April Memories

(Baonghean) - Although 40 years have passed, the memories of a time of war and bullets are still intact in the memory of veteran Le Huu Tien in Yen Do village, Hung My commune (Hung Nguyen). Especially the feeling of joy to the point of tears at the moment the South was completely liberated...

“…When the Political Commissar ran up and shouted, “It’s liberated, my friends! The enemy has surrendered! The country is unified!”, the 120mm mortar unit was deploying to attack the enemy stronghold in the newly harvested rice fields at the western gateway to Saigon. Although their clothes were covered in mud, by natural reflex, the whole unit hugged each other and burst into joy at this sacred moment of the nation…”.

War veteran Le Huu Tien (standing in the middle) while still in the army. (Photo provided by the character)

...Born and raised in the midst of war, after finishing high school in 1972, at the age of 19, the young man Le Huu Tien put aside all his dreams and ambitions of youth and decided to join the army to fight the enemy. Unfortunately, at that time his family was too poor, there was not enough food to eat, not enough clothes to wear, so he was not tall or heavy enough to join the army. Le Huu Tien had to find every way to convince his recruiters. Seeing the determination of the small young man, the recruiters that year "had no choice" to accept him to join the army.

After 13 months of training, on February 20, 1974, he and his teammates received orders to enter battlefield B. In addition to military uniforms and equipment, he also brought with him the determination to defeat the enemy with the army and people of the whole country and... a diary. He said he had to record all the memories so that if he could not return, he could send them to his parents and siblings the most beautiful period of his youth.

Entering the battlefield with many fierce battles, such as the Bau Bang - Ben Cat campaign, which was the first battle he participated in, or the Binh Long - Phuoc Long campaign (November 1974) to open the door from the Central Highlands along Highway 14 to liberate Saigon... But the most memorable was when we launched the historic Ho Chi Minh Campaign, the entire front united all 4 wings to attack at the same time, at that time Mr. Tien was the Captain of the 120mm Mortar Battery of Regiment 262, Division 320. Due to some objective factors, the coordination of operations was not accurate, the unit in the Southwest (320 B) entered Khiem Cuong Town, Long An first. When they had occupied the battlefield (about 4 km from the enemy base), they were ordered by the front line to retreat.

That night, the whole unit urgently disassembled the cannons, divided them into 2 people carrying a part (normally, 4 people carrying it still felt heavy), and by dawn they had reached the assembly point (about 1 km from the old location). The following night, the unit continued to march to the position where they had just withdrawn, and by dawn they had finished setting up the position in the rice fields of the people of Giong Trom village (Khiem Cuong town). On April 30, 1975, when receiving the order to detonate the first cannon in the final battle, there was information that they were not allowed to fire at the water tank area, because there were Saigon commandos hiding there and were currently coordinating with the observation post to control the direction of the artillery position for the unit.

After 3 hours of intense artillery fire on the enemy base, Captain Nguyen Van Thuan (from Kien Thuy, Kien An, Hai Phong) heard from the radio (a spoil of war captured from the Nguyen Hue campaign) running out shouting: “Liberation, comrades! The enemy has surrendered! The country is unified!”. At that time, everyone was covered in mud and smelling of gunpowder, jumping up in the middle of the field, hugging each other and cheering loudly. Because after so many hardships and sacrifices, we finally won, the country was reunited.

At this point, the old soldier’s voice choked up, and his eyes welled up with tears. I knew those tears were tears of joy for the country’s peace, and sorrow for his comrades who had fallen for national independence and reunification…

South Scene