Vietnam's most special intelligence officer comes from a nun

The person mentioned is nun Dieu Thong.

According to information from the Southern Women's Museum, nun Dieu Thong's real name is Pham Thi Bach Lien (born in 1931, in Lai Vung district, Sa Dec province - now Lai Vung district, Dong Thap province) in a family with a patriotic tradition. Her parents later became nuns.

Since she was young, she saw her parents gradually becoming monks, so at the age of 7, she vowed to practice Buddhism. When she grew up, she was sent to Phuoc Hue Pagoda with the Dharma name Dieu Thong.

Witnessing the oppression of her fellow countrymen, nun Dieu Thong realized that practicing religion meant saving the suffering and the needy. She could not stay in a temple when her country was invaded and the people lived a life of misery and suffering. She was determined to follow the call of the revolution.

Image of Buddhist nun Dieu Thong when she was young and in the uniform of a soldier of the Vietnam People's Army. (Photo: Dinh Phong)

To be able to easily carry out revolutionary activities and outwit the enemy, nun Dieu Thong asked for money to build a thatched-roof pagoda named Bon Nguyen (located at the corner of Tran Quoc Toan and Lo Sieu streets in District 11, Ho Chi Minh City, later renamed Tam Bao Pagoda).

Bon Nguyen Pagoda became a revolutionary base, a regular place for Saigon intelligence soldiers at that time under the command of Mr. Nguyen Duc Hung (alias Tu Chu), Commander of Saigon - Gia Dinh Special Forces. From then on, the life of nun Dieu Thong turned a new page.

She became a soldier of the Saigon-Gia Dinh Special Forces, a revolutionary soldier not in the green uniform of a soldier but in the blue meditation robe of a monk. Here, she made incense and lamps to sell to generate money for the special forces to operate, performing reconnaissance missions to gather information.

Assigned by the organization, nun Dieu Thong infiltrated enemy ranks and drew maps of many important locations occupied by the enemy. The documents she provided helped the commando team plan an attack on the Senate, causing casualties to dozens of enemy officials.

In her blue robe, nun Dieu Thong easily escaped the enemy's suspicion and helped the commandos obtain a lot of confidential information. Not only that, the temple was also a secret base where she and her teammates could operate and exchange reasonable combat plans to fight the enemy.

With her great contributions, nun Dieu Thong was awarded the Third Class Liberation Feat Medal and the First Class Resistance Medal.

After the country was liberated, nun Dieu Thong continued to work at the General Staff Office of the Ho Chi Minh City Command until 1982 when she retired and lived at Truc Lam Pagoda (Go Vap District, Ho Chi Minh City). At the end of 2011, she returned to That Buu Pagoda in Long Xuyen City, An Giang Province, shaved her head and became a nun again, and spent the rest of her life in this private residence.