Memoirs of Vietnamese Mothers of War Martyrs
Thái
Thị Ngọc Dư, Nguyễn Thị Nhận, Lê Hoàng Anh Thư
(Gender
and Society Research Center)
Abstract
The
aim of this research project was to collect testimonies from the living Mothers
of Martyrs who survived two wars while fighting in Vietnam against France and
America. Some of them were later designated as Heroic Vietnamese Mothers by the
State. The majority of them are old now and in deteriorating health. The paper
resulting from the project first examines Vietnamese and foreign literature
that portrays the roles of Vietnamese women in these two wars, their quiet
sacrifices, and the terrible pain young mothers experienced because their
husbands and children died for their country’s independence. Their suffering
endured during the post-war period continues even today. Secondly, this paper
discusses the outcome of interviews with sixteen Heroic Vietnamese Mothers
currently living in Ho Chi Minh City who revealed their unceasing grief at the
death of their loved ones; such memories are obviously still deeply engrained
in their minds despite the passing of time. Though they are living in
loneliness today, they accept their situation considering it a fact of war, and
that their sacrifice was needed to obtain national independence. They
themselves actively participated in the different war activities as resistance
fighters, and a number of them were imprisoned by the enemies. They have very
fond memories and are intensely proud of the past when they joined the
revolution and faced hardships and life-threatening danger. Having suffered so
much pain and adversity during the wars, these women characteristically love
peace with all their mind and heart.
Introduction
A Review of the Literature
For some the war has never ended
Vietnam has been without war for
more than 30 years. Young generations born during this time of peace only know
about wars through documentaries, movies, television dramas, history lessons,
exhibitions of photos and artifacts in museums or through the occasional
narratives of their grandparents, parents, uncles and aunts. However, living
right in the heart of this peaceful country are several living witnesses who
experienced the brutal wars fought against France and America that once existed
in Vietnam not too long ago. These witnesses are the Mothers-of-War
Martyrs or former members of the volunteer youth corps, war veterans
or the victims of agent orange and their relatives who are still nursing their
dioxin-contaminated children born during or even long after the war. It seems
to these people that the wars never ended. The image of war is refreshed
repeatedly in their minds by facing the remnants of war in their quotidian
lives, or suffering every day from the disabilities that torture them or their
loved ones. They are reminded of the wars by the sickness, losses and
persisting painful memories of their dead husbands and children or their
unrequited yearnings for having a family of their own. As Sonya Schoenberger,
an American high-school student, wrote in her article in the Tuoi Tre Newspaper
(4/25/2011) about her first visit to the War Remnants Museum in Hanoi: “For
some, the war never ends.”
In all wars, not only those
restricted to Vietnam, the image of women always incurs feelings of pity in the
observers. It is probable that wars are perceived by most people as being
exclusively the domain of men, hence the position of women during wartime
should be limited to the roles of a soldier’s wife, a mother, a lover or a
loved one. However, the fact of the matter is that the number of women who
engaged in wars, for example in Vietnam, is remarkable. According to a book
entitled “Even the Women Must Fight” (1998) by Karen Gottschang Turner and Phan
Thanh Hao, the number of women who joined the army in Northern Vietnam during
the war against America was 1.5 million. The number of youths who joined the
Volunteer Youth Corps in the North during the period from 1965 to 1975 was
170,000 and 70%-80% of them were women. This number does not include the
approximately 1 million women who joined guerrilla and civilian troups in their
own localities. Seventy percent of the heavy work performed in provinces and
cities in the North, including bridge-and-road repair, was done by women. From
170,000 to 180,000 of the women who were youth volunteers are still alive. The
number of women who became widows or were unable to get married due to the wars
is 1.4 million (Turner and Phan Thanh Hao 1998).
The title “Heroic Vietnamese
Mothers” (“Bà mẹ Việt Nam Anh hùng”) is
an honorable title granted by the government of Vietnam to Vietnamese women who
made tremendous contributions and sacrifices while making it a national career
to fight for independence and to protect the country or in being involved in
other international affairs. This title granted by the government was passed
into law effective August 29, 1994. According to Article 2 of this law, the
women who qualified for this honored title had to meet the requirements set by
the Information Gate website on Awards and Contests: having
had two soldier sons or a husband killed in the war or the woman herself was a
martyr; having 2 sons, both of whom were martyrs, or having only one son who
was a martyr; having more than 3 sons who were martyrs; or having one son who
was a martyr, or both she and her husband were martyrs.
Shortly after the law was passed the
Government awarded this honorable title to 44,253 women between December 1994
to the end of the year 2001, of whom 15,033 were from the North, and 29,220
were from the South. In 2003 a total of 1,899 Mothers-of-Martyrs were awarded
in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) alone, however, only 631 of them were still alive at
that time; 1,192 mothers had passed away and 76 had died during the war. In
1997 the Communist Party, People’s Committee, People’s Council, and Fatherland
Front of HCMC honored 1,787 Vietnamese Heroic Mothers in the project titled
“Vietnamese Heroic Mothers of HCMC” (Women’s Union of HCMC).
These remarkable figures reveal to
us how actively women participated in the war. Therefore, more research on the
war experiences of Vietnamese women is very necessary and pressing so that the
life experiences and stories of former generations, especially those of women,
will not be lost.
The image of women as war victims
Several studies were conducted in
Vietnam and other countries that researched the topic of women and war. An
example of the results edited by Nicole Ann Dombrowski appear in the volume
“Women and War in the Twentieth Century: Enlisted with or without Consent”
(2004). In the book, the authors report their investigations of the images of
women: in various wars and armed conflicts, in many countries, from different
aspects and roles that women play as aggressive female warriors or as patient
wives passively waiting for their husbands.
Women had to simultaneously take on
multiple roles and responsibilities during war, and yet the most frequently
depicted image of women in war was that of defenseless victims. Women in the
roles of soldiers’ lovers, relatives or mothers were usually described as
passive subjects. However, the role of the passive victims of war had
significant meaning in maintaining and supporting the fighting ethic of
soldiers (Dombrowski 2004). The portrait of Vietnamese mothers was highly
praised also for the purpose of boosting the ethic of soldiers in fighting to
protect their hometown and their beloved ones including their mothers. Even at
the present time of peace, the image of Mothers-of-Martyrs still holds its
eminent value and serves as a new purpose to keep the nation’s history of
resistance alive in a society where war remnants are slowly becoming less and
less visible. These mothers now are the living moral examples of patriotism and
unconditional sacrifice for the nation. The images of lonesome mothers who lost
their sons during war still arouse sympathy and pity in everyone. The media
frequently covers the updated news and pictures of these mothers as the victims
of war who had to suffer a tremendous loss. This is still a very powerful and
convincing image to remind the present generation about the sacrificial spirit
of the former generation in their struggle for peace.
