Precursor to the Mỹ Lai Massacre: 1968 Phong Nhị, Phong Nhất_13
Chapter 13: As Fate would have it
- The Families of Trần Thị Được and Phan Lường
Trịnh Chờ’s face to the bottom right. He died with his eyes open. In 2001, his mother, Trần Thị Được attested that boy in the photograph is indeed her son. (Among the photographs taken of the Phong Nhi and Phong Nhat Massacre by the U.S. troops)
Everyone survived.
Phan Lường (42) was extremely fortunate. All nine of his children survived the incident unscathed. It was a bona fide miracle.
On February 12, 1968, the Korean troops suddenly set the village of Phong Nhị on fire. Phan Lường, upon hearing the sounds of gunshot, screaming and wailing, realized that the Korean troops had infiltrated the village and were recklessly shooting everything in sight, gathered his family and led them into their bomb shelter. His wife, Nguyễn Thị Đôi(35), said with her voice shaking, “Our house has a thatched roof. It won’t be able to withstand flames. Phan Lường harbored the same concern. His wife suggested that they seek refuge at the home of their next door neighbor, Nguyễn Nghệ(68). Phan Lường agreed and led their family out through the backyard of their home, only to behold the most horrid sight. Where they had come to seek shelter, they found the corpse of Nguyễn Nghệ’s daughter-in-law, Trịnh Thị An(33), along with the corpses of her children, Nguyễn Thị Hòa(5), and Nguyễn Thị Thuận(2). One of the children’s hand lay limp on their mother’s breast. They saw smoke rise. Something must have caught on fire. They needed to escape quickly.
Phan Lường took his family and headed to the home of yet another neighbor, Trịnh Tây(45). A water buffalo stood in front of the doorway, blocking their entrance. Phan Lường felt dizzy. He felt as though he had depleted his every option. He barely managed to get the water buffalo to step aside for them to enter. Inside the bomb shelter, he found Trịnh Tây and three to four of his children. Trịnh Tây’s wife, Trần Thị Được (41), wasn’t with them, however. Phan Lường had his wife and children hide under the bed before he hid himself as well. The Korean troops, however, would have no trouble finding them immediately, if they were to enter the shelter.
They could hear the loud thud of their military boots and the rattling of their gunbarrel approaching. It sounded like they had thrown a hand grenade. The water buffalo cried out in agony and then began to huff and puff. The families of Phan Lường and Trịnh Tây came out of hiding. The water buffalo was shedding blood. The Korean troops let out their angst on the innocent cattle and had left. The water buffalo had practically saved the families by standing in the way of the troops. Otherwise the lives of more than fifteen people would have been in jeopardy.
This buffalo that had saved them was Trần Thị Được’s most prized possession. During the busy farming seasons, it would do all the plowing in lieu of machines. Purchasing one like it from the cattle market would have cost a fortune. Their third son, Trịnh Chờ(12), shared what was closest to a friendship with the buffalo. He was the one that led the buffalo to the pasture every day to graze. Trịnh Chờ did not attend school. Instead, he took care of the buffalo, along with the other cattle like pigs and chickens. Nevertheless, Trịnh Chờ wasn’t able to benefit from the protection of the water buffalo like the others who were in hiding.
Trần Thị Được and her husband crying over the picture of their dead son, Trịnh Chờ, that I brought to them in April of 2001. (Photograph by humank)
That day, Trịnh Chờ headed out with his mother, Trần Thị Được, who was planning on going to the market in Điện Bàn with Phan Thị Trí, in order to buy groceries to prepare for the ancestral rites during the Lunar New Year festival. As soon as they arrived at Phan Thị Trí’s home, which was located near the cây da dù next to the number one national highway, Trịnh Chờ let go of his mother’s hand and plopped down to play with Phan Thị Trí’s son and his good friend, Nguyễn Đức Sang, and his siblings, Nguyễn Thị Trọng, Nguyễn Thị Thanh, and Nguyễn Đức Trường. The only adult around was their aunt, Phan Thị Ngư, who was so preoccupied taking care of her 8-month old son, Đoàn Thế Minh, that she would only occasionally chime in if the children were getting too mischievous.
Just as Trần Thị Được and Phan Thị Trí were leaving the village, they were startled by the sound of gunshots. Trần Thị Được instinctively thought of Trịnh Chờ, whom she had left behind at Phan Thị Trí’s house. She was desperate to find Trịnh Chờ immediately and make sure he is safe. Phan Thị Trí also thought of her children. Ever since her husband, Nguyễn Đức Phường, went missing a year ago, the only person who could take of her children other than herself was their aunt. As the villagers began escaping from Phong Nhị, the entire area became a bedlam. Phan Thị Trí and Trần Thị Được turned around and went back the way they had come. They had to protect their children at all cost. The two women began running frantically, until Trần Thị Được’s body gave way. Blood trickled down her side. She could walk no more, as her leg started bleeding as well. She passed out in the fields and lost consciousness.
Trần Thị Được (left) attending a gathering in Phong Nhi, as a middle-aged woman. (presumed to have been taken after the massacre)
Back at the home of Trịnh Tây and Trần Thị Được, a while had passed before Phan Lường came out from under the bed and surveyed the village. The Korean troops had left. Trần Thị Được’s husband, Trịnh Tây, who was hiding in a nearby bomb shelter came out as well. They could hear crackling sound of the wall made of bamboo burning in flames. Phan Lường’s home was reduced to a heap of ashes as well. If they had remained in hiding, they would have burned to death. Trịnh Tây’s was the only thatched roof house in Phong Nhi that did not go down in flames. The two brought out their respective children who remained in hiding under the bed.
