Kim Phuc: The Girl in the Picture

Nick Ut/Associated Press

In the Southern Vietnamese city of Tien Gang one day in late April 1981, an 18-year-old woman was summoned from her premedical studies classroom. Four men were in the hallway asking for her.

When she came into the hallway, the men stared at her.

"You are Kim Phuc?" one of them finally asked.

"Yes--I am Kim Phuc," the girl answered.

"You are the girl in the picture?" the man askesd.

"Yes," she replied. "I am the girl in the picture."

This woman looked far too normal, too healthy to be the one they sought. The famous photo they spoke of had been taken nine years earlier, on June 8, 1972, during an event that nearly ended the girl's life.

A few days before the photo was taken, Kim's family had fled their home because the Vietcong was pressuring the Phucs to work for them...

Excerpt from "Kim Phuc: Running from War" from Courageous Women of the Vietnam War.

Kim's memoir, published in 2017, is called Fire Road: The Napalm Girl's Journey Through the Horrors of War to Faith, Forgiveness, and Peace.