'Napalm girl' photo from Vietnam War turns 40
In the picture, the girl will always be 9 years old and wailing “Too hot! Too hot!” as she runs down the road away from her burning Vietnamese village.
She will always be naked after blobs of sticky napalm melted through her clothes and layers of skin like jellied lava.
She will always be a victim without a name.
It only took a second for Associated Press photographer Huynh Cong “Nick” Ut to snap the iconic black-and-white image 40 years ago. It communicated the horrors of the Vietnam War in a way words could never describe, helping to end one of the most divisive wars in American history.
But beneath the photo lies a lesser-known story. It’s the tale of a dying child brought together by chance with a young photographer. A moment captured in the chaos of war that would be both her savior and her curse on a journey to understand life’s plan for her.
“I really wanted to escape from that little girl,” says Kim Phuc, now 49. “But it seems to me that the picture didn’t let me go.”
One of the most iconic images of the Vietnam War turns 40 and, finally, the terrified girl pictured has found peace. Kim Phuc was 9 years old on June 8, 1972, running naked from her napalm-blasted village. Huynh Cong "Nick" Ut didn't just photograph her -- he used his American press badge to get her medical treatment, and she was hospitalized for 13 months.
After a lifetime of "anger and bitterness" at her unwanted fame, Phuc was finally able to tell her side of the story through personal essays. She became a U.N. Goodwill Ambassador and started the Kim Foundation International to help other young victims of war. "I can accept the picture as a powerful gift," she said.
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