Lost Over Laos: A True Story of Tragedy, Mystery, and Friendship - Hardcover

Pyle, Richard; Faas, Horst

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0306811960 ISBN 13: 9780306811968

Publisher: Da Capo Press Inc, 2003

Synopsis

The richly illustrated story of four combat photographers who died in a fiery helicopter over Laos in 1971-and the search, twenty-seven years later, for the crash site.. In 1971, as American forces hastened their withdrawal from Vietnam, a helicopter was hit by enemy fire over Laos and exploded in a fireball, killing four top combat photographers, Larry Burrows of Life magazine, Henri Huet of Associated Press, Kent Potter of United Press International, and Keisaburo Shimamoto of Newsweek. The Saigon press corps and the American public were stunned, but the remoteness of the location made a recovery attempt impossible. When the war ended four years later in a communist victory, the war zone was sealed off to outsiders, and the helicopter incident faded from most memories. Yet two journalists from the Vietnam press corps- Richard Pyle, former Saigon Bureau Chief, and Horst Faas, Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer in Vietnam-pledged to return some day to Laos, resolve mysteries about the crash, and pay homage to their lost friends. True to their vow, twenty-seven years after the incident the authors joined a U.S. team excavating the hillside where the helicopter crashed. Few human remains were found, but camera parts and bits of film provided eerie proof of what happened there.The narrative of Lost Over Laos is framed in a period that was among the war's bloodiest, for both the military and the media, yet has received relatively little attention from historians. It is rich with behind-the-scenes anecdotes about the Saigon press corps and illustrated with stunning work by the four combat photographers who died and their colleagues.

About this title

About the Author

Richard Pyle covered the Vietnam War for the Associated Press for nearly five years an d was bureau chief in Saigon from 1970 to 1973. Si nce then he has covered hot spots around the world for the AP, including the Middle East and the Per sian Gulf. He is the author of Schwarzkopf: The Ma n, the Mission, the Triumph. Now based in New York , he covers politics and breaking news for the AP. Horst Faas is the Associated Press P hoto Editor for Europe, Africa, and the Middle Eas t, and is based in London. He covered the Vietnam War from 1962 to 1973 and won a Pulitzer Prize in 1965 for "daring and courageous combat photography ." He was awarded a second Pulitzer in 1972, joint ly with Michel Laurent, for pictures of prisoner e xecutions in Bangladesh. He also won the Robert Ca pa Award of the Overseas Press Club and numerous o ther awards in connection with his work in Indochi na. He is co-editor and author of the book Requiem -By the Photographers Who Died in Vietnam and Indo china.

Edition details

• Publisher: Da Capo Press Inc
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0306811960
• ISBN 13: 9780306811968
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 352