Vietnam: A Television History; Interview with Nguyen Thi Thiep, 1981

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Transcript

Houses burned in Cam Ne

SR 2071/3

NGUYEN THI THIEP

533, Take 1

Clapstick

Interview with Nguyen Thi Thiep, Cam Ne.

Interviewer:

What I'd like to ask the lady is what was life like before August 1965?

What was life like in the village? Were the NLF people here and what

were they doing?

Nguyen Thi Thiep:

In 1965, I was staying at home. My husband was working in Danang. When

I stayed at home, I did not see any NLF people. I only saw a truck

coming into the village and arrested me and my child. I was carrying my

son then. The interpreters told me to get out there so that they could

lob smoke grenades and shells into the village. Then they came in to

burn down the houses. They then herded us down to the railroad and took

us away until they released us. This was the situation in 1965. I just

tell you what I saw.

Interviewer:

What was your life and the life of other villagers like before 1965?

And were there NLF forces here?

Nguyen Thi Thiep:

I was busy working then and so I did not see any NLF soldier in 1965. I

was only a rice farmer. And so when the soldiers came, I saw the things

which I described. I never saw any NLF soldier at all.

534, Take 1

Clapstick

Interviewer:

Could you please tell me about the day in August 1965 and could you

tell fully and honestly as you can what happened?

Nguyen Thi Thiep:

They shelled the village around 10 a.m., burnt the houses down around

11 a.m. and the cars came around 10 o'clock.

Interviewer:

What did they ask you to do that day? Where were you forced to go?

Nguyen Thi Thiep:

I stayed at home and they forced me out of the house, and that was all.

I just did not want to go anywhere at all.

Interviewer:

Did you hear gunfire?

Nguyen Thi Thiep:

They only shelled the village and lobbed smoke grenades in here. It was

all dark because of the smoke. The interpreters came in and ordered us

out so that they could burn down our houses. And so when I carried my

son out of the house, they burnt down my house. After that they took us

to the concentration camp. I did not have a house left and so I had to

live in the concentration camp.

535, Take 1

Clapstick

Interviewer:

First of all, did they burn down your house? And if they burnt down

your house, then what did you have in the house? And then when they

told you to go away, were you angry?

Nguyen Thi Thiep:

At that time my brick house was just completed. So we had rice cakes,

potatoes, rice, pigs and a lot of furniture in the front part of the

house and the back section. Both parts of the house had been completed.

And so they came it and burnt it down. It was not a thatch house. They

just drove me out and so I had to obey them. I did not get angry then.

536, Take 1

Clapstick

Interviewer:

Did you see the American soldiers burn your house that day? After that,

where did the Americans take you to and where were you actually?

Nguyen Thi Thiep:

Yes, I saw them burn my house. They threw smoke grenades into my house

to force me out and so I had to come out. The trucks were parked there.

They did not come on foot. They chased me into the paddy fields and I

was made to stand there. I was carrying my son then. After they burnt

down the houses, they boarded their trucks and began to go away around

5 p.m. After they left, I came back into the village but there was

nothing left. And so I built a roof under that bamboo grove there and

stayed there for a short while. After that, the puppet soldiers in the

fort came and drove us into a concentration camp where we had to stay

for a long time. The houses were burnt down. And that was a fact. I am

not telling you anything which I didn't see with my own eyes. There

were many trucks converging on the village on that day.

537, Take 1

Interviewer:

When you came back to the village you saw that your house had been

burnt down. After that, were the Americans still in the village and did

you see them burn other houses?

Nguyen Thi Thiep:

Yes, they were still around. They burnt one house after another. They

burnt the houses down until 5 p.m. before they left. They didn't just

burn down one house. They burnt over 100 houses.

Interviewer:

Did you actually see the Americans burn down the houses? With your own

eyes?

Nguyen Thi Thiep:

Yes, I saw them burn the houses with my own eyes. They burnt down all

the houses. After they set fire on one house, they went to the next and

set fire on it. They had the interpreters drive people away as they

burnt down the houses.

538, Take 1

Clapstick

Interviewer:

Please repeat again. That day you saw a film crew taking your pictures.

What were your feelings then?

Nguyen Thi Thiep:

I really don't remember much about how they were taking pictures of us.

I only remember that they hung a board around my neck and then pressed

the camera like that.

Interviewer:

When you were relocated, where did you go and how long did you stay

there?

Nguyen Thi Thiep:

I remained in my village for six more months before they relocated me.

The Americans took us to that area in the forest there. And we just

stayed put there, going nowhere else after that.

Interviewer:

Did the Americans get many people wounded that day?

Nguyen Thi Thiep:

Yes, there were many people wounded. On the very spot I am sitting now

a person who came back from harvesting the rice was shot and wounded.

When she was taken to the hospital, she died.

Interviewer:

Were there many people wounded?

Nguyen Thi Thiep:

There were many. Getting wounded was an ordinary thing.

Interviewer:

Do you want to say anything more about the event of August 2?

Nguyen Thi Thiep:

As for August 2, I have already told you about the burning of the

house, the shelling and so on. This was what I saw and this is what I

am telling you.

Transcript

Transcript

Series: Vietnam: A Television History

Raw Footage: Interview with Nguyen Thi Thiep, 1981

Contributing Organization: WGBH (Boston, Massachusetts)

AAPB ID: cpb-aacip/15-9c6rx93f0j

If you have more information about this item than what is given here, or if you have concerns about this record, we want to know! Contact us, indicating the AAPB ID (cpb-aacip/15-9c6rx93f0j).

Description

Credits: Publisher: WGBH Educational Foundation
Writer: Nguyen, Thi Thiep

AAPB Contributor Holdings: WGBH
Identifier: e9a11d31ecfc3d3132d4112f9e51f74802d3ee9a (ArtesiaDAM UOI_ID)
Format: video/quicktime
Color: Color
Duration: 00:10:46:06

Citations: Chicago: “Vietnam: A Television History; Interview with Nguyen Thi Thiep, 1981,” 1981-03-03, WGBH, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed October 28, 2024, http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-15-9c6rx93f0j.; MLA: “Vietnam: A Television History; Interview with Nguyen Thi Thiep, 1981.” 1981-03-03. WGBH, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Web. October 28, 2024. <http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-15-9c6rx93f0j>.; APA: Vietnam: A Television History; Interview with Nguyen Thi Thiep, 1981. Boston, MA: WGBH, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-15-9c6rx93f0j