AMHERST — Kim Phuc Phan Thi, best known as the nude child in the pulitzer prize winning photograph capturing the fall of napalm during the Vietnam War, will give a talk at Amherst College on Thursday.
In her adult life, Phuc speaks out against war crimes. The talk, “Life Lessons,” will take place in the Cole Assembly Room of Converse Hall at 8 p.m. It is free and open to the public.
In 1972, Americans and the South Vietnamese Airforce dropped napalm bombs on Phuc’s village. Two of her infant cousins died in the attack, and Phuc herself was not expected to survive the burns on her back and arms. The famous photo featuring Phuc shows her running down the road screaming seconds after the bombing.
Phuc’s story was adapted into a book called “The Girl in the Picture,” and a documentary, “Kim’s Story: The Road from Vietnam.”
Phuc started a foundation intended to help heal the wounds of war, called The Kim Foundation, a nonprofit that funds programs that heal children in war-torn areas of the world. In 1997, UNESCO named her a Goodwill Ambassador.