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Dickey Chapelle

Reloader

Reloader

Mi Lieutenant
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Did any of our Vietnam Veterans ever meet or see Dickey Chapelle, the female photo-journalist? She was killed in action by a landmine/booby trap on November 4, 1965 at Chu Lai. She seems to have been quite a woman.
I first came to know her name strangely enough, by way of a song by Nanci Griffith, 'Pearls-Eye View', which is about Dickey. On looking up the internet, I found the picture of her receiving the last rites at the time of her death, which I realised I had seen before, but never remembered who it was.

http://www.digitaljournalist.org/issue9711/req4.htm

The picture was taken by another photo-journalist, Henri Huet, who himself was KIA in Laos in 1971.
These photographers deserve a lot of respect and praise for bringing the images of war to us, sometimes angering the military in doing so.
 
Jesus!, I hate to see women suffering, let alone dying. A brave woman indeed sal;
I ahd never heard pf this woman before mate, thanks for bringing her to my attention army;
 
A remarkable woman indeed, who had seen action in 3 wars - WW2, Korea & Vietnam and was the only woman journalist killed during the Vietnam War. I also read that in 1962, she was the first journalist to report that American troops were actually in combat in Vietnam, not just advising.

The song about her is called ' Pearl's Eye View', because she always wore pearl earrings. It's on an favourite CD of mine - 'Clock Without Hands' by Nanci Griffith & has several other Vietnam War-related songs on it.

Pearl's Eye View (the life of Dickey Chapelle)

Oh, she was high up there in the air,
Caught still by a soldier's stare.
Whenever it was men amongst men down upon the land.
And she followed those mother's sons;
She felt the thunder of their guns.
From a pearl's eye view, just a camera in her hand.
She was born Georgette but the name didn't suit her well.
So, she blew out of Wisconsin as Dickey Chapelle.
Oh, she flew with a pilot's pride,
The first witness to either side.
She carried relief to the lost ones between the bombs.
And we saw it all through her lens,
Well, she knew she'd go back again
When the call rang out once more from Vietnam.
She's been through this before, she'll tell ya war is hell
Her pearl ear-rings caught the light on Dickey Chapelle.

  • Oh, that's the way it was,
    She was the only one to tell,
    In 1962,
    She blew the whistle loud and clear.
    An' now we trace her wings,
    In her footsteps without fear,
    To the front lines where she fell.
    Where she lies still,
    But she's still there.
Instrumental break.

It was 1965,
Over Chu Lai in a free fall dive,
In a dawn patrol to cover the dead zone ground.
She tiptoed through the land mines,
All along the enemy lines,
But she never saw the one that took her down.
Now she captured the bloody pearls of war so well,
That war was bound to steal the end of Dickey Chapelle.
(From a pearl's eye view.)

Of Dickey Chapelle. (From a pearl's eye view.)
Of Dickey Chapelle. (From a pearl's eye view.)
Dickey Chapelle.

Written by Nanci Griffith and Maura Kennedy.
sal;
 
Reloader said:
Did any of our Vietnam Veterans ever meet or see Dickey Chapelle, the female photo-journalist? She was killed in action by a landmine/booby trap on November 4, 1965 at Chu Lai. She seems to have been quite a woman.
I first came to know her name strangely enough, by way of a song by Nanci Griffith, 'Pearls-Eye View', which is about Dickey. On looking up the internet, I found the picture of her receiving the last rites at the time of her death, which I realised I had seen before, but never remembered who it was.

http://www.digitaljournalist.org/issue9711/req4.htm

The picture was taken by another photo-journalist, Henri Huet, who himself was KIA in Laos in 1971.
These photographers deserve a lot of respect and praise for bringing the images of war to us, sometimes angering the military in doing so.
Click to expand...

Reloader, most of us came after Dickey's death. Although, by NOV65 there were several units in-country. The Marines that Dickey was with arrived in MAR[?]65 as the first ground troops to get there. I think most of them came from Okinawa. The second unit, also sent from Okinawa, was the Army's 173rd Airborne Brigade, arriving in APR65. They were followed by the 1st Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division. A few others followed that year, but I don't know the order or dates. They just kinda trickled in. I hadn't heard of Dickey until well after I had served there. While serving with the 101st JUN66-JUN67, we had correspondents and photographers following us around from time to time, but I couldn't give you a name if you threatened my life.

The URL that you gave is great. Some very moving pictures, several that I have seen before. The one of the 1st Cav medic working on the other trooper is a pretty famous one. He was blinded by his wounds [I don't know if it was permanently] and head bandage, so the other troopers with him were acting as his eyes. He also guided them while they worked on the wounded. Like most medics/corpmen in every army, very brave and dedicated.

I found the last picture very interesting. It listed all of the photographers killed, giving their countries of origin. The casualties suffered by the Vietnamese photographers was hugely out of proportion to the others. They touched on this a bit in some of the text to the pictures.

A couple of years ago there was a book published that is titled "ANOTHER VIETNAM: pictures of the war from the other side" by Tim Page. It's a collection of photos and biographies of the combat photographers that accompanied the NVA and VC. Very interesting to see how the other side lived. Of coarse, many of them were screened and used as propaganda pictures by the Communists. Many of them were obviously posed, but there were many spontaneous ones. Something to check out if interested.
 
Thanks for that Tom, I agree that the medic pictures are some of the most striking I've ever seen and show the dedication of these remarkable men.

I've never read anything where combat troops did not have the highest regard for their medics. sal;
 
Dickey Chappelle

Dickey died Nov 4, 1965, while on patrol with the 7th Marines, Operation Black Ferrett, Bon Son, Vietnam.

We had secured an old cemetary on top of a hill just south and outside of the city. A Brig General (Asst 3rd Div Commander - don't remember his name) had his CP tent struck right on top of the hill and had a real nice four holer that the troops liked to sneak into and take a crap.

I was stationed with the 1st Shore Party Bn and was posted at the LZ and had security duty in the fighting pit on the access road from the ville to the hill. We use to have major rock fights with the local kids, until an Amtrac ran over a kid in the ville and all kinds of **** broke loose.

Anyway, saw Dickey hookup with one of the perimeter patrols that morning. Heard the recon team brief the patrol about all the boobytraps. And, sure enough Dickey hit a trip wire and it took her life.
 
Old Bulldog said:
Dickey died Nov 4, 1965, while on patrol with the 7th Marines, Operation Black Ferrett, Bon Son, Vietnam.

We had secured an old cemetary on top of a hill just south and outside of the city. A Brig General (Asst 3rd Div Commander - don't remember his name) had his CP tent struck right on top of the hill and had a real nice four holer that the troops liked to sneak into and take a crap.

I was stationed with the 1st Shore Party Bn and was posted at the LZ and had security duty in the fighting pit on the access road from the ville to the hill. We use to have major rock fights with the local kids, until an Amtrac ran over a kid in the ville and all kinds of **** broke loose.

Anyway, saw Dickey hookup with one of the perimeter patrols that morning. Heard the recon team brief the patrol about all the boobytraps. And, sure enough Dickey hit a trip wire and it took her life.
Click to expand...

Old Bulldog - just noticed this. Many thanks for your contribution.
 
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