A woman with an indomitable spirit for combatting oppression, Ut Tich’s tenacity lives on in the minds of Vietnamese as “the mother with a gun”.
Born Nguyen Thi Ut on April 19, 1931 in today’s Tra Vinh province, Ut Tich was the youngest of Nguyen Van Xuong and Le Thi Muoi's three daughters. Born into poverty, Ut Tich and her family were helpers for their landlord, Ham Gioi, and his family. Her friends and family started calling her “Ut Tich” only after 1950, when she married Lam Van Tich, a local Viet Minh soldier.
People knew Ut Tich as a fearless girl from her childhood, when she was daring enough to disobey the landlord’s family. When she turned 13 her father passed away, and in the same year, local Viet Minh forces emancipated her from the landlord’s iron fist. Ut Tich then joined the Viet Minh and became a point of contact for military officials in charge of providing intelligence on the French army in the area. Her contributions led to their success in the Cau Ke Campaign in 1949.
After the signing of the Geneva Accords in 1954, Ut Tich and her husband remained in South Vietnam. A year earlier, the couple had had a daughter during their time in the south, however the involvement of the United States in the region and the establishment of the Ngo Dinh Diem government led to their return to the battlefield.
Ut Tich’s tenacity and intellect continued to win recognition from the National Liberation Front. However, even during the country’s struggle for reunification, Ut Tich still fulfilled her responsibilities as a mother until one day in 1968, when she was killed in a bombardment by American troops. She had given birth to her eighth child just two weeks earlier.
To this day, many are still concerned about the fate of her eight sons and daughters. Ut Tich’s children didn’t know much about their mother's story, according to Tuoi Tre, until after 1975 when they read Nguyen Thi’s short novel based on her life, Người Mẹ Cầm Súng (Mother With A Gun).
In today’s Saigon, Ut Tich Street connects the the Nhieu Loc Canal with Cong Hoa Street in Tan Binh District.
