Tuesday, June 15, 2010

FOUR CANISTERS OF NAPALM AT TRANG BANG VILLAGE JUNE 1972

Ever hear of Napalm. The canisters dropped at Trang Bang Village and this picture records it all.

Those of us who remember the Vietnam War that began as early as 1959 and lasted till April 30 1975 may recollect many scenes and stories. Surely none of us would ever forget the above photograph that appeared in newspapers and magazines of the world. That was an iconic Vietnam War Picture of the decade or century if it can be said so. True live story picture like the above is priceless and war correspondents would go all the way to get them. They did that before and will continue so even now be it in Iraq or at Bangkok recently.


I was reminded of the above story recently through a posting via http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8678478.stm. Thirty eight years have passed and quite recently the photographer and savior of the naked young girl caught in the holocaust met again and their story was aired by BBC. Kim Phuc, that's the 7 year old young girl screaming and running on the road with other Vietnamese children after her dress burnt and she suffered serious burnt. Journalist Christopher Wain got his historic picture and he also saved the girl by sending her to a specialist hospital.

Wain found Kim Phuc again after 38 years. She has settled down in Canada, married with two children.Many who first saw the picture four decades ago must be grateful to be reminded that the little girl is still alive. I am one of the many all over the world that gazed at that picture and shed tears of pity then and always believing that she could never have survived . How comforting after all these years to know that she has been spared and alive. The story reminds us of humility and responsibility for the human being while of course condemning war and its atrocities. Sadly we still continue to wage war slaughtering and killing without mercy and grief. Do we wish for a third world war to happen? Request and plea have never stopped being forwarded to government, security councils and the United Nations. Who else can be the savior of our world?

3 comments:

NGINAP SRENGENGE @ SRENGENGE said...

Salam Pak Non,

Thank you for the entry.

Benar seperti janji Allah; manusia ni bila dah hilang kemanusiaannya akan jatuh ke taraf yang lebih rendah dari binatang.......pastikan kita tak lantik manusia jenis ini sebagai pemimpin.

Negara kita pun sedang ke arah 'kebinatangan'.......jom kita selamatkan,dengan apa cara sekalipun.Jangan kita redho dengan angkara mereka,kalau tidak kita akan on the same train.....nauzubillah.

Wassalam.

Lee said...

Hi Kotastar, that nude girl running away with the bad burns is now a lady living here in Toronto. Has appeared several times in our papers.
She's beautiful too.
But really sad to see children suffer when men make war.
How you doin'? You have a beautiful sunday and keep well. Ada exercise your that German kudas? Ha ha, Lee.

Anonymous said...

Amiable post and this enter helped me alot in my college assignement. Thank you for your information.