This month's Iconic Image is...
The Marine on the Tank
Intro
This photograph was taken in February of 1968, during the Tet Offensive. It depicts a group of wounded American marines being placed on a tank to be evacuated. In the foreground is an unconscious marine whose being held by comrade. He is unconscious and barely clinging to life after being shot in the chest. This image would come to symbolize the suffering of American servicemen during the one of the worst battles of the Vietnam War.
Part I
The battle of Huê began on January 31, 1968. It was part of the North Vietnamese Tet Offensive to seize multiple cities and towns across South Vietnam. Although they caught American and South Vietnamese forces by surprise, most of their attacks were beaten back with heavy casualties within only a few days (some even hours) of fighting. The exception was the ancient city of Huê. In this city, more than 6,000 Viet Cong and NVA soldiers attacked from three sides and successfully captured multiple footholds and important buildings within the first night of combat.
In response four American army battalions and three marine corps battalions were assembled to assault the city. They quickly ran into stiff resistance as they entered. They were literally forced to take the city back street by street and house to house. It was a painstakingly slow process. And casualties among both sides were very high.
Part II
Among the marines was a photographer named, John Olson. Olson was working for the Stars and Stripes newspaper. During the battle of Huê, he took dozens of photographs of American servicemen in combat (he focused mainly on the marines).
On February 17, John Olson noticed a group of wounded marines being loaded onto an M49 Patton tank. As each of them climbed on, Olson noticed one of the marines was completely unconscious. His torso was almost completely wrapped in bandages and multiple IVs were in his arms. The marine was barely breathing. Olson quickly aimed his camera at the group, zoomed in on the unconscious marine on the tank's left track, and took the photograph.
Part III
The identity of the wounded marine on the tank has been debated ever since the photograph was published. Olson himself never found out who the marine was (nor any of the others on the tank). Mark Bowden (the author of Huê 1968, Killing Pablo, and Black Hawk Down) believes that the marine was, Private First Class Alvin Bert Grantham. Grantham was an 18 year old from Mobile, Alabama. He had dropped out of high school with a close friend and enlisted in the Marine Corps.
During the battle of Huê, Grantham was with a platoon of 51 marines. On the morning of February 17, Grantham was manning a machine-gun in an old building when an AK-47 round struck him directly in the torso. The impact blew Grantham back 10 feet, ripped a hole in his chest, pierced his lung, causing massive blood loss. His fellow marines quickly began trying to save his life. They were able to slow down the bleeding by plugging the hole with the plastic wrap of Lucky Strike cigarette packs. He later remembered being carried to a nearby tank and loaded onto it with other wounded marines.
However, a photo forensics specialist named Michael Shaw (the New York Times Magazine), identified the marine as Pfc. James Blaine from Spokane, Washington. Blaine was shot in the chest on February 15. Sadly, unlike Grantham, Pfc. Blaine was mortally wounded. He died in the hospital hours later. Most researchers however, have disregarded this claim due to Olson's account of taking the photograph on February 17 (Blaine was wounded on February 15). This makes it highly unlikely that Blaine is the marine in the photograph.
Epilogue
The battle of Huê ended on March 2, 1968 when American and South Vietnamese forces finally killed the last remaining NVA soldiers within the ancient Citadel. By then the Americans had suffered 216 killed and 1,584 wounded. The South Vietnamese army lost 452 killed and 2,123 wounded. Communist casualties are believed to be at more than 2,400 killed and 3,000 wounded. In addition, more than 5,000 Vietnamese civilians were killed as well while most of the city's buildings were destroyed. Although the battle of Huê was military victory for the Americans, the battle had severely affected the American perception of the Vietnam War. For Americans in Vietnam, the battle of Huê was the beginning of the end of their intervention as many more American citizens began to oppose the conflict.
Despite his severe injuries, Grantham was evacuated to a field hospital (he was almost placed in a body bag before another marine noticed movement). He was then given a massive emergency surgery by vascular surgeon Dr. Mayer Katz. During the operation, Doctor Katz was forced to remove two of Grantham's ribs and part of his right lung before inserting two chest tubes to drain the wound. After being stabilized, Grantham was then airlifted to a Navy Hospital ship and then again to Japan where he spent a year in recovery. In 2017, Grantham was reunited with Doctor Katz and thanked him for saving his life.
For his photographs depicting the Vietnam War, John Olson was awarded the Robert Capa Gold Medal in 1968. Today, the photograph of the wounded marine on the tank is still seen as one of the most emblematic images of the war. It tells a great story of a single marine's terrible injury and his remarkable recovery. It also shows the great suffering of American servicemen during one of the most brutal battles of the Vietnam War.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/05/the-true-story-of-the-marine-on-the-tank-vietnam-war
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/02/19/magazine/vietnam-war-photo-wounded-marine.html
https://nieman.harvard.edu/stories/whats-in-a-50-year-old-photo-the-lingering-gutwrench-that-was-the-vietnam-war/
https://www.northwestgeorgianews.com/a-b-grantham-the-marine-on-the-tank/article_4c92fce7-0acb-545c-ba99-6cb822cd33d7.html
https://newseumed.org/tools/artifact/marines-and-tet-battle-changed-vietnam-war
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