Comrade Ly Tu Trong (1915-1932): Fought heroically until his last breath for the Party

In early 1926, Le Huu Trong was sent by the Vietnam Revolutionary Youth Association in Siam to Guangzhou (China) to study. Upon arriving in Guangzhou, he met comrade Ly Thuy (aka Nguyen Ai Quoc) and was organized into the Vietnamese Young Pioneers group. Comrade Nguyen Ai Quoc prepared a plan to send Le Huu Trong and the members of this group to the Soviet Union to study and he changed Le Huu Trong's surname from Le to Ly. Le Huu Trong changed his name to Ly Tu Trong.

After being taught geography and history of the country by Nguyen Ai Quoc, Ly Tu Trong was introduced by him to study Chinese at the high school of the Sun Yat-sen Government. Because of his intelligence and eagerness to learn, he was able to shorten his study time at school and was then assigned to help at the General Department. During his time working here, he actively contributed to the communication between the General Department of the Vietnam Revolutionary Youth Association and the other party and Vietnamese revolutionary cadres operating in China; at the same time, he organized the transfer of letters and documents from the General Department back to the country.

In the fall of 1929, Ly Tu Trong was transferred to Saigon to carry out the mission of the Vietnamese revolution in the new situation. Returning to Saigon, he applied to work as a coal picker at Nha Rong Wharf under the alias Trong Con. When the Central Party agency moved to Saigon, Ly Tu Trong's task was extremely heavy. He was both a liaison between the Party base on international ships and the Southern Regional Party Committee, and a liaison between the Southern Regional Party Committee and the Party chapters in Saigon - Cho Lon.

To prepare for the establishment of the Communist Youth Union, the Party Central Committee assigned Ly Tu Trong to study the youth situation in Saigon-Cho Lon. The work was extremely heavy but he completed the task assigned by his superiors well.

On February 8, 1931, to protect comrade Phan Boi who was giving a revolutionary propaganda speech, Ly Tu Trong shot dead the French secret police inspector Le-gơ-răng near the Saigon stadium. Ly Tu Trong was captured by the French secret police. Although he was brutally tortured, he did not reveal a word. On April 15, 1931, the French government in Saigon opened a criminal trial against Ly Tu Trong and he was sentenced to death even though he was not yet a minor.

During his time in prison in Saigon, bribed and enticed by all means, the French colonialists could not shake Ly Tu Trong's iron will. He always believed in the future victory of the revolution. His indomitable spirit made the prison guards admire and amazed, they called him "Mr. Small" and praised him as "a man of steel".

In November 1932, in defiance of public opinion and the law, the French colonialists executed Ly Tu Trong when he was only 17 years old.