Fifty years ago a young photojournalist covering the war in his native Vietnam took a photograph and saved the life of a young girl badly burned by a napalm attack.
The photo won a Pulitzer Prize and the events that day inspired a friendship that has endured for half a century.
The girl, naked and screaming, ran directly toward Nick Ut's camera — and into history.
Her name is Kim Phuc, and the instant the Associated Press photographer captured her image 50 years ago — on June 8, 1972 — she became more than a victim of a napalm strike on a Vietnamese hamlet.
"Right now, I don't think it is 50 years ago. It just amazed me. I just think, like just yesterday," Ms Phuc said.
She was and is an international symbol of that unpopular war, and of the torment inflicted on innocent people in all wars.
Mr Ut said he hopes the legacy of the image is that "you need to help the people".
Mr Ut was inspired to become a photojournalist by his brother, who worked at the AP before him, and was killed covering a battle.
Now a grandmother, Ms Phuc emigrated to Canada where she lives with her husband.
She was just nine years old when her village was attacked by South Vietnamese planes, dropping napalm on troops and civilians.
Mr Ut heard Ms Phuc's screams as she ran to escape her burning village and snapped the photo.
After taking the photos of her and others, he loaded Ms Phuc into his vehicle and took her to a hospital.
They both agree that's what saved her life. She had burns on over 65 per cent of her body.
"Not only taking the picture, but he did something extra work that he rushed me to the nearest hospital. He saved my life," Ms Phuc said.
"I'm so thankful."
"When I took the picture, the boy, he died right in front of my camera. But my eye saw Kim running without clothes. I saw that she was on fire, burning," Mr Ut said.
"I want to help her right away. If I take more picture[s] I think she die right there. There [were] a lot of journalists there, but everyone left."
He drove her to a small hospital, flashing his American press badge and demanding that doctors treat her.
"I thought, oh my goodness, I got burned like that. I would be ugly girl, not normal anymore," Ms Phuc said.
"I was so terrified and so scared, of course. And I thank God for that moment."
Since that day, Mr Ut tells young photographers to help, rather than stick to a non-interventionist code.
"If something happens, like with Kim, you need to help people. First you need to help people. Before you leave. Save people's lives first," he said.
When he left, Mr Ut assured Ms Phuc that she would not be forgotten.
Mr Ut won a Pulitzer Prize for the chilling photograph that came to symbolise the horrors of the Vietnam War and arguably helped end it.
The photograph is thought to be one of the most memorable pictures of the 20th century.
While looking at the original negatives of the photo in New York, Ms Phuc thanked Mr Ut.
"I'm so thankful that I'm still alive and I'm so thankful for him to be there at that moment, to do his job as a photographer," she said.
"I came from that picture as the victim of war and [it had a] big impact [all] over the world, it touched people's heart[s] and but right now after 50 years I am no longer a victim of war."
AP/ABC