The image of women as mothers
What is notable, in several research
studies conducted on women and war, is how the women’s role as mothers was
affected by the wars. However, in most of the research it was found that the
reproductive function of women was used to meet wartime policies of increasing
the population (Roseman 2004) or supporting their desire to become mothers
(Turner 1998). No research was found indicating that women sacrificed their
role as mothers by allowing their children to engage in life-threatening
warfare, when there was an extremely high risk of losing them as was the case
with the Heroic Vietnamese Mothers.
During the First World War in
France, motherhood was endorsed by the government in different forms such as
discouraging abortion or by separating those women who were obtaining an
abortion from those who were ready to give birth in maternity hospitals. This
implied that women who bore children were of higher moral character (Roseman
2004). As Roseman found in her research, married mothers had to learn to take
care of themselves and be independent in their daily life even during their
pregnancy and giving birth. Thus, the concept of ‘home’ as-well-as that of
‘private space’ extended to include the maternity hospital. The first place
where a newborn baby was taken care of before the war broke out, traditionally
the private home, had now shifted to the maternity hospitals.
Pham Bich Hang’s (2002) research on
women within the region of Northern Vietnam, during the war against America,
featured the mothers-in-law as trying to prevent their daughters-in-law from leaving
their homes so that their sons would not have to worry about their wives’
fidelity and could concentrate on fighting. The wives of these young soldiers
were very aware of being faithful to their husbands, however, they also chose
to go out and join social activities in order to focus on other things rather
than fill their minds with worry and waiting.
Turner (1998) also mentioned in her
book women’s desire to become mothers of volunteer youths. These women returned
from the Truong Son mountain range already past the age of marriage, suffering
from bad health, and faded beauty and youth after several years of living in
severe hardship and chronic shortage. They returned from the battle only to
find out that many of them were not able to start a family. Some of them wanted
a baby so badly that they chose to have babies out of wedlock despite severe
social criticism. Several of them dared not have babies for fear of bearing
deformed babies as a consequence of their health conditions and agent-orange contamination.
Still no research has been conducted
focusing on the sacrifices, emotions and experiences of women during and after
the wars, especially those of the Mothers-of-Martyrs. For the women who chose
to send their children to the front this sacrifice encompassed not only the
pain of losing their own children, they were also sacrificing their motherhood
and their innate mother’s desire to protect their children.
The image of women as war heroines
Women were not only passive war
victims, they were also the agents of war in their own right. They were the
ones who willingly joined the army and in some cases even changed their
situation so that they could reach a more desirable social status or find a new
direction for their life.
Mary Ann Tétreault (1991) noticed
that women were not usually described as victims in Vietnamese literary and
scholarly works. In contrast they were portrayed as mothers, heroines, and
supporters of the revolution whose contributions were vital to its success.
Most of the recent writings regarding Vietnamese Heroic Mothers aimed to stress
their manners which was quite vivid in how they patiently waited for their
husbands and children, how they displayed their reactions when they heard news
of a loved one’s death, and in the manner in which they encouraged the fighting
spirit of their loved ones. In the book entitled “Under the Shadow of the Same
Flag” (Chung một bóng cờ”, 1993), Vietnamese Heroic Mothers are characterized
as having “volunteered to contribute their talents, intellect, and wonderful
courage to their Country”, “set shining examples for the next generation”, and
becoming “seemingly paradoxical albeit real icons that reflect the combination
of heroic traits and the warm-hearted nature of Vietnamese women” (Trần Bạch
Đằng 1993).
The idealized images of Vietnamese
women are those of mothers who brought up soldiers for the battle-field, and
who rebuild the post-war society when peace was re-established (Turner 1998).
Mothers-of-Martyrs hence became the models of morality which represented all
Vietnamese mothers during wartime who could take care of their families while
fighting as civilian soldiers (Turner 1998). Mothers-of-Martyrs are also called
the heritage of the people’s tradition (Southern Women Museum 2011). This image
of an ideal woman has actually long existed in Vietnamese tradition as
reflected in the old proverb: “When the enemy comes even women must fight.”
This tradition can be found in the long history of resistance against foreign
invaders and is illuminated by the legacy of courageous female generals
including The Two Trung Sisters (Hai Bà Trưng), Bà Triệu, Bùi Thị Xuân , etc.
Turner (1998) emphasizes that
Vietnam is a special case study for researchers who study women and war.
Vietnamese culture values femininity, and women’s traditional positions and
roles in the domestic sphere. The duties expected of women were to be at home
and care for their husbands and children. Yet as war broke out in their
homeland the Vietnamese women left their domestic zones and their traditional
duties for the heavy productive work to replace the men who left for battle;
they even abandoned their traditionally-defined feminine manners to carry
rifles, dig roads and repair the bridges or join the guerrilla troops.
Numerous research projects have also
explored the motives why women decided to join the military. The research
determined that women are not simply passive victims of wars, they also
actively took advantage of the wartime situation to change their own life.
During the First World War in Europe, women joined the labor force or the
civilian self-defense troops as a way to express patriotism. In that way they
gained higher positions in society and stepped out of their expected duties as
housewives. These women joined a variety of activities in the hope of gaining a
larger share in the socioeconomic landscape. As a consequence, they received
more education, were allowed to join productive activities and some of them
even attempted to integrate into the political system (Dombrowski 2004).
Dombrowski (2004) noted that in
former colonized countries like Vietnam, rising against the imperial powers
contributed to a change in gender relations in society. Specifically, the modes
of fighting employed by Vietnamese during the wars were mainly indirect
approaches to the enemy, (for example, guerrilla fighting) which opened many
avenues for women to take part. Work such as transporting weapons, repairing
roads and bridges was dominated by women during the wars. As such, women
obtained broader roles in society.
