The horrific photograph of children fleeing a deadly napalm attack has become a defining image not only of the Vietnam War but of the 20th century. Dark smoke billowing behind them, the young subjects’ faces are painted with a mixture of terror, pain, and confusion. Soldiers from the South Vietnamese Army’s 25th Division follow helplessly.
The girl, since identified as Phan Thi Kim Phuc, ultimately survived her injuries. This was thanks, in part, to Associated Press photographer Nick Ut, who helped the children after taking their now-iconic image. Fifty years after that fateful day, the couple are still in regular contact and use their story to spread a message of peace.
“I will never forget that moment,” Phuc said in a video call from Toronto, where he now resides.
Phuc and his family had taken refuge with other South Vietnamese civilians and soldiers in a Buddhist temple. Hearing the planes of their own army overhead, the soldiers urged everyone to flee, fearing an attack. Tragically, the group was mistaken for the enemy.
“I turned my head and saw the planes, and I saw four bombs landing,” Phuc said. “Then all of a sudden there was fire everywhere, and my clothes were burned by the fire. At that moment I didn’t see anyone around me, only fire.
“I still remember what I thought,” he added. “I thought, ‘Oh my God, I got burned, I’ll be ugly and people will see me differently. But I was so terrified.’
Another of Ut’s images from that day shows a Vietnamese grandmother carrying her badly burned grandson. Credit: Nick Ut/AP
Phuc tore off what was left of his clothing and ran down the Route 1 highway. Vietnamese photographer Ut, who was 21 at the time, was among several journalists stationed outside the village anticipating more conflict that day.
“I saw Kim running and she (shouted in Vietnamese) ‘Too hot! Too hot!'” he said in a video call from Los Angeles. “When I took the photo, I saw that her body was badly burned and I wanted to help her immediately. I put all my camera equipment on the road and put water on her body.”
He then put the injured children in his truck and took them for 30 minutes to a nearby hospital. But upon arrival, the hospital told him that there was no room and that he would have to take them to Saigon.
“I said, ‘If one more hour goes by (without treatment), he will die,” he recalled, adding that he initially feared Phuc had already died in his vehicle during the trip.
seen around the world
From the hospital, Ut went to the Associated Press office in Saigon to develop the photos. Her footage told much of the day’s story: a bomb caught mid-air under a Skyraider, thick black smoke billowing from Trang Bang, a victim carried on a makeshift stretcher. A lesser-known image shows television crews and South Vietnamese soldiers gathered around Phuc, the skin on their backs and arms seared by the flammable jelly that made napalm such a controversial weapon.
But the photographer knew immediately that one image stood out from the rest.
“When I got back to my office, the (darkroom technician) and everyone who saw the photo immediately told me that it was very powerful and that the photo would win a Pulitzer.”
Meanwhile, Phuc spent 14 months in hospitals receiving treatment for his injuries. Two of her cousins had been killed in the bombing. But she tried to get over the attack and the image that was seen around the world.
“As a child, I was very embarrassed, to be honest,” she said. “I didn’t like that picture at all. Why did he take a picture of me? I never wanted to see it.”
She dreamed of being a doctor, but the communist government of Vietnam quickly pulled her out of medical school to use her for propaganda campaigns. She remembers the journalists who traveled from abroad to hear her story, but she struggled with the attention.
“It really affected my private life,” he said, saying he wanted to “disappear” at times.
“I couldn’t go to school. I couldn’t fulfill my dreams. So, I kind of hated it.”
A symbol of hope
Last month, she and Ut, who she still affectionately refers to as “uncle,” presented a copy of the photograph to Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square.
“I realized that, ‘Wow, that photo has become a powerful gift to me, I can (use it) to work for peace, because that photo has not let me go,'” he said.
“Now I can look back and accept it… I am very grateful that (Ut) was able to record that moment in history and record the horror of war, which can change the entire world. And that moment changed my attitude and my belief .that I can keep my dream alive to help others.”
Nick Ut and Kim Phuc photographed together last month in Milan, Italy. Credit: Marco Tacca Pier/Getty Images Europa/Getty Images
After years of operations and therapy, Phuc is still suffering from the ill effects of the burns sustained that day. She recently underwent laser treatments in the US, although she experiences ongoing pain due to her injuries.
But, now with two children of her own, Phuc credits her Christian faith with helping her “move on.”
“Now, 50 years later, I am very grateful and I am no longer a victim of war. I am a survivor and I have the opportunity to work for peace.”
“When I was taking photos in Vietnam, things were much slower and we didn’t have social media,” he said. “Now, you have a lot of photos, but it’s so instant, in terms of telling the truth and showing it to the world, that it’s also incredibly powerful.”
Reference-www.cnn.com