Saturday, June 20, 2009

Napalm Girl ~ Vietnam information

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Napalm Girl ~ Vietnam



Napalm Girl ~ Vietnam by Brian Howell.
Have you ever wondered what happened to the young girl photographed running down the road after a napalm attack? She's apparently living in Canada, doing quite well, and in contact with the Vietnamese photographer who took the Pulitzer Prize award winning image.

NEWPORT BEACH, CALIF. - Phan Thi Kim Phuc, the Vietnamese girl whose naked image running away from napalm clouds remains an iconic symbol of the Vietnam War, has finally made peace with the photographer that made her famous.

"It seems the picture didn't want to let me go. I was taken out of schools to give interviews for the state. Now I'm working with my picture for good," said Kim Phuc, 44, who is now a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Peace, and heads the Kim Foundation which helps children in war zones.

"Having known war I know the value of peace. Having lived under government control I know the value of freedom. Having lived with hatred, terror and corruption I know the value of faith and forgiveness," said Kim Phuc, who now lives with her husband and two sons in Canada.

On June 8, 1972, Kim Phuc was a 9-year old girl running down the highway after four napalm bombs were dropped on her village of Trang Bang. Two of her cousins died from the napalm.

Kim Phuc tore off her clothes, which were on fire and looked down at her left arm, which was also burning.

The photo, taken by AP photographer Nick Ut, won the Pulitzer Prize and galvanized the anti-war movement in the U.S.

In Vietnam, it was used as a propaganda tool by the Communist regime.

Ut, who Kim Phuc calls "Uncle Ut," sat in audience of the Liberty Baptist Church service yesterday as Phan spoke to a crowd of about 200.

She credits Ut with saving her life - after shooting the picture, he commandeered a vehicle to take Phan to the hospital.

Kim Phuc, who had been expected to die, spoke candidly about her ensuing depression, her 17 operations, her conversion to Christianity and her defection to Canada with her husband.

At one point she lifted the sleeves of her traditional Vietnamese dress to show her severely scarred left arm.

Pastor Dwight Tomlinson, a Vietnam veteran who served two tours with the 75th Rangers, invited Kim Phuc to speak because she embodies everything that is good about the human spirit - the desire and willingness to overcome."

NY Daily News July 16, 2007

This photo by Brian Howell is an analogy of the iconic Napalm Girl Vietnam photograph taken by Nick Ut.

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