In China a small number of women
participated in the revolution as an escape from the tradition of arranged
marriages in the villages or from the burden of pleasing their husband’s family
(Young 2004). It was their understanding that the concept of “revolution”
simply had very down-to-earth meanings such as not being exploited or tortured
by the family, being rid of poverty and hunger, escaping from arranged
marriages and from working as unpaid laborers for their family, or (for the
more educated ones) fighting for social equity and national integrity. This
revolution gave these women a chance to be free of their dependent, obedient
traits.
Turner’s research (1998) on former
female volunteer youths in the North of Vietnam revealed that the spirit of
patriotism was the major motive behind their voluntarily leaving for the front.
Other reasons that lured these youths from Hanoi to Trường Sơn Trail were to
follow the call, to feel the romance of leaving their parents’ home, or for
other practical reasons. However, most of them believed that they had no
alternative choice except to fight for their country. Participating in the
revolution opened a myriad of opportunities for self-improvement to them. Many
of them learned how to read and write in the jungles. Many returned home with
greater confidence and a higher education, especially since numerous women were
liberated from the bamboo fences of their villages and were able to make their
way to higher positions in society (Turner 1998).
The revolutionary roles of women in
the two resistance wars, against France and America, were positively described
in several Vietnam studies. Millions of women participated in the two wars. The
victory of the August Revolution was also viewed as freedom from slavery for women
and following the revolution they became the owners of their own country, which
enabled them to take part in duties both in the rear and at the front. They
proved themselves to be equally as talented as men. Consequently,
Honorable-Military-Hero medals were awarded to many women, such as Ms. Nguyễn
Thị Chiên, Ms. Hồ Thị Bi, and Ms. Lê Thị Tạo (Electronic Information Board
of Hau Giang province). The women’s campaign in the Southern region during
the war against America was simultaneously a women’s revolution, during which
time the Vietnamese women were honored with the title “excellent in the
nation’s work, talented in housework” (Trần Bạch Đằng 1993). Viet Minh gave
women the opportunity to participate in political meetings, voice their
opinions and allowed them to play critical roles in the revolution. Women
shared their efforts and labors in the heaviest work including transporting
weapons and food to the far-flung front. They were jailed, tortured or even
murdered while carrying out their mission just as their male counterparts were.
Revolutionary forces set up the liberalizing and educational programs for women
that produced female warriors. Some of them had glorious careers like Ms.
Nguyễn Thị Minh Khai (Turner 1998).
In the rear in Northern Vietnam,
women were educated and trained for various skills and were proud of their
participation in the social labor force in place of men, according to research
conducted by Phạm Bích Hằng (2002). Many of the women left their domestic zones
and fully joined social activities while some were prevented from doing so by
their mothers-in-law who wanted to prevent their sons’ wives from being exposed
to broader social interactions. Several women told the researcher that they
went out and joined society because they wanted to feel respected. At home they
were treated severely by their mothers-in-law who wanted to assure the fidelity
of their daughters-in-law during the absence of their sons and to secure their
daughters-in-law’s devotion to housework.
In another research study by
Katayama Sumiko (2005), it was revealed that the People’s Newspaper, one
operated by the Communist party, promulgated the image of actively working
women during the period from 1966 to 1970. This newspaper portrayed the
important contributions made by the women in several social productive realms,
especially in agriculture. The campaign “Three Responsibilities” (Ba đảm đang”)
that was often attacked by international feminists as a new form of
exploitation against women, was highly praised by the People’s Newspaper as a
remarkable collective effort of the Northern Vietnamese women.
However, the existing research
projects have not paid much attention to the fighting movements of Southern
Vietnamese women, and there are almost no accounts regarding Vietnamese Heroic
Mothers. Why did they agree to let the husbands and children join the war? Many
of them were also fighting during the war and lost their loved ones in the war.
What did they expect of themselves after such tremendous personal sacrifice?
How did their roles in family, community and society change during the years of
war and the post-war time as well? What were the direct impacts the war had on
their quotidian life, their roles in family, in community and in their gender
relations?
When peace was re-established
Questions were asked in numerous
studies regarding the real possibility of women being liberated as a
consequence of the wars (for example, Young 2004, Turner 1998, Dombrowski 2004,
Lê Thị Quý 1996). Dombrowski (2004) argued that in many regions in the world
women were not fairly rewarded for their contributions and that they held on to
“betrayed hopes”. Their labor and efforts during wars were lost in history and
the country for which they made huge sacrifices are still continuously ruled by
men. Young (2004) wondered about the fate of the girls who ran away from their
villages to join the revolution and the Long March in China. Young asked
whether they were still liberated from their homes after the revolution. Lê Thị
Quý (1993) noted the occurring phenomenon of “invisible violence” which
confronted women when they returned from the battlefield in Vietnam. After the
war, the tradition of “respecting the males and despising the women” (“trọng
nam khinh nữ”) rose again. Numerous women wanted to start a family of their own
and once they could, they were successful in creating one after many
painstaking efforts. In family life, they became obedient and submissive to
their husbands again in order to keep harmony in the family that had taken too
much suffering to create.
In Vietnam, numerous women were
mothers of invalids or martyrs, and they also participated in the fighting.
Many of their names are still widely known following the war and are frequently
mentioned in the media. For example, Mother Nguyễn Thị Thứ in Quãng Nam, the
mother of 9 sons, 1 son-in-law and 1 grandson, all of whom are martyrs; Mother
Nguyễn Thị Rành in Củ Chi who is also a designated Military Hero; The
Military-Hero mother, Nguyễn Thị Điểm, who actively participated in secret
attacks in Saigon; Mother Nguyễn Thị Thập, former president of the Women’s
Union, lost her son who was educated overseas in the Trường Sơn trail; and
Mother Bùi Thị Mè, a former Vice-Minister at the Ministry of Health Service –
Invalids and Society, and a mother of 3 martyrs. (according to the Vietnam
Women’s Union).
In fact, however, many women who
sacrificed much for the war still remain obscure and have received no
recognition or compensation from the government. According to Turner (1998),
the war against America in Vietnam was different from the conflicts occurring
in other countries because it was a people’s war. The war penetrated each
village, each urban corner, and it touched each family and each individual’s
life. It was a war with blurred, not clear-cut lines between the rear and the
front. Therefore, all the efforts, hardships and contributions to the war were
deemed as a collective endeavor by all the people. Hence, numerous young women
living on the Ho Chi Minh trail, in deep jungles, or fighting with myriads of
military troops were unknown and not recognized for their sacrifice.
