Dang Van Phuoc, a Vietnamese-born photographer renowned for his frontline coverage of the Vietnam War, died May 23 in Newport Beach, California. He was 90. His death was confirmed by his nephew Van Nguyen and announced by the Associated Press, the news agency for which Mr. Phuoc worked during the conflict.

Mr. Phuoc joined the AP in 1965, replacing another photographer who was killed, and spent a decade capturing vivid and often harrowing images throughout South Vietnam. His assignments took him to key locations including Da Nang, Saigon, Hue, and Khe Sanh, and even included a rare daylight mission into North Vietnam near Haiphong aboard the cruiser Newport News. His photographs documented moments of intense combat as well as the human cost of war, such as a South Vietnamese marine threatening a suspected Viet Cong prisoner, wounded communist soldiers awaiting interrogation, and acts of quiet compassion amid chaos like an American soldier helping an elderly refugee.

Despite suffering multiple injuries during his time covering the war—including shrapnel wounds to his chest and leg, a concussion from a rocket strike, and ultimately the loss of his right eye in a grenade explosion near Da Nang in 1969—Mr. Phuoc continued his work with determination. Colleagues praised his resilience and bravery; Horst Faas, chief photographer during the war, described him as the agency’s "secret weapon," while fellow AP photographer Nick Ut recalled Mr. Phuoc’s relentless drive to return to the front lines. Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer David Hume Kennerly noted that Mr. Phuoc “deliberately took what it required to get good photographs” without taking unnecessary risks.

Born on October 2, 1935, in a village near Quang Ngai province, Mr. Phuoc endured personal tragedy early in life. At around age 10, he witnessed the brutal killing of his father by Viet Minh forces. Orphaned after his mother’s death, he relocated to Saigon, where he gained early experience in film and photography before joining the AP.

In addition to his wartime photography, Mr. Phuoc was recognized by the U.S. Army Ninth Infantry Division in 1968 for carrying a wounded soldier through sniper fire. After the fall of Saigon in 1975, he and his family fled to a refugee camp in Guam before relocating to the United States via a Marine base in Southern California. He briefly worked for the AP in Hong Kong before settling permanently in the U.S., where he became a portrait photographer and mentor to young photographers. He also volunteered for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and was named the county’s volunteer of the year in 1994.

Mr. Phuoc is survived by his wife, Hoa Thi Pham; their daughter, Diemtrang Phuoc Dang; and two grandchildren.

Among his most poignant images was a 1968 photo depicting a Vietnamese woman carrying her six-month-old son’s burned body after a napalm strike near Da Nang—a haunting reminder of the war’s devastating impact on civilians.

Throughout his career, Mr. Phuoc’s photographs conveyed a personal and powerful narrative of courage, suffering, and resilience in a conflict that shaped his life and legacy.