Phan Thị Kim Phúc
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Phan Thị Kim Phúc known as Kim Phuc (born 1963) was the subject of a famous photo from the Vietnam war. The picture shows her at about age nine running naked after being severely burned on her back by a napalm attack.
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[edit] Famous photograph
Kim Phúc was a resident in the village of Trang Bang, Vietnam. On June 8, 1972, South Vietnamese planes dropped a napalm bomb on Trang Bang, which was under attack from and occupied by Viet Cong forces. She joined a group of civilians and ARVN soldiers fleeing from the Cao Dai Temple located in the village along the road to safe ARVN positions. A South Vietnamese VNAF pilot mistook the group as a threat and diverted to attack it. Along with other villagers two brothers and two cousins were also injured. Associated Press photographer Nick Út earned a Pulitzer Prize for the photograph. It was also the World Press Photo of the year 1972. The image of her running naked amidst the chaotic background became one of the most remembered images of the Vietnam War. In an interview many years later, she remembers yelling "it's hot, it's hot" in the picture.
After taking the photograph, Út promptly took Kim Phúc and the other children to a hospital in Saigon where it was determined that her burns were so severe that she would not survive. However, after a 14 month hospital stay and 17 surgical procedures, she returned home. Út continued to visit until the fall of Saigon three years later when he was evacuated. [1]
When she was an adult, due to pressure from people to use her as an anti-war symbol, she requested permission from the Vietnam government to go to Cuba to resume her studies. By this time, she had converted from her family's religion of Cao Dai to Christianity. Pham Van Dong, the then-Prime Minister of Vietnam, became a friend and patron of hers.
After receiving permission, she then moved to Cuba, and met Bui Huy Tuan. In 1989 Út went to Cuba to meet her and her fiance. Kim Phuc and Bui Huy Tuan married and, in 1992, they went on a honeymoon. During an airplane refueling in Gander, Newfoundland, Canada, they got off the plane and defected to Canada. They now live in Ajax, Ontario and have two children.
In 1996, she again met the surgeons who saved her life.
Recently released audio tapes of then-president Richard Nixon in conversation with his chief of staff, H. R. Haldeman, show that Nixon doubted the veracity of the photograph, musing whether it may have been "fixed."[2] Following the release of this tape, Út 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 June 12, 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 Phuc and I will never forget. It has ultimately changed both our lives" (from program booklet for Humanist Art/Symbolic Sites: An Art Forum for the 21st Century).
Film footage of Kim Phúc running from her village was shot by British news cameraman Alan Downes, then on assignment for ITN.
[edit] Vietnam Memorial Speech
In 1996, she gave a speech at the United States Vietnam Veterans Memorial on Veterans Day. During the speech she said that we cannot change the past but can work for a peaceful future. After the speech, Vietnam war veteran John Plummer talked to some of his old friends and got them to ask Kim if she would like to meet him, for he stated that he was the one who ordered the bombing. She accepted and they met briefly and Kim forgave Plummer. The news story of Kim Phuc forgiving the American who ordered the bombing was reported on a special report by the American television network, ABC. Parties who were present at the time of the attack have refuted Plummer's claim that he ordered the bombing, and Plummer subsequently admitted he had responsibilities of coordinating with the South Vietnamese forces but did not order air strikes. According to the Washington Post, December 19, 1997, Plummer says he received a call from an American military adviser working with a South Vietnamese army unit, who requested an air strike on the village of Trang Bang. He relayed the request for a strike to U.S. Air Force personnel, who asked the South Vietnamese air force to launch it. Later, he saw the photo in Stars and Stripes, and recognized the bombing as one in which he was involved.
To bolster his point, Plummer provided a copy of a Bronze Star citation, the authenticity of which was confirmed by U.S. Army officials, which details his responsibilities during that time, however it too refers to coordination with the South Vietnamese.
Plummer has been criticized by his fellow veterans for exaggerating his role in the Trang Bang attack and bringing criticism to bear on the American forces, when the prosecution of the war at at that time and place was performed almost exclusively by the South Vietnamese. [3]
[edit] Honors
On November 10, 1997, Kim Phúc was named a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador.
In 1999, the biography of Kim Phúc, written by Denise Chong, was released. (Chong, Denise. 1991. The Girl in the Picture: the Story of Kim Phúc, the Photograph and the Vietnam War. Penguin Books: New York. ISBN 0-670-88040-X.)
On October 22, 2004, she was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Laws from York University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada for her work to aid child victims of war around the world. In 2004, she was awarded the Order of Ontario.
[edit] Publicity
The 'famous photo' was utilised in a print and television campaign to promote the photo journalism school and associated degrees offered at Griffith University. On 20 August 2004, Griffith University also hosted 'an evening with Kim Phuc' where she raised attention to the Kim Foundation.
[edit] References
- Sommer, Mark. (April 3, 2000). "The Girl in the Picture". Buffalo News (New York), p. 6B.