Only a few individuals have been
singled out for their contributions and their reputations are widely known to
the public. It is because their feats were representative in certain
geographical locations. For example, Ms. Ngô Thị Tuyến was famous for
protecting Hàm Rồng Bridge in Thanh Hóa and General Nguyễn Thị Định was the
representative for Southern Vietnam's battlefield. In addition, their
sacrifices inspired and encouraged their fellow men and women to participate in
the revolution (Turner 1998). Despite recent attempts made by the government,
including awarding the honorable title “Vietnamese Heroic Mother” and providing
former youth volunteers with small monthly stipends, there is obviously still
much to be done to compensate these women both materially and psychologically.
Turner (1998) expressed her concern
about the extremely high cost that so many people had to pay for the war, the
heavy debt that those living owe the dead, and how history should be recorded
so as to keep the memory of the past and the meaning of these sacrifices at its
right level of value. Mothers-of-Martyrs are probably those women who receive
more sympathy from society for their huge personal sacrifice. Many of them do
not have any close relatives left to take care of them in their old age and
have no offspring to worship them when they pass away (which is extremely
important in Vietnamese culture). Many former female-youth-volunteers returned
home and faced the strong possibility of not getting married due to their bad
health situation, their beauty having faded, or their being unable to give
birth or worried about the risk of having deformed babies. Many of them had to
adopt children, or had children out of wedlock. These former volunteer youths
have yet to be appropriately acknowledged by the State. Most of the former
female-volunteer youths who were interviewed by Karen Turner for her book “Even
the Women Must Fight” (1998) were living in poverty. Yet, in spite of their own
plight, they were more concerned about other former comrades. They felt pity
for those who lost their lives during the war, even felt guilty for being
alive, and they were especially worried about friends who were living alone
without husbands or children.
The stories of Vietnamese women who
lived during the wars, either in the rear or in the front, have yet to be
studied properly. The number of studies on this topic has been approached
mainly from historical angles to record their heroic sacrifices or fighting
experiences and their memories of the past. The present life experiences of
these women have not yet been studied well. Notably, most of the research has
been conducted mainly in the North. The South with its own characteristics in
politics and social conditions deserves more attention in its own right.
The Vietnamese-Heroic-Mothers are
especially remarkable subjects for more thorough research because many of them
are very old and in bad health, and many have passed away. This fact certainly
will pose a great deal of difficulty for the researchers. Their life stories
should be told and recorded before this generation entirely disappears. The
stories behind their honorable title should be heard so that we can have a
deeper understanding about the women and mothers who lived during the wars. How
are their lives now? What hardship did they have to suffer during the war? What
were their expectations when they left their husbands and children for the
wars? Did they join the revolution on their own and what did they do? What are
their thoughts and emotions for their dead loved ones? What do they wish for
their lives now? These are some of the minor aspects that this study aimed to
illuminate.
Research methodology
From May to August 2011, in-depth
interviews were conducted with 16 women, including 13 Mothers-of-Martyrs who
were designated Vietnamese Heroic Mothers, and two women who had joined the
revolution yet were not designated the title, and one woman with children
contaminated by dioxin.
These individuals were selected from
a list of 191 Vietnamese Heroic Mothers of 2010 who are receiving an allowance
from the Bureau of Labor, Invalids and Society. These Mothers had children
and husbands who died during the three periods of war: the war against France,
America, and the conflict at the Southwestern border. The rural locale of Củ
Chi with a tradition of fighting and being famous for having a large number of
living Vietnamese Heroic Mothers has not been studied. The interview results
presented in this paper are based mainly on discussions with the Mothers–of-
Martyrs, and did not focus on the women who took part in the revolution or on
the female agent-orange victims
Results
The result of the interviews with
Heroic Vietnamese Mothers
Age range
The birth-years of the mothers
ranged from 1914 to 1939; most of them were born before 1925. That meant, as
others in their cohort, they and their families lived through two major wars
and most of their lifetime was during war. Now many are older than 80 or 90, in
conditions of fragile health, who many times have been ill and have difficulty
walking.
Their hometowns and areas where they followed the
revolutionary activities
Most of the women interviewed were
from the Mekong River Delta Provinces such as Long An, Tiền Giang, Đồng Tháp,
or HCMC’s outskirt areas like Củ Chi, Bình Chánh, or Bình Dương. One woman was
from Quảng Nam in the central region who moved to Sài Gòn for her activities
after her identity was uncovered in Bình Định Province.
Most of the women were from farming
families in rural areas. A few of them grew up in small-time trading families
in the countryside or in small towns. Growing up in poor families in rural
areas during the years of 1930-1940, most of them had not attended school and
were illiterate; they informed us that they now can read newspapers and books
thanks to the time they served in the revolution [1]. The rural
areas they were living in were called the “free zones” or the “resistant wars
zones” (meaning places controlled by the Viet Minh) during the resistance
against France, or the “liberalized” zone during the war against America. The
areas completely under the Viet Minh’s control, and hence relatively safe, were
called the base during the war against France. Outside the bases were the
“free” zones inhabited by people doing business with each other using “Viet
Minh money and everyone supported the Viet Minh. People from the free zones
usually commuted to and between their zones, the French zones or the
government-controlled zones. They had identity cards and used Indochina money
when they entered the government zones. The free zones were very often bombed
and sometimes raided by the French soldiers or mercenaries who arrested or shot
men and raped women. Until the dawn of the French colonial time, Vietnam
succeeded in expanding the free zones and there were virtually undocumented
agreements on the existence of borders between the free zones and government
zones. The government set up the military posts yet the business and trading
activities of people, mainly that of women, had no interference.
After the Genèva Accords in 1954,
the South of Vietnam belonged to Saigon’s government and the resistant war
zones no longer existed. During the 1960s, under the leadership of the National
Liberation Front, the resistant bases were built again and since then the
liberated zones have expanded. There were also the so-called “sticky rice and
bean” zones (xôi đậu) in which people lived and joined the revolution [2]. They and
areas where the “temporarily-lost” zones (meaning the government-controlled
zones so designated by the Viet Minh) and the liberated zones overlapped were
controlled by the Saigon government during the day and by the revolutionary
troops at night,
Being born and growing up in resistant war zones, and to families with revolutionary traditions, it seemed natural that these women would also join the resistant movements and most participated in both wars. These women told us that they joined the mass movement of the people in their neighborhood to join the revolution.
