Hugh van Es, Dutch, 1941–2009
A U.S. paratrooper wounded in the Battle for Hamburger Hill grimaces in pain as he awaits medical evacuation at base camp near the Laotian border, May 19, 1969
Negative May 19, 1969; print 2013
Gelatin silver print
Image: 11 13/16 x 17 15/16 in.
Purchased through the Mrs. Harvey P. Hood W’18 Fund and the Miriam H. and S. Sidney Stoneman Acquisition Fund; 2014.10.9
AP photo / Hugh van Es
Here an injured American paratrooper awaits evacuation. Eyes closed, he grimaces in pain and braces himself against a stack of supplies. Although we can make out other soldiers waiting to be evacuated around him, he appears fundamentally alone to bear his pain. Despite the close bonds formed by the unfamiliar and foreign environment, injury can be an isolating experience if the suffering is individual, rather than communal.
Dutch photojournalist Hugh van Es worked with the Associated Press during the Vietnam War. Although he trained as a painter, he was inspired to pursue photojournalism after having experienced the raw emotive nature of war photographs he saw in an exhibition at home. Van Es continued to work as a freelance photographer in Vietnam for several years after the end of the war.