Nguyễn Văn Lém: Difference between revisions

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==Biography==
==Biography==
Lém was a VC captain with the call sign "Bảy Lốp". He participated in the Tet Offensive of 1968, a massive assault on South Vietnam by the Viet Ciong during the Tet Holiday. Lém was the leader of a VC "kill team" which participated in the assault on Saigon, hunting down National Police members or their families. The team had killed at least 34 people - seven police officers, three Americans and 24 police officer's family members. Most of these victims were captured, bound with wire and shot over mass graves so their bodies would fall in.  
Lém was a VC captain with the call sign "Bảy Lốp". He participated in the Tet Offensive of 1968, a massive assault on South Vietnam by the Viet Cong during the Tet Holiday. Lém was the leader of a VC "kill team" which participated in the assault on Saigon, hunting down National Police members or their families. The team had killed at least 34 people - seven police officers, three Americans and 24 police officer's family members. Most of these victims were captured, bound with wire and shot over mass graves so their bodies would fall in.  


Lém, wearing civilian clothes, was apprehended by a South Vietnamese patrol lead by General Nguyễn Ngọc Loan just after the murders of Colonel Nguyễn Tuan, his wife, their six children and his 80-year-old mother, whose throats he had personally slit. As he was not wearing a uniform or fighting in a battle and had obviously just committed a serious [[war crimes|war crime]], Lém was legally a terrorist rather than a combatant and so had no protection under the Geneva Convention. As Lém was brought before General Loan, photographer Eddie Adams, thinking he was just going to interrogate Lém, decided to take a photo. By coincidence he took the photo as Loan pulled the trigger and shot Lém in the head, killing him.  
Lém, wearing civilian clothes, was apprehended by a South Vietnamese patrol lead by General Nguyễn Ngọc Loan just after the murders of Colonel Nguyễn Tuan, his wife, their six children and his 80-year-old mother, whose throats he had personally slit. As he was not wearing a uniform or fighting in a battle and had obviously just committed a serious [[war crimes|war crime]], Lém was legally a terrorist rather than a combatant and so had no protection under the Geneva Convention. As Lém was brought before General Loan, photographer Eddie Adams, thinking he was just going to interrogate Lém, decided to take a photo. By coincidence he took the photo as Loan pulled the trigger and shot Lém in the head, killing him.