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Recognizing and celebrating the life and extraordinary contributions of peace activist Dr. Kim Phuc Phan Thi.
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WHEREAS, The Council of the City of Philadelphia is pleased to honor the life and contributions of Dr. Kim Phuc Phan Thi. After witnessing the horrors of the Vietnam War first hand and having the most tragic and distressing moment of her life documented and circulated across the globe, she rose from the ashes and managed to not only survive under these circumstances, but also thrive and forgive those most responsible for her suffering; and
WHEREAS, Kim Phuc was born in 1963 in the Vietnamese village of Trang Bang located adjacent to the strategic Route 1, a supply road used heavily during the Vietnam War to transport goods and supplies from Saigon to Phnom Penh. On June 8, 1972, South Vietnamese forces, with assistance from American coordinators, dropped a napalm bomb on her village, forcing Kim Phuc, her family, and many others like them to flee in horror; and
WHEREAS, In this devastating moment, photographer Nick Ut captured the image of a young Kim Phuc doused in napalm, screaming in pain, and running for survival. Soon after this photo was taken, Ut rushed her to a South Vietnamese hospital where she spent the next 14 months recovering. In the years that followed, through countless surgeries and intensive therapy, Kim Phuc made an astonishing recovery and later returned to her village with her family, hoping to rebuild her life and leave the misery of war behind; and
WHEREAS, The image that surfaced from this heart-wrenching moment, commonly known as the 'napalm girl,' was one that revealed the atrocities of the Vietnam War faced all too often by innocent civilians. Kim Phuc ultimately became the 'national symbol for war' as the world cried for the girl in the image and frequently used her tragedy as a motivator for peace; and
WHEREAS, After the image, Kim Phuc struggled to build her own identity apart from her tragic past. She was ultim...
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