Hersh, an investigative journalist, spread the story of the My Lai Massacre to the public. He communicated the genocide via interviews with key witnesses and participants of the event. Without his efforts, the world may never have known the tragic truth of the massacre at My Lai.
"I have this sort of heuristic view of journalism, we possibly offer hope because the world is clearly run by total nincompoops more than ever... Not that journalism is always wonderful - it's not - but at least we offer some way out, some integrity."
~ Seymour Hersh
Hersh in his Washington D.C. office.Photo credit- Bob Dougherty/Associated Press, 1970
Denton during the historic interview in which he blinked "TORTURE". Photo Credit- Associated Press, 1966
Jeremiah Denton
While flying over Vietnam, Officer Jeremiah Denton's plane crashed. The Viet Cong captured him. To prove that he was alive and well, they sent a video message to America. In the broadcast, Denton blinked the word torture in morse code. The media documented this message and communicated it to the government and public.
"While they droned on in a high-pitched voice, I blinked out the desperate message over and over. TORTURE...TORTURE..." - Jeremiah Denton
Dickey Chappelle
Dickey Chappelle was a trailblazing photo-journalist who served in Vietnam. Chappelle’s courage and relentless pursuit of the truth was so renowned, even Cuban dictator Fidel Castro praised her as, “The polite little American with all that tiger blood in her veins.” On one of her many missions alongside American troops, Chapelle was tragically killed by a landmine. To this day Chappelle is regarded as one of history’s most influential war photographers. The footage she captured and communicated to the public remains some of the most brutal war media ever broadcasted.
Military portrait photograph of Chappelle. Photo Credit-U.S. Military, 1943
Chappelle with Chinese Militia Men. Photo Credit- Nat Geo Image Collection, 1965
Young man being executed by a firing squad. Photo credit- Dickey Chappelle, 1957
Chappelle's lifeless body after her untimely death. Photo credit-Henry Huet, 1965
" It was inhuman. We were destroying a country and a whole innocent peasant population while proclaiming that we were saving them from Communism. Had they any idea how children looked and sounded when half flayed by napalm? Could they picture an old woman screaming with a piece of white phosphorus burning in her thigh? We had uprooted and turned into refugees, millions of helpless people by unopposed bombing of their villages. We were hated in Vietnam and rightly."
~ Dickey Chappelle