Trịnh Tây, who was the third son of Trần Thị and Được, passed away with his eyes still open. Phan Lường was among the first few to witness him dead. She looked intently at the eyes of Trịnh Chờ, thanks to whose water buffalo, many of the family members were able to escape from danger. Trịnh Chờ would have still been alive, had he stayed in his own home instead of being at hers. Phan Lường, on the other hand, would have died if she had stayed home. Trịnh Chờ died because he had gone over to his friend, Nguyễn Đức Sang’s house. Phan Lường survived because she had made her way over to Trịnh Chờ’s home. Their fates have crossed in the most peculiar way.
Trần Thị Được in January of 2013 (Photograph by humank)
That day, Korean troops entered the home of Nguyễn Đức Sang. Nobody, including Trịnh Chờ, was able to come out unharmed. Nguyễn Đức Sang and Nguyễn Thị Thanh were spared from dying but were left with fatal injuries. Nguyễn Thị Trọng died with her eyes open as well, and their youngest brother, Nguyễn Đức Trường was shot in the mouth and found as a corpse.
According to Nguyễn Thị Thanh, who survived the ordeal, the Korean troops shot directly into the mouth of Nguyễn Đức Trường. Their aunt, Phan Thị Ngư, and her son, Đoàn Thế Minh, were found among the piles of corpses in the village. Their mother, who had been rushing back home to protect her children, was also found dead.
Phan Lường and Nguyễn Thị Đôi found Nguyễn Đức Sang and Nguyễn Thị Thanh, crawling in agony near the home of Trần Thị Được. Nguyễn Thị Thanh, who had been shot in her left side, was struggling to keep her innards from spilling out until Phan Lường used her hands to push them back in for her. U.S. and South Vietnamese militiamen came to the rescue from the direction of the number one highway. A helicopter landed, seemingly to transport the villagers for emergency care. Phan Lường, with the help of the other villagers, propped up Nguyễn Đức Sang and Nguyễn Thị Thanh and helped them over to the helicopter. They were then entrusted to their uncle, Nguyễn Xá.
As for Trần Thị Được, one of villagers who was partaking in the relief work along with Phan Lường was unloading the piles the gruesome corpses. Some had lost their feet, and others had their skulls cracked. There were even those whose guts had spilled out entirely. And then, there at the bottom of the pile, once all the corpses have been removed, lay Trần Thị Được. Her right stomach and thigh were covered in blood. It seemed apparent that she was dead. But just in case, he tried to feel for a pulse; Her heart was still beating. He flung her over his back and ran toward the number one highway.
The latter days of Trần Thị Được and Phan Lường
Trần Thị Được was shot in the leg but managed to make it out alive. She didn’t get to see the corpse of her third son, Trịnh Chờ, however, as she was being treated at a hospital in Da Nang for 10 days. Thereafter, she was also admitted aboard a German hospital ship that was anchored at a harbor in Da Nang. She had to be treated for a long period of time but was spared her life. As of January 2018, she is 91 years old. Her husband, Trịnh Tây, passed away in February of 2015 at the age of 91. Trần Thị Được lives with her son, Trịnh Thiện Chiến(1963~), who is the village chief of Phong Nhi, at their small home near the number one national highway. Trịnh Thiện Chiến was five years old at the time of the massacre, and was able to make it out safe because he was in hiding with his father, Trịnh Tây, older brother,Trịnh Nom(16), and older sisters, Thị Nam(14) and Trịnh Thị Châu(10). They had been protected by their family’s water buffalo.
Trần Thị Được in January of 2019 (Photograph by humank)
Phan Lường and Nguyễn Thị Đôi in January of 2013. Nguyễn Thị Đôi passed away 8 months thereafter. (Photograph by humank)
Trần Thị Được’s story appeared on the Hankyoreh 21 Newsweekly in October of 1999 and April of 2001. In 1999, she appeared as a witness to the Phong Nhi and Phong Nhat Massacre, and in 2001, she made a appearance as the mother who identified her son’s corpse among photographs of the incident from the U.S. National Archives. In the photograph, Trịnh Chờ lay lifeless with his eyes open. I had taken the photographs to them in hopes of being able to identify the victims. In April of 2001, the couple cried together, holding the photograph that contained their son’s final moments. Trịnh Chờ had never been photographed otherwise in his lifetime. Only after 33 years were the couple able to lay their hands on the one and only existing photograph of their son, albeit a picture of his corpse given to them by a Korean journalist.
In January of 2013, when I met Trần Thị Được for the first time in 12 years, her health seemed to have deteriorated significantly. She was hard of hearing, even when the interpreter spoke directly into her ear in a loud voice. The same went for her vision, as she wasn’t even able to distinguish between human beings and objects at times. Nevertheless, she said she wakes up early in the morning, eats her breakfast, and waters the vegetables planted in the fields every day. Trần Thị Được also took care of the pigs and chickens raised by the family.
Meanwhile, Phan Lường experienced a different fate. His entire family survived the Phong Nhi Phong Nhat massacre of February 12, 1968, wherein 74 people lost their lives. By the time I visited Phong Nhi in January of 2013, Phan Lường and his wife had given birth to two more children and the number of their family increased to 13, although they did not all live under the same roof.
As of the year 2015, Phan Lường was 89 years old. When I visited then, his wife, Nguyễn Thị Đôi, was suffering from diabetes and hypertension. She passed away eight months later in the fall of 2013, at the age of 81. Phan Lường’s greatest source of concern was his youngest son, who was in his thirties. His cognition disability prevented him from partaking in normal everyday life. In fact, he was diagnosed with defoliant …. ,possibly because his parents had been exposed to it during the war, yet he was the one to suffer the repercussions.
- Written by humank (Journalist; Seoul, Korea)
- Translated and revised as necessary by April Kim (Tokyo, Japan)
The numbers in parentheses indicate the respective ages of the people at the time in 1968.
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