When one considers the Vietnam War, one can examine the actions of major participants such as Ho Chi Minh, Ngo Dinh Diem, Lyndon B. Johnson, Henry Kissinger and Richard Nixon, of military leaders and tacticians such as Generals Giap and Westmoreland and debate the rights and wrongs of those actions, but one should never lose sight of the fact that in war, people are killed and injured.
The Pulitzer Prize winning photograph below was taken by Nick Ut forty years ago today. It remains one of the most iconic images of the Vietnam War.
We now know that the naked girl in the picture, running with her skin burning due to napalm dropped from a South Vietnamese Skyraider plane, was nine year old was Kim Phuc. As well as the photograph, ITN shot film showing what had occurred just before and after this photograph. It can clearly be seen in this video that large parts of Kim Phuc’s skin was severely burnt. Fortunately her face was unharmed.
Kim Phuc survived the attack and now, 49 years old, lives in Toronto with her husband. She has told her story many times. On Saturday, the Guardian published an Associated Press news report containing more information on the “napalm girl” and how that famous photograph has affected her life. It is worth reading.
Hat Tip: Ian Leslie via John Rentoul.
The amazing thing was the transormation of the Vietnam veteran from pariah to hero. To members of my generation that grew up in the 80′s they were heroes and the protesters were
the pariahs.
Among the vast Ezra Library is there a copy of Stolen Valor. The phenomena of the fake Vietnam Vet was started by the left at media events like the Winter Soldier fiasco. The later ones just wanted to get the status and respect of the Vietnam Veteran.
The other iconic photos are the man with the gun at his head waiting to be executed and Jane Fonda looking through the sites of an Anti Aircraft weapon
Beakerkin,
Thank you for your comment. I have not read Stolen Valor. The book has hardly been reviewed in the academic journals. With the exception of short reviews in Journal of Military History and Armed Forces & Society, I did not locate any in such journals. The explanation for this is obvious. The publisher of the book is a company called “Verity Press.” According to the review in the JMH, this publishing company was set up by B. G. Burkett, one of the book’s co-authors, to publish the book because the original publisher pulled out of publishing it. Now, I am not saying that self-published books cannot be reliable as they obviously can be, but Stolen Valor is close to 700 pages long. I am not, in this instance, going to spend a substantial amount of my time reading a self-published book that has been virtually ignored by the academic journals for review. I have better things to do.
Mr Ezra
I understand the book is long but many subjects are there that are worth a look.
In America the Vietnam Veteran went from pariah to hero. Those that came home were subject to the nastiest type of abuse. One of the earliest memories was as a young kid I went to some local parade with my family in Sulivan County, Bethel was nearby. Hippies stole my American Flag and ruined the day for many. The crass behaviors of the drug crazed protesters were hated by much of the population. The protests were seldom peaceful and frequently criminal.
Around the time Reagan was elected my generation came of age. You see some of the conflicts in the popular TV show Familiy Ties. You had beatnik parents raising a Conservative son and these conversations were humorous reflections of real conversations many of us had with family members and faculty. The Michael J Fox charachter was created to be a vilanous
foil but resonated differently with the public.
In essence many of us who were young objected to the self centered flower kids whose sole existence was sumed up by “I protested the Vietnam war and smoked pot”. Even those who made greater efforts like marching for Civil Rights did not have this level of arrogance.
The book looks at the fake Vietnam Vet phenomenon and how the media presents stories about people who claim to Vets but are not.