Nick Ut explains the photo collection he donated to the Vietnamese Women’s Museum on May 6, 2017. (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) - Former AssociatedPress war photographer Huynh Cong Ut (Nick Ut) donated a set of fivehistoric photos of the American war in Vietnam and a camera he used during thewar to the Vietnamese Women’s Museum in Hanoi on May 6.
His photo of Phan Thi Kim Phuc, a nine-year-old girl running nakedalong the road crying from burns inflicted by a napalm bomb dropped by the USin the southern province of Tay Ninh in 1972, won a Pulitzer Prize in 1973.
“The photo has been exhibited at various museums and libraries inthe US and millions of people have seen it as a symbol of the fierce war in Vietnamby the Americans,” Ut told Vietnam News. “Women and children aremajor victims in these photos and I think there is no other place better suitedto keep them than this museum.”
“I’m no longer young. I would like these photos to tell the nextgenerations about the war,” he said.
Four other photos were taken at the same place on June 8, 1972,including a photo taken by one of Ut’s colleague, which captured Ut pouringwater on Phuc’ body to ease her pain while waiting for a car to take her to thehospital.
Ut also gave the museum a Nikkormat camera, one of the cameras heused during the time he worked for AP as a photo journalist.
“These are valuable photos with long-lasting power,” said Duong ThiHang, deputy director of the museum. “The photos record war pains of women andchildren, which helped kick off many anti-war demonstrations in the world.”
The “Napalm Girl” photo shocked the world when it was sent fourhours later by the AP office in Sai Gon to AP headquarters in New York,igniting an anti-American war movement in the US and Europe.
The photo won Ut a Pulitzer Prize in 1973, though he did not knowwhat the prize meant when he received the news.
The photo series by Ut also changed Phuc’s life. As a war victim,she has travelled around the world to talk about the American war in Vietnam asa UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador.
Ut, who was born in 1951 in the southern province of Long An, nowresides in Los Angeles.
He worked for the AP as a photo journalist since the age of 16. Hehad also covered battles in Laos and Cambodia.
After the war in Vietnam ended, he was sent to Japan to work. In1977, he moved to Los Angeles, where he continued working for AP capturing newsevents and the lives of Hollywood stars.
Since his retirement in 2007, Ut has returned to Vietnam moreoften to take pictures of people and landscapes.
The photos he donated will be displayed at the museum, located at36 Ly Thuong Kiet Street, till May 18, part of a special exhibition themed“Museum and History: Sharing Untold Stories”, before being moved to themuseum’s permanent collection.-VNA
“The photo has been exhibited at various museums and libraries inthe US and millions of people have seen it as a symbol of the fierce war in Vietnamby the Americans,” Ut told Vietnam News. “Women and children aremajor victims in these photos and I think there is no other place better suitedto keep them than this museum.”
“I’m no longer young. I would like these photos to tell the nextgenerations about the war,” he said.
Four other photos were taken at the same place on June 8, 1972,including a photo taken by one of Ut’s colleague, which captured Ut pouringwater on Phuc’ body to ease her pain while waiting for a car to take her to thehospital.
Ut also gave the museum a Nikkormat camera, one of the cameras heused during the time he worked for AP as a photo journalist.
“These are valuable photos with long-lasting power,” said Duong ThiHang, deputy director of the museum. “The photos record war pains of women andchildren, which helped kick off many anti-war demonstrations in the world.”
The “Napalm Girl” photo shocked the world when it was sent fourhours later by the AP office in Sai Gon to AP headquarters in New York,igniting an anti-American war movement in the US and Europe.
The photo won Ut a Pulitzer Prize in 1973, though he did not knowwhat the prize meant when he received the news.
The photo series by Ut also changed Phuc’s life. As a war victim,she has travelled around the world to talk about the American war in Vietnam asa UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador.
Ut, who was born in 1951 in the southern province of Long An, nowresides in Los Angeles.
He worked for the AP as a photo journalist since the age of 16. Hehad also covered battles in Laos and Cambodia.
After the war in Vietnam ended, he was sent to Japan to work. In1977, he moved to Los Angeles, where he continued working for AP capturing newsevents and the lives of Hollywood stars.
Since his retirement in 2007, Ut has returned to Vietnam moreoften to take pictures of people and landscapes.
The photos he donated will be displayed at the museum, located at36 Ly Thuong Kiet Street, till May 18, part of a special exhibition themed“Museum and History: Sharing Untold Stories”, before being moved to themuseum’s permanent collection.-VNA
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