Phan Thị Kim Phúc
June 8, 1972: Kim Phúc, center left, running down a road naked near Trảng Bàng after a South Vietnam Air Force napalm attack (Nick Ut / The Associated Press)
| |
| Born |
Phan Thị Kim Phúc
April 6, 1963
Trảng Bàng, South Vietnam
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|---|---|
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Other names | Kim Phúc |
| Citizenship | South Vietnam (1963-1975) Vietnam (1975-1997) Canada (1997-present) |
| Alma mater | University of Havana, Cuba |
| Occupation | Author, UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador |
| Known for | Being "The Girl in the Picture" (Vietnam War) |
| Spouse(s) | Bui Huy Toan |
| Children | 2 |
| Awards | Order of Ontario |
Phan Thị Kim Phúc (Vietnamese pronunciation: [faːŋ tʰɪ̂ˀ kim fúk͡p̚]; born April 6, 1963), referred to informally as the Napalm girl, is a South Vietnamese-born Canadian woman best known as the nine-year-old child depicted in the Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph taken at Trảng Bàng during the Vietnam War on June 8, 1972. The well-known photo, by AP photographer Nick Ut, shows her at nine years of age running naked on a road after being severely burned on her back by a South Vietnamese napalm attack.
Background
Phan Thi Kim Phúc and her family were residents of the village of Trảng Bàng in South Vietnam. On June 8, 1972, South Vietnamese planes dropped a napalm bomb on Trảng Bàng, which had been attacked and occupied by North Vietnamese forces. Kim Phúc joined a group of civilians and South Vietnamese soldiers who were fleeing from the Caodai Temple to the safety of South Vietnamese-held positions. The Republic of Vietnam Air Force
pilot mistook the group for enemy soldiers and diverted to attack. The
bombing killed two of Kim Phúc's cousins and two other villagers. Kim
Phúc received third degree burns after her clothing was burned by the
fire. Associated Press photographer Nick Ut's
photograph of Kim Phúc running naked amid other fleeing villagers,
South Vietnamese soldiers and press photographers became one of the most
haunting images of the Vietnam War. In an interview many years later, she recalled she was yelling, Nóng quá, nóng quá ("too hot, too hot") in the picture. The New York Times
editors were at first hesitant to consider the photo for publication
because of the nudity, but eventually approved it. A cropped version of
the photo—with the press photographers to the right removed—was featured
on the front page of The New York Times the next day. It later earned a Pulitzer Prize and was chosen as the World Press Photo of the Year for 1973.
After snapping the photograph, Ut took Kim Phúc and the other injured children to Barsky Hospital in Saigon, where it was determined that her burns were so severe that she probably would not survive. After a 14-month hospital stay and 17 surgical procedures including skin transplantations, she was able to return home. A number of the early operations were performed by Finnish plastic surgeon Aarne Rintala. It was only after treatment at a renowned special clinic in Ludwigshafen, West Germany, in 1982, that Kim Phúc was able to properly move again.
Ut continued to visit Kim Phúc until he was evacuated during the fall of Saigon, and they now speak almost weekly via telephone.
Thumbnails of the film footage showing the events just before and after the photograph was taken
Audio tapes of President Richard Nixon, in conversation with his chief of staff, H. R. Haldeman in 1972, reveal that Nixon mused, "I'm wondering if that was fixed", after seeing the photograph.
After the release of this tape, Ut commented, "Even though it has
become one of the most memorable images of the twentieth century,
President Nixon once doubted the authenticity of my photograph when he
saw it in the papers on 12 June 1972... The picture for me and
unquestionably for many others could not have been more real. The photo
was as authentic as the Vietnam War itself. The horror of the Vietnam
War recorded by me did not have to be fixed. That terrified little girl
is still alive today and has become an eloquent testimony to the
authenticity of that photo. That moment thirty years ago will be one Kim
Phúc and I will never forget. It has ultimately changed both our
lives."
Less publicized is the film shot by British television cameraman Alan Downes for the British ITN news service and his Vietnamese counterpart Le Phuc Dinhm who was working for the American television network NBC, which shows the events just before and after the photograph was taken
(see image on right). In the top-left frame, a man stands and appears
to take photographs as a passing airplane drops bombs. A group of
children, Kim Phúc among them, run away in fear. After a few seconds,
she encounters the reporters dressed in military fatigues, including Christopher Wain who gave her water (top-right frame) and poured some over her burns.
As she turns sideways, the severity of the burns on her arm and back
can be seen (bottom-left frame). A crying woman, Kim Phúc's grandmother,
Tao, runs in the opposite direction holding her badly burned
grandchild, 3-year-old Danh, Kim Phúc's cousin, who died of his injuries
(bottom-right frame). Sections of the film shot were included in Hearts and Minds (1974), the Academy Award-winning documentary about the Vietnam War directed by Peter Davis.
