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Another myth debunked...
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
Since there are so many who post in this place from a perspective based in mythology, rather than fact, thought it might prove instructive to point out some discrepancies within your Revised History...
Originally posted by HDR
Kim Phuc: The Myth Of The Girl In The Photo
The Myth Of The Girl In The Photo © Ronald N. Timberlake
November 1997 All rights reserved.
May not be reprinted except in total.
Anyone who read a newspaper over last Veterans Day weekend is likely to have seen one of the many articles about the American bombing of the village of Trang Bang, Viet Nam, with the naked and terrified little girl running toward the Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer. Again this Veterans Day, at least one network aired a documentary on the story. It is a heart-wrenching photo, and is published with a heart-wrenching story, but if a picture speaks a thousand words, most of the words associated with this photo are misleading. What is not true, is the story itself. It is a misrepresentation that has become a myth, that is repeated each Veterans Day.
Myth: Americans bombed Trang Bang, Viet Nam, and burned Kim Phuc, the girl in the famous photo.
Fact: As stated by the photographer himself, Nick Ut, and clearly shown on film, the Viet Nam Air Force (VNAF) dropped the bombs that hurt Kim. This was witnessed and reported by UPI television correspondent Christopher Wain, and also reported at the time, by noted correspondent Peter Arnett. Other journalists who were not there, through assumption, sloppy work, or malice, have since reported that the attack was by US aircraft, and have further embellished the story with time. Most of the commercials for the recent A&E documentary, and indeed, the host on the broadcast, said that the documentary would show "the American commander who ordered the bombing". That statement is not true.
Myth: The bombers attacked the village of Trang Bang.
Fact: The fighters were actually striking outside the village, hitting the fortifications of the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) troops that had been prepared just before and during the three day battle. The village itself was not the target of the air strike.
Myth: Kim and her family were hurt when the Buddhist pagoda in which they took refuge was bombed, and took a direct hit.
Fact: Kim herself has stated that they left the pagoda, to run along the road, when they were hit. The pagoda was not targeted, and was not hit. The "colored markers" she has mentioned were smoke grenades, used to identify the friendly positions. When Kim and the others, including ARVN soldiers, ran from the pagoda and away from the village, they were spotted by the pilot of a Vietnamese fighter. The pilot saw people with weapons running toward the Army of the Republic of Viet Nam (ARVN) positions, where the journalists and photographers were also located. In a split-second decision to protect the ARVN troops from what he saw as a threat, the Vietnamese pilot diverted from his target and dove to attack the group, as reported by eyewitness UPI television correspondent Christopher Wain.
Myth: The fighting was conducted by or included American forces.
Fact: Trang Bang, in June of 1972, was an all-Vietnamese fight, with ARVN troops fighting their former and future countrymen, and requesting support from their own air force. American aircraft probably assisted with air support at some time during the three-day battle, but Vietnamese were fighting Vietnamese at Trang Bang, and when Kim was burned, it was they who called for help from Vietnamese flown aircraft. Even the photographer was Vietnamese, although he later became a US citizen. The only Americans involved were two advisors, one an infantry officer with the troops at the scene of battle, and the other in an assistant coordination assignment more than 80 kilometers away. Both officers were in positions with absolutely no command authority.
Myth: A recent report stated that nerve gas was used in the attack.
Fact: American or South Vietnamese forces never used Nerve gas. The canisters dropped by the VNAF fighter that injured Kim and her countrymen were napalm, a type of jellied gasoline bomb that was developed by our British allies in WWII, to knock out enemy troops in trenches and fortifications.
Myth: Kim's two brothers and two cousins were killed by the bombs.
Fact: Two of Kim's cousins died from the bombs that injured Kim, but her brothers were not killed. The same bombs that burned Kim, also hit and burned ARVN soldiers.
Myth: The American commander ordered the bombing.
Fact: There was no American commander at the scene of the fighting, no American commander involved in supporting the battle, and no American commander in the entire country who ordered that strike. It was an all- Vietnamese fight, conducted and controlled by Vietnamese. The Methodist minister who came forward to accept Kim Phuc's forgiveness at the Viet Nam Veterans Memorial on Veterans Day 1996, is a former American officer, but was not a commander, and had no command authority. He was a low level staff officer on the staff of the American advisors, in an assignment without authority even to directly coordinate actions with VNAF, much less command, order, or direct any activity. As the battle raged, he was working in a bunker more than 80 kilometers from the fighting. His own Commanding General and the Operations Officer of the unit, both now retired General Officers, have clarified that he had no authority, capacity, or capability to order any Vietnamese aircraft to do anything. In fact, no one on the staff, or even the actual commander, could order the VNAF to take any action whatever. The staff officer who now grasps responsibility for the air strike was involved in a superficial manner, his participation consisting of no more than administratively releasing some sorties of VNAF aircraft back to VNAF control. This was essentially a clerical response to the VNAF command. This action included absolutely no command or control, nor did he have the authority not to release the sorties back to VNAF control, once the need had been established, and safety checks accomplished.
Myth: That famous photo stopped the war.
Fact: While it became an icon for the peace movement, by the time of the photo in June of 1972, almost all US ground forces had already been brought home from Viet Nam. Nine months later, after the signing of the Paris Peace Accord, all US combat forces were out of Viet Nam. The photo was embarrassing to the US government, but extremely damaging to the South Vietnamese government. It was a great propaganda tool for the Communists, and may have done more than any other photo to prevent the US Congress from allowing assistance to the South Vietnamese government when North Viet Nam launched the full scale invasion of that country in 1975.
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Reality is not so delicious as your mythology, is it?