The Road to Reunification

(Baonghean) - 11:30 AM on April 30, 1975, became the most sacred, momentous, and moving moment in the nation's history. When poet Huu Thinh wrote his famous epic poem "The Road to the City," he initially titled it "Journey on Barbed Wire." Indeed, the journey to that moment was a journey of extreme limitations, of each individual's fate, and of the entire nation.

The joy of complete victory was multiplied by the joy of complete reunification, no longer divided land, no longer divided hearts. Unity in will, in feelings, in national harmony, in the country brought together as one, as composer Võ Văn Dy sang in his song: “Our homeland’s sea and sky – Beautiful as brocade – One nation – Ships sailing North and South” in “The Song of Reunification”. Perhaps the greatest joy was the joy of reunification. The greatest victory belonged to everyone, including the vast rear area, as: “This campaign meant no need to mix rice with other ingredients – We rejoice, and we miss our mothers so much” (Hữu Thỉnh).

In the rear, mothers dedicated their finest rice and their most precious children to the battlefield. The road to the victorious Saigon on April 30th witnessed countless historical milestones: from the Ben Tre Uprising to the Tet Offensive of 1968; from the fiery summer of 1972 at Quang Tri Citadel to the glorious spring of 1975 in the city named after President Ho Chi Minh; from the historic Dien Bien Phu campaign of 1954 to the 12-day and 12-night "Dien Bien Phu in the air" over Hanoi, shooting down B-52 bombers. The entire nation shared the burden of the war, drawing upon the strength of a thousand years of nation-building and national defense…

Teammates reunite. Photo: Tran Duy Ngoan

Forty years later, I returned to Ho Chi Minh City. The summer sky was still clear and blue, ancient trees cast shade over the streets, and cicadas chirped noisily. The soldiers of that time were now grandparents. They walked silently, leading their grandchildren who skipped along, carrying pink balloons. These veterans still wore their faded green military uniforms. They recalled their first meal in liberated Saigon, still cooked in the field kitchen that poet Huu Thinh had a rather unique poetic image of: "Evening meal in the Independence Palace," which included: "Water spinach as green as if picked from the pond at home. The first night sleeping still in a Truong Son hammock, head resting on a backpack, rifle still slung across my chest, startled awake, I thought I could still hear the gecko's rhythm marking even and odd numbers in the sun and rain."

And how can we forget the image of our comrades falling at the Saigon Bridge just moments before the final victory, when peace was only a hair's breadth away? Life and death, peace and war, anonymity and eternity. They, the soldiers who made today's victory, blend into the crowds in the flow of everyday life. Tank number 830 sits in the grounds of the Independence Palace, grass now growing green on its tracks, the steel still gleaming. War has receded into the distance, as if it never happened. The tank has become a historical artifact for future generations to photograph, the black and white documentary films and photographs are still cherished and preserved, and the marching rhythms still resonate in people's hearts.

On this joyous day of great victory, we relive the heroic atmosphere of history with formations, troops, parades, and marches displaying modern weapons on the same roads where, 40 years ago, the revolutionary army marched with lightning speed: "Cutting down Buon Ma Thuot and the entire Central Highlands - Sweeping Hue and Thua Thien, bringing down Da Nang..." (Total Victory is Ours - To Huu). In the resounding footsteps and cheers today, we seem to see and hear the footsteps that lie buried along the battlefields, along the road to liberating Saigon. We still hear in the murmuring of the earth, the footsteps that will never be forgotten, for today and for tomorrow…

Writer:Nguyen Ngoc Phu