What Happened on February 10th – Journalists in Vietnam

On February 10, 1971, four journalists, including photographer Larry Burrows of Life magazine, Kent Potter of United Press International, Nenri Huett of the Associated Press, and Keisaburo Shimamoto of Newsweek, die in a South Vietnamese helicopter operating in Laos. The journalists had been covering Operation Lam Son 719, a limited attack into Laos by South Vietnamese forces, when their helicopter crashed.

Larry Burrows, Life Magazine. Photo by Roger Mattingly

KENT POTTER News Organization: UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL Died: 1971 Location: LAOS War: VIETNAM WAR (1965-1975) Killed Feb. 10

Nenri Huett of the Associated Press

KEISABURO SHIMAMOTO, Newsweek
Photo Credit: -Photo courtesy of Toshio Sakai

Vietnam was one of the most reported conflicts in the history of warfare. In 1964, when the massive American buildup began, there were roughly 40 U.S. and foreign journalists in Saigon. By August 1966, there were over 400 news media representatives in South Vietnam from 22 nations. The Vietnam War correspondents in the field shared the same dangers that confronted the front-line troops, risking their lives to witness and report the realities of the battlefield. Sixteen Americans lost their lives while covering the war. American journalists are among the 42 U.S. civilians still missing in action and unaccounted for in Southeast Asia, including NBC News correspondent Welles Hangen and Time photographer Sean Flynn, both of whom disappeared while covering the war in Cambodia.

Putnam Welles Hangen. In 1992, a team of U.S. Army technicians visited the site and found remains that DNA testing confirmed were those of Hangen. In January 1993, 23 years after he disappeared, Welles Hangen was laid to rest with a 21-gun salute at the Arlington National Cemetery. His papers, notes, scripts, tapes, and films are now part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Radio and Television in New York City, given by NBC in 1978. Also in 1993, Brown University’s President Vartan Gregorian established the Welles Hangen Award to honor journalists for distinguished service.

The son of acting legend, Errol Flynn, Sean Flynn disappeared over 40 years ago while covering the invasion of Cambodia with Dana Stone also missing

Combat Photojournalists Sean Flynn and Dana Stone spent years in Vietnam