Kim Phuc, the Napalm Girl
Nine year old Phan Thi Kim Phuc and 30 others were hiding in the temple of Trang Bang, South Vietnam. It was the summer of 1972. Enemy soldiers were threatening to shoot them if they were found. Suddenly there was a new threat – bombs in canisters of napalm that would burn down the temple. Run!! As they fled one canister exploded just behind Kim, burning her clothes. With skin peeling off her back and left arm she ran down the street naked and screaming. Photographer Nick Ut’s picture of her running and screaming shocked the world. Nearby journalists poured water over her body and took her to the local hospital, where she was put into the morgue. Hopeless case. She won’t survive.
Three days after the raid Capt. John Plummer saw that picture in a military newspaper. He had double-checked with informed personnel to confirm that there were no villagers left who would be endangered by the bombing raid he was to order. A nightmare of guilt swept over him and stretched into nearly 24 years of regret. It cost him his marriage and drove him to drink as he kept his involvement as much a secret as he could.
Kim’s mother found her alive in the morgue and rescued her. Kim endured fourteen months of agony during 17 skin grafts. This was followed by years of painful recovery. There were times of bitter resentment. Meanwhile, Kim was pursuing a medical career where she hoped to help others as she had been helped. A casual reading of a New Testament confronted her with the claim that Jesus was the Way, the Truth and the Life. It also presented the idea that bitterness is too heavy a burden – she needed to forgive the bomber. The account of Jesus offering forgiveness to the soldiers who crucified Him convinced her to believe in Jesus. Her government sent her to Cuba for courses in pharmacology. There she met and married Bui Hay Toan. Returning from a honeymoon in Moscow, the plane landed for refueling in Gander, Newfoundland. The two of them went to the immigration officer instead of re-boarding the plane. The future looked better.
John Plummer battled depression, guilt and alcoholism until he met and married Joanne, who helped him recover from alcoholism. John became a Christian and at age 47 was ordained as a Methodist minister. But one key issue remained to be settled. He longed to meet Kim and seek forgiveness so that he could become free of recurring nightmares. How could he ever find her? Maybe she’s not even alive?
In June, 1996 Plummer spotted that picture of the napalm girl in a newscast which stated that she was now 33 and living in Toronto. She was scheduled to speak at the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial in Washington, D.C. on Nov. 11, 1996. This would be his chance. Traveling from Purcellville, Virginia, he heard her say to the crowd, “If I could talk face to face with the pilot who dropped the bombs, I could tell him we cannot change history, but we should try to do good things for the future.” He wanted to talk to her but his one chance seemed to be slipping away as Kim was being led away. John Plummer jumped the dividing rope and managed to get her attention. He could only say, “I’m sorry. I am so sorry.” Kim responded, “It’s OK. I forgive.” Kim hugged a tearful John Plummer as finally his nightmare was over.
Forgiveness moves you from the dark side to the sunny side.
Henry Wiebe