Phan Thi Kim Phúc
Know who this is? No? Well, I didn’t either until this week. For years people have referred to her as napalm-girl, only I never knew her real name until this week. Her picture at the age of nine running naked down a road, screaming in fear and pain after a napalm attack (June 8, 1972) on her village, became one of the most iconic images of the Vietnam War. It was taken by AP reporter Nick Ut who happened to be there. It was also he that took Kim and other severely burned children to a hospital in Saigon.
I happened to catch her radio interview with Marco Werman this week (PRI’s The World) and was amazed. Here is a lady we should all know more about and I was glad I happened to hear it.
There is not a lot to say, other than we, as a country, were dropping napalm bombs on children. I guess we still do that, only not with Napalm. I suppose the fact that she lived convinced people in Washington it wasn’t efficient enough, so we came up with something better. Sorry, I can’t help being sarcastic about this. Listening to a recording of then president Nixon flippantly asking, after seeing the picture, if she lived through it didn’t help much either. It brings the sarcasm out of me. It pours out in great big heaps and I can’t help myself. Damn Nixon and everyone that made the war possible. Nine year old girls are not intended to be brave, at least not on account of us.
Okay, that’s better. I promise to calm down by tomorrow. At El Chap, a la hora de siempre.
¡Viva, nine year old girls, Viva!
mt