Spring Soldier's Shirt

Short stories by Dan Hoa

Hanoi

(Baonghean) - The twenty-third of December, the day the Kitchen Gods went to heaven, unlike the usual winter weather, the sky that day was clear blue without a cloud in sight. Mr. Man took out his soldier's shirt to wash. The shirt was more than 60 years old.

For 60 years, he had not held a gun, but only held a pen and a soldering iron to repair experimental equipment. While marching to the Northwest, he received an order to leave the army and return to ATK. Not knowing the reason, he was extremely afraid. He searched his memory to see what sin he had committed that made him have to abandon a sacred duty that not everyone wanted. When he was a student at Quoc Hoc Vinh, he was an excellent student and received many awards. When he entered the baccalaureate training school in Hue, he was still a diligent student. After graduating, someone suggested that he become an official, but he refused. During his years of holding a gun, he took on dangerous tasks, such as the Tu Vu battle and the Ha Nam Ninh campaign. During those days, he was emaciated, losing eight kilos. He shed tears when he was assigned a new task that he had never thought of. That was to study in the Soviet Union. He was not happy, but quickly felt reassured when he was told that victory was not far away. After chasing away the enemy, the country had to be built to be prosperous, so it needed "educated" people to create material things.

In a foreign land with the cold of the earth and sky, but extremely warm. He could not forget the Russian and Ukrainian mothers who adopted him, they cared for, worried about and loved him like their own flesh and blood... when the sad news of his biological mother's death came.

Illustration: Nam Phong

While washing clothes, he talked about the story of the “wooden fish” that he often reminded his children and grandchildren with a serious perspective: if you are poor in money, you must study hard to become rich in knowledge, and when you are rich in knowledge, turning knowledge into money is no longer difficult. His hometown is a land on the banks of the Lam River. In the past, it was extremely poor, but now it has truly changed! In the past, it was common to be proud of being poor. Now, that wrong way of thinking has become a thing of the past. Although the fence of the Malabar spinach has disappeared, the villagers still have a close relationship with their neighbors. Everyone is happy when others are better than them. When catching a dog thief, they do not use knives or hammers, but only advise, ask the reason for the crime, and then help wholeheartedly. There is no longer a competition to build ancestral tombs that must be bigger than those of other families. Every family competes to make nets to catch sardines in the spring, swimming upstream to find a place to lay eggs. Producing fragrant rice for export to Japan to produce sake, growing single-hull sesame with high oil content for export to Europe... Finding "fish" yourself and humbly following friends when they give you a "fishing rod".

The whole village, the whole commune, from the cadres to the people, everyone is quiet but hard-working. The veterans association does not hold guns but still helps people change their lives in the way of the border guards. The commune women's association, although not yet connected to the internet, loves to read newspapers to record things to know to maintain health and use medicine safely. The young girls also do not forget the melodies of the ferry and the folk songs...

Before going to school, Mr. Man had a 10-year-old son named Son. When he finished school and returned to Vietnam, "puppy Son" was just old enough to join the army. His high school graduation score was quite high, and he also passed the university entrance exam, but Son still decided to join the army. The family tradition was very simple: Son must follow his father's example, just do it. The name Son is associated with the majestic mountains of Quang Tri and the Central Highlands. Still intact after the fierce days and nights in Quang Tri Citadel, he went to Buon Ma Thuot, then continued along Highway 14 to Saigon during the Spring General Offensive.

Every year Son visits Quang Tri Citadel. This year is no exception! He just returned after releasing incense and flowers into Thach Han River and rereading the poem:

Boat to Thach Han, row gently,

My friend is still lying there at the bottom of the river.

Twenty years old becomes waves,

Peaceful shore, forever and ever...

As a student, Son was good at Math and Physics, but he still loved History, so he was very fond of the two lines "At the age of twenty, I become waves/ Calming the shore, forever and ever", he memorized "Nam Quoc Son Ha", the first Declaration of Independence. He often read to him Nguyen Trai's Binh Ngo, Tran Hung Dao's Proclamation to Soldiers, the altruism and respect for talented people of the cloth-clothed hero Quang Trung towards La Son Phu Tu Nguyen Thiep... Thanks to his understanding of history, Son immediately understood the intelligence of the Command when they decided to attack in one place but used diversionary tactics in another. Applying that intelligence, as the commander of a brigade, he had his comrades stationed at intersections predicting that the puppet army would counterattack or guard the Saigon radio station.

Mr. Man's grandson is named Hai. Hai was born when the war was over and the country was reunited. Since childhood, he saw many friends in the same kindergarten and nursery school die early because of taking the wrong medicine, and his fathers and uncles say goodbye to their loved ones because of serious illnesses. After graduating from high school, he took the entrance exam to the University of Medicine, the birthplace of those who remembered and followed the oath of Hippocrates, of the famous doctors Tue Tinh and Hai Thuong Lan Ong... He delved into the surgical subjects with the dream of creating human body parts from stem cells in the future.

His graduation thesis was excellent, many hospitals invited him, but he volunteered to work in Truong Sa. After less than a week on the island, Hai's skin was already tanned to a honey color. He understood the hardships of his comrades who had lived here for many years. From then on, he was determined to show the consciousness and affection of a son who always turned towards the inseparable flesh and blood of the Fatherland.

The vast natural scenery of Truong Sa, both romantic and simple with images of the hard life of everyday life. He felt more deeply human when he saw the tour groups hugging him and the Navy soldiers when they got off the ship to return to the mainland. For five years, the doctor from Nghe An saved the lives of many fishermen whose boats sank in storms, and gave first aid to hundreds of visitors from the visiting groups. That was also the reward for him being given priority to return home for Tet...

Wearing military uniforms to celebrate Tet, Mr. Man and his descendants are not eccentric at all, it reminds them of the heroic past, continuing the family and national tradition of building and defending the country!

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