In January 1972 there were still 157,000 American troops left in South Vietnam.  Over the next few months another 60,000 were scheduled to leave.  Route 1 was the most bombed road throughout the entire war.  On June 8 air-raid sirens went off in Route 1's neighboring village, Trang Bang.  Planes began dropping napalm on the village and mothers yelled at their children to run.  Kim Phuc was one of those children.  She ran and screamed as her clothes burnt off and her skin was hanging off half of her body. Photographer Nick Ut captured this photograph of Kim before she passed out in his arms and he rushed her to the hospital. This photograph quickly circulated around the world and knowing the child's name gave it an even greater impact.

"Looking at this photograph, we feel complete helplessness at the horror of war. This image also shows the power of still photography as opposed to film.  The same event was also captured on film, but it does not communicate the silent horror that we witness here - it is the silent horror of this photograph that has imprinted it on our memories forever." *

The photograph devastated people around the globe. "The Vietnamese child came to represent what Americans had done to their own children." In August the last American combat troops were withdrawn from South Vietnam.

Kim Phuc and other Vietnamese Children, January, 1972

* Michael Anderegg - quoted on page 135 of Peter Stepan's book 'Photos that changed the world', Munich, London and New York, 2000.