30 Photographs That Capture the Human Side of the Vietnam War

By | September 8, 2017

In March 1965, 3,500 U.S. Marines were assigned on a mission in South Vietnam. By the end of the year, there were 200,000 of them.

LIFE photographer Paul Schutzer and Associate Editor Michael Mok were also sent to spend six weeks with the marines. What they have witnessed was a world of ambiquity - bullets and bandages doled out in equal measure; marines decried as villains for dispatching lives, and hailed as heroes for saving them.

Rather than capturing scenes that portray scenes of battle and warfare, the images you will see below portray the humanity of people embroiled in a situation not of their own making.