The Vietnam War Through a Different Lens

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Crossing the Pass of Clouds by Lon Homberg (courtesy of the University of Mississippi Press).

As a young man, Lon Holmberg was a staunch critic of the Vietnam War, even protesting America’s involvement in the conflict. But when Holmberg was called to duty via the military draft, despite his stiff opposition, he answered the call. 

And decided to make the best of the situation. 

The Army tapped into Holmberg’s creative side and assigned him to be the personal military photographer for Gen. Creighton Abrams, commander of American troops in Vietnam in 1971. 

More than 50 years later, Holmberg decided to publish his photo collection in a new book, “Crossing the Pass of Clouds: An Army Photographer’s Vietnam Journal.” Part photo essay, part memoir, the book features 147 black and white images and Holmberg’s written reflections documenting one of the last years of intense fighting in Vietnam. The collection also highlights photos from post-war Vietnam. 

In his role, Holmberg had a unique view, capturing encounters with key Vietnam War officials, like Melvin Laird, Henry Kissinger, and Nguyen Van Thieu. Holmberg also dives into his own journeys through dangerous combat zones such as the A Shau Valley, Laos, and the Hai Van Pass. Holmberg was willing to tempt fate and travel into treacherous areas to show a true depiction of the war. 

As relations between the U.S. and Vietnam improved in the decades following the war, many veterans decided to return to the country in the eighties and nineties. Holmberg returned in 1996 for a visit and came back in 2010 for a month to teach English to Vietnamese residents. 

In his ’96 trip, the photojournalist made an emotional return to Nha Trang, 25 years after he spent a year there with the Army. He was led to a small house in the village where he met a thin, slightly bewildered man who had been forced into a re-education camp for several years as punishment for assisting the South Vietnamese army. 

Mentally and physically worn down, the man implored Holmberg to help him. Holmberg writes, “He wanted his life back. The request was simple enough, but I could only helplessly listen. He began to cry.  I began to cry. It was agonizing.”

While Holmberg wants his writing to shine in the book, he’s more interested in letting the photos tell the story. His aim was to create a personal and historical reflection that draws readers in with sharp prose and intense visuals.

Vietnam veterans might find Holmberg’s book revealing, as it documents the beginning of the end of the war, focusing more on peace instead of the bloody destruction that many soldiers recall. 

Charlie Spillers, a Vietnam War Marine veteran-turned author, reviewed Holmberg’s book for the Mississippi Clarion Ledger. Spillers wrote that the author’s photos depict a Vietnam drastically different from the country he experienced serving with the 3rd Marines in 1966. 

“At first, the photographs and commentary felt distant to my war as an infantry squad leader. It was foreign to the war I lived as a grunt,” Spiller writes. “Holmberg’s images focus on urban scenes, high-ranking officials and firebases lobbing the final shells of the war. There’s little trace of the mud, the fear, or the camaraderie forged in fire that held us together.

But then I realized that this book isn't about my war. It's about peace. The photographs capture moments of quiet: places in Vietnam that endured, that healed, that still breathe. In their stillness, I see something unexpected. Humanity. Not the war I fought, but perhaps the peace I never imagined.”

In his return trips to Vietnam in ’96 and 2010, Holmberg also realized how vastly different the once war-torn nation had become. Vietnam had blossomed into a vibrant land of peace and a future filled with opportunity. 

“I invite readers and veterans to read, to look, and to savor,” Spiller writes. “To feel each image the author captures. It’s his war, seen through a different lens, shaped by other experiences. And yet, it speaks deep in our souls.” 

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