They were active mainly in their own
hometowns which were either in the countryside or in the provinces. Some of
them worked in the outskirts of Sài Gòn (e.g. Bình Chánh, Củ Chi) or in the
inner districts of the city (e.g. Tân Bình). Many times during their activities
they had to move to Sài Gòn or to the government zones because their identities
as resistance fighters were discovered.
Their memoirs of what they
remembered most and in the greatest detail
The women’s narratives were possibly
affected by prompting from the interviewers. Interviews were usually begun by
making inquiries about their health and their present life. Then the questions
asked were about their participating in past activities and their lives during
that time, and finally the circumstances under which their loved ones died.
This order was followed to avoid encroaching on their sad memories so abruptly
early in the conversation and to let the women recall memories of other parts
of their life-long stories. Regardless of the narrative flow, there were things
in their lives that these women obviously remembered in greater detail. It
included: their participation in resistant activities, the diverse activities
they were responsible for, anecdotes about their cleverness, their sharp
judgment when confronting the enemy, detailed stories of their being arrested
and imprisoned, being tortured, and their revolutionary courage while in such
situations; and details about the time and circumstances of the death of their
husbands and children and other relatives in the family.
The women’s responsibilities while
carrying out resistance
The fighting tradition of the
heroines
First of all, the significant role
was seen of a family’s fighting tradition that resulted in their decision to
join the resistant activities. Mrs. Lương from Củ Chi was from a family of 10
siblings; among them were three older brothers – the youngest brother died
during the resistance against France. Mrs. Tiềm from Tân Nhựt (Bình Chánh) had
10 siblings who joined the resistance against France. From Gò Công, Mrs. Há’s
father and aunt died in the resistance and Mrs Chồn lost her father and husband
in the resistance.
Their motives for joining the
revolution were sometimes rather simple. They followed the mass of youths and
women to join, and felt resentful at seeing French soldiers killing so many
Vietnamese that they wanted to fight against the French [1].
Their activities during the
resistance
· Working
as liaisons and suppliers: Liaising was usually a job for women during
both wars. The job consisted of transferring documents, letters, guiding
the cadres from one point to another and transporting rice, food, medicine, and
materials to the revolutionary zones. In performing their jobs, they had to
face severe risks and danger when passing through several enemy checkpoints.
They also had to be very clever, sharp-minded and flexible in order to deal
with the enemy and be able to make exact judgments of the situation.
Mrs. Lê Thị
Lượng narrated one of her experiences as follows: “Once
when I was delivering a letter I stopped on the way for a rest at an
acquaintance’s house. My acquaintance asked the children to prepare a meal. The
two sisters in the family complained that there was no rice left and went out
to buy rice. I know they actually went out to report on me. I knew that they
were aware of my job because my acquaintance’s son was in the
government army, so I left their house immediately. I got a ride out of the
village to the house of another acquaintance that also had joined the revolution.
Then I changed to different clothes and a torn hat and went into hiding.”
The
liaisons even had to pretend to be mad to escape the enemy [2]. They were
all aware of the danger and the importance of their work and tried to find
every possible way to avoid being arrested. Even when they were arrested and
cruelly tortured, they did not reveal any information in order to protect their
comrades.
· Sheltering
the cadres and weapons: During the resistance against France, Mrs.
Loan sheltered the resistance fighters in her secret cellar in the Bảy Hiền
T-intersection (HCMC). Mrs. Tiềm in District 6 (HCMC) hid soldiers in her
cellar during the war against America. In the people’s war, several
households in the cities and in the rural areas sheltered cadres in their
cellars.
· Involved
in political fighting, encouraging people to support the revolutionary force,
destroy strategic hamlets, “diminishing the cruelty and killing the evilness”: In
the revolutionary zones women took part in political fighting which involved
demanding that their husbands and children be released from the government
army, demanding compensation for people who were killed and destroying
strategic hamlets[3].
· Directly
involved in the battle: This was the case of Mrs. Huỳnh Thị Phước in the
Trung Lập Thượng commune in Củ Chi town. During the America war she was
assigned the duty of defending a bridge in Củ Chi and was given her own gun.
She started a movement to recycle the weapons and organized an attack to take
over the bridge. She was extremely proud during those days as she was the only
woman in the commune who owned a gun [4].
· Not
only being a part of the revolution, they had to economically support the
family, raise the children, and take care of the in-laws.
In
contrast to their male counterparts who could depart entirely from the family
when they joined the resistance, women had to do their jobs in the resistant
movement while taking care of their household affairs which included working in
the rice fields, or working as small-time traders, caring for their children
and feeding their family. Only a few young women who participated in the
Volunteer Youth Corps could actually leave their families behind.
Despite
this, women made up a widespread network of supporters of the revolution in the
people’s war. They were ordinary people who secretly joined the revolutionary
force without the enemy being able to trace them.
The
women interviewed were involved in all agricultural activities and
livestock-breeding. Some of them were small-time traders selling vegetables,
sweets, potatoes, etc. They all had numerous children and had to care for them
while participating in the revolution which posed a great burden on them. Even
when their children were sick, they had to ask for help from others when
leaving for their jobs. Due to their activities, they had to frequently move to
new places and bring their children. Daughters had to help their moms in
earning a living. Their lives were faced with chronic shortage, danger,
bombings and shootings [5].
· Memory
of their activist life:
Recalling
the period when they engaged in revolutionary activities, all of them remarked
about that time in their life as “very hard but happy”. What were they
happy about?
They
were happy about:
- Joining
other people in destroying strategic hamlets
- Being able to socialize with people in their work
They
also felt happy in realizing that they were capable of multitasking and feeling
that they were helpful in the resistance; in other words, taking part in the
movement that contributed toward enhancing their self-confidence, fulfilling
their social needs, giving them the opportunity to be connected with a wider
community beyond their own home, and building their social status in the
community.
