Today was an interesting day. I met a lady who's photograph changed the way the world looks at war. During the Vietnam war a small village called Trang Bang in south Vietnam was carpeted with a new weapon called Napalm. Kim Phuc was nine years old when the 4 bombs dropped all around the pagoda she and her family were hiding in. Napalm scorched the entire area , vaporising everything in sight , exploding with seering heats over 1200 degrees. Minutes later American Gi's and the world press watched horrified as Kim Phuc and her infant brothers and sisters ran out of the fireball.

Photographer Nick Ut captured the atrocities of war as the children ran towards the Gi's. Kim Phuc's clothes had disintigrated in the blast and her skin was literally melting off her body. This photo changed both Nick and Kim's life forever.

Tonight Kim Phuc spoke at St Georges school in front of 150 kids and a scotsman.

It was incredibly moving experience as she spoke about her life before the war and then after the attack on her village that left her scarred for life mentally and phsically.

Kim was in hospital for almost 2 years in Saigon after the Napalm attack. Her whole body was so badly burned and she suffered terrible nightmares. She healed and grew up to complete medical school in cuba where she met her husband and together they defected to Canada where she now lives with 2 children in Toronto.

Kim spoke for an hour. Entertaining the crowd with epic humor and reducing everyone to tears with her tales of being a kid during a horrible war. Here she is with the school doctor. I think it brought back awful flashbacks for him because he was a bubbling mess . She spoke of years later forgiving the pilots who dropped the napalm bombs and actually met them and are now bonded in friendship.

The photo that changed the Vietnam war and a little girl's life forever. Image courtesy of photographer Nick Ut.

War is hell !!