Võ Thị Sáu
Võ Thị Sáu | |
|---|---|
Portrait of Võ Thị Sáu at the Vung Tau Police Office. | |
| Born | 1933 Phước Thọ, Đất Đỏ, French Indochina |
| Died | 23 January 1952 (aged 18–19) |
| Cause of death | Execution by firing squad |
| Nationality | Vietnamese |
| Occupation(s) | Nationalist guerrilla, schoolgirl |
| Years active | 1948–1952 |
| Known for | Anti-French guerilla combat, political martyrdom |
Võ Thị Sáu (1933 – 23 January 1952) was a teenager who fought as a guerrilla during the First Indochina War participating in the resistance movement against the French colonists for Vietnam’s independence. She carried out multiple assassination attempts targeting French officers and Pro-French Vietnamese individuals collaborating with the colonial government in Southern Vietnam at the time. She was captured, tried, convicted, and executed by the French in 1952, becoming the first woman to be executed at Côn Đảo Prison.
Today in Vietnam she is considered a symbolic national revolutionary martyr and heroine. The Vietnamese government posthumously awarded her the title of Hero of the People's Armed Forces in 1993.