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Tiger Lady. The government's use of South Vietnamese women in the war is largely confined to some 1,800 distaffers—in the Women's Armed Forces Corps formed last January to provide clerks and other administration personnel or as military nurses, welfare workers and interpreters. But in the nature of the dirty war, a uniform is not necessary for bravery. When a V.C. unit attacked a tiny outpost in Tay Ninh province last year while the post's men were on night patrol, their wives grabbed rifles and tommy guns and coolly held off the attackers until the men returned. In the Dong Xoai battle, Private Nguyen Van Ngoc was pinned down in his machine-gun pit by heavy fire. His wife was with him. Ignoring the crossfire, she raced back and forth supplying him with fresh belts of bullets and grenades until both were wounded.
Down in the Mekong Delta, the "Tiger Lady" of the 44th Battalion is Commander Le Van Dan's wife. Though the mother of seven, she has the rank of a master sergeant, totes a .45 pistol, often accompanies the battalion in battle—where she has won three medals for combat bravery.