TORONTO - A woman who came to symbolize the horrors of the Vietnam War is being honoured today on the 40th anniversary of the photo that made her famous.
Kim Phuc Phan Thi was only a child when she was photographed fleeing a napalm strike on her village in South Vietnam on June 8, 1972.
The image of her running naked down a road captured worldwide attention and later won a Pulitzer Prize.
She now lives in the Toronto area and is set to spend today's milestone looking back at how the iconic photo changed her life.
She'll share the stage at a special event tonight with Nick Ut, the award-winning photographer behind the image, and others who helped her survive the conflict.
The event's organizer says the woman who garnered worldwide fame "can't even describe the emotions" stirred up by the anniversary.
"She would never have been alive if it wasn't for these people," says Liesa Cianchino, who is also a close friend of Kim Phuc's.
Cianchino says the date should always serve as a reminder of the atrocities of war and their impact on children.
Kim Phuc and her husband came to Canada in 1992.
Five years later, she founded the Kim Foundation International, which provides free medical assistance to children who are victims of war and terrorism.
She is also a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, or UNESCO.
