Stand your ground, strong with your brothers, courageous and unyielding!

Before the United States sent troops, Vietnam had a long tradition of revered women warriors celebrated for their contributions to armed resistance to invaders. The Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) updated the stories of these heroic women for the Vietnam War. North Vietnam constructed new stories of women building roads, tending crops, and defending villages before going home to care for their children. When Hồ Chí Minh called for an all-out, total war against the United States, women became integral to the construction of the Hồ Chí Minh trail and the use of the trail to transport goods from North Vietnam to guerillas in the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam). Women were encouraged to connect the welfare of their families with the security of the country.