Nick Ut
His photograph of children fleeing a napalm strike became the defining, horrifying face of the Vietnam War for the world.
Born 1951 (age 75)·Vietnamese-American photographer & photojournalist·Birthday: March 29·Baby Boomers
Biography
Nick Ut, born Huỳnh Công Út in 1951, captured an image that seared itself into the global conscience. As a 21-year-old Associated Press photographer in the chaos of the Vietnam War, he arrived at the scene of a misdirected South Vietnamese napalm strike on June 8, 1972. His resulting photograph, 'The Terror of War,' shows a group of screaming children, most famously a naked, badly burned nine-year-old girl named Phan Thị Kim Phúc, running down a road. Ut's immediate act of taking her to a hospital likely saved her life. The photo, published worldwide, stripped away political abstraction and confronted viewers with pure human suffering, galvanizing anti-war sentiment and winning the Pulitzer Prize. Ut continued a long career with the AP, but that single frame remains his monumental legacy—a stark testament to photojournalism's power to shape history.
Baby Boomers
1946–1964
The largest generation in history at the time. Shaped by postwar prosperity, the Vietnam War, the sexual revolution, and Watergate. They questioned every institution their parents built — then ran them.
Nick was born in 1951, placing them squarely in the Baby Boomers. The events that shaped this generation — postwar prosperity, civil rights, Vietnam, and the counterculture — shaped the world they entered and the choices available to them.
#1 When Nick Was Born
The biggest hits of 1951
#1 Movie
Quo Vadis
Best Picture
An American in Paris
#1 TV Show
Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts
Nick's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1951Born
First color TV broadcast in the US
Gas: $0.27/galHome: $7,925Min wage: $0.75/hrPresident: Harry S. Truman"Too Young" — Nat King ColeBest Picture: An American in Paris
1956Started school
Elvis Presley appears on The Ed Sullivan Show
Gas: $0.30/galHome: $10,050Min wage: $1.00/hrPresident: Dwight D. Eisenhower"Heartbreak Hotel" — Elvis PresleyBest Picture: Around the World in 80 Days
1964Became a teenager
Civil Rights Act signed; Beatles arrive in America
Gas: $0.30/galHome: $13,450Min wage: $1.25/hrPresident: Lyndon B. Johnson"I Want to Hold Your Hand" — The BeatlesBest Picture: My Fair Lady
1967Could drive
Summer of Love in San Francisco; first Super Bowl
Gas: $0.33/galHome: $14,250Min wage: $1.40/hrPresident: Lyndon B. Johnson"To Sir, with Love" — LuluBest Picture: In the Heat of the Night
1969Could vote
Apollo 11: humans walk on the Moon; Woodstock festival
Gas: $0.35/galHome: $15,550Min wage: $1.60/hrPresident: Richard Nixon"Sugar, Sugar" — The ArchiesBest Picture: Midnight Cowboy
1972Turned 21
Watergate break-in; last Apollo Moon mission
Gas: $0.36/galHome: $19,550Min wage: $1.60/hrPresident: Richard Nixon"The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" — Roberta FlackBest Picture: The Godfather
1981Turned 30
MTV launches; first Space Shuttle flight; AIDS identified
Gas: $1.31/galHome: $52,300Min wage: $3.35/hrPresident: Ronald Reagan"Bette Davis Eyes" — Kim CarnesBest Picture: Chariots of Fire
1991Turned 40
Soviet Union dissolves; World Wide Web goes public
Gas: $1.14/galHome: $82,400Min wage: $4.25/hrPresident: George H.W. Bush"(Everything I Do) I Do It for You" — Bryan AdamsBest Picture: The Silence of the Lambs
2001Turned 50
September 11 attacks transform the world
Gas: $1.46/galHome: $126,400Min wage: $5.15/hrPresident: George W. Bush"Hanging by a Moment" — LifehouseBest Picture: A Beautiful Mind
2011Turned 60
Osama bin Laden killed; Arab Spring sweeps the Middle East
Gas: $3.53/galHome: $138,400Min wage: $7.25/hrPresident: Barack Obama"Rolling in the Deep" — AdeleBest Picture: The Artist
2021Turned 70
January 6 Capitol breach; COVID vaccines roll out globally
Gas: $3.01/galHome: $298,900Min wage: $7.25/hrPresident: Joe Biden"Levitating" — Dua LipaBest Picture: CODA
2026Age 75 today
Gas: $3.91/galPresident: Donald Trump
Key Achievements
- Won the 1973 Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography for 'The Terror of War' (Napalm Girl).
- Awarded the 1973 World Press Photo of the Year for the same iconic image.
- Had a decades-long career as a photojournalist for the Associated Press, covering major events in the U.S. and Asia.
- His 1972 photograph is widely credited with shifting public opinion about the Vietnam War.
Did You Know?
He began working for the Associated Press at age 16, following his brother, who was also an AP photographer killed in the war.
After taking the famous photo, he drove the injured children, including Kim Phúc, to a hospital in his own car.
He later became an American citizen and worked out of the AP's Los Angeles bureau.
In 2021, an NFT of his famous photograph sold for over $100,000, with proceeds going to support Kim Phúc's foundation.
“I saw the children running and I saw Kim Phúc without clothes. I thought, 'Oh my God.' I took a lot of pictures of her.”
