The story of a party member admitted to Phu Quoc prison

(Baonghean.vn) - Phu Quoc prison with its harsh regulations and brutal, savage torture could not imprison the will of revolutionary soldiers. The story of Mr. Pham Duc Hoa (born in 1947) is a vivid example of the struggle in prison.

After Tet Mau Than, the enemy transferred more than 200 prisoners from Non Nuoc prison (Da Nang) to Phu Quoc island (Kien Giang). I was put in Division B1, which had 18 cells, one room for prisoners to cook, and a large yard where daily roll call was held.

Mr. Pham Duc Hoa recounts the years he was detained by the US and puppet regime at Phu Quoc prison.

Phu Quoc Prison was where the enemy gathered prisoners from mainland camps, including those from the North and the South, so it was extremely complicated. The enemy wanted to intimidate and intimidate the prisoners, so they set out harsh regulations and extremely brutal forms of torture and terror. The prison was surrounded by thick, layered barbed wire fences. During the day, there were patrol cars, at night, soldiers and police dogs patrolled, the lights were bright, and at the four corners, there were four towering fortresses guarded day and night by military police.

Life was extremely miserable and stressful. They gave us two meals a day of rice to cook for ourselves. There was only moldy rice with a few rotten fish, bones, salt, and rotten vegetables. They took roll call three times a day: morning, noon, and afternoon. At night, they went into each room to take roll call, and gatherings of 3-4 people were forbidden, for fear that the prisoners would discuss ways to fight or think of ways to escape.

Not to mention the enemy's infiltrating prisoners to listen, monitor and inform, causing many of our comrades to be captured, beaten, exiled to solitary confinement or killed. Faced with that situation, the Party organization of the B1 Division Prison decided to warn the enemy's underground organization and to intimidate the enemy's lackeys who were spies.

Mr. Pham Duc Hoa in the military (photo provided by the character).

One evening, before the scheduled time to enter the room, comrade Nguyen Van Hoa (name in the file declared to the enemy) walked beside me and talked: “I am a member of the prison Party organization, in real life I am Truong Xuan Kieu, a security officer operating in Thua Thien who was captured by the enemy in 1966. The organization decided to kill an enemy spy who was planted in the prison as an insider. This task will be assigned to a team of 3 people, including you. This is an important task, the organization trusts and entrusts it to you, comrade, think about it and meet again tomorrow night to give an answer.”

That night, I thought about being a soldier fighting the enemy for many years on the front, with fierce battles, some of which were just a hair’s breadth away from death, so I was not afraid of sacrifice. In prison, I determined that those were just extra days of life, so I was ready to do anything, as long as it was useful to the organization. The next evening, when I met comrade Hoa, I immediately said: “I accept the mission assigned by the organization.”

3 days later, the 3-person team on duty met to disseminate the plan, including: Team leader Lai Xuan Thanh (from Duy Tien district - Ha Nam), Hoang Ngoc Phuong (from Vinh Phuc) and me Pham Duc Hoa (name in the enemy's records is Pham Dinh Chinh). The target to be eliminated was named Xuan, from Quang Ngai province, a puppet security guard who had deserted, was captured by the American army during a sweep and accused of being a Viet Cong, then imprisoned in the same prison camp with our brothers. He had written notes many times and thrown them out to inform the enemy about the activities of our organization, pointing out the location of the tunnels.

Mr. Pham Duc Hoa redraws the map of Phu Quoc Prison. Photo by Cong Kien.

Mr. Thanh took the two of us to identify Xuan in room 12 and waited for the opportunity to act. One time, the camp had no water to cook rice and had to wait for a tanker to come, so we had to eat late. When the kitchen distributed rice, it was already dusk, people were going up and down to get rice and water, moving around in a mess. Taking advantage of that moment, comrade Thanh asked Xuan to go get water, then lured him to a dark and hidden place so that comrade Phuong and I could take action.

After finishing the job, the three of us returned to our rooms as if nothing had happened. A moment later, someone discovered Xuan’s body and informed the guards. The enemy alerted the military police to surround the camp, and used loudspeakers to ask the prisoners to skip their meals and return to their rooms for roll call. When the roll call was complete, they asked: “Who is the culprit, come out and confess?” but no one spoke up. They frantically threatened and forced the whole camp to sit in the sun the next day and did not allow them to receive rice to cook.

Mr. Pham Duc Hoa (far left) and his comrades and teammates took a souvenir photo during a visit to Phu Quoc Prison (photo provided by the character).

In the following days, they arrested a number of people for questioning and beating, but no one confessed anything. A few days later, things returned to normal. This incident took place in October 1968, and was a warning to cowards and traitors. On December 15, 1968, the Party Committee of the B1 Division of Phu Quoc Prison held a ceremony to admit me and comrade Hoang Ngoc Phuong into the Vietnam Workers' Party. The admission ceremony took place secretly in a corner of the yard at dusk. Comrade Vuong Duc Thuan, from Nghi Thai Commune (Nghi Loc) - Party Cell Secretary was the host, Comrade Lai Xuan Thanh - Party Cell Committee member directly conducted the admission ceremony and assigned tasks to the two new party members.

Nearly 50 years have passed with many ups and downs in life, but I have never forgotten the years of imprisonment in Phu Quoc prison. There I maintained the spirit and integrity of a communist, where I was challenged and honored to join the ranks of the Party.

Cong Kien

(Recorded according to the story of Mr. Pham Duc Hoa, house number 02, Cao Lo street, Vinh city).