Lensman, ‘Napalm Girl’ revisit Vietnam War site after 50 years

They revisited the Vietnam War site where the award-winning photojournalist captured nine-year-old Phan Thi Kim Phuc and other terrified children running down a road after a plane dropped napalm on civilians.

Ut, 71, who as working for the Associated Press at the time, won numerous awards for the photo, called “The Terror of War” but sometimes referred to as the “Napalm Girl”. They included the 1973 Pulitzer Prize.

They met up with Ho Thi Bon, another of the girls in the photo, who now sells refreshments near the Trang Bang Temple.

(From L) Nick Ut, Phan Thi Kim Phuc and Ho Thi Bon with the famous “Napalm Girl” photo in November 2022. Photo courtesy of Ut’s Facebook

Nick Ut said this was the first time in half a century that the three of them had met at the spot where the photo was taken, adding this was of “great significance.”

Their trip attracted lots of attention from foreign and local reporters.

Ut and Phuc recently went on a tour of Vietnam.

Since then Phuc has left for Poland to attend a discussion on how to aid Ukrainian refugees while Ut flew to Siem Reap in Cambodia from Ho Chi Minh City.

He has been to Vietnam a number of times since the war ended in 1975. Phuc, now 59, moved to Canada after the war and is now a UNESCO ambassador.

In January 2021, Ut he was awarded the National Medal of Arts by then President Donald Trump.

He retired in 2017 and says his health is good. He carries a camera with him wherever he goes.