A life for the sacred land of Dong Loc

(Baonghean)Many years ago until now, every time tourists come to pay their respects and commemorate the heroic martyrs of the Youth Volunteers at the Dong Loc T-junction historical site, everyone knows Dang Thi Yen, the dedicated, cheerful, enthusiastic and lovable cadre who was the first to write the explanation and collect artifacts for a majestic relic site with all the characteristics of the Youth Volunteers. Everyone respected and honored her as "The 11th daughter of the Dong Loc T-junction"...

Diligently collecting artifacts

Dang Thi Yen was born and raised on the left bank of the poetic Lam River, the third daughter of martyr Dang Loan, former Editor-in-Chief of the Western Nghe An Newspaper. In 1977, after graduating from the Museum Department, Yen worked at the Department of Culture, Can Loc District (Ha Tinh), specializing in museums. Fresh out of school, she was an intern, and without a bicycle, so every day Yen had to walk to the communes to investigate, collect documents and collect artifacts of unclassified relics.

Before taking up her new assignment, at the Dong Loc T-junction historical site, Dang Thi Yen had spent 20 years (1978-1998) collecting and accumulating a remarkable amount of capital. After going up to the top of Hong mountain with Huong Tich pagoda, she went down to the lower Can Loc area to learn and collect about the Dang Tat and Dang Dung families, the Nguyen Van Giai relic (Hau Loc); Phan Kinh relic (Song Loc); Nguyen Huy Tu relic (Truong Loc); Nguyen Thiep relic (Kim Loc); Ngo Phuc Van relic (Dai Loc) and many commune-level resistance relics such as Dinh Lu temple (Tan Loc); Bien Son temple (Hong Loc); Nghen intersection... As a result, out of a total of 42 national relic sites in the whole province, Can Loc district has occupied 12. Dong Loc T-junction alone has been in Yen's plan since 1978. Yen has not yet figured out what to do with the collection of documents, but she always thinks that the time will come when it will be needed. The "capital" from that initial foresight helped Yen restore, collect, and build the Dong Loc T-junction relic site quickly and conveniently. With the title of deputy head of the board and a person with many years of experience in museum expertise, Yen is proficient in the work step by step. The first step of the Management Board led by Yen is to collect books, documents, and materials about Dong Loc T-junction and documents of the Youth Volunteers nationwide, from which to build a work outline,... delimit the area, list the work to avoid duplicate travel and unnecessary expenses. Dang Thi Yen advised the Provincial Youth Union to submit to the Central Youth Union a plan to build the relic site step by step, from building the Monument, Memorial Area to the Area for preserving artifacts, images... to moving and gathering the graves of 10 heroic female martyrs of the Youth Volunteers Squad 4-C552-N55-P18 right to the place where they sacrificed at the relic site. A mountain of work is waiting for the management board, while Dong Loc Junction, after nearly 30 years of war, time has almost erased all traces of the fierce war.

Dong Loc T-junction in the early years of establishment of the Youth Volunteers Relