The Vietnam War, Part III: Hands of a Nation
The photojournalist Eddie Adams, who covered the Vietnam War for the Associated Press, not only captured the action and chaos but took the time to get up close to the Vietnamese people whenever he could. In 1968, he undertook a project called "Hands of a Nation," taking intimate photos of the hands of Vietnamese soldiers and civilians. Their hands were busy doing so many things then: reaching out for medicine, grasping weapons, straining against bindings, soothing, praying, rebuilding. Adams photographed hands young and old, belonging to the healthy and the wounded, the living and the dead. Be sure to also see part 1 and part 2.
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Read moreThe loneliness and desperation of a refugee in Vietnam in August 1968 #
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Read moreA South Vietnamese soldier aims his pistol in August 1968. #
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Read moreA Vietnamese child seeks assurance in August 1968. #
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Read moreHands in utter confusion belong to Vietnamese civilians attempting to assemble a carbine (rifle) in August 1968, as part of the government of South Vietnam's civilian mobilization program where civilians learn how to protect themselves from attacking communists. #
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Read moreA farmer plants rice in the Delta region in Vietnam in August 1968. #
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Read moreThe sweet life amid the war in Vietnam in August 1968 #
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Read moreA soldier ties a prisoner's hands in Vietnam, August of 1968. #
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Read moreWar's ugliness is depicted in the hands of the homeless and ill reaching out for medicine from a visiting military doctor in the city of Hue, August 1968. #
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Read moreA government soldier squeezes the trigger before releasing the safety on his M16 rifle, a weapon some of the government troops are issued, in Vietnam in August 1968. #
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Read moreA Buddhist monk presses his hands together as an expression of gratitude in August 1968. #
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Read moreA 13-year-old boy who lost his arm when he tripped on a booby trap covers his face in Vietnam in August 1968. #
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Read moreA woman in Cholon lays brick in mortar. This is her third effort in rebuilding her home in August 1968. #
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Read moreA soldier with a grenade in Vietnam in August 1968 #
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Read moreHands hold white rice in Vietnam. #
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Read moreThe war is over for this Viet Cong soldier, August 1968. #
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Read moreThe Cholon district of Saigon in June of 1968 #
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Read moreA Vietnamese woman applies makeup, August 1968. #
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Read moreA medic patches up a hand of a wounded soldier during heavy fighting in August 1968. #
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Read moreArmy soldiers hold rifles in Vietnam in an undated photo. #
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Read moreHands of the homeless and ill reach out for medicine from a visiting military doctor in the city of Hue. #
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Read moreA Viet Cong soldier who was captured during street fighting in Saigon smokes a cigarette while being questioned by government soldiers in August 1968. #
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Read moreA person with a prosthetic arm in Vietnam in August 1968 #
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Read moreA seriously wounded North Vietnamese trooper rests his head on his hands after he was brought in by two Marines to an evacuation point at Dai Do, Vietnam. The enemy soldier was captured during one of several Marine charges on the village of Dai Do. The Marines, while retreating from the heavy enemy fire, took the wounded enemy with them to this evacuation point along the Cua Viet River. #
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Read moreA Vietnamese woman’s fingers clutch joss sticks as she prays for a departed one in August 1968. #
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Read moreWaiting to be evacuated, a South Vietnamese soldier patiently nurses his wounded arm in August 1968. #
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Read moreA Vietnamese child seeks assurance in Vietnam in August of 1968. #
Eddie Adams/AP
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