the Interpreter

Nguyen Thi Thanh was born in 1938 or 1939, but one document gave 1943 as her date of birth. Thanh was born in a village in the Red River Valley between the port of Haiphong and the city of Hanoi, one of the most heavily Catholic areas of Asia. She attended mission schools and learned French. After the defeat of the French, and the partitioning of Viet Nam, Thanh's family decided to head south.

At the age of 17, Thanh was married to a stranger that her parents had chosen. Shortly thereafter, her husband was drafted into the South Vietnamese Army. While her husband was away on an endless series moves from base to base Thanh got work on American bases in a desperate attempt to support what was now a family of two children. It was at these bases that Thanh learned English. She worked a total of twelve years for a half dozen American bases.

This information was paraphased from the book: Vietnam: The Other War, by Charles Anderson, published by Presidio, 1982.

If I took a lot of photographs of this woman it's because she is one of those unforgettable ones. Her offical job was interpreter but she didn't stop there. She was a coordinator, counselor to kids and adults, and social worker. If a village needed help she was the one that got things done.

She impressed Charles Anderson so much that she got a whole chapter in his book.

Amazing lady.

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