These photos are of the same people, taken 30 years apart. The lady is Nguyễn Thị Kim Lai, a Vietnamese guerrilla fighter and the guy is William Andrew Robinson, an American pilot.
The first photo was taken in 1965. Robinson piloted a fighter jet attacking the small town Huong Khe, Ha Tinh and the local Vietnamese guerrilla fighters destroyed his jet. He tried to flee but was captured by Nguyen*. The stalk contrast in physiology of the captor and captive inspired photographer Phan Thoan to take the photo, which has become an icon of the Vietnam war.
The second photo was taken in 1995 when Robinson followed a Japanese TV crew to visit his former captor. The smiles of the two former enemies show that there’s nothing time can’t heal.
According to Nguyen, she was an amateurish fighter at the time, so Robinson could have killed her (and had he done so, her comrades would probably have killed him in the ensuing combat.) When they met again in 1995, Robinson revealed that he decided to not shoot Nguyen when he had the chance because she reminded him of his sister. IMHO, this story makes the first photo even more “badass”.
In the meeting, they shared a joke. Robinson exclaimed that Nguyen was “still as small as before”, to which she countered that she has gained 6kg to make her weight a whopping 43kg, but that was still nothing compare to his weight of mere 150kg.