Kim Phuc Phan Thi, ‘Napalm Girl,’ presented with Randolph’s Pearl S. Buck Award

President Sue Ott Rowlands presented Kim Phuc Phan Thi with the Pearl S. Buck Award on Wednesday, Sept. 10.

For many years, Kim Phuc Phan Ti resented the iconic photograph that made her famous. 

Phan Thi, the recipient of Randolph’s 2025-2026 Pearl S. Buck Award, was 9 years old in 1972 when she was immortalized in Nick Ut’s Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph, The Terror of War, which depicted her running naked in agony following a napalm strike during the Vietnam War.

Phan Thi and Ut visited Randolph this week for the Pearl S. Buck Award presentation. In addition to the public award ceremony, they also spent time with students, faculty, and staff. 

“I lost everything, physically and emotionally,” she said Wednesday during a Q&A presentation in Thoresen Theatre for the Randolph community with President Sue Ott Rowlands. “I had to deal with nightmares and trauma all the time. I wanted to disappear.” 

Phan Thi spent 14 months in the hospital after the bombing, recovering from severe burns on her neck, back, and arm. Once she was released, the physical pain was still as unbearable as the emotional turmoil. She was self-conscious about her scars and worried she’d never have a normal life. 

Then her father showed her Ut’s photograph, which was attributed with hastening the end of the Vietnam War. She was humiliated, and for many years, hated the image. 

Nick Ut and Kim Phuc Phan Thi participated in a special Q&A with President Sue Ott Rowlands earlier in the day.

Phan Thi spoke about the change of heart that came for her in the early 1990s, after she’d defected to Canada with her husband and given birth to their eldest son.

Journalists had discovered her presence in Toronto, and, once again, the photo was on the front pages of newspapers. 

“I was holding my first child and looking at that picture, something in my heart, deep down in my heart, changed,” she said. 

“I didn’t want anything to happen to my child, my boy, or any other children around the world,” she continued. “I couldn’t run away anymore. I had to do something different and make the world a better place for my child—for the next generation. I accepted that picture as a powerful gift.” 

Phan Thi, who has spent 30 years as a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for the Culture of Peace, founded The KIM Foundation International, a nonprofit dedicated to helping child victims of war, violence, and poverty. 

She holds eight honorary doctorates and has been honored with many awards, including the 2004 Order of Ontario and the 2019 Dresden Peace Prize.

Her 2017 memoir, Fire Road, has been translated into 10 languages.

At Randolph, she and Ut, who worked for the Associated Press when he took the photo, each gave their own accounts of what happened that fateful day in 1972. 

Ut talked about how after he took the photo, he and his driver took Phan Thi and other wounded children to the hospital. He recounted how there was no one left to save the children, and he knew she would die if he left her on that road.

They have remained friends over the years, and today she affectionately refers to him as “Uncle Ut.”

Later Wednesday evening, Ott Rowlands presented Phan Thi with the Pearl S. Buck Award, with Ut in the front row, his camera focused once again on Phan Thi. 

“Her life and her work undoubtedly exemplify the ideas, values, and commitments of Pearl S. Buck,” Ott Rowland said before Phan Thi and Ut were both welcomed with standing ovations. 

Phan Thi is the eighth recipient of the award, which includes a medallion and $25,000 prize. 

A member of the Class of 1914 and the first American woman to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature, Pearl S. Buck is known for her humanitarian work and for being a champion of civil rights, women’s rights, children’s rights, and the rights of those with disabilities long before these issues were talked about in public.

Her book, The Good Earth, for which she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, offered a description of life in a Chinese peasant village and included perspectives of women who lived and experienced everyday hardships. Her tireless efforts to increase understanding between Asia and America left a lasting imprint on the world.

In her remarks, Phan Thi said she was deeply moved to receive the award and paid tribute to Buck. 

“She understood we are all connected and our shared humanity is far greater than any differences between us,” she said. “In a world that feels divided, it is easy to feel overwhelmed, to believe that one person cannot make a difference. But Pearl S. Buck’s life and my own journey prove that is not true.” 

She challenged attendees to look for the humanity in each other, have the courage to forgive, and to use their voices to help those who are suffering. 

“I believe love, hope, and forgiveness are always more powerful than any kind of weapon,” she said. “With love, we can heal the future.”