Vietnam War: Agent Orange - A valuable photo book

Japanese photographer Nakamura Goro is widely known in Vietnam since he published a photo book entitled Vietnam War Agent Orange. The photos are vivid images full of truth and humanity, as well as historical significance, which described vestiges of an unjust war waged by the US imperialists in Vietnam.


The plane C-123
scaterring thenbsp;defoliant.
(Photo: USAF)


A mangrove forest
in Ca Mau destroyed
by the bombs and
toxin (taken in 1976).


Viet and Duc, the
Agent Orange/Dioxin
victims was sucessfully
separated in Tu Du
Hosital.


Hoang Thi Phuong
with the two harelipped
children in Tay Ninh
Province in 1981.

Japanese photographer Nakamura Goro is widely known in Vietnam since he published a photo book entitled "Vietnam War Agent Orange". The photos are vivid images full of truth and humanity, as well as historical significance, which described vestiges of an unjust war waged by the US imperialists in Vietnam.

Nakamura Goro, born in 1940, is a free-lance photographer in Japan. In 1970, he came to Vietnam as a tourist. In 1973, he returned to Vietnam to learn about aftermath of war. Well aware of the tragedies caused by the war, he expressed a deep sympathy for the Vietnamese people who were facing innumerable difficulties.

For more than a quarter of the past century, Nakamura came to Vietnam more than 30 times, during which he travelled along the National Highway 1A from Hanoi to the southernmost Ca Mau Province. He has taken more than 35,000 photos, most of them about the war victims and localities devastated by the war. They show disabled children born in the localities sprayed with toxic chemicals, grieving parents who could do nothing to help them, the tragic families who are suffering from the consequences of Agent Orange, etc. Nakamura also photographed an environment heavily devastated during the war, such as a denuded forest which was formerly a forest with high trees, bomb craters on the rice fields, and others. These photos are valuable documents reflecting the biggest war in the second half of the 20th century. nbsp;

In 1995, 20 years after Vietnam's national reunification, Nakamura published the book "Vietnam War Agent Orange", which greatly impressed the readers in Japan and the world as well. It was considered a bell ringing for peace all over the world. In 1999, the book was re-published. Nakamura organized more than 20 exhibitions displaying photos from the book in Japan, one exhibition in the United States in 1983, and another exhibition in South Korea in 1993. In late 2000 and early 2001, he organized two exhibitions titled the same as the book in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, which attracted a great number of Vietnamese visitors of different ages and from all walks of life. Nakamura's photos impressed the Vietnamese viewers very much and they reminded them of the war and its horrible aftermath, and they also highly appreciated the author's talent as well as his feelings towards Vietnam.

On these pages are some photos from Nakamura's book "Vietnam War Agent Orange".nbsp;


Back home from Vietnam (in Washington DC.,nbsp; in 1982).

Story: Nguyen Tuan Long - Photos: Nakamura Goronbsp;nbsp;

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