General Le Duc Anh and his heart for Nghe An
(Baonghean.vn) - We respectfully introduce stories with touching details about the affection and great concern for Nghe An of General Le Duc Anh - former member of the Politburo, former President, former Advisor to the Party Central Committee. These are the memories of Colonel Nguyen Khac Thuan, who worked at the Military Zone 4 Newspaper from 1972 - 2008.
General Le Duc Anh - former member of the Politburo, former President, former Advisor to the Party Central Committee has passed away, in the sorrow of the entire nation. Reading stories about his illustrious life in the media, I - a soldier who had the opportunity to meet him a few times when he was Minister of National Defense, then President, also want to recall small but touching stories about him, as a farewell to the commander, the leader of the time, a man who always had a deep affection for Nghe An.
Story 1:
Is there anything wrong with Uncle Ho's house?
It was a stormy night in 1986, at 4am we received a phone call from Lieutenant General Hoang Cam, the Commander of Military Region 4 at that time, requesting to send a reporter on an urgent mission. Always ready to "fight", especially during the stormy season, we quickly set out to carry out the order.
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Upon arrival, we learned that, it turned out that before that, at nearly 4am, General Le Duc Anh - then Minister of National Defense called Lieutenant General Hoang Cam and asked: "Nghe An has such a big storm, is Uncle Ho's house damaged? Are there many damages to the people?". After hearing the Commander of Military Region 4's brief report on the situation, the General immediately assigned the Commander of Military Region to directly inspect Uncle Ho's house in Kim Lien commune, Nam Dan district to see if there was any damage or loss.
Not only that, General Le Duc Anh also carefully instructed that if storms and rains unfortunately affect the relic, they must be ready to mobilize forces to fix it, try to protect the original state, and preserve the original relic.
We quickly organized a working group including Commander Hoang Cam, two combat officers and myself to head to Uncle Ho's hometown. Due to difficult weather conditions and unfavorable roads, we had to leave our vehicles in Nam Linh commune and walk to Uncle Ho's house. Along the way, trees were lying around, but all our worries and concerns were relieved when we saw that the house associated with President Ho Chi Minh's childhood was basically intact, with only a few damages that could be repaired immediately.
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| President Le Duc Anh visited flood victims. Photo: Archive |
Commander Hoang Cam assigned me to quickly record some images around the relic site to print and send to Minister Le Duc Anh and the Ministry of National Defense. Upon returning to the Command Headquarters, Commander Hoang Cam assigned the task to the 414th Engineer Brigade stationed in the area to immediately send forces to clean up the Kim Lien Relic Site, to soon restore the beautiful landscape to serve the people and soldiers of the whole country. He also called Minister Le Duc Anh to report the situation.
General Le Duc Anh expressed his joy, but did not forget to immediately remind that Nghe An is a province that is constantly flooded. Although the annual flood prevention and control plan is built by the Military Region, it is necessary to follow the reality more closely to help people and minimize the damage caused by floods. The head of the Ministry of National Defense also instructed the Military Region to thoroughly inspect the area so that no family would have to suffer from a lack of food due to floods, and allowed the Commander to provide emergency rice relief to people in areas that were completely lost after the storm.
Remembering this story, I once again felt moved by the deep affection and wholehearted concern of a general for the homeland of beloved Uncle Ho and the people of Nghe An. Not only that, it also demonstrated a very high cultural awareness, worthy of a leader of General Le Duc Anh.
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| President Le Duc Anh visited and worked in Nghe An province on October 27-28, 1992. Photo: VNA |
Second story:
The President's humane concern
The second story I want to tell happened around June 1995. At that time, President Le Duc Anh was sick, the Politburo arranged for him to rest for 12 days in Cua Lo, and Military Region 4 was assigned the responsibility of welcoming and protecting him. Colonel Nguyen Van Thuc - at that time Head of the Security Department of the Military Region directly organized the system to protect the President at Hon Ngu Hotel.
One night, the President could not sleep. Seeing Colonel Nguyen Van Thuc urging his men to guard him, he kindly called everyone in, made them milk to drink, and then chatted and asked about each person's family situation. When it was his turn, Mr. Thuc confided that his wife was being treated for cancer at Military Hospital 4, and noticed that the President's face became pensive. After chatting, the sky was getting light, and everyone returned to their positions to carry out their duties.
One month later, Colonel Nguyen Van Thuc went to Hanoi for work. General Le Duc Anh, although he was the President, still lived in a house in the T66 Guest Station of the Ministry of National Defense. Standing on the attic, he saw Mr. Thuc and asked his bodyguard to invite him up to meet him.
Mr. Thuc later recounted that he was both surprised and moved when the President still remembered and warmly asked: "Has your wife's health improved recently?"
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| President Le Duc Anh and his wife in Nghe An in 1995. Photo: NVCC |
When Mr. Thuc replied that his wife's health was getting worse, President Le Duc Anh encouraged her, then suggested introducing a famous oriental medicine practitioner in Cao Bang province who had cured many incurable diseases and saved many lives, and sent his personal doctor to take Mr. Thuc. In order to meet the schedule of accompanying the President on a foreign trip, that same night the President's Office arranged a car to take the doctor and Colonel Nguyen Van Thuc to Cao Bang. Thanks to that traditional medicine, Mr. Thuc's wife's life was extended for a while.
Story three:
The "incognito" trip and the President's advice
During his 12-day stay in Cua Lo to recuperate in 1995, President Le Duc Anh was asked by the Central Committee for the Protection and Care of the Health of Officials to not work and spend all his time resting and recovering from his illness. However, the President and his wife still "disguised" themselves to visit some places such as Vinh market, Cua Lo port, Cua Hoi fishing port... He and his wife also went to Hon Ngu island to visit and encourage the officers and soldiers stationed there.
Upon his return, President Le Duc Anh called the then Secretary of Nghe An Provincial Party Committee, Comrade Nguyen Ba, and the then Commander of Military Region 4, Lieutenant General Nguyen Quoc Thuoc, to meet and advise, in general, that the Politburo and the President himself were always concerned about Nghe An - the homeland of President Ho Chi Minh, with great potential but the development speed was not commensurate. He raised many aspects that the locality should carefully examine, in which he especially emphasized promoting the role of the people as masters and building a team of cadres for the people.
The President is always concerned about Nghe An - the homeland of President Ho Chi Minh, with great potential but the development speed is not commensurate.
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| President Le Duc Anh visits Quy Chau Gemstone Mining Enterprise, Nghe An province, October 27, 1992. Photo: Cao Phong/VNA |
Referring to the "incognito" trip to Vinh market, comrade Le Duc Anh assessed that the goods sold at the market were very diverse but mainly raw and unprocessed goods, proving that Nghe An has not been able to take shortcuts to the industrial sector. The President noted that this is a weakness that Nghe An needs to rise up and overcome quickly, and to do so, it is necessary to first improve economic infrastructure such as electricity, roads, etc.
President Le Duc Anh also reminded both the Secretary of the Nghe An Provincial Party Committee and the Commander of Military Region 4 that economic development must always be closely combined with national defense. Because Nghe An is a locality closely linked to the country's defense work, the sea must be a solid front line, and the western region of Nghe An must be a reliable rear for Laos.
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