The Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand, FCCT 1982

Between 1980 and 1983 I made three films in Bangkok and one In Pattaya and on Kho Larn. The ones I did in Bangkok was about Thai Airways and SAS and ICP Frionor fish producing factory and one at Hotel Oriental with Thai TV3. I met Neil Davis, who introduced me to the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand FCCT. (See introduction further down). At that time the FCCT was located in the colonial style building at Oriental Plaza shopping center, below.

The FCCT was in the same local on the first floor at the Bamboo Bar was. Paul Vogle worked at the Bangkok Post were I met him, and we talked about making a story together about "Yellow Rain", the defoliant which was sprayed over the North Vietnam and Laotian green leaves. I was ready to go to Vietnam and Laos and write about it, but it did not materialize.

 In August 1982 I was making two films in and around Bangkok. It was at that time I became a member of the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand, FCCT. One early evening I was standing in the Bamboo Bar part of the FCCT premises on the second floor of the Oriental Plaza in 1 Chartered Bank Lane near Hotel Oriental. In comes Neil  Davis, who was the President of FCCT at the time. All smiles, he came to me and said, "I wish you welcome to us" as he wrote down his greeting for me on a piece of paper. Nothing characterizes Neil better than this, open and friendly, including and empathic. He had something for all of us. Thank you, Neil, we miss you! Below is Neil to the left with the barman and a friend. The book by Tim Bowden his highly recommended reading.

FCCT Bamboo Bar August 1982

Everybody that was there in the Bamboo Bar that evening wrote their name to wish me welcome to the FCCT. Neil Davis was the first to sign on with the "Warmest Welcome" to FCCT. At the time Niel was the President of FCCT.

This bestselling biography of Neil Davis was first published in 1987 by William Collins and is still in print. Neil Davis covered front line combat in the Indo-China War for an action-packed eleven years. Davis brought enduring images of the horror of modern war directly from the battlefront to the world’s television screens.  He was the only western cameraman to film with the South Vietnamese army and once actually managed to cross over battle lines to film with the Viet-Cong.

Davis also covered the war in Cambodia and Laos. His most memorable scoop was to take the only film of the North Vietnamese Tank 843 smashing down the gates of the Presidential Palace in Saigon – the symbolic moment of the end of the war. Ironically in September 1985, having survived so much war, Neil Davis was killed while filming an attempted coup in the streets of Bangkok. Incredibly his still-running camera captured his own death. This book tells the life story of this remarkable and complex man – a legendary gambler who often relied on his intuitive sixth sense to stay alive, and who was equally at home with presidents and street beggars.

One Crowded Hour

 NEIL DAVIS COMBAT CAMERAMAN 1934-85

AUSTRALIA

Australian War Memorial 

The Australian War Memorial receives a handwritten greeting which Neil Davis gave to Harald Jan Dahle in the Foreign Correspondents Club, FCCT in Bangkok, August 1982. Neil Davis was from Tasmania.

The Honorable Brendan Nelson

   AO BMBS FRACP (Hon) FAMA

At the top Neil wrote "With the warmest welcome to FCCT Neil Davis"

 THERE WAS A COUP IN 1985

Swedish cameraman Claes Bratt at the center of the picture, holding his 16mm film camera and smoking his trade mark cigarette.



Neil Davis, on assignment in Asia for NBC

"One Crowded Hour"

 NEIL DAVIS

COMBAT CAMERAMAN 1934-85

By Tim Bowden

As I lay there half-reclining, with blood streaming down from my head and hands, a North Vietnamese soldier ap- peared literally a metre away over a slight rise.

My first reacion was, ‘What a fantast- ic shot!’ I looked down to adjust the focus and swing the turret of the cam- era onto a wide-angle lens.

I mean, there was this man coming to kill me, and my first reaction was to get onto the right lens to get this dramatic shot.

Neil Davis stayed on in Saigon after the fall, and collected the Safari suit he had ordered from his regular tailor, Mr Minh, just before the end of the war.

Here Neil Davis is leaping over a creek in with his Bell & Howell camera held high in the delta region of South Vietnam in 1967. Photo: Peter Arnett.

A still picture taken from Neil Davis’ most famous footage – and world scoop – when he was the only cameraman who dared film the North Vietnamese tank No 843 smashing down the gates of Saigon’s Independence Palace in April 1975. It was the moment that symbolised the Communist victory.

 FALL OF SAIGON 29.4.1975

Neils combat west

Australian War Memorial