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TORONTO — A woman who came to symbolize the horrors of the Vietnam War was honoured Friday on the 40th anniversary of the photograph that made her famous.

Kim Phuc Phan Thi was only nine years old when she was photographed fleeing a napalm strike on her village in South Vietnam on June 8, 1972.

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The image of her running naked down a road captured worldwide attention and later won a Pulitzer prize for photographer Nick Ut.

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Kim Phuc now lives in the Toronto area and spent much of the milestone looking back at how the iconic photo changed her life.

“I never thought that the child who was a famous symbol of war would one day be invited to become a symbol of peace,” she told friends and relatives at an event marking the occasion.

“I have so much to be grateful for, but I did not make this journey alone,” she said.

Joining her were Mr. Ut and others who helped her survive the conflict, including doctors, nurses and even an immigration officer who helped her resettle in her adoptive country.