The nine-year-old Vietnamese girl whose image came to symbolise civilian wartime suffering is one of the leaders of Action from Ireland's (AfrI) 12th annual Famine walk in Mayo today.
Phan Thi Kim Phuc and more than 700 other people are walking the 10.5 miles from Doolough to Louisburgh to highlight the plight of children during war and to mark the 150th anniversary of the Famine tragedy at Doolough.
During the Famine, 600 evicted and starving people died when they attempted to make the return walk after being twice denied food or tickets to the workhouse. Each year AfrI commemorates their deaths by asking several individuals to lead the sponsored walk.
This year's event, entitled "A new millennium: war or peace?" is jointly led by musician Conor Byrne, Father Liam Swords, author of In Their Own Words - the Famine of North Connacht 1845-1849 and Ms Phan Thi.
She was photographed in 1972 running naked and terrified, arms outstretched hopelessly, as napalm burned away her clothes and skin. Dozens of villagers joined the horrific flight from Trang Bang, Vietnam, following an air attack by South Vietnamese forces using US-supplied fighter planes and napalm bombs. "My life, family life and my village changed completely. We had nothing after that," said Ms Phan Thi soon after her arrival on Thursday.
That moment in her life won Associated Press photographer Huyng Cong "Nick" Ut a Pulitzer Prize and may have contributed to ending that war, but it almost cost Ms Phan Thi her life. After sustaining third-degree burns on 75 per cent of her body she endured 17 operations in 14 months. Once re covered, she became a propaganda tool for both the US and North Vietnamese governments until she broke free by defecting to Canada from college in Cuba in 1992.
Since moving to North America, she has been unable to see her five brothers and two sisters who still live in Vietnam. However, her pa rents recently visited her in Canada to meet their two grandsons.
In her new home, Ms Phan Thi has dedicated her life to encouraging peace. "In war, the innocent are affected, especially children. They should be living their own lives and going to school and having happiness. When I was wounded my life changed to suffering. It was very painful, very difficult."
The events of June 8th, 1972, are still etched in Ms Phan Thi's skin. The scarred path begins on her left arm and stretches around to clutch the whole of her back. The napalm burns also left her without sweat or oil glands and in constant pain each day.
In 1997 she founded the non-profit Kim Foundation, which assists young victims of war, and was named a UNESCO goodwill ambassador. "I just share my story and give the message that we should not have war, because it is a very heavy price to pay financially, materially and especially at the human level. Everybody suffers and now we need peace for everybody, for all of us."
AfrI is hoping that Ms Phan Thi's story and her first visit to Ireland will encourage the Government to rethink its proposal to join NATO's Partnership for Peace later this year.
"We're extremely concerned that there's been no debate or discussion on it, so we hope this walk will at least focus again on those issues to raise awareness so that we don't throw away years of foreign policy in one fell swoop," said an AfrI spokesman, Mr Joe Murray. "There should be some public debate, discussion and a referendum. Do we really want to be trundled with a partnership that's in a war for the first time in its history?"
Ms Phan Thi believes her physical suffering and her family's displacement highlight the reality of war and its aftermath. "Any disagreement or misunderstanding must be solved by negotiation, not by force. I think I am one who can understand more than anyone what war is and how it is so terrible. I still have the pain and it costs too much. That's why we need peace.".