On March 29, 1964, after a photograph of a badly burned small child appeared in the American press, the Department of Defence admitted that napalm bombs had been supplied to South Vietnamese forces, and had been used in aerial bombardments with U.S. instructors on board. As American casualties and fatalities increased and more and more images of civilian casualties resulting from napalm bombings were broadcast around the world, popular opinion in the United States and abroad turned increasingly against U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War.
The fact that the Vietnam War was broadcast widely on television, meant that the true horror of napalms devastating effects was seen by the public and became one of the key factors in shifting public opinion against its use in combat. Napalm was seen as a particularly inhumane weapon. Due to its adhesive properties, it stuck to human flesh, causing deep burns. Smothering the flame was the only effective way to extinguish the fire. Trying to wipe it off only spread the burning material and expanded the burn area.
Over 85% of napalm burn victims experience fourth-degree burns to the deepest hypodermic layer and fifth-degree burns which burn right down to the muscle. Secondary effects of napalm include burns in the upper part of the windpipe from heat fumes, as well as carbon monoxide poisoning, shock, mental disorder and nervous prostration.
Perhaps, Nick Ut’s 1973 Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph, “The Terror of War” best encapsulates why napalm came to be so reviled during the conflict. On June 8, 1972, Associated Press photographer Nick Ut captured the iconic image of a naked and badly burned nine-year-old girl, Phan Thi Kim Phuc, fleeing a napalm attack by South Vietnamese forces following a “friendly fire”. The expression of agony and terror on that little girl’s face revealed the true horror of napalm’s effects on its victims.
Ut recalls how he had seen a group of children running down the highway toward him in terror. After Ut took his iconic image, he tended to Kim Phuc’s wounds. He poured water over her body, before taking her to a hospital, where he discovered that she had sustained third-degree burns covering thirty percent of her body and that she might not survive.
Ut, with the help of his colleagues, transferred Kim Phuc to an American treatment facility which ultimately saved her life. Kim Phuc underwent seventeen operations and lay in a coma for six months and spent a total of fourteen months in the hospital. Kim Phuc became a potent symbol of civilian suffering during the Vietnam War and the horrible reality of napalm as an indiscriminate weapon.
In 1980, the United Nations Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCWC) declared the use of napalm against civilian populations a war crime. It became law in 1983, but it wasn’t until January 21, 2009, President Barack Obama’s first day in full office, that the United States signed up to the Convention. The United States signature contains a reservation where at its discretion, it can choose not to adhere to the treaty in situations where it believes that by doing so would save civilian lives.
Sources For Further Reading:
Naplam Biography – Born A Hero, It Lives a Pariah
The Asia Pacific Journal – Napalm in Us Bombing Doctrine and Practice, 1942-1975
National Archive – Napalm Bomb Exploding
Smithsonian Museum – A F-100D Aircraft Dropping a Napalm Bomb Near Bien Hoa, South Vietnam
Robert M. Neer – Napalm: An American Biography
How Stuff Works – How Napalm Works
War History Online – Liquid Fire – How Napalm Was Used in The Vietnam War
Time Magazine – The Story Behind the ‘Napalm Girl’ Photo Censored by Facebook
The New York Times – Why Napalm Is a Cautionary Tale for Tech Giants Pursuing Military Contracts
History Collection – The Ongoing Devastation of Agent Orange is a Cruel Legacy of the Vietnam War
Department of Defense – The War in South Vietnam
International Committee of The Red Cross – 1980 Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons