KIM'S GIFT OF FORGIVENESS

KIM'S GIFT OF FORGIVENESS -Part II

THREE DAYS after the bombing raid, Captain Jhon Plummer picked up a military newspaper in the mess hall at Third Regional Assistance Command. Pulmmer, 24, a North Carolina native and a career Army officern was on his second tour in Vietnam. Beneath the nacho exterior was a sensitive, divorced father. An accomplished helicopter pilot, he was now coordinating air support for ground operations.

Plummer opened the paper and saw Ut's picture of Kim, That pour kid, he thought. When he read the caption, "Crying children run down Route One after bomb strike," his heart turned over.

He remembered that day's orders. Around 1 p.m. he got a radio call, a Tac-E (tactical emergency indicating friendly troops were in imminent danger) from a U.S. military adviser in Trang Bang. "NVA Forces have us pinned down," he told Plummer. He asked for air support and gave the coordinates of the North Vietnamese troops, Plummer plotted them and saw they were on the edge of the village,
"What about friendlies?" Plummer asked, concerned that a bombing strike would endanger civilians. The adviser replied, "They are all gone." Pulmmer called the South Vietnamese headquarters at nearby Bien Hoa airfield and ordered the air-strike.
To be sure that the villagers had left Trang Bang, he called the American adviser at Cu Chi district headquaters. The message came back, "Confirmed. It's clear".
Now Plummer stared at Kim Phuc, her agony caught for eternity. His own son Louis was about the same age. He could almost smell her burning flesh.

He showed the paper to an intelligence officer sitting across the table In shock, Plummer said, I did that."

Kim survived, After 14 months and 17 skin-graft operations in Saigon's Barsky Hospital, she was discharged to the care of her mother. Her left arm was virtually useless, her hand closed into a claw. The grafts on her shoulders were so tight she couldn't turn her head. The hotter the weather, the worse Kim's back and arm hurt. The grafted skin had no sweat glands and its blood circulation was poor. "It feels like hundreds of knives are cutting into me," Kim said.

Her mother helped her exercise every day until her hand unlocked. But Kim's back and arm were covered with rippled skin. No one will marry me because I'm so ugly, she thought.

JHON PLUMMER'S tour of duty in Vietanm ended in November 1972 and he was transferred to Fort Rucker, Alabama, where he worked as a helicopter flight instructor. He kept his role in the bombing of Trang Bang secret, locked deep within his soul. It surfaced in the form of a nightmare.

First Plummer would see Nick Ut's picture of Kim. Then the image would widen to include her brother and cousins running alongside her. Finally, he would hear their screams, louder and louder until he felt surrounded by the accusing children.

Plummer began drinking heavily. In July 1973 he married for the second time, but he still kept his secret. No one can understand, he thought.

to be continued.....................