Quang Trung High-rise Building Special Task Force

(Baonghean.vn) - In the 70s and 80s, the story 'Bat Sat Intelligence Youth Team' by author Pham Thang about a youth organization of District 6 Police - Hanoi City Police in the period 1946-1948 was very famous. At that time, Quang Trung area also had a youth team named...Bat Nhua.

Children of Quang Trung apartment building now. Photo: Thanh Cuong

I still remember, one afternoon the neighborhood chief informed us kids that tonight a policeman would come to assign a task to the “Quang Trung special task force”. The meeting place was the slide in the middle of Quang Trung A area (probably to avoid revealing the secret?!!). Nearly 40 years later, I still clearly remember policeman Trinh, who had a mole like actor Thuong Tin, wearing a yellow police uniform and a yellow pith helmet.

- Today, I invite you to come and form the Quang Trung "children's special task force". I began the story.

I looked around, besides my friends Quang “dai”, Dung “Quang”, Hoang “den”, Nghia “cuu”, there were also Ngoc “Da”, Thang “beo” from building A2, about a dozen kids of the same age. Everyone was overjoyed when the police invited them to join the “special task force” with extremely glorious missions: watching out for thieves entering the nearly completed A5, A6 buildings to steal equipment, finding suspects stealing bicycles on the ground floor, preventing the theft of cement and steel in the under-construction B1, B2 buildings… Uncle Trinh gave each kid a red band with the words “Quang Trung Youth Volunteers”, it was so cool.

The "valuable" documentary photo features some members of the "Plastic Bowl Task Force". Photo: N@T

I whispered:

- Can we name our team "Plastic Bat Youth Team"?

- Why “Plastic Bowl”? He asked in surprise.

I just told him about the Iron Bowl Intelligence Youth Team - a youth organization under the District 6 Police - Hanoi City Police during the period 1946-1948 (later the team was awarded the title of Hero of the People's Armed Forces). "In the past, they used iron bowls, but our family used plastic bowls, so we used this name for convenience." After listening, he happily agreed, only instructing us to keep this mission a secret and not reveal it to anyone, even relatives. All of us were ecstatic.

Remembering this advice, it was not until nearly 40 years later, when the confidentiality period had expired, that I had the opportunity to announce the "earth-shattering secret story" about a "junior special forces" team established by "verbal decision" at that time.

Every week, Uncle Trinh met with us to hear the situation report. Once, after reporting the situation of workers stealing steel while building B1, the whole team was rewarded with 6 movie tickets at the 12-9 Cinema. Occasionally, when he had free time on a moonlit night, he would take the whole team to the Slide yard to practice martial arts. We were excited for weeks and looked forward to meeting the "commander".

Later, I was assigned to compile news, copy it onto a piece of paper placed under the stone, and put it in the “dead letter box” under the slide. The secret letter was written like this: this week, at the end of A2, there was a group that gathered late every night, 5 electric bells were removed from A6, there were foreigners who often came to room xyz... Uncle Trinh would pass by and come to the meeting point to receive the “secret letter” and leave a “secret instruction” for the team, so they wouldn’t have to climb the floors to find us.

Being busy with his duty, a team member left his younger sibling at home crying until his throat was hoarse, so his mother beat him. Illustration photo: Thanh Cuong

There was a time when, to prevent fires during the dry season, the city issued an order banning families from cooking at noon. The “Plastic Bowl Task Force” under the direction of Uncle Trinh, with red armbands on their arms, went into each house to check and remind. At that time, our faces were more arrogant than rice paper. One time, while I was busy following the team to check, I locked the door outside and left my two younger siblings at home crying until their throats were hoarse. When my mother came home and found out, she beat me until my butt was twisted.

Quang Trung, with its many colors, has followed me through the years. I hope that one day, the members of the “Bat Nhua Special Task Force” of that time will have a chance to sit together and learn from the past. If that happens, how wonderful!

N@T