However,
one should not forget that wars are always cruel. Therefore, along with their
joy of fighting with comrades there was always fear and terror. Mrs. Ngô thị
Tám gave the following narration: “Remembering about the
war is similar to having a terrifying nightmare. There was the time when
several aircraft were patrolling over our heads and soldiers attacking our
homes breaking everything. I ran into the house and they stopped me. It was so
terrifying, though I was very daring then…”
Some
women remember wartime as a period of extreme hardship, however, not feeling so
at the time. Some women shared their thoughts as to how it was much harder for
women to join the military than for men. Women had to work for the revolution
and take care of their family plus earn a living at the same time. The
menstrual cycle was very problematic making it difficult to perform their work,
or especially so when they were imprisoned. Mrs. Huỳnh Thị Phước said “When
men went to war they were able to bring along one extra pair of trousers,
however, the women could not. Daily sanitation and dealing with their
menstrual cycles, those were very difficult”
Being arrested, imprisoned and
tortured
Several of the women interviewed
were arrested, imprisoned and tortured during both wars. Some were arrested a
multiple of times and some were in jail for a long time. Mrs. Nguyễn Thị Đợi
was relocated to several prisons: from the Chief Police Station to Hàng Keo,
Chí Hòa and Phú Lợi prison. Mrs. Tám Thanh was imprisoned in the ‘tiger’s-cage’
in the Côn Đảo prison. The women remembered in great detail the circumstances
under which they were arrested, usually by being pinpointed or arrested in
massive attacks. They still clearly remember the brutal torture that varied
from beatings to using electric shock, and other kinds of special torture
applied only to women. These forms of torture left permanent marks on their
bodies and damaged their health.
From a human rights perspective,
these forms of torture were agregious human rights violations. It should be
noted that during the same time in the North, captured American pilots were
treated decently and provided with more food than the portions of food given to
the prison cadres, and they were not at all beaten or tortured.
The circumstances of their husband’s
and children’s death
The time when their husbands and
children lost their lives reached across the years from the beginning of the
French resistance to the East South border conflict, which was more or less for
30 years. Some women lost their husbands during the French resistance and then
most of them lost their children during the war against America. In addition to
the closest relatives, they also lost other relatives in their families such as
daughters-and-sons-in-law, siblings, and husband’s siblings.
Some of them became widows at a very
young age [6]; for
example, Mrs. Đoi’s husband died on the battlefield when she was only 23 years
old and expecting their first child. Mrs. Luong lost her husband and her two
children within one month toward the end of 1970. Within only two years, 1969
and 1970, Mrs.Ut lost four family members; this unbearable loss pushed her into
a state of mental illness for a period of time. The women interviewed tended to
provide very specific details about the death of their loved ones, falling
mostly into three categories:
-
Being killed while fighting in the front by being shot down, hit by bomb,
injured and not getting timely medical aid, or shot by American planes flying
by.
-
Being arrested by the enemy and then tortured and beaten to death [7].
-
Not only sons, on the contrary also daughters died during the wars. Mrs. Phuoc
had two daughters who sacrificed their lives for the revolution when they
were still at a very young age. Some women were insulted even after their
death. Mrs. Phuoc told the story about her daughter’s death in Thanh An, Biên
Hòa: “There were eight people at the time, one soldier walked in the front
with my daughter behind him. Seven people died and only one survived. The
soldiers saw my daughter, the only girl, and took off her clothes and showed
her naked body to the public, and then dumped her into an American army
military cellar.” After the liberation, Mrs. Phuoc asked some soldiers to
help find her daughter’s remains, however, they could not find her.
Living with the past
Even at the present, they cannot
cease missing their dead husbands and children after 30 years of separation.
Their emotional lives varied greatly one to the other. Some have no surviving
children or husband; they have to live with adopted children, grandchildren or
they live alone. The lucky ones are able to live with their living children and
husband; family life is warmer for these women. For those mothers whose
children are dead and whose bodies could not be found or they could not bury
their children’s bodies properly, they suffer from permanent, unmitigating,
unbelievable pain [8]. When
interviewed, they could not stop their tears while speaking of their dead
husbands and children.
“Now, whenever I recall my
children, my heart breaks. I cannot stop feeling so; I feel the most pity when
I am sick… Being a woman is very painful. When my children were taken from me,
I missed them so much that I could not eat or sleep. When they died, my heart
was so broken, especially because I am still alive to grieve. Poverty and hard
work only cause a burden to my body; I can rest to feel fine again although the
burden on my mind is too difficult to remove.” (Mrs. Sơn Thị Ký)
“It is really so sad when meeting my
friends, my comrades and seeing them with their offspring while I don’t have
any!” (Mrs. Nguyễn thị Định).
Despite their grief they all
accepted the situation, for it was a fact of war, “I see many people like me
whose children are also dead. This is what we can do for our Country. Fighting
the enemy and protecting the nation requires such sacrifices, we try to sooth
ourselves, we cannot be sad forever.” (Mrs. Đỗ thị Chồn).
They all knew that going to battle
was life-threatening, yet why did they allow their children to leave without
trying to stop them? Their responses were:
-
All the youths in their locale left for the revolution.
-
They were also resistance fighters, so they let their children join the
revolution to avoid the risk of being captured by the enemy if they stayed at
home.
-
They were worried that their children would be forced to enlist in the
government’s army if they stayed at home.
Mrs. Nguyễn thị Út said, “I
was afraid that the father would serve on this side, while the son served the
side of the enemy.” And Mrs. Nguyễn thị Đợi said“I also missed my
husband and children a great deal, however, in our country there were people
whose three children died and they were left to live alone. They sacrificed for
the right cause; if I allowed my son to stay at home, the enemy may have beaten
him, or he may have been captured and tortured, then he may have reported on my
secret female comrades”.
The Southwest border conflict in
1978 was notably different from the two previous wars. During this period of
time, peace was established and the border conflict was seen as an exception.
One interviewed mother asked that her only son be exempted from military duty
in Cambodia, however, her request was rejected. Then her son died leaving the
mother living in Saigon. Despite the different circumstances of their living,
they all shared their determination not to regret or blame anyone for the death
of their loved ones; they all thought that everyone had to suffer losses and
sacrifices in war. On the other hand, they felt in debt to their dead husbands
and children because they are still living and receiving an allowance from the
government for being Vietnamese Heroic Mothers. They feel that they are
enjoying their husbands’ and children’s “blood and bone money”. Mrs.Tiềm
received her allowance from the government and other organizations and saves a
small amount each month. When she had a chance to go to Hanoi, she gave 2
million dong to each member of her husband’s family explaining to them that
“This is the blood and bone money from him and the kids.” Mrs. Nguyễn Thị Quánh
receives an allowance of 2 million dong monthly. She said: “I am very
frustrated now for receiving my son’s salary and using his money. I feel that I
am eating my son’s bones and blood when receiving this money.”
