Kim Đồng

Nong Van Den, later known as Kim Đồng, (1929–February 15, 1943), was a Nung boy who fought with the Vietnamese resistance against the French.

In 1939, 10-year-old Kim Đồng was already aiding the resistance by delivering secret letters to the local guerrillas, and helping revolutionary soldiers join hidden troops in remote parts of the mountainous province.

On one occasion, when Kim Đồng was carrying important documents, he was captured by troops acting on the side of the French, who demanded to know what he was carrying and who he’d met on the road. He insisted that the only person he’d seen was a local herb doctor who was travelling to a nearby village to give medicine to a woman having problems giving birth. The doctor was immediately sought for arrest. Kim Đồng followed the troops to the man with plans of staging a escape. As the troops led their captive through a market, Kim Đồng started agitating two buffaloes who began to tussle. Two of the guards were so engrossed in the fight that the youngster was able to lead their prisoner away to a secret cave, where they met a female resistance liaison.

Kim Đồng was killed in 1943. Caught by French troops on his way to deliver a message, he stuffed the letter into his mouth to destroy it before being shot.