Interrogation Report on South Vietnamese Girl Suspected of Viet Cong Involvement, Trần Thị Tư Interrogation Report, Saigon, 1970

Vietnam War Interrogation Report

Manuscript & Autographs

South Vietnamese Special Police interrogation report from Saigon, 1970, documenting the arrest and questioning of Trần Thị Tư, a seventeen year old ice cream seller accused of guiding and sheltering her husband after his infiltration into the Capital District for Communist activity. Created by the Cảnh Sát Đặc Biệt, or Special Police, of the Republic of Vietnam’s National Police in Đô Thành Sài Gòn, the file places one young woman’s domestic movements, kinship obligations, and street vending work within the Phượng Hoàng security apparatus that targeted Viet Cong infrastructure in and around Saigon. The report anchors the charge in specific movements through Gò Vấp, Gia Định, Tây Ninh, and Saigon, naming Trần Văn Bốn, alias Trung, Bà Tám, Nhiều, Tám Chợ, Thị Hai, and Phiếm as figures in the alleged route of contact, shelter, and attempted legal cover.

Phúc Trình Thẩm Vấn Số 1702 / CSĐB / S3 / P33 / B3 / M. Saigon: Cảnh Sát Đặc Biệt, 1970. Four page typed interrogation report with distribution sheet, 8 x 10 inches, in Vietnamese, with two mounted silver gelatin mugshot portraits of Trần Thị Tư. The first page is headed “Báo Cáo Thẩm Vấn,” roughly translating to "Interrogation Report," with Trần Thị Tư identified as the informant, no alias, no nom de guerre, and her communist position having “contacted, guided, and sheltered her husband as he infiltrated the Capital District to carry out Communist activity.” The report gives her address as 44C B đường Phan Thanh Giản, Gò Vấp, lists her birth in 1953 at Xuyên Thanh, Duy Xuyên, Quảng Nam, identifies her husband as Trần Văn Bốn alias Trung, a professional weaver, and records her occupation as an ice cream seller. The narrative states that after the family house burned in 1966 she moved to Gò Vấp, married Bốn in 1967, visited him at a Communist base area after being guided through Tây Ninh, received instructions from cadres named Nhiều and Tám Chợ, and in April 1970 helped bring Bốn back to Saigon to live under legal cover. The final page states that she was arrested on 15 May 1970 while selling ice cream in Gò Vấp and then led security personnel to arrest her husband at Phiếm’s workshop where he was apprenticing; the report is dated Saigon, 19 August 1970, and signed for Major Lâm Văn Nghĩa, Chief of the Special Police Office. The distribution sheet routes copies to the National Police Directorate, Saigon City Hall’s Internal Affairs Office, the Capital Phượng Hoàng Committee, the Saigon Gia Định Mixed Security Committee, the O.S.A. adviser’s office, District 11 National Police, Quảng Nam National Police, Gia Định National Police, S3/P31/B2, S3/P31/B3, and retained files.

The report belongs to the period after the Tet Offensive when South Vietnamese and American security programs intensified the identification of urban Viet Cong infrastructure rather than battlefield combatants alone. Its language treats Tư as a source and detainee whose value lies in routes, addresses, family links, employment, and names. The file records a mother in law’s address, a rented kitchen near a workshop, an apprenticeship, motorcycle movements, ferry and market truck transfers, and the use of ordinary residence as a condition of clandestine work. The evaluation section concludes that Tư had no clear Communist ideological training, but that she was used through “marital loyalty” to guide and shelter her husband so he could operate legally in the Capital District. Moderate foxing and toning throughout, with minor edge wear, corner wear, ink stamps, and manuscript docketing; text remains legible and paper has maintained integrity. Overall very good condition. A Saigon Special Police interrogation record tracing Viet Cong urban security through one woman’s marriage, movements, and coerced knowledge of clandestine routes.

Item #23552

Price: $950.00