Vietnam War photographer reflects on conflict 50 years after fall of Saigon

Australia Broadcast Center

04-05-2025

When John Geoffrey Fairley thinks of the Vietnam War he recalls trudging through the humid countryside as a 24-year-old, being careful not to tread on buried land mines.
Unlike most of the young men he walked beside in Vietnam, Sergeant Fairley wasn't carrying a gun, but instead a camera and orders to photograph whatever he could.
Sergeant Chris Balis and Sergeant Fairley in a dry rice paddock carrying still and cine cameras.
(
Supplied: John Fairley
)
In 1970, he spent 12 months living alongside the 1st Australian Task Force in Southern Vietnam.
"One area was the Long Hai hills where a lot of Australians were injured or killed by land mines," he said.
"
I was there on Operation Hammersley with 8RAR, and we went in after a B-52 bomb strike, and all the soldiers had flak jackets and helmets on, but we were never offered any.
"
Sergeant Fairley joined thousands of Australian and Vietnamese veterans across the country reflecting this week on the fall of Saigon.
"Until our Welcome Home parade, which was 17 years after I got home, I really tried to forget about Vietnam," Sergeant Fairley said.
Sergent Fairley was 24 years old when he was drafted to Vietnam as an Australian war photographer.
(
ABC Illawarra: Justin Huntsdale
)
Now thinking back to that time, he remembers witnessing tragedies and losing colleagues.
"I think of the Vietnamese people scrambling for helicopters, which most didn't get on, and the boat people.
"
I think of the graphic photos that Neil Davis took, the Tasmanian cameraman that lost his life in a coup attempt in Bangkok, and that graphic photo of the tank coming through.
"
Sergeant Fairley will pay tribute to Australia's troops in Vietnam by donating thousands of images to the Australian War Memorial.
From photographer to Sergeant
Sergeant Fairley was born in Wollongong, New South Wales, in 1946.
He discovered a love for photography at his Sydney boarding school and worked alongside a commercial photographer after school.
Sergeant Fairley developed a love for photography in his primary school's darkroom.
(
Supplied: John Fairley
)
He was drafted to Vietnam in 1969 and was part of the small group of photographers who captured most of the images of the conflict that were broadcast to Australians back home.
"There were three of us at any one time in Vietnam, mostly at Nui Dat," he said.
"We used to rotate to Saigon to print photos and dispatch the cine to Canberra, which was processed and sent to the three TV channels.
"
Most footage you saw of Australians — one of us took it.
"
He returned home in December, 1970, a year before Australia withdrew its troops.
The first Black April
7th Battalion soldiers look into a Viet Cong well at a bunker system near Long Tan.
(
Supplied: John Fairley
)
For the Vietnamese, the war continued for four more brutal years.
On April 30, 1975, tanks belonging to the North Vietnamese Army rolled through the gates of the Presidential Palace in Saigon, ending the war and marking the beginning of the reunification of Vietnam into the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
Australian TV was flooded with images of US forces evacuating thousands of American troops and South Vietnamese refugees in an ambitious helicopter evacuation mission.
In less than 24 hours, US forces evacuated over 7,000 people, including 5,500 Vietnamese citizens.
Those who were unable to be evacuated are remembered every year on April 30, on the day known to survivors as Black April or Tháng Tư Đen.
6th Battalion mortar men duck the muzzle blast of their weapon at Fire Support Base Peggy, Vietnam.
(
Supplied: John Fairley
)
President of the Vietnamese community in Wollongong Teresa Tran said this year's Black April marked the 50th anniversary of the fall of Saigon, and was emotional for many.
"Every Vietnamese family you talk to will have at least one or two members who died during the war, or who had been sent to concentration camps after the Communists took over South Vietnam in April,"
she said.
The loss of a homeland
In April, 1976, the first of many boats from Vietnam reached the shores of Darwin.
Until 1983, Australia took in more than 15,000 Vietnamese refugees per year.
Following the fall of Saigon, threats of imprisonment and re-education camps forced many to flee to refugee camps where they applied for resettlement to other countries, including Australia.
Five fallen South Vietnamese soldiers were remembered at a Black April candlelight vigil in Wollongong.
(
ABC News: Mikayla McGuirk-Scolaro
)
Mrs Tran was 14 years old when she escaped Vietnam with her mother on a small, wooden boat carrying 118 refugees.
"We were cramped in like sardines for two to three weeks," she said.
"
On the last night, I said to my mum, 'I'm going to die' because we had no food and nothing was left.
"
"When we were at sea, there were a lot of big ships passing by, but not even a single ship would stop to give us food or provisions so we could continue our journey."
Thinking she would not make it to morning, Mrs Tran's refugee boat was saved by a big ship passing by, and she was taken to a refugee camp in Singapore.
Mrs Tran spent two years in Singapore before she was accepted into France before following a friend to Australia, where she has lived ever since.
Many Vietnamese communities gathered this week to remember the loved ones they lost 50 years ago.
Mrs Tran brought together the Vietnamese community in Wollongong to commemorate the 50th anniversary.
(
ABC News: Mikayla McGuirk-Scolaro
)
"Not everybody is as lucky as us to make it to the safe land," Mrs Tran said.
"There are half a million of Vietnamese who died during their journey searching for freedom.
"We are teaching the next generation about the journey their parents and grandparents went through for them to have the life they have now."
ABC Illawarra — local news in your inbox
Get our local newsletter, delivered free each Thursday
Your information is being handled in accordance with the
Email address
Subscribe