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The South Vietnam lost its Quang Tri Province on May 1st, 1972. There was only one exit out of the bulge: the National Highway No. 1. On this day, the ARVN fled the city and abandoned their posts. Thousands of innocent people who had also been abandoned found their escape in the same line as soldiers.

Unfortunately, the bridge Truong Phuoc in front of them has been blown up. And the bridge Ben Da behind them has also been knocked down by the VC. Finally, countless amount of shells and mortars exploded right on the civilians’ heads.

60 days later along with journalist ĐKT (I cannot disclose his full name because he still live in Vietnam), on July 1st, I was one of the first two combat-photographers to cross the Truong Phuoc River and witnessed too many stinking bodies of children among adults; some of them still have their arm around the toy, or holding their mothers shirts. We quickly named the scene as “Street Of Horror” (Đại Lộ Kinh Hoàng). This is the only photo I can keep secretly during 15 and half years under the communist regime. There is not much, but I believe this is the only photo that has been taken of the virgin face of this historic trap before the Engineers Corps arrived and started their clean-up a few hours later.


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