Catherine Leroy

Catherine Leroy (August 27, 1944 – July 8, 2006) was a French-born photojournalist and war photographer, whose stark images of battle illustrated the story of the Vietnam War in the pages of Life magazine and other publications.

Early life Leroy was born in the suburbs of Paris on August 27, 1944. She attended a Catholic boarding school and, to impress her boyfriend, earned a parachutist's license at the age of 18. She had her press credentials temporarily suspended after she swore at a Marine officer who she felt was condescending in denying her request to jump shortly after Operation Junction City. In the pictures Wike is crouched in tall grass cradling a Marine who has been shot while smoke from the battle rises into the air behind them. In the first frame Wike has two hands on the Marine's chest, trying to stanch the wound. In the second, he is trying to find a heartbeat. In the third frame, "Corpsman In Anguish", he has just realised the man is dead. Leroy would later credit a camera with saving her life by stopping some of the shrapnel.

In September 1967 she photographed the siege of Con Thien. In October 1967 she visited her family in Paris and flew back via New York where she signed a contract with the Black Star photo agency.

In early 1968 she was awarded the George Polk Award by the Overseas Press Club for her photos on Hill 881, becoming the first freelancer and first woman to win the award. At the awards ceremony in early April in New York she used her acceptance speech to berate the Associated Press which she accused of losing her negatives, which spoiled her relationship with AP and Horst Faas. and later worked for Sipa Press and Gamma. In 1983, Leroy co-authored the book God Cried, about the siege of West Beirut by the Israeli army during the 1982 Lebanon War. Later in life, she founded and ran a vintage clothing store, Piece Unique, with a website. Piece Unique also hosted an online gallery of images from the Vietnam War, entitled "Under Fire: Images From Vietnam".

In 2005 Paris-Match sent her to Arizona for a reunion with Vernon Wike in what would be her last photo assignment.

She died in Santa Monica, California, one week after being diagnosed with lung cancer. In 1997, she was the recipient of an Honor Award for Distinguished Service in Journalism from the University of Missouri.

Works