Advantages and disadvantages for
women that participated in the fighting
Advantages:
·
The advantages in their fighting activities stemmed from the traditional role
of Vietnamese women in small-time trading. Traditionally, women are in charge
of trading, not men. For example, in their quotidian life, they are the ones
who frequent the markets and buy food and other commodities for their family.
They also sell their family’s agricultural produce, and become involved in
small-time trading in the cities and rural regional markets. Since the market
broadened during the French-colonial era, women have been the moving traders
who mobilized across wide areas. This economic role that women played and the
familiar scene of female small-time traders walking around became an advantage
for the women fighters in their roles as liaisons and suppliers for the
revolutionary force.
People spoke to the women, who
admitted that they had a much greater advantage as liaisons than men.
Mobilizing in public was very difficult for men during wartime because the
enemy always paid attention to their movements, thinking that men were
potential enemies or subjects to be enlisted into the government’s army. Women
only needed to be tactful, clever and calm to get through the enemy’s
controlling fence as legal, ordinary small-time traders. “There were certain
jobs that men could not do, such as connecting, liaising, or sneaking from one
place to another. Women were different, and could easily wander around, and mix
with people especially in the ‘sticky rice and bean’ zones” (Mrs. Trần Thị
Bé).
·
Female gatherings and other tactics characteristic of women were used to stop
the enemy such as screaming and crying, lying on the streets and crying, and
quarrelling. Certainly, these tactics did not work all the time. “The
captors forced all the people to gather outside and stand under the sun for
questioning. They said whoever would tell them who Mrs.Út Phước is would be
released. At that time I was inside and organized a group of people who
pretended to be angry asking for the mothers to be released so they could go
home and breast-feed their crying babies. Finally the captors had to release
the women and regretfully spoke among themselves: “we have rounded up all the
fish, though we still had to let them escape.” (Mrs.Huỳnh thị
Phước).
Rape – a specific danger that women
had to confront
In addition to the common dangers
confronted by both men and women such as illness, injuries, being killed, being
arrested, tortured and imprisoned, women and young girls living during the war
were most afraid of being raped by the enemy. This was a relevant risk in both
wars against France and America. Mrs. Nguyễn Thị Quánh, 95 years old, had three
sons killed in battle, she still sent her 18-year-old daughter to the
resistance movement. She explained that “at that time in the resistant
zones, French forces were deployed. They raped girls and women; the same thing
happened during the American war; they came to my home country, raped women and
burned down our houses. Girls were so afraid that they fled from their homes.
When the situation became quiet again they returned to collect rice and
food for our soldiers.”
Mrs. Nguyễn Thị Loan narrated that “During
the America war, Củ Chi was bombed severely and dreadfully. Some houses were
set on fire twice; it was such a time of hardship. Whenever they attacked our
village, the girls and young men all ran and went into hiding in secret
cellars and only little children and old women were left at home; if they
caught girls, they would rape them. Bombs were dropped so intensely that
sometimes the cellars were hit; remembering that time is so very
dreadful.”
Their testimonies once again
confirmed the fact that these things persisted during all the wars starting
from ancient times. Raping was used as a weapon of war [9] by the
foreign forces in the two wars in Vietnam. In the memory of generations of
people who had to live through both wars, the massive rapes by foreign
armies during their attacks on the villages were painful and scary facts,
especially to women.
Therefore, Resolution 1820 passed by
the UN Security Council was plausible progress in the civilization of mankind.
This resolution defined rape as a form of war weapon. (Thanh Gương 2008)
The Mothers’ thoughts and
aspirations for the present
After the war, a few of the women
who had left their hometown to join the battle and were still young when the
war ended were able to continue as officials in their locales, especially at
the Ward level. The highest rank they managed to attain was Communist Ward
Secretary. Most of them returned to become ordinary citizens again and they
were old, hence their lives were full of difficulties, loneliness and
separation both emotionally and spiritually.
Due to their contributions, several
of the Mothers-of-Martyrs were provided housing by the government even before
they were conferred the title of Vietnamese Heroic Mother. Their
government-sponsored houses were usually small and old yet they assured them a
stable environment. Currently, their monthly allowance ranges from 2.000.000 to
2.500.000 VND with an extra sum ranging from 500.000 to 1.000.000 VND donated
by certain enterprises. Those with a higher allowance or pension may find this
amount sufficient for their life. However, most of the Mothers-of-Martyrs need
to be financially supported by their offspring or relatives. The expense for
medication and treatment is a considerable portion of their income. Some use
public health insurance while some do not because they are tired of waiting in
line and skeptical of the effectiveness of the medication delivered under the
insurance scheme.
Almost all mothers that were
interviewed said that their wish is for good health and peace for their family.
They also expressed an emotional need for having visitors with whom they can
chat. Representatives from organizations or local authorities pay them a visit
from time-to-time, usually during national holidays or the lunar New Year.
However, those visits are formal and organizational in nature rather than for
building friendly and long-term relationships. As a result, their emotional
needs are far from being met.
They felt happy that the wars were
over and peace was re-established. Mrs. Lại Thị Khuỳnh’s thought represents the
aspirations of these women: “Now, I have no other hope than having a
peaceful life and that my family is sustaining a good living, the country is
peaceful, and our offspring are fulfilling their filial duty and doing good
deeds.” They also hope not to be faced with any kind of bedridden
illness that made them entirely reliant on their relatives. After so many years
of fighting and experiencing pain and loss, their wishes in old-age are very
humble and they ask for almost nothing for themselves. Those who are still in
good health only wished for a chance to travel across the country to Hanoi to
visit Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum. Mrs. Đỗ Thị Chồn said: “The youth
nowadays cannot understand how hard it was to join the fighting of the previous
generations. Even if we tell them, they will never understand.” Some of the
women who were not granted a title of honor complained about the negligence of
the leaders of the local authority who do not understand the plight they had to
go through. Their contribution was therefore not recognized and no support has
been granted to them.
Discussion and Conclusions
Discussion
The Vietnamese Mothers-of-Martyrs
number only a few million women who stood
by their male comrades during two wars for our nation’s independence. Even
though only a very small sample of these mothers was contacted, a great deal
was learned about their participation in the wars and especially about their
irreplaceable loss of loved ones. Our argument is that Vietnam’s orthodox
contemporary history needs to properly and appropriately record the roles and
activities that women participated in during the wars. By writing about women,
the history of what happened to them will be told by more varied voices which
will put greater emphasis on the important facts about the cruelty of wars such
as rape, remnants of agent-orange, women’s severe pain, and their contributions
during the wars. The history of women is an inseparable part of the people’s
history not a separate history of the women’s movement.
