Vietnam War > THEN THE AMERICANS CAME > Mrs. Le Thi Dieu

IN 1965 I WAS ARRESTED by the Americans and brought to Hoi An. They put electricity in my vagina, on my nipples, in my ears, in my nose, on my fingers. Blood came out of my vagina. At night they put electricity inside my body and they beat me. They jumped on me with their shoes. Now when I breathe my whole chest hurts, and when I lie on the bed my body aches. They kept me for eighteen months.

In 1967 I was arrested again. They brought me to the center of the village and tied me up, both hands in back, like this. They poured soapy water down my throat all night. My face and chest and belly swelled up and I lost consciousness. They took me to the base, and there they beat me and again put electricity on my body. They poured water mixed with hot peppers down my throat. I thought I had already died. Then they took me to the hospital. I stayed there a week. When they brought me back to the base, they beat me again, gave me more electricity. They tortured me for information but they got nothing. They poured water down my throat again, and I stopped breathing.

They took me to a little house, like this, and one American tried to rape me. I started screaming, and he took my hair, which was very long, and he dragged me and beat me. A Vietnamese interpreter came and said, "Why do you struggle against the Americans? It won't do any good." And I said, "They arrested me, they tortured me and beat me, and now they want to rape me. How can I not cry and struggle?" The next night the American came back, when I was alone. I cried again, but he forced me to the floor and put a cloth in my mouth. He took off my pants. I couldn't scream. I went faint, and he raped me, and I couldn't do anything more. Later, the interpreter returned, and removed the cloth from my mouth. I was raped again, and I didn't feel anything more. After that, another American came-his body was smaller than the first one's. He tortured me with electricity until I lost consciousness. He gave me water and I regained consciousness. The second American kicked me on my breasts and stomach. Now, I cannot feel, cannot breathe. And he kept putting electricity in my vagina and on my fingers. I said, "I am from a poor family, how can I tell you anything?"

Then I was taken to Phuoc Tuong where there was an American base, and only Americans. There, an American lady asked me some questions. I saw other Vietnamese girls. Then they took me back and tortured me again. Night and day the American soldiers tortured me. Sometimes it would be Vietnamese soldiers, but mostly it was Americans. I was locked in a prison cell with no window-I saw no sky, no land, nothing. Sometimes I had a little bit of rice. After three weeks they returned me back to the district. The first day back an American soldier came and kicked me in the mouth and my teeth came out. I asked a Vietnamese man why they beat me, I had committed no crime, and I asked for medicine. The Americans came again and beat me with a stick. I was brought back to Hoi An and kept there for a few more weeks. Every time I was questioned, they took me to another place, I still don't know where, not Hoi An. Every time they questioned me I was beaten. More electricity inside my body and again and again they raped me. Even now I bleed.

I spent about four years in prison altogether. There were other girls, and we used to talk about the torture. We tried to help each other. If it were not for them, I wouldn't have stayed alive. I was released at the end of 1969 and returned to my village.

Now the villagers take care of me and the government helps. I am sick, in the lungs, in the heart, and in the head. Sometimes my nose bleeds. When the weather changes, I look down, and I don't go outside. Sometimes I just lie here, and I can't breathe. Then they take me to the hospital. My fingers are very swollen and sometimes the nails fall out, from the electricity.

In 1965 I was a beautiful woman, not like now. I am forty-five and I live alone, no parents, no brothers, no sisters, no husband. how can someone marry me? My father was killed by the Americans. My mother was killed by American bullets, shelled. My younger brother was killed. The boys had been playing on the road when the American came through, and shot them.

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