Although the war in Vietnam was long ago and fought far away, there are many who are now in Ontario because of it. One of them is Kim Phuc Phan Thi, who is pictured above. She is better known as the “Napalm GIrl”, pictured below.
In early June there were many articles about the “Napalm GIrl” because it was fifty years ago on June 8, 1972 that Kim Phuc was set afire. There are many horrible pictures and news stories about the current Russo-Ukrainian War, so you may have avoided reading about the older Vietnam one. It is worth doing so, however, and some articles are provided below. The “Napalm Girl” “wants her story and work for refugees to be a message of peace.” She and her husband were recently on a humanitarian flight that brought over 200 refugees from Warsaw to Regina.
Post Script:
Kim Phuc lives in Ajax with her husband and mother!
I did not realise, or had forgotten, that she was a victim of “friendly fire”, in that her village was mistakenly targeted by the Republic of Vietnam Air Force.
Over the years, her attitude toward the photograph has changed, as you will learn from the sources below. There are also debates about whether such a graphic photo should be displayed. About a half dozen years ago, Facebook censored the photo and a controversy ensued. The photo was taken by the AP photographer Nick Ut and the official title of it is “The Terror of War”, not “Napalm Girl.” Mr. Ut received the Pulitzer Prize for the photo.
I also am in Ontario because of the war in Vietnam, as is a Vietnamese friend of mine here in London. I will question him about Kim Phuc’s name which appears in various forms in this post and in the sources provided. The Wikipedia entry is under Phan Thi Kim Phuc, but as the author of the first article below her name is given as, Kim Phuc Phan Thi.
The Bonus:
The Vietnam War was covered extensively in Canadian sources. The Globe and Mail reporter, Eric Reguly, has just produced a book about his father, Robert, who covered the war for the Toronto Star. For a review see: "Ghosts of War: Chasing My Father's Legend Through Vietnam, Review: Eric Reguly's Ghosts of War Shows the Cost and Rewards of Investigative and Combative Journalism," David Moscrop, The Globe and Mail, April 22, 2022.
"In Ghosts of War: Chasing my Father’s Legend Through Vietnam, The Globe and Mail’s European bureau chief Eric Reguly follows his father’s coverage of the Vietnam War through the archives and into the country itself. The small volume reads as a study of a historical moment and of the costs and rewards of investigative and combat journalism. The apogee of the book is the 1960s, but the take-aways – war is hell; the powerful seek to obscure the truth but good journalists must find it nonetheless; effective reporting requires shoe leather – speak to our moment."
Sources:
This article is written by Ms. Phan Thi.
"It’s Been 50 Years. I Am Not ‘Napalm Girl’ Anymore," New York Times, June 6, 2022
By Kim Phuc Phan Thi. Ms. Phan Thi is the founder of the Kim Foundation International, which provides aid to child victims of war. Here is how it begins:
"I grew up in the small village of Trang Bang in South Vietnam. My mother said I laughed a lot as a young girl. We led a simple life with an abundance of food, since my family had a farm and my mom ran the best restaurant in town. I remember loving school and playing with my cousins and the other children in our village, jumping rope, running and chasing one another joyfully.
All of that changed on June 8, 1972. I have only flashes of memories of that horrific day. I was playing with my cousins in the temple courtyard. The next moment, there was a plane swooping down close and a deafening noise. Then explosions and smoke and excruciating pain. I was 9 years old.
Napalm sticks to you, no matter how fast you run, causing horrific burns and pain that last a lifetime. I don’t remember running and screaming, “Nóng quá, nóng quá!” (“Too hot, too hot!”) But film footage and others’ memories show that I did...."
Growing up, I sometimes wished to disappear not only because of my injuries — the burns scarred a third of my body and caused intense, chronic pain — but also because of the shame and embarrassment of my disfigurement. I tried to hide my scars under my clothes. I had horrific anxiety and depression. Children in school recoiled from me. I was a figure of pity to neighbors and, to some extent, my parents. As I got older, I feared that no one would ever love me.
Meanwhile, the photograph became even more famous, making it more difficult to navigate my private and emotional life. Beginning in the 1980s, I sat through endless interviews with the press and meetings with royalty, prime ministers and other leaders, all of whom expected to find some meaning in that image and my experience. The child running down the street became a symbol of the horrors of war. The real person looked on from the shadows, fearful that I would somehow be exposed as a damaged person.
Photographs, by definition, capture a moment in time. But the surviving people in these photographs, especially the children, must somehow go on. We are not symbols. We are human. We must find work, people to love, communities to embrace, places to learn and to be nurtured.
It was only in adulthood, after defecting to Canada, that I began to find peace and realize my mission in life, with the help of my faith, husband and friends. I helped establish a foundation and began traveling to war-torn countries to provide medical and psychological assistance to children victimized by war, offering, I hope, a sense of possibilities."
The CBC interviewed Ms. Phan Thi: You can read it here.
"50 Years Later, 'Napalm Girl' Has a Message for Children in Ukraine: Kim Phuc Phan Thi, Now Living in Ajax, Ont., Was 9 When She Was Burned by Napalm in Vietnam War," Sylvia Thomson · CBC News · Posted: Jun 11, 2022. The picture below is from the CBC interview.
The Facebook controversy was reported in Time:
"The Story Behind the 'Napalm Girl' Photo Censored by Facebook," Time, Sept. 9, 2016.
"This week, Facebook briefly removed and quickly reinstated one of the most powerful images to emerge from war—a 1972 photograph of a nine-year-old Vietnamese girl—after initially saying the image violates the company’s policies on displaying nudity. A censorship battle ensued. Espen Egil Hansen, the editor-in-chief of Norway’s Aftenposten, slammed Mark Zuckerberg for a perceived abuse of power, calling the CEO of Facebook “the world’s most powerful editor.” On Friday, the company reinstated the picture and said “the value of permitting sharing outweighs the value of protecting the community by removal.” An initial Facebook statement recognized its iconic status but said “it’s difficult to create a distinction between allowing a photograph of a nude child in one instance and not others.” The picture, taken by Associated Press photographer Nick Ut, has become an icon of conflict photography. The faces of collateral damage and friendly fire are generally not seen. This was not the case with nine-year-old Phan Thi Kim Phuc."
No comments:
Post a Comment