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| Born | John Laurence 1939 Bridgeport, Connecticut |
| Occupation(s) | Writer, war correspondent |
| Notable work | The World of Charlie Company (1970) The Cat from Huế (2001) |
John Laurence (also known as Jack Laurence) (born 1939 in Bridgeport, Connecticut) is an American journalist best known as a CBS News correspondent during the Vietnam War.
Biography
Laurence attended Fairfield College Preparatory School and then Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute before transferring to the University of Pennsylvania. While at the University of Pennsylvania he started working at the campus radio station, WXPN which led him into his career in broadcast journalism. He then worked at WWDC in Washington D.C. and then moved to New York City where he worked for WNEW before joining CBS as a radio correspondent in January 1965.
Vietnam War
Laurence was sent to South Vietnam in August 1965 as a radio correspondent, however as a spare camera crew was available he transitioned into television reporting. He covered Operation Piranha, the Battle of An Ninh, the Siege of Plei Me, the aftermath of the Battle of Ia Drang and Operation Masher.
Through his friendship with correspondent Steve Northup he became a frequent visitor at 47 Bui Thi Xuan, Saigon, the home of Northup and fellow correspondents Simon Dring, Tim Page and Martin Stuart-Fox, known as "Frankie's House" after the resident Vietnamese houseboy. Frankie's House became a social club for a group correspondents between field assignments and their friends with large quantities of drugs being used there.
On 10 March 1966 following the Battle of A Sau, Laurence interviewed Marine Lt Col Charles House, commander of HMM-163, the unit which had evacuated the survivors of the battle and who had himself been shot down and rescued from the battlefield. House stated that panicking CIDG troops had overrun the evacuation helicopters and the crews and Special Forces troops had had to fire on them to establish order. The story caused outrage when broadcast leading to an investigation by Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV) and III MAF.
Laurence left Vietnam in late May 1966, returning to the US and worked out of CBS' bureaus in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Atlanta. He then quit CBS and returned to WNEW.
References
- ^ Laurence, John (2001). The Cat from Hue. Public Affairs. p. 425. ISBN 1586481606.
- Shulimson, Jack (1982). U.S. Marines in Vietnam: 1966, an Expanding War. History and Museums Division, USMC. p. 62-3.