Fire and Rain: Nixon, Kissinger, and the Wars in Southeast Asia

by Carolyn Woods Eisenberg

One heartbreaking example was Pham-thi-Toi, a young woman who had survived the My Lai massacre, which had killed six of her relatives. In its aftermath, the South Vietnamese army had compelled the remaining inhabitants to construct a new Tu Cong (“return to village”) refugee camp elsewhere.27 As the reluctant civilians warned, there were mines in the area, one of which exploded, severing Pham’s arms and legs.28 Over a period of 10 months she was treated in the rehab center, which fitted her with prostheses for her limbs and trained her in their use. Returning to the refugee camp with a small stipend from the Quakers, she and her sister opened a small shop selling foodstuffs and supplies. They were both still there in April 1972, when South Vietnamese soldiers carelessly fired into the camp. Her sister died instantly. Severely wounded in her stomach and the stump of her arm, Pham was sent back to the Quaker Center but, before doctors could operate, she died—a triple victim of an endless war.