Legendary war photographer Catherine Leroy was 21 years old when she bought a one-way ticket to Saigon in 1966 to take photos of American soldiers in Vietnam. She became the first accredited journalist to participate in a combat parachute jump on February 23, 1967, joining the 173rd Airborne Brigade in Operation Junction City. In 1968, she was captured by the North Vietnamese Army. She managed to talk her way out and emerged as the first newsperson to take photographs of North Vietnamese Army Regulars behind their own lines. The subsequent story made the cover of Life Magazine. She was the first woman to receive the Robert Capa Gold Medal Award. Her photographs were published in newspapers and magazines all over the world. Leroy won numerous awards for her work, including in 1967 the George Polk Awards. 

Leroy shot and directed Operation Last Patrol, a film about Ron Kovic and the anti-war Vietnam veterans. She also covered conflicts in several countries, including Northern Ireland, Cyprus, Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Libya, and Lebanon. In 1987, she won the Year prize for her report of the bombing of Tripoli in Libya. Her book entitled, “Under fire: great photographers and writers in Vietnam” was published in 2005. She passed away in 2006.