National Geographic: Cameramen Who Dared Page #4

---

and then he said

"son, you don't want

to go there"

Then I say "Yes, I do, sir"

He said, "No you don't".

And that firebase

was overrun like,

uh, you know,

the next day or so, it, it,

but, uh, but I really,

I really wanted to

get in there but,

uh, I went as high

as I could to try.

There was a lot of competition

between the three net works

for "bang, bang" footage.

It was very important to get

"bang, bang" footage.

It was action,

it was what they really wanted.

The pressure coming

from New York,

there was a lot of pressure

on people,

On correspondent, uh, on crews,

if someone wasn't getting

the story,

and, and, and

this led to deaths,

where uh, where people would,

would so silly things because

of the pressure on them.

And they'd go out,

and they'd get killed,

and this definitely happened,

and, and

and other people were killed

with them because of

the pressure.

Norman Lloyd's countryman,

Neil Davis,

reported and filmed combat

is southeast Asia for 11 years.

He was a legend

among Vietnam cameramen

a master at covering combat.

I would always try

and go to the extreme front line,

because that's where

the best film is.

You can't get the spontaneity

of action if you're not there.

You can't get it

if you're 100 meters behind

the soldiers trying to get it

with a telephoto lens

you don't see the faces,

The expressions on their faces.

You don't see the compassion

that they may show

for their wounded comrades or

their enemy, for that matter.

I wanted to show

all those things,

and the only way to show them

was being in the front line.

The real front life.

And the idea is for

a news cameraman

to get the film

and keep it rolling,

no matter what happens.

When Saigon fell,

Neil Davis was there

filming the panicked attempt

to escape

the bloodbath expected

when the North Vietnamese

recaptured the city.

Most camera crews departed

in the helicopters lifting off

from the U.S. Embassy

helicopters that were

later dumped into the sea

to make room

on aircraft

carrier flight decks.

Neil Davis chose not to escape.

He stayed behind,

awaiting the conquering army

and making some of

the most powerful images

of the Vietnam war.

I didn't believe that there

was a great danger as long as

I survived

the first few minutes

of the Communist occupation,

Where it's always very dicey,

where there might be flare-ups

and fighting immediately.

Most people had left

the streets.

The civilian population

had gone inside their houses

and waited.

I decided the presidential

place was the place to be.

And I went there alone

and waited for them.

And, I thought, I wasn't gonna

miss this end to the story.

I had a moment's hesitation as

the tank was approaching,

and the tank column

was approaching,

because they fired

a few times

to let people know

they were about,

I think,

and crashed through that gate.

And a man with

a weapon raced toward me,

screaming in Vietnamese,

"Stop, stop, stop!"

Then I kept filming,

and he got quite close,

and I rehearsed my bit before,

which was in Vietnamese,

"Welcome to Saigon, comrade.

I've been waiting

to film the liberation".

And I had qualms about that;

I had it all right.

And he said, "You're American".

I said, "No, I'm not,

I promise I'm not.

I'm an Australian

and I've been waiting for you".

So he hesitated, and then

some troops were coming out

and surrendering from the

palace, and he hesitated,

then dismissed me and ran past.

And I was able to

then start filming again.

In 1985

Neil Davis was shooting a coup

in the streets of Bangkok

a tame event compared

to the heavy combat

he'd survived so many times.

But on this day,

an exploding tank shell

hit Davis and his crew.

His camera,

dropped on the pavement,

was still rolling

as he was dragged away.

But he was dead,

and his soundman died

a few hours later.

Neil Davis was a guy

that really had seen it all.

And it was just a shame.

Everybody misses him,

but if it had of been

in a firefight somewhere and,

uh, you know,

he would have liked it better,

I'm sure, instead

of some dinky goddamn coup,

you know, that meant nothing.

After you see

so many people get killed,

after you see

so many civilians get killed,

after you see

so many children get killed,

you go a little insane,

and I used to drink

all the time.

I thought of suicide a lot,

uh, the, uh, the only,

the only reason that I,

I really um,

didn't, uh, do it, was uh,

I really didn't want

to hurt my mother, you know.

If I had the opportunity

to be a Vietnam cameraman again,

I would do it

because I know what effect it

had on the world.

It's taken years for me to,

to get myself back together.

But, uh, but I'd do it again

because I know that people

have got to see what war is,

and, and, what means,

and the futility of it.

Mount Everest a symbol

of towering,

irresistible challenge.

Its grandeur has always

inspired awe and noble effort,

but Everest is also a killer.

Over 80 climbers

have died on it.

Many more have come down

broken and defeated.

The summit was

first reached in 1953

and then by

a second expedition,

before an American team

tried it in 1963.

This team 19 men

had a dual objective:

to reach the summit

but also to film it,

To create a documentary

that would

become the first National

Geographic Television Special.

The climbers were punished by

Everest's devastating weather.

Temperatures 20 below zero,

winds blowing at more than

The altitude and cold induced

nausea and headaches.

Climbing was hard labor.

Thinking was hard,

operating the camera,

even remembering the camera,

was hard.

And then things got worse.

The expedition's professional

cinematographer, Dan Doody,

was stricken with

a nearly fatal blood clot.

His climb was over,

but lying in his tent

he taught a crash course

in mountain cinematography

to a pair of climbers

who now got the job

as moviemakers.

Lute Jerstad,

who till then had never worked

a film camera, remembers.

So we thought he was gonna die,

and he thought

he was gonna die.

So Doody got out scraps

of paper,

and got Barry Corbet and I by

the neck and began to diagram,

I think it was 18

different shots,

and was teaching us how to

become cin, cinematographers.

So we'd take these little

cameras without film in them

and we'd go outside and shoot

and then we'd come back in

and tell him what we did

and he'd critique it for us.

On May 1st

climber Jim Whitaker

and the Sherpa Gombu

reached the summit

planting an American flag but

taking only a few snapshots.

Lute Jerstad,

with the movie camera,

and his climbing partner,

professional still

photographer Barry bishop,

were still a long way

from the top.

Climbing is scarcely the word

for what they're doing now.

They're barely creeping.

Five breaths to a step

and then a rest

Then more steps. More breaths.

Bodies aching. Minds numb.

Even with the flow of oxygen

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes