Existing comment:
1973 Spot News: Vietnam -- Terror of War:
A thick gel fell from the sky, sticking to everything it hit -- thatched roofs, bare skin -- then burning, burning. Napalm. Everyone in Vietnam saw it. But not like young AP photographer Nick Ut.
On June 8, 1972, he covered a battle near Trang Bang, west of Saigon. "Really heavy fighting," he said. Trying to disentrench the Viet Cong, the South Vietnamese dropped napalm. But one plane missed. Fire rained down on civilians. Women and children ran screaming. Ut snapped pictures. A little girl ran toward him, arms outstretched, eyes shut in pain, clothes burned off by napalm. "She said, 'Too hot, please help me!'"
Ut took her to the hospital. The napalm girl, Phan Thi Kim Phuc, survived, grew up, got married. Ut, who lost his older brother to the war, never lost touch with her. |