Adult life
Forgiveness made me free from hatred. I still have many scars on my body and severe pain most days but my heart is cleansed. Napalm is very powerful, but faith, forgiveness, and love are much more powerful. We would not have war at all if everyone could learn how to live with true love, hope, and forgiveness. If that little girl in the picture can do it, ask yourself: Can you?Kim Phúc, NPR in 2008
Phúc was removed from her university as a young adult studying
medicine and used as a propaganda symbol by the communist government of
Vietnam. Due to constant pain she considered suicide but in 1982 she found a New Testament in a library that lead her to become a Christian. Her faith enabled her to forgive. In 1986, she was granted permission to continue her studies in Cuba. Prime Minister of Vietnam Phạm Văn Đồng
became her friend and patron. After arriving in Cuba, she met Bui Huy
Toan, another Vietnamese student and her future fiancé. In 1992, Phúc
and Toan married. On the way to their honeymoon in Moscow, they left the
plane during a refuelling stop in Gander, Newfoundland, and asked for political asylum in Canada, which was granted. The couple now live in Ajax, Ontario, near Toronto, and have two children. In 1996, Phúc met the surgeons who had saved her life. The following year, she passed the Canadian Citizenship Test with a perfect score and became a Canadian citizen. In 2015, it was reported that she was receiving laser treatment at a hospital in Miami, Florida, to reduce the scarring on her left arm and back. The treatment is being provided free of charge.
Kim Phúc Foundation
In
1997 she established the first Kim Phúc Foundation in the U.S., with
the aim of providing medical and psychological assistance to child
victims of war. Later, other foundations were set up, with the same name, under an umbrella organization, Kim Phúc Foundation International.
In 2004, Phúc spoke at the University of Connecticut about her life and experience, learning how to be "strong in the face of pain" and how compassion and love helped her heal.
On December 28, 2009, National Public Radio broadcast her spoken essay, "The Long Road to Forgiveness," for the "This I Believe" series. In May 2010, Phúc was reunited by the BBC with ITN correspondent Christopher Wain, who helped to save her life. On May 18, 2010, Phúc appeared on the BBC Radio 4 programme It's My Story.
In the programme, Phúc related how she was involved through her
foundation in the efforts to secure medical treatment in Canada for Ali Abbas, who had lost both arms in a rocket attack on Baghdad during the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
On February 11, 2019 Kim Phúc was awarded the 2019 Dresden Peace
Prize in recognition of her work with UNESCO and as an activist for
peace.
Recognition
In 1996, Kim Phúc gave a speech at the United States Vietnam Veterans Memorial on Veterans Day.
In her speech, she said that one cannot change the past, but everyone
can work together for a peaceful future. Rev. John Plummer, a Vietnam veteran,
who believed he took part in coordinating the air strike with the
Republic of Vietnam Air Force (though Plummer's entire chain of command
and declassified documents indicate otherwise) met with Phúc briefly and was publicly forgiven. Plummer later admitted to The Baltimore Sun he had lied, saying he was "caught up in the emotion at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the day Phuc spoke". Canadian filmmaker, Shelley Saywell, made a documentary about their meeting.
On November 10, 1994, Kim Phúc was named a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador. Her biography, The Girl in the Picture, was written by Denise Chong
and published in 1999. In 2003, Belgian composer Eric Geurts wrote
"The Girl in the Picture," dedicated to Kim Phúc. It was released on
Flying Snowman Records, with all profits going to the Kim Phúc Foundation. On October 22, 2004, Kim Phúc was made a member of the Order of Ontario, and received an honorary Doctorate of Law from York University
for her work to support child victims of war around the world. On
October 27, 2005, she was awarded an honorary degree in Law from Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. On June 2, 2011, she was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws from the University of Lethbridge. On May 19, 2016, she was awarded a Doctor of Civil Law, Honoris Causa by Saint Mary's University (Halifax).
The Girl in the Picture
The Girl in the Picture: The Kim Phúc Story, the Photograph and the Vietnam War by Denise Chong
is a 1999 biographical and historical work tracing the life story of
Kim Phúc. Chong's historical coverage emphasizes the life, especially
the school and family life, of Kim Phúc from before the attack, through
convalescence, and into the present time.
The Girl in the Picture deals primarily with Vietnamese
and American relationships during the Vietnam War, while examining
themes of war, racism, immigration, political turmoil, repression,
poverty, and international relationships through the lens of family and
particularly through the eyes and everyday lives of women. Kim Phúc and
her mother, Nu, provide the lens through which readers of The Girl in the Picture experience war, strife, and the development of communism in Vietnam. Like Chong's first book, The Girl in the Picture was shortlisted for the Governor General's Literary Award for non fiction.
"The Salvation of 'Napalm Girl'"
In a December 21, 2017, article for The Wall Street Journal,
Kim Phúc wrote that the trauma she suffered in the napalm strike still
requires treatment, but that the psychological trauma was greater: "But
even worse than the physical pain was the emotional and spiritual pain."
This led directly to her conversion to Christianity, which she credits
with healing the psychological trauma of living over forty years being
known to the world as "Napalm Girl". "My faith in Jesus Christ is what
has enabled me to forgive those who had wronged me," she wrote, "no
matter how severe those wrongs were."
