From “Napalm Girl” to “Child of God”

Today is the 43^rd anniversary of the fall of Saigon in 1975.

Stories from the Vietnam war have been told for decades, from the soldiers who fought it to the victims caught in the crossfire. Few of those stories are as inspirational as that of Kim Phuc Phan Thi.

You remember her as “the napalm girl,” the central figure in the iconic Pulitzer Prize-winning photo “The Terror of War.” The photo portrays a young girl running naked down the road, her skin on fire from a napalm attack.

That’s Kim, and today on the Focus on the Family Broadcast, she’ll be with us to share her story.

In the first few years of the war, her village was untouched. But in June of 1972, the war came to their doorstep. Kim was nine years old and remembers the American jet screaming across the landscape directly toward her. It dropped four bombs, each one landing closer and closer.

Boom.

Boom!

BOOM!

The last one enveloped her in flames, incinerating her clothes.

The photographer who captured her just after the attack in the now iconic picture rushed her to a nearby hospital. There were so many wounded, and Kim was so badly burned, that doctors disregarded her to tend to others that could be saved. Her family found her clinging to life in the morgue.

Her hardships had just begun. The years that followed included 16 difficult surgeries, the communist government using her for their propaganda, and suicidal tendencies by the time she was a teenager.

Then she felt drawn to Jesus, convinced that He understands suffering. When He changed her life, her enemies list became her prayer list, including the man who coordinated the airstrike that nearly killed her.

Kim’s story of survival and redemption is riveting! From her life before the attack and her fight for survival, after to the hope, peace, and forgiveness she found in Christ.

Tune in for Kim Phuc Phan Thi’s amazing testimony on “Finding Hope After the Horrors of War” on your local radio station, online, or on our free phone app. And check in our online store for her book, Fire Road: The Napalm Girl’s Journey through the Horrors of War to Faith, Forgiveness & Peace.