By Sheldon Spackman and Storrm Lennie

“Napalm Girl” to share life story in Lacombe

Mar 8, 2019 | 4:39 PM

The most influential photos tend to have a powerful story attached to them.

For Kim Phuc Phan Thi, known to the world as the “Napalm Girl” seen in a famous photograph running naked down a road with her skin on fire with napalm, the photo is a very real and scary part of her history.

Phuc was 9-years-old in 1972 when the photo was taken. She quickly became one of the most recognizable faces of the highly controversial Vietnam War.

The photo, which won a Pulitzer Prize, changed the way the world looked at the Vietnam War.

For Phuc, the war is a traumatic part of her history. The traction the photo of her received has made it hard for her to heal and move on.

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“I do not remember the photo being taken, I just ran for life. I was so scared and I had no idea that I was being filmed. I don’t remember who took the photo, I just saw the soldiers, I saw my brothers, my cousins. We just kept running and running.” Phuc described.

“It was very difficult; it was a really long time to recover from it. If you ask me how I was able to move on, I have no idea. It was survival, it was a miracle.”

Phuc says the photo has made it hard for her to escape her traumatic history, saying she struggled for years with self-esteem issues and nightmares as she tried to cope with the trauma she suffered at such a young age.

“As a child, I didn’t know or think a lot about what was going on but I do remember the pain. The years would go by and as a teenager it became harder. I had to deal with the trauma, nightmares, very low self-esteem,” she recalls.

“When people would talk to me their eyes would just move to my scars, I knew what they’re thinking. They think ‘oh wow it must be so hard for you’ but what I want people to recognize is that the napalm burnt my skin, but I’m not that little girl anymore. I was an underprivileged little girl and a real victim of war but now I’m a survivor.”

Phuc moved to Canada in 1992 for an attempt at a fresh start to life.

“I wanted everyone to recognize that I’m not that little girl anymore. I went to Canada as a refugee by fate to change my life and leave the past in the past.”

Phuc has since went on to become a renowned peace activist, a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for the Culture of Peace, and the founder of the Kim Phuc Foundation.

She is scheduled to share her experiences this Tuesday, March 12 at the Lacombe Memorial Centre. She tells her story to create a better understanding of the power of hope, optimism and forgiveness and is said to inspire audiences with the strength of the human spirit.

The event is part of Burman University’s Herr Lecture series and takes place starting at 7:30 p.m.