Most of the Mothers-of-Martyrs
joined both wars with all their intellect, bravery and perseverance. They
fought and yet fulfilled their duties as the women in their families by
nurturing the children and earning a living to support their families. Men went
to war with courage, leaving all concerns about the family and children to
their wives and they focused on their military work knowing that their wives in
the rear would take care of everything. With all their work and
responsibilities, they are indeed heroines many times over. The
Heroic Vietnamese Mothers had to bear the additional pain of losing their
husbands and children. There were mothers who lived their entire youth in
solitude, and now continue to be alone in their old age. The title Vietnamese
Heroic Mothers that has been granted to more than 44,000 Mothers-of-Martyrs
across the country is only of symbolic value. It does not represent a larger
group of mothers who also lost their husbands or their only child during the
war. Our perception is that all of these women should be part of the heroic
mothers of Vietnam.
Their own husbands and children were
killed and they themselves were tortured by the enemy with bad effects on their
health to this day. However, in all the interviews with these mothers, not one
of them had any notions of hatred or resentment toward the former enemy who
caused the death of their loved ones. They are now very happy that peace is in
their home country and do not want to discuss that time of pain again.
Following the interviews it was quite obvious that these women feel it was
their responsibility as a citizen to fight when the country was invaded by
foreign powers. They asked, when were the enemies swept out of our territory,
which also meant that the enemies lost, and then for what purpose are we
keeping our hatred for them? These women have chosen to follow the way of
thinking that says “do not continue to beat the ones who fell off the
horse”.
War and gender equity: Some progress
and what is left to be improved
Most of these mothers were born to
poor farming families and received no education. Without participating in the
revolution, their lives would have remained in poverty in the remote
countryside. They would not have had a sense of contribution to a broader
society, or have broader social networks beyond their village, less chance to
be equal to men, and no opportunities for learning how to read to open
their mind and further their intellect. Their testimonies indicate that
participating in the resistance afforded them a better social position even
though they did not go to school and own any property. They became more
self-confident and learned skills such as persuasion and speaking to the
public. After the war, some of them continued to serve at official institutions
at a low level, nevertheless their social status was affirmed.
However, these cases are in the
minority. The majority of the heroic mothers returned to the life of poor women
who had to worry about family income and live with persistent pain and
loneliness. Their heroic past did not give them a more influential voice in
their family and community. Some of them returned to the position lower than their
husbands’; they had to be obedient to their bossy husbands who were also once
resistance fighters. “His temper is very bad and he always prevents me from
doing things. For example the other day the Association of Heroic Mothers sent
me an invitation to a meeting. He did not give me the invitation, forbid me
from attending and forced me to stay at home. He yells as a boss, he has all
the power to make decisions and does not let me participate in meetings. I have
to be home to do housework.” (a mother’s testimony)
Mrs. Ngô Thị Tám related that “During
the war, the issue of male dominance was not visible, though now it has risen
again. During that time the focus was only on us and the enemy, that narrow
line between life and death. Now during peace-time this kind of mindset is very
difficult to overcome. During the war either we or the enemy would lose and be
destroyed. However, now the enemy, in our mindset, cannot die and hence gender
equity is extremely difficult to tackle.”
As such, participating in the war
and the mindset of gender equity do not go in hand, especially for men.
Some women spoke about
discrimination against them by their male comrades. Mrs. Ngô Thị Tám
stated that “Men manifest a very strong feudal mindset. Many women joining
the revolution had higher positions and as a consequence the men felt that
their pride was hurt. They complained about our performance by saying “You are
the leaders yet you do not have any education, you cannot speak eloquently and
you make us feel sleepy.”
The gender inequality notions that
these women raised is still a very contemporary issue that is facing Vietnam’s
society today especially in politics and positions of leadership.
As mentioned above, most of the
mothers are now very old and weak. They live in solitude and expect that
visitors might come to see and talk to them. The Heroic Mothers of
Vietnam still have an emotional need, therefore, action must be taken
by the Gender and Society Research Center.
Conclusions
The Gender and Society Research
Center, in collaboration with the Kim Anh Club of Hoa Sen University, is
cognizant of the urgent need to stay in contact with these mothers. Regular
visits will be organized in an effort to satisfy the emotional needs of these
lonely mothers. They need emotional caring more than financial support or
official visits. We believe that there are a myriad of ways to show our
gratitude and compensate for the loss suffered by these women. One very
important way is to fulfill their emotional needs.
TPHCM,
September 2011
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[1] Narratives
of Mrs. Huỳnh thị Phước
[2]
According to the narrative of Mrs. Phan thị Tiềm.
[3]
According to the narrative of Mrs. Nguyễn Thị Định: In Trà Vinh, she joined
other people to destroy strategic hamlets. Hundreds of people participated in
this kind of work and the atmosphere was always very bustling.
[4] According
to the narrative by Mrs. Huỳnh thị Phước.
[5]
According to the narrative by Mrs. Nguyễn thị Út, her children did not
experience childhood at all. She and her second-oldest daughter had to earn
money to feed her husband, her bunch of kids and the resistance fighters. Her 7th-oldest
daughter had to do all the household chores and babysit the younger siblings.
[6] Mrs.
Đợi’s husband died in 1948 when she was only 23 years old. She was pregnant of
their first child. This son died in the war in 1967.
[7] Mrs.
Lê thị Lượng’s husband was caughted when his secret cellar was discovered. He
was beaten and mobilized to several jails, finally was moved to Phú Quốc island
and died there
[8] For
example, Mrs Đợi has husband and children all dead and cannot find their
bodies.
[9] Thanh
Gương: “History has shown us that whenever a war broke out, women were
put under two heavy burdens. First, they were the victims of war (being
murdered, suffering from loss and mourning…) just as men. And at the same time,
women were the “sexual prey” of any men from both sides, the enemy side and
their side, or even of men who were also victims of war… Some women even had to
exclaim that “being a woman in war is even more dangerous than being a soldier
of the rival side.” (Rape is a war weapon, in Diễn Đàn bản điện tử -
2008)
http://gas.hoasen.edu.vn/en/gas-page/memoirs-vietnamese-mothers-war-martyrs
