IRVINE, Calif. — A legendary war photographer who worked for the Associated Press during the Vietnam conflict has passed away at 91 years old. Dang Van Phuoc, who continued his dangerous work even after losing his sight in one eye from an explosion, died Saturday in Southern California following a sudden collapse, according to his nephew Van Nguyen.
The Associated Press brought Phuoc aboard in 1965 when former photo chief Horst Faas recruited him to fill the position of another local photographer who had been killed while working. Phuoc quickly became known among fellow journalists and American and South Vietnamese military personnel for his remarkable talent in locating the most intense combat situations.
Born in 1935 in a Vietnamese village close to Quang Ngai, located south of Da Nang, Phuoc was the youngest among several siblings. Around age 10, local Viet Cong insurgents killed his father. His mother’s death occurred several years afterward, leaving the young boy without a home.
“He was a really very extraordinary man who grew up from very bad treatment when he was a boy,” Nguyen said.
During his youth, Phuoc offered to help transport equipment at a Saigon film studio where Nguyen’s mother was employed as a cook. At this location, Phuoc initially handled a camera and learned photography techniques on his own, according to his nephew.
His supervisor called Phuoc the AP’s “secret weapon” because of his practice of walking alongside the “point man” during military patrols. This positioning allowed him to capture outstanding photographs while simultaneously placing him in extremely dangerous situations.
Throughout his decade with the AP in Vietnam, Phuoc suffered injuries on at least five occasions, with the initial incident occurring just five months into his employment. Shrapnel from a grenade blast wounded his chest and leg, though he returned to covering the prolonged civil war between Communist North Vietnamese forces and the American-supported South Vietnamese army within months.
During 1968, a rocket struck him in the head while he documented urban combat in Saigon, causing a concussion. That same year, Phuoc braved sniper fire to rescue an injured American soldier, earning recognition from the Ninth U.S. Army Infantry Division for his life-saving actions.
A grenade explosion in 1969 cost Phuoc his right eye while he accompanied a Ranger battalion south of Da Nang on Vietnam’s central coastline. He adapted his shooting technique for single-eye vision and resumed his duties.
During a 2011 archival interview with AP, Phuoc explained the challenges of operating with one eye while needing to peer through his camera lens and simultaneously observe silent hand signals from the soldiers he accompanied on patrol.
Huỳnh Công “Nick” Út, who worked with Phuoc at AP’s Saigon office, characterized him as both fearless and resourceful during fieldwork. Away from the action, he was generous and devoted, treating Út as family.
“Everyone loved him so much,” Út said. “When I heard, I cried, ‘My brother, he’s gone.’”
While Phuoc gained recognition for his action photography, the images that most affected him were those showing civilians trapped in the conflict. In his 2011 interview, he described himself as a “small grain of sand” who used photography to share their experiences with the world.
Following Saigon’s fall in 1975, Phuoc escaped with his family carrying virtually nothing except their clothing and a milk bottle. AP reporter Linda Deutsch, who was covering the refugee camp conditions, helped rescue his family from a camp in Guam, and they were transported to Camp Pendleton.
Phuoc briefly returned to Asia for work with AP in Hong Kong before departing the company and permanently relocating to Southern California with his family.
He established himself as a professional portrait photographer in Orange County, which houses Little Saigon, the world’s largest concentrated community of South Vietnamese refugees.
His great-nephew Kim Nguyen reflected Tuesday on the portraits Phuoc created of him as an infant and recalled bringing his own child to view Phuoc’s exhibited work at a Vietnamese museum.
In California, Phuoc helped establish The Artistic Photography Association and mentored emerging photographers. He also served as a civilian volunteer with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and received the county’s volunteer of the year award in 1994.
