Dana Hazen Stone(April 18, 1939; disappeared April 6, 1970) was an Americanphotojournalistwho worked forCBS,United Press International,andAssociated Pressduring theVietnam War.
Dana Stone | |
|---|---|
 Stone (right) andSean Flynn(left), riding motorcycles into Communist-held territory in Cambodia on April 6, 1970 – the day they disappeared | |
| Born | Dana Hazen Stone April 18, 1939 Pomfret, Vermont,U.S. |
| Disappeared | April 6, 1970 (aged 30) Highway One,Cambodia |
| Status | Declared deadin absentia |
| Spouse | Louise Smizer |
Biography
editStone first traveled toVietnamin 1965. Before arriving he bought aNikon,his first camera, in Hong Kong. After arriving inSaigonhe metHenri Huetwho showed him how to load film into the camera. He befriended fellow photographers and journalists includingSean Flynn,Tim Page,Henri Huet,John Steinbeck IV,Perry Deane Young,Nik Wheeler,Chas Gerretsen,John Olsonand others. Dana started freelancing forUPIand later became a staffer with theAP.He soon became a combat photographer of note while going on missions with theGreen Beretsfrom his base in Da Nang.[1]
He and his wife Louise Smizer[2]left Saigon for Europe in 1969, driving aVW CamperfromIndiaoverland toLaplandin Sweden where, for a short time, he became aLumberjack.
Stone was working as afreelancerforCBS NewsinLaoswhen he was called back to Saigon in March 1970 to work as a combat cameraman withJohn Laurencewho was making a documentary that would becomeThe World of Charlie Company.[3]He spent 5 days working on the documentary before being sent by CBS toPhnom Penhon March 28 to cover the aftermath of theCambodian coup.
Disappearance
editOn April 6, 1970, Stone and his colleagueSean Flynnwere captured by thePeople's Army of Vietnamin theKampong Cham provinceafter leaving Phnom Penh on rentedHondamotorbikes looking to find the front lines of fighting in Cambodia.[4]Investigations by fellow photojournalist Tim Page, reported in the UKSunday Timeson March 24, 1991, indicate that Stone and Flynn were taken first to the village of Sangke Kaong, and then to other villages before being handed to theKhmer Rouge.Page tracked down an almost-empty grave in a village known as Bei Met in which two foreigners allegedly had been buried. Forensic examination of the few remains left in the grave suggested they belonged to a tall man and a short man – consistent with the appearance of Flynn and Stone respectively – and that both had died violently. However, in 2003, the Pentagon's Central Identification Lab in Hawaii confirmed by DNA testing that the remains found by Tim Page were actually of Clyde McKay, a boat hijacker, and Larry Humphrey, an army deserter; both were a part of theSSColumbia Eagleincident. Further data supports that Flynn and Stone had never been in that area.
Stone and Flynn's disappearance is chronicled inPerry Deane Young's 1975 memoirTwo of the Missing.A 1991 film,Danger on the Edge of Town,recountedTim Page's "search to discover the fate of his friends Sean Flynn and Dana Stone".[5]
Stone's younger brother, John Thomas Stone, joined theU.S. Armyin 1971, soon after graduating from high school, reportedly due in part to a desire to discover what had happened to his brother.[6]He later served as a medic in theVermont National Guardand was killed byfriendly fireon March 29, 2006, when the 52-year-old sergeant was on his third tour in thewar in Afghanistan.[7]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^"Requiem: Dana Stone, Bong Son, Vietnam, 1966,The Digital Journalist.
- ^"DANA & LOUISE: A WAR COUPLE".
- ^Laurence, John (2001).The Cat from Hue.Public Affairs. p.540.ISBN1-58648-160-6.
- ^Synopsis of the Capture at Pownetwrok
- ^Alison Beck,"Meeting Page"[permanent dead link],digitaljournalist.org. Retrieved on October 22, 2016.
- ^"Loss of brother in Cambodia motivated Stone to serve"[permanent dead link],wcax.comviaIntellasia.net,March 31, 2006. In former cite fromboston.com,credited to Wilson Ring, Associated Press.
- ^Struck, Doug,"U.S. Army Confirms 'Friendly Fire' Deaths",Washington Post,July 4, 2007.