I have chosen to look at this specific photograph (shown below) for my research as it is the only image that he had produced which toyed with the idea of truth/reality. In his book that I got from his show at the Tate in London it has an explanation as to his reasoning for his actions, it says:
"I've only ever played with the truth once in my life - on the single occasion I moved objects to arrange a picture. I saw two American soldiers hunting for souvenirs from the body of a North Vietnamese soldier. He could only have been eighteen or nineteen."
He then continues to reveal how disgusted he felt to be apart of them, wearing their uniform etc. So he explains how he tried to rectify these soldiers actions by saying:
"They trampled on his possessions, his pictures of his mother, his sister, the little snapshots of seated children... He deserved a voice. He couldn't speak so I was going to do it for him. I shovelled his belongings together and photographed them..."
"...Theres no need to go around arranging still life on the battlefield. But that's the only time, truthfully, I have done that."
By rearranging the young, lifeless soldiers belongings on the battlefield to create a still life it has given both a positive and negative effect on the photographer himself. Although some viewers may feel that his actions were justified after the young soldier had bee wrongfully searched in hope of souvenirs by two American soldiers, others may feel that his actions have ruined his credibility as a photographer due to not being able to trust whether or not he has arranged parts of other photographs to achieve a desired effect.
Information can found at: https://donmccullin.com/don-mccullin/
Book can be purchased at: https://shop.tate.org.uk/don-mccullin-paperback/22514.html?cgid=don-mccullin
Image can be found at: https://www.military-history.org/war-photographers/don-mccullin-behind-the-images.htm
Body of a North Vietnamese soldier, Hue, Vietnam, 1968
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