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I was just listening to a radio program about 'the girl in the picture'....... The nine year old girl crying and running her skin burning and her clothes burned completely off......... she has become the iconic image of the Vietnam war....... Nick Ut a local Vietnamese photographer with AP made the picture...... I have met him..... I know something of his story..... But until today I knew nothing of the girl not even her name....... Kim Phuc. .............. Listen
Nick Ut to his great credit gave her a ride to hospital after having made that picture of her running.
Another person who really helped her that day was the ITN TV war correspondent Christopher Wain he poured water on her to try to relieve her burning skin. Then when he went to find her in the hospital he heard that she was expected to die the next day. He made calls and arrangements to get her moved to a better hospital...... after a lot of bureaucratic blockage that he overcame she was moved to the superior American hospital......... where she survived....... had 17 operations and stayed for 14 months.
Her life went on. In the end over 10 years later she escaped Vietnamese and Cuban communism by claiming political asylum in Canada......... she has lived an incredible life........ and had not seen Chris for 38 years in this program she is reunited with him for the first time.
Its odd to come into contact with people you have made images of in the past. They are straight from your past. Straight from that specific time. You have maybe only that moment in common with them, but you were there together at that moment.
I have put this image above on the blog once before.
Recently someone wrote this below it:
----"The woman in the photo is Nelly MAtthews and THe Child is Ciaran Bowen 22 1/2 years ago [reply]Aine @ April 28, 2010, 2:56 pm"-------
Their date is correct. I guess their naming of the subjects is too......... The internet gives a whole new platform for possibly making contact with people from past lives and past images ....... its sort of new and incredible really :-)........
Cheers Jez XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
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