on Friday. The girl who came to symbolize the horrors of the Vietnam
War honoured those who saved her on the 40th anniversary of The
Associated Press photo that made her famous.
AP In this June 8, 1972 filephoto, crying children, including
9-year-old Kim Phuc, center, run down Route 1 near Trang Bang, Vietnam
after an aerial napalm attack on suspected Viet Cong hiding places as
South Vietnameseforces from the 25th Division walk behind them.
It was a chilling photograph that came to symbolize the horrors of the
Vietnam War and, ultimately, helped end it.
It also saved the life of KimPhuc, who was just 9-years-old when, on
June 8, 1972, her village was attacked by south Vietnamese planes.
Ms. Phuc, who lives near Toronto with her family, honoured those who
savedher at a dinner on Friday tocelebrate the 40th anniversary of the
iconic photograph. They include AP photographer Huynh Cong "Nick" Ut,
who snapped the shot, as well as other journalists, doctors and nurses
who helped her get help and who treated her injuries.
Mr. Ut, who was 21 at the time, heard Ms. Phuc's screams as she ran
down the road to escape her burning village, and snapped the photo
that became famous around theworld.
The Vietnamese photographer then drove the badly burned child to
asmall hospital, where he was told she was too far gone to help. He
flashed his American press badge, demanded that doctors treat the girl
and left assured that she would notbe forgotten.
"I'm so grateful he was there," Ms. Phuc said. "He helped me and
rushed me to the nearest hospital. He saved my life. He's my hero.
This opportunity tonight I want to honour all of my personal heroes."
Mr. Ut said he cried when he saw her running. He said if he didn't
help and she died he would have killed himself. He knew right way this
picture was different and said veteran photo editor, Horst Faas,
deemed it the most the iconic photo of the Vietnam war.
"It changed the war. I met so many American soldiers who said 'Nicky
because of your picture I'll get to go home early,'" he said.
In the Pulitzer Prize-winning image, children run screaming from a
burning Vietnamese village. The little girl in the centre of the
frame, Ms. Phuc, is naked and crying, her clothes and layers of skin
melted away by napalm.
A few of days after the image shocked the world, a number of British
journalists including Christopher Wain, a correspondent for the
British Independent Television Network who had given Ms. Phuc water
from his canteen and drizzled it down her burning back at the scene,
fought to have her transferred to the American-run hospital. It was
the only facility in Saigon equipped to deal with her severe injuries.
"When we found in her in the British hospital it was in very
un-sterile conditions," Mr. Wain said Friday. "I asked one of the
nurses how she was and the nurse looked at her and said, 'Oh, she'll
die maybe tomorrow or maybe next day.' It was obvious it was very
urgent."
Martha Arsenault, a nurse who cared for her at the American hospital,
said when Ms. Phuc got to the American hospital nobody thought she'd
make it.
"Everybody, the doctors, they all thought she wouldn't because she was
just so burnt," she said.
Ms. Arsenault said the photo reminds her of how just awful war is.
Mr. Wain said he still feels slightly concerned for Ms. Phuc because
she has had to relive the traumatic experience all her life. He said
the picture is one of the most iconic war photosof all time.