Le Ly Hayslip was born in Ky La Vietnam in December 1949. She was the sixth child of a farming family. Their village supported the Viet Cong and as she was growing up she was often required to help Viet Cong soldiers by stealing supplies. Hayslip's life was full of more hardship and difficulty than most American's can imagine. Until her early twenties Hayslip's life revolved around War, at first with the French and later with the Americans. The Vietnam War shaped her life and that of her family's very strongly. From her earliest remembrances war distinctly affected the way her family lived and the life altering choices she had to make.

Her life started off in a dramatic state and continued that way throughout her life as portrayed in this text. She was born small and the midwife wanted to...