Video: 'Cam ne safer'

(Tuesday, August 3, 1965; during the Vietnam War, part of the Indochina Wars and the Cold War) — CBS News reporter Morley Safer documented an American “search and destroy” mission today in the South Vietnamese village of Cam Ne (considered a Viet Cong stronghold), filming U.S. Marines burning homes using flamethrowers and Zippo cigarette lighters.

Safer’s report on this event was broadcast on CBS News two days later (Aug. 5, 1965) on The CBS Evening News, being among the first reports to paint a bleak picture of the Vietnam War.

Video: 'American Experience Lyndon B Johnson PBS Documentary' (Aug. 3/5, 1965, at 55:07)