Phung Thi Le Ly was born in Vietnam. She grew up during the Vietnam War. The Viet Cong thought she was a traitor so she was arrested, tortured, and sentenced to death at age 15. She managed to escape to Saigon, where she worked as a housekeeper. Le Ly married U.S. soldier Ed Munro in 1969 and came to the United States in 1970. Munro died in 1973. Dennis Hayslip, whom she married in 1974, brought her family over from Vietnam. In 1982, after her divorce from Dennis Hayslip, Le Ly began work on a book detailing her experiences. The book, When Heaven and Earth Changed Places, was sold in 1987. With the money, Hayslip created the East Meets West Foundation, which tries to improve the quality of life of the Vietnamese. When Heaven and Earth Changed Places was published in 1989 and received fantastic reviews. In 1993 Hayslip published another book of her experiences, Child of War, Woman of Peace. Together, these books formed the basis for director Oliver Stone’s 1993 film Heaven and Earth.
