Woman in Iconic Vietnam War Photo to be Honoured
Pulitzer Prize-winning picture shows a 9-year-old Kim Phuc fleeing a napalm attack
The Canadian Press - Posted: Jun 8, 2012 8:08 AM ET - Last Updated: Jun 8, 2012 10:06 AM ET
In this June 8, 1972 file photo, crying children, including 9-year-old Kim Phuc, centre,
run down a road near Trang Bang, Vietnam after an aerial napalm attack.
(Nick Ut/Associated Press)
A woman who came to symbolize the horrors of the Vietnam War is being honoured today on the 40th anniversary of the photo that made her famous.
Kim Phuc Phan Thi was only a child when she was photographed fleeing a napalm strike on her village in South Vietnam on June 8, 1972.
The image of her running naked down a road captured worldwide attention and later won a Pulitzer Prize. She now lives in the Toronto area and is set to spend today's milestone looking back at how the iconic photo changed her life.
Kim Phuc, who was photographed fleeing a napalm attack in the iconic
1972 Vietnam War picture, now lives in Toronto and is a goodwill ambassadorfor UNESCO. (Jae C. Hong/Associated Press)
She'll share the stage at a special event tonight with Nick Ut, the award-winning photographer behind the image, and others who helped her survive the conflict. The event's organizer says the woman who garnered worldwide fame "can't even describe the emotions" stirred up by the anniversary.
"She would never have been alive if it wasn't for these people," says Liesa Cianchino, who is also a close friend of Kim Phuc's.
Cianchino says the date should always serve as a reminder of the atrocities of war and their impact on children.
Kim Phuc and her husband came to Canada in 1992. Five years later, she founded the Kim Foundation International, which provides free medical assistance to children who are victims of war and terrorism.
She is also a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, or UNESCO.
© The Canadian Press, 2012
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2012/06/08/vietnam-war-photo-.html
2 comments:
I remember that photo only too well, and the other horrific photos taken from the Vietnam War. Notice how no significant photos have been taken from the Afghanistan and Iraqi wars? It's like the media is too afraid to challenge the government like they did in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
It is wonderful for this post that I read. I intend to review this girl in my blog vietnamwarphotos.net. Thank you for your photos.
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