François Sully | |
|---|---|
 Sully in 1965 | |
| Born | (1927-08-27)27 August 1927 Paris, France |
| Died | 24 February 1971(1971-02-24) (aged 43) |
| Occupation | Journalist |
François Sully (1927–1971) was a Frenchjournalist andphotographer best known for his work during theVietnam War. Sully was one of the earliest journalists to cover the Vietnam War and spent 24 years inIndochina. At the time of his death in a command helicopter crash near the Cambodian border, he was viewed as the dean of theSaigon press corps.
Sully was born on 27 August 1927 inFrance and fought against theNazis in theFrench Resistance as a teenager and was wounded on his seventeenth birthday inParis. After the liberation of Paris he enlisted in theFrench Army, fought the Nazis inGermany and then volunteered for theFrench Expeditionary Forces, arriving in Saigon when theJapanese surrendered in 1945. Discharged in Saigon, Sully tried his hand as a tea planter and rancher before turning tojournalism. In 1947 he joinedAsie du Sud-Est [fr], a now defunct French magazine, working for them until 1953. He was assigned to cover the battle ofDien Bien Phu byTime-Life. He escaped from behind theViet Minh lines. In 1959 he joinedUnited Press International (UPI). He wrote articles forTime magazine and his photographs were carried byBlack Star until he joinedNewsweek in early 1961.
In March 1962, Sully was to be expelled fromSouth Vietnam by PresidentNgo Dinh Diem, egged on byMadame Nhu, as his reporting was deemed "helpful to the enemy". Unofficially, Diem intended the expulsion to serve as a warning to all journalists reporting the failings of his U.S.-assisted war against theViet Cong. The other journalist on the expulsion list wasHomer Bigart of theNew York Times. Diem backed down after the U.S. Mission explained that expulsion would only worsen an already bad relationship with the press. Five months later, however, in August 1962, Sully was sent packing after some seventeen years in Indochina.[2] TheNewsweek issue of August 20, 1962 carried a long article by Sully "Viet Nam: The Unpleasant Truth". His expulsion became a major political affair between Saigon andWashington. Sully departed Saigon on September 9, with most of the press corps at the airfield in a show of solidarity. After his expulsion Sully proceeded toHarvard where he put in a year at theNieman Foundation and worked in bordering countries to Vietnam. He returned to theNewsweek bureau in Saigon after theNovember 1963 Coup andassassination of Ngo Dinh Diem.
During his work asNewsweek's Saigon Bureau Chief, Sully also wrote for a number of other newsmagazines includingThe Nation andThe New Republic. In 1967 and 1968, Sully wrote articles forMcGraw-Hill's business-reporting service World News which distributed them toBusiness Week,Medical World News,Engineering News Record, and other publications. In addition to writing news stories and taking photographs, Sully wroteAge of the Guerrilla: The New Warfare (New York: Parent's Magazine Press, 1968; reprinted by Avon, 1970) and compiled and editedWe the Vietnamese: Voices from Vietnam (New York: Praeger, 1971).
Sully was the insider's insider amongst the press corps in Vietnam. His sources were numerous inside theViet Minh andViet Cong, inside thePalace in Saigon and at grassroots levels in every province in the North and South. He spoke several languages and was fluent inFrench,English,Vietnamese andLao.
Sully died in late February 1971. On 23 February 1971 he was aboard the command helicopter of GeneralDo Cao Tri (the 'Patton of the Parrots Beak') as it was on its way to the area borderingCambodia. The helicopter had lifted off from Trang LonTay Ninh airstrip and was heading towards a firebase just across the Vietnam-Cambodia border.[3] As the helicopter was taking off reaching approximately 80 feet its engine exhaust spewing out flames. 80 feet (24 m) Helicopter Pilots on the ground recognized it as a FOD (foreign object damage) accident. The helicopter turned left and crashed on its left skid then turned over. Immediately a metallic fire engulfed the aircraft as the fire was fed with JP4 jet fuel. Sully alone was ejected to the ground about 20 feet from the fire, all others died in the crash.
Sully died from injuries suffered in the fall atLong Binh Military field hospital.[4] Sully was buried inMac Dinh Chi Cemetery in Saigon.[5] He left his insurance policy of 18 millionpiasters (equivalent to $45,000 at February, 1971 exchange rates) to Vietnamese orphans.[citation needed]
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