Huế Mậu Thân II

Shaped by War: Photographs by Don McCullin Shell-shocked US marine, Hue, Vietnam, February 1968. Photograph: Don McCullin Don McCullin's most celebrated image is his portrait of a dazed American soldier, entitled Shellshocked US Marine, Hue, Vietnam. It was taken during the battle for the city of Hue in 1968 and, in its stillness and quiet intensity, says as much about the effects of war on the individual psyche as many of McCullin's more graphic depictions of conflict and carnage. The eyes that stare out beneath the grimy helmet are not staring at the camera lens, but beyond it, into nowhere. Surprisingly, when I ask McCullin about the photograph, which features in this retrospective of his reportage in Manchester, he grimaces. "It kind of gets on my nerves now," he says, "because it has appeared everywhere. It's like the Eddie Adams shot of the executi