South Vietnamese soldiers ride elephants across a river in the Ba Don area, about 20 miles from the Cambodian border, during a patrol in search of Viet Cong guerrillas in June 1964. In some conditions, the Hannibal-like transportation is more suited to jungle warfare than more modern vehicles

Skip to main content
South Vietnamese soldiers ride elephants across a river in the Ba Don area, about 20 miles from the Cambodian border, during a patrol in search of Viet Cong guerrillas in June 1964. In some conditions, the Hannibal-like transportation is more suited to jungle warfare than more modern vehicles
South Vietnamese soldiers ride elephants across a river in the Ba Don area, about 20 miles from the Cambodian border, during a patrol in search of Viet Cong guerrillas in June 1964. In some conditions, the Hannibal-like transportation is more suited to jungle warfare than more modern vehicles
Artist/Maker (German, 1933 – 2012)
DateJune 27, 1964
MediumVintage Associated Press wirephoto
DimensionsImage: 4 13/16 × 9 5/8 in. (12.3 × 24.4 cm) Sheet: 5 9/16 × 10 3/16 in. (14.2 × 25.9 cm)
Credit LineGift of Thomas J. Wilson and Jill M. Garling, P2016
Object number2023.12.201
Not on view
Collections

Additional Details

Markings Verso, upper left (stamp, purple ink): "COPYRIGHT ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO / CAUTION: WATCH RELEASE DATE / THIS ASSOCIATED PRESS FEATURE PHOTO IS INTENDED / FOR FIRST PUBLICATION IN THE EVENING PAPERS ON / Date:..7 JUL 1964..."
Verso, center left (stamp, purple ink): [upside-down and ontop of above stamp] "The Daily Telegraph / PUBLISHED / 8 JUL 1964 / ART DEPARTMENT"
Verso, upper right (stamp, purple ink): "ASSOCIATED PRESS NEWSPHOTO / FROM ABROAD / SUBJECT TO [illegible] OF / ONE [illegible] / DATE OF ISSUE...7 JUL 1964"
Verso, lower center (newspaper clipping): [upside-down] "The elephant, immortalized as a vehicle of war by Hannibal / in 218 B.C., is still in military use. South Viet-nam soldiers, / fording a river near the cambodian border in search of Viet / Cong guerrillas, find the animals more suited to jungle / conditions than motorized vehicles."
Published References Illustrated: Associated Press ID # 350674139874
Inscribed Recto, upper left and right corners (black marker): [directional arrows in the margin pointed towards the corners of the image]
Verso, upper right (pencil): "P.16922"
Verso, upper right edge (pencil): [sideways] "1012NXK"
Verso, center (blue ink): [upside-down] "A3366"
Verso, lower right (pencil): "4 cos / x 4" / p20"
Verso, lower left edge (pencil): [sideways] "HF-VNM-193 1800"
Verso, lower edge (pencil): [upside-down] "Region. BA DON Sud-Vietnam. / patroulle a le recherche de la gueilla Viet cong / PHOTO BY HORST FASS. [double underlined]" [translation: "Region. BA DON South Vietnam. / patrol in search of Viet Cong guerillas"
Verso, lower right center (red pencil): "π"
The parish priest Ramonet: "I left for the Ile de Sein with a book on Gurdjieff that was supposed to get me back into shape. I barely looked at it. Thanks to Felix Guilcher, a real, lyrical and discreet hero, a rare friend discovered over there, to a Parish Priest, and to all the islanders, more islander than Breton, I soon felt quite at home, something quite unexpected, indeed inconceivable. Happy and calm, I was protected from the distant continent by a superb and pitiless sea. On Sein, I finally told myself "they'll never get me!". I'll never be able to repay my debt to the Sein Islanders for what they gave me
The parish priest Ramonet: "I left for the Ile de Sein with a book on Gurdjieff that was supposed to get me back into shape. I barely looked at it. Thanks to Felix Guilcher, a real, lyrical and discreet hero, a rare friend discovered over there, to a Parish Priest, and to all the islanders, more islander than Breton, I soon felt quite at home, something quite unexpected, indeed inconceivable. Happy and calm, I was protected from the distant continent by a superb and pitiless sea. On Sein, I finally told myself "they'll never get me!". I'll never be able to repay my debt to the Sein Islanders for what they gave me
Jean-Philippe Charbonnier
Date: 1956
Medium: Vintage gelatin silver print
Object number: 2022.15.197
Miss Rita Renoir thinks that striptease gets its effect on the viewer, as it is done with mind and feeling, more than with the body. To demonstrate this theory, Rita Renoir performed for us a "striptease of the face", from the series "Strip-Tease".
Miss Rita Renoir thinks that striptease gets its effect on the viewer, as it is done with mind and feeling, more than with the body. To demonstrate this theory, Rita Renoir performed for us a "striptease of the face", from the series "Strip-Tease".
Frank Horvat
Date: 1955-1959
Medium: Vintage gelatin silver print
Object number: 2022.15.229
Peru - background: Health and progress. Health and Progress is the central theme of a special issue of World Health devoted to Latin America. Its shows the mutual dependence of the various components of well-being, in which health as a social service is included. It also stresses that only harmonious planned development can bring about progress. Improvement and modernization of working conditions make a better life, better health and a higher yield. Clearing the jungle in Lorato Province
Peru - background: Health and progress. Health and Progress is the central theme of a special issue of World Health devoted to Latin America. Its shows the mutual dependence of the various components of well-being, in which health as a social service is included. It also stresses that only harmonious planned development can bring about progress. Improvement and modernization of working conditions make a better life, better health and a higher yield. Clearing the jungle in Lorato Province
Paul Almasy
Date: c. 1960
Medium: Vintage gelatin silver print
Object number: 2022.15.171
Roosevelt Road is Quiet Today: little traffic, vehicles or pedestrian, in to be seen on Chicago's Roosevelt Road (alternate US 30) following a night of relative calm. Police battled rioters for two nights previous and the Illinois National Guard was brought in. Patrolling jeep with armed guardsmen is seen at center and a police car is parked at right
Roosevelt Road is Quiet Today: little traffic, vehicles or pedestrian, in to be seen on Chicago's Roosevelt Road (alternate US 30) following a night of relative calm. Police battled rioters for two nights previous and the Illinois National Guard was brought in. Patrolling jeep with armed guardsmen is seen at center and a police car is parked at right
Unknown artist
Date: July 15, 1966
Medium: Vintage Associated Press wirephoto
Object number: 2022.15.274
I like working at the shelter workshop. I can be productive and be part of the community. I make money and pay my own way. On my days off I watch TV, ride my bike and write letters to my friends. Someday I'm thinking of getting married.
I like working at the shelter workshop. I can be productive and be part of the community. I make money and pay my own way. On my days off I watch TV, ride my bike and write letters to my friends. Someday I'm thinking of getting married.
Bill Owens
Date: 1975
Medium: Gelatin silver print
Object number: 2023.12.65
You have to be in good physical condition in the fence business because it's hard work. Everybody in the business is related, either your brother or your cousin works for us or for another fence company. Our product is better than the customer expects. We use the best materials and do the job right., from the series "Working"
You have to be in good physical condition in the fence business because it's hard work. Everybody in the business is related, either your brother or your cousin works for us or for another fence company. Our product is better than the customer expects. We use the best materials and do the job right., from the series "Working"
Bill Owens
Date: 1974-76 (printed later)
Medium: Gelatin silver print
Object number: 2019.18.91
F5's Tested Against Enemy in Vietnam: two US Air Force F5 Freedom Fighters which are among the dozen of the needle-nosed fighters being tested in Vietnam are shown circling the Black Virgin Mountain near Cambodian border in a strike against the enemy. A provisional squadron is carrying out an exhaustive 120-day test of these planes, weighing assets against some obvious drawbacks. Containers under bellies of planes are fuel tanks
F5's Tested Against Enemy in Vietnam: two US Air Force F5 Freedom Fighters which are among the dozen of the needle-nosed fighters being tested in Vietnam are shown circling the Black Virgin Mountain near Cambodian border in a strike against the enemy. A provisional squadron is carrying out an exhaustive 120-day test of these planes, weighing assets against some obvious drawbacks. Containers under bellies of planes are fuel tanks
Horst Faas
Date: December 1, 1965
Medium: Vintage Associated Press wirephoto
Object number: 2022.15.132
A Royal Laotian soldier, with painted face and leaf trimmed uniform, pointed to an object of suspicion while on a training patrol in the jungle near Vientiane. He was with troops being trained in jungle warfare by American instructors
A Royal Laotian soldier, with painted face and leaf trimmed uniform, pointed to an object of suspicion while on a training patrol in the jungle near Vientiane. He was with troops being trained in jungle warfare by American instructors
Unknown artist
Date: July 1962
Medium: Vintage ferrotyped gelatin silver print with applied pigment
Object number: 2023.12.185
The War for the Union: Surprise of Rebel Guerrillas by a Squadron of United States Cavalry, from "Harper's Weekly"
The War for the Union: Surprise of Rebel Guerrillas by a Squadron of United States Cavalry, from "Harper's Weekly"
Thomas Nast
Date: published November 15, 1862
Medium: Wood engraving on newsprint
Object number: 2019.13.23
Trapping Rebel Guerrillas in the West, from "Harper's Weekly"
Trapping Rebel Guerrillas in the West, from "Harper's Weekly"
Thomas Nast
Date: published November 21, 1863
Medium: Wood engraving on newsprint
Object number: 2019.13.46
Amphibious Operation in Vietnam: up to his helmet in water but careful to keep his weapon and pack dry, a South Vietnam soldier struggled to regain his footing on a creek crossing during a major operation against the Communist Viet Cong recently in the Darlac Plateau area, about 160 miles northeast of Saigon. The sortie was carried out in heavy rain and through thick jungles in an effort to root out Communist guerrillas
Amphibious Operation in Vietnam: up to his helmet in water but careful to keep his weapon and pack dry, a South Vietnam soldier struggled to regain his footing on a creek crossing during a major operation against the Communist Viet Cong recently in the Darlac Plateau area, about 160 miles northeast of Saigon. The sortie was carried out in heavy rain and through thick jungles in an effort to root out Communist guerrillas
Horst Faas
Date: 1962
Medium: Vintage Associated Press wirephoto
Object number: 2022.15.125
Israeli HQ in Tyre Bombed by Suicide Mission: fanatical Arab guerrillas sent a suicide mission of a lorry filled with explosives, killing 39 persons at the Israeli Command Post at Tyre in Southern Lebanon. The lorry crashed through barriers, security guards fired at the driver and thus the human bomb squad missed the actual Israeli building. But the blast from a nearby ammunition depot caused extensive damage. Responsibility for the raid was claimed to be by the Islamic Holy War, and pro Iranian Shiite Muslim group
Israeli HQ in Tyre Bombed by Suicide Mission: fanatical Arab guerrillas sent a suicide mission of a lorry filled with explosives, killing 39 persons at the Israeli Command Post at Tyre in Southern Lebanon. The lorry crashed through barriers, security guards fired at the driver and thus the human bomb squad missed the actual Israeli building. But the blast from a nearby ammunition depot caused extensive damage. Responsibility for the raid was claimed to be by the Islamic Holy War, and pro Iranian Shiite Muslim group
Micha Bar-Am
Date: 1983
Medium: Vintage gelatin silver print
Object number: 2023.12.15