Hoang Minh Ba was born in 1922 and lived in the district of Tho Xuan in Thanh Hoa. Coming from a family of long-time revolutionaries, several members of her family were arrested in a raid in 1939, a fate which she herself narrowly avoided. She was then sent to Thai Binh in 1940 to follow a short Party-run class on communications. There she met Nguyen Luong Bang and was taught how to transport clandestine documents, which she did on her way back to Thanh Hoa. In 1941 she participated in the establishment of a “military zone” (chien khu) in Ngoc Trao, Thanh Hoa, with the cooperation of a group of the local Muong ethnic minority. She was arrested later on during the war and describes the difficult conditions inside the prison in Thanh Hoa. Released after the Japanese coup in March 1945, she was assigned to an area in Thanh Hoa where she was responsible, among other things, for the “destruction” of the Phan Anh youth movement in order to replace it with a Viet Minh youth movement, and she also mentions the Quoc Dan Dang’s activities in Thanh Hoa. She talks about the establishment and organizing of uprising committees (ban khoi nghia) during the summer of 1945, and goes into detail about what she was doing on the night of the uprising in her area. From late 1945 to 1950, she worked in several areas including Tinh Gia (Thanh Hoa) and Hue, notably in the Women’s Association. In 1950, she was sent to China for political training. After a year she was sent back to Thanh Hoa and worked directing a Party re-education school (chinh huan) for teachers. After 1954, she was in a unit working against “forced emigration to the South” (chong cuong ep di cu).