Võ Thị Sáu facts for kids

Quick facts for kids 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(1952-01-23) (aged 18–19) Côn Sơn Prison, Côn Sơn Island, Vietnam
Cause of death	Execution by firing squad
Nationality	Vietnamese
Occupation	Nationalist guerrilla, schoolgirl
Years active	1948–1952
Known for	Anti-French guerilla combat, political martyrdom

Võ Thị Sáu (Đất Đỏ, 1933 – March 13, 1952) was a Vietnamese hero. She was a schoolgirl who fought against the French. (Vietnam was a French colony until 1954.) She was a guerilla fighter.

She was born Phước Thọ Commune, Đất Đỏ District in 1933. In 1948, she started helping the Viet Minh. Many of her friends and family were part of the Viet Minh. She was a contact for the guerillas and passed information to the fighters.

When she was 14, she attacked some French soldiers. She threw a grenade at them. A Captain was killed. Twelve soldiers were hurt. She was not caught.

In 1949, she made another attack. She threw a grenade at a man who was in charge of executions (a canton chief.) The attack did not work: the grenade didn't explode. The French police caught her after the attack. She was sent to prison.

Sáu went to three different prisons. The last prison she went to was Côn Sơn Prison in the Côn Đảo Islands. She was executed (killed) on 13 March 1952. She was 19 years old.

1958 bronze statue of Võ Thị Sáu by Vietnamese sculptor Diệp Minh Châu.

Today, Sáu is considered a nationalist martyr and a symbol of revolutionary spirit. She is venerated by the Vietnamese people as an ancestral spirit, and has amassed almost a cult-like following of devotees who venerate her grave in Hàng Dương Cemetery on Côn Sơn Island. There is also a temple dedicated to her in her hometown of Đất Đỏ. Many Vietnamese cities and towns also have streets and schools named after her.