Les Wasley: Capturing Vietnam
“You can’t convey, as I call it, the fear of the unknown”, Les Wasley 1928 - 2014
In this showreel Leslie Martin Wasley describes what it was like to be camera man in a war zone. Inducted into the Cinematographers Hall of Fame in 2013, he was renowned for his evacuation footage shot in war torn Vietnam in April 1975, at the fall of Saigon. Parts of oral interviews, held in the Memorials collection, with Les Wasley and Journalist Allan Hogan are used to tell the story of this moment. Their voices are complimented by footage and photographs from the collection, including images of other Vietnam cameramen.
Les began his cinematic career during the Second World War, at the age of 16, when he decided to leave school to pursue a job at Cinesound Studio in Sydney’s Bondi Junction. His first job was in the film-examining department, which established the foundation of his film knowledge and a passion that would last his lifetime. At the age of 24 he enlisted in the Royal Australian Infantry Corps and served in the Korean War as a private in the 2nd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (2RAR), from 9 June 1953 to 6 April 1954. After Korea he returned to cinematography working for Cinesound and Movietone News. Now a cameraman he started shooting news stories and writing commentary. Les Wasley was one of five cinematographers who shot footage for the film “Background of Tradition” (F10067), a fifty year history of the Royal Australian Navy, a 1960 Movietone Production.
In 1966 he joined ABC-TV and among his regular work he covered conflicts in Belfast, Lebanon and Vietnam. At the ABC he met journalist Allan Hogan and the pair were sent to Vietnam for two weeks to cover the combat zone in the Xuân Lộc district near Saigon. In Les and Allan’s interviews you gain an understanding of what they went through and the close bond they formed. Les compares the difference between the experiences of being a soldier, to that of cameraman in war. Vietnam for him represented more “the fear of the unknown”, as it was guerrilla warfare and not being a part of the military hindered his knowledge of the enemy.
To listen to the full interviews follow the links below:
http://www.awm.gov.au/collection/F10559/
http://www.awm.gov.au/collection/S03295/
http://www.awm.gov.au/collection/S03289/
Photographs:
http://www.awm.gov.au/collection/EKT/67/0062/VN/
http://www.awm.gov.au/collection/P00508.011/
http://www.awm.gov.au/collection/P11560.018/
http://www.awm.gov.au/collection/P05211.001/
http://www.awm.gov.au/collection/P06322.038/
http://www.awm.gov.au/collection/EKN/71/0719/VN/
http://www.awm.gov.au/collection/P01539.005/
http://www.awm.gov.au/collection/P05608.001/