Southern Voices by Michael Robert Dedrick

Author:Michael Robert Dedrick
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780813156149
Publisher: The University Press of Kentucky

“LETTER IN PRISON”—LE HONG QUAN—MAY 1975

I am a soldier in prison at the front line

Even though the chains gnash my arms and legs

The crushing interrogation leaves me half here half there

Followed by threats of ruthless blows

The enemy burn our wounds, the room thick with smoke

My prison mates, their eyes blazing,

Hold me, and I give them a smile

In a circle of interrogation, they never let up

The floor black, stained with blood

And still my blood spills, bright red

If I’m missing on the day of victory

Mother, please lift your head

Look at the country

I will follow the red back, back to you

Brother Nguyen Van Quang, the squad’s scout, was interrogated to death at Camp 5, at Cho Quan Hospital, where wounded soldiers from Tet Phase 2 were gathered. On the night of May 5, 1968, I was taken to Cho Ray Hospital to have my arm amputated. On the morning of May 6, 1968, Special Police came into the post-operative room to interrogate. They wanted me to tell them about the safe houses where our fighters took cover and weapons were hidden, the different wings of our coordinated attacks, and the passwords to communicate with the leadership within the city. I did not tell them I was working within the city. I kept insisting that I belonged to the liberation forces. They beat me and broke more bones in my wounded arm. The interrogation continued for many months, to the point where my legs felt as if they were paralyzed and I could no longer walk.

Three months after I was captured, my mother was also captured while she was traveling on Ben Ham Tu Street. Searching my mother, they found a K54 pistol, the kind of gun that revolutionary soldiers carried. They took my mother to see me and tried to make us acknowledge that we were mother and daughter. They tortured her and threatened, “Your daughter cannot walk anymore. If you acknowledge her, we’ll let you take her under house arrest to take care of her. If not, we’ll let her die.” However, we were determined not to acknowledge that we were mother and daughter. If we did, it would come out that I was Biet Dong working underground inside the city, with connections to other underground contacts, and many other issues.

After being held in several prisons in Saigon, we were transferred to the maximum security prison in Thu Duc. There, dozens of prisoners were put in a cell too small for all to lie down at the same time. There were always some who were sitting, some lying. The tin roof was so low we could touch it with our hands. When it rained, the cement floor of the prison was damp with water.

In November 1969, my mother and I were sent to Con Dao. [Editor’s note: Con Dao was the notorious prison on Con Son Island, where over twenty thousand prisoners died.] We were both put in tiger cages, but in separate places. In 1973, the Paris Accords were signed but I was not released.

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