The 1972 Pulitzer Prize-winning picture of a 9-year-old Vietnamese girl running naked down a road with her skin on fire from napalm is an iconic image from the Vietnam War. The girl's name is Kim Phuc and she will visit Denison to lecture on "The Lessons of Life: Love, Hope, and Forgiveness" at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday (March. 20) in Slayter Auditorium. The lecture is free and open to the public.

After the famous picture was taken, Nick Ut, the Associated Press photographer, took Phuc to a South Vietnamese hospital and her village was bombed to the ground. She was hospitalized for 14 months in the U.S. hospital in Saigon struggling to survive the third degree burns that covered half her body. Phuc underwent 17 operations and many years of rehabilitation to get back to normal.

During the 20 years that followed, she was used in the Vietnamese Communist regime's war propaganda. Phuc was forced to quit school and move back to her province, where she was supervised daily as a national symbol of war. In 1992 she and her husband managed to defect from Vietnam and settled in Canada.

Today, Phuc is a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Peace and she tells her story of recovery, forgiveness, and courage, to audiences around the globe. A non-profit organization named after her, the Kim Foundation, is committed to funding programs to heal children in war-torn areas of the world.

Calendar Listing:

CALENDAR LISTING: Denison University, Granville -- The Denison Lecture Series presents Kim Phuc on "The Lessons of Life: Love, Hope, and Forgiveness"; 7.30 p.m., Tuesday (March 20), Slayter Auditorium. Free and open to the public. Call 740-587-6266 to confirm information.

About Denison:

Denison University, founded in 1831, is an independent, residential liberal arts institution located in Granville, Ohio. A highly selective college enrolling 2,100 full-time undergraduate students from all 50 states and dozens of foreign countries, Denison is a place where innovative faculty and motivated students collaborate in rigorous scholarship, civic engagement and the cultivation of independent thinking.

For press inquiries:

Name

Barbara Stambaugh

Position Title

Director, Media Relations

Primary Email

stambaughb@denison.edu

Business Phone

(740) 587-8575