An elderly man stands frightened and shocked, looking at Nick Ut’s iconic image of 9-year-old Kim Phuc running naked down Route 1 near Trang Bang after aerial attacks were launched on suspected Viet-Cong hideouts in the Vietnam War.
“This picture stood out the most to me,” said 84-year-old Navy vet Jerry Dimas. “When it comes to war the children suffer the most. The Vietnam war was a useless war, though we fought for Democracy and capitalism against communism, there didn’t have to be so much violence.”
Jerry did not serve in the Vietnam war but his brother, Rick Dimas, did. It was Rick who told him about the exhibit and recommended him to visit it.
“Absolutely,” said Dimas, when asked if the exhibit pays enough homage to the war. “The photos are beautifully shown … they describe everything my brother told me.”
The photo of 9-year-old Kim is one of the many Associated Press photographs of the “Real War: Vietnam” on display at the Haggin Museum. The exhibit shows 50 large-format photographs taken by the photojournalists that were gathered by the Associated Press to cover the war live and is free of charge to veterans “to show our appreciation and to honor those who served.”
The exhibit is organized by the Huntsville museum that travels it around the country.
“The exhibit is important to help keep the past alive,” according to Haggin Museum CEO Susan Obert.
“When we look at our temporary schedule exhibits we try to balance art and history and we felt that it would tell a story in history that sometimes is forgotten and for us doing it through the photography of the Associated Press is a great way to get that word out, so the history is not forgotten,”she said. So why should people come and visit this exhibit?
“(The exhibit shows) very serious content,” said Obert. “It can be difficult for some people to see but I think we have learned as a society that we need to learn from our history and I think it reminds us of both the good and bad of humanity and the role we play in our society. It’s just one glimpse of it, but it’s the reality of something that happened and it is important that people don’t forget it.”
Stockton resident Ana Laura, 44, agreed.
“I think it’s very cool to have an exhibit as nice and descriptive as this one here in Stockton that shows me about a war I know little about,” said Laura. “It’s a great exhibit to show anyone from any range about how these people reacted and suffered during the Vietnam war.”
The exhibit runs until Oct. 31, is open Wednesday through Friday from 1:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday-Sunday from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. Admission for Students from the age of 10-17 with a valid ID is $5 and Adults from 18-64 is $8.