Reunited with the Vietnamese 'girl in the picture'

[Stuart G]

Kim Phuc, the Vietnamese girl in one of the unforgettable images of the Vietnam War , has been reunited by the BBC with Christopher Wain, the ITN correspondent who helped save her life 38 years ago.

When Chris last saw Kim, she was lying on a hospital bed with first-degree burns to more than half of her body, after a South Vietnamese napalm bomb attack.

It was 8 June 1972 and Chris and his crew had been in Vietnam for seven weeks, covering the conflict for ITN.


I found our reunion much more moving than I'd anticipated... Kim was quite emotionally charged, and that's catching

Christopher Wain
He remembers the day clearly: "That morning we'd arrived at the village of Trang Bang, which had been infiltrated by the North Vietnamese two days earlier. They were dug in, awaiting a counter-attack.

"In the late morning, two vintage Vietnamese bombers started to circle overhead - this wasn't anything unusual, but because we had been into the village we knew something was going wrong."

From the BBC:


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8678478.stm

[Cirque du So-What]

1. When I saw the words ''Vietnamese 'girl in the picture'"

I instantly knew the archetypal image to which it referred, so strong is that visual message. I'm glad they finally achieved this reunion.

[Stuart G]

2. This horrific pictures is frozen in my mind when I think of that war.

Anyone who even contemplates war, I suggeset spend at least ten minutes looking at this picture and knowing its background.

[madmax]

3. Certain things are forever burned into our brains

This picture, where you were when you heard that President JFK was shot. I think the tragedies make the biggest mark, at least to me.

[Neron616]

6. Yes

Kind of like "that" picture from the Bhopal disaster.

[roody]

4. "a South Vietnamese attack"

Where did they get the napalm? The comments after the article address my question.

[struggle4progress]

5. Address At The United States Vietnam War Memorial. Veterans' Day 1996

by Kim Phuc

... As you know I am the little girl who was running to escape from the napalm fire. I do not want to talk about the war because I cannot change history.

I only want you to remember the tragedy of war in order to do things to stop fighting and killing around the world.

I have suffered a lot from both physical and emotional pain ...

Even if I could talk face to face with the pilot who dropped the bombs, I would tell him we cannot change history but we should try to do good things for the present and for the future to promote peace ...

Dear friends ... We should work together to build peace and happiness for all people in all nations ...

http://gos.sbc.edu/p/phuc.html