Vietnam War bomb victim now aiding US veterans
Print Edition
KIM Phuc is known around the world for a photograph taken of her as a child, naked and crying as she ran down a road in South Vietnam, burned by napalm dropped by the United States air force, clouds of dark smoke rising behind her.
Now aged 52, Phuc is working with a new charity called Restoring Heroes to help provide medical treatment to members and veterans of those same US military forces.
The twist of fate is far from lost on Phuc after decades of pain from burns suffered from napalm dropped on a pagoda where she and her family were hiding during the Vietnam War in 1972.
Restoring Heroes is targeting first responders and members of the military who have suffered traumatic burns and scarring, such as wounds caused by improvised explosive devices. The importance of forgiveness is Phuc’s contribution to healing them.
“Everyone needs help,” Phuc told the Thomson Reuters Foundation when Restoring Heroes was launched this month.
While the napalm left burns on 65 percent of Phuc’s body, she said her recovery was emotional and spiritual as well as physical, as she learned how to forgive.
“Living with hate and bitterness almost killed me many times,” she said. “When I learned to forgive all those who caused my suffering, that was like heaven on earth for me.”
She found forgiveness when she found Christianity, she said. “Before, I would ask, ‘Why me? Why did I have to suffer’?” she said. “I was a little child, innocent. I didn’t do anything wrong.”
Her religious faith has helped her to count her blessings and use her experience to help others, said Phuc, who moved to Cuba from Vietnam, and now lives near Toronto, Canada. She and her husband, a social worker, have two sons.
She created her own charity, www.kimfoundation.com, to help children who are victims of war, and also served as a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador.
“I can help people living with hatred and bitterness,” she said.
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