Where were you on the day of January 31st, 1967?

On January 10 the Americans came and arrested me when I was in my house. After they arrested me, they tied a rope around my neck and strung me together with nine or ten other persons. Then they gave each of us a shovel and brought us to the graveyard and told us to dig. We had to dig up all the graves. When we reached the body in each grave, we had to pull the body up and put it on the side of the grave. After we finished digging up one, we had to dig the next. We had to dig everywhere. We had to dig up all the graves and pull out all the bodies. I did not know what was going on at all. They just put a rope around my neck and strung me together with nine or ten other persons. They just gave each person a shovel. When we reached the graveyard they just pointed at the graves and made us dig. We had to dig up all the bodies and left them exposed there. That's all.

When you dug the bodies up, what did they look like?

When we reached the bodies, they made pull them out and then they would come and inspect the bodies. They came and looked at the corpses. They parted the corpses' hair and look at them. All the corpses had to be pulled out and placed on the surface of the ground. That's all.

Why didn't they try to kill you that day? Why did they let you go home after you finished the digging?

Sorry, I didn't hear what you said.

After you finished digging, did they let you go home or did they take you elsewhere?

After I finished digging, they took me into their airplane and flew me to Hoi An, Cam Ha.

How long did you remain there?

They left me there for seven days before they released me. They just dumped me there without saying a word. Later, I was allowed to go home.

How many Americans were involved? Did they take any photographs or pictures?

No, they did not take any picture. They just forced us to dig for no apparent reason at all. They did not take any picture.

How many Americans were there? Did they wear military uniforms?

They came in a battalion or a regiment.

Did they wear military uniforms?

There were no Vietnamese soldiers, only Americans with rifles with long muzzles.

On that day, how many bodies did you uncover and how many bodies did other people uncover? Do you have any idea?

We all dug together. It took four to five diggers to uncover a body each time. We all dug together. There were ten of us. But these people who dug up the corpse got affected by the putrid smell or something, because many of them have died. Only two of us are left.

But what we wanted to ask you was how many people in all did you dig up that day?

In that spot alone, we dug up eight bodies. After that, we went over here and dug up more than a dozen bodies. It was over here.

When you dug the bodies up, what did you see? Were they women, children, or what?

Old women, old men, peasants and children. Their eyes were wide opened. Old men and old women and children. We just dug them up and left them there. That's it. After we pulled all the corpses up, then they dragged us to another place where we had to dig and then pull up the corpses again.