The Girl in the Picture
Page 36
Denise Chong
For information about The Kim Foundation, please write:
The Kim Foundation
P.O. Box 81024
Chicago, Illinois 60681
United States of America
or
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475 Westney Road North
Ajax, Ontario
Canada L1T 3V2
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
THIS BOOK DEPENDED ON THE TRUST, generosity and courage of Kim Phuc and her parents, Tung and Nu, to reveal to and relive with me a past which, for the most part, they had not given voice to before. Those who brought Kim and myself together for the first time, in early 1995, were her agent, Michael Levine, and my own, Bruce West-wood, both of whom acted on the suggestion of my publisher at Penguin Books, Cynthia Good, and my editor, Meg Masters. This project gave me yet again the privilege of the insight, the encouragement and the caring friendship of Meg, and, at Viking in New York, of Mindy Werner. Thank you also to Wendy Wolf, who came later to the manuscript and was incisive in envisaging it as a book. And I was honored to have again as my copy editor Catherine Marjoribanks, who set the example to strive for. The maps were drawn by Molly Brass, and Susan James saw the book through production.
My early conversations with George Esper kept foremost in my mind the eloquent remembrances of those who reflect on Vietnam not simply as a war, but as a country and its people. Without the fateful photograph having been taken and moved on the Associated Press’s wire, there would not be this book; I depended here on the recollections of Nick Ut, Horst Faas and Carl Robinson. I am grateful also to Arlette Salazar, the widow of Huynh Cong La. At Horst Faas’s invitation, I attended the launch of Requiem, a book he and Tim Page put together of photographs by photographers who died covering the wars in Indochina. There I heard, in George Esper’s gracious company, the reminiscences of old Indochina hands.
Of journalists who once reported from Vietnam, I wish to thank, in particular, Fox Butterfield, who located his notebooks from the day of the napalm strike, and David Burnett, who retrieved from Contact Press the photograph mentioned in the foreword. David Burnett, Nick Ut, and Kim’s parents patiently indulged my use of models, drawn from my children’s playthings, to reconstruct the town of Trang Bang and the events that led to the napalm strike. Others helpful to me had covered the strike or filed stories of Kim Phuc or of the war that came to Trang Bang. They were Peter Arnett, Arthur Lord, Christopher Wain, Michael Blakey and John Graham. Matt Franjola traveled to Trang Bang in the final days of the war and supplied me with details from that period.
Toan, Kim’s husband, welcomed me in their home and was happy to be interviewed himself. Perry Kretz, ever generous, shared his recollections and archives. I also wish to thank several people who worked at the Barsky: Dr. Mark Gorney, Joyce Horn, Dr. My Tu Le and Dr. Norman Merkeley. Dr. D. Erdmann of the Oggersheim Institute was helpful. Among those who gave generously of their time to discuss their relationships with Kim were Merle Ratner and her husband, Ngo Nhan, the late Nancy Pocock, the Diaz family, Maritza Yip and Trieu. John Plummer kindly accommodated all of my questions. In Cuba, I benefited greatly from the interpreting and guide services of Gregory Biniowsky. Mechthild Furlani was helpful with contacts in Germany and translations from German to English.
Most difficult of my research were the interviews I conducted in Vietnam. My traveling companion was my brother, Wayne, and together we coped under circumstances that were often tense. There were several people I interviewed whom I shall not name in the interest of protecting their identities. Both Wayne and I shall ever remember, in particular, one interpreter who bravely led me to stories she thought ought to be told and heard. She reminded me of my friend Frank Zhao. Bruce Levy gave me advice in Vietnam. Back in Canada, Tran Thu was a skilled interpreter who also shared insights on the life she had left behind in Vietnam.
I learned much about the Vietnam and Indochinese wars from published works, many by distinguished journalists, among them Neil Sheehan and Stanley Karnow. Newspaper and film archives proved invaluable. I also read moving and harrowing memoirs of the experiences of the Vietnamese during the war. Much less is available in English of the postwar years in Vietnam, and I was sorry that I did not read Vietnamese.
My dear friend Diana Lary and Mr. Yim Tse at the Asian Library at the University of British Columbia were determined to find the fable that concludes this book. Garth Goddard discussed with me my use of theological language in the manuscript. The Barr family let my papers take over their kitchen tables in Toronto, at the point and on the south shore. Thank you also to Cory Samonte-Vidal, Phillip Winslow, Susan Hans O’Connor, Michael Schellenberg, Jim Caccavo, Neal Ulevich, Ronald Bed-ford, Ian Burney, Vo Suu, Tran Phuong, Fiona McHugh, Annick Hillger, Vo Giang and Shelley Saywell.
And finally, for all the necessary solitude involved in writing a book, the ones who are there from the beginning, and at the end, when all is not yet said but is done, are my family. Thank you Roger, Jade and Kai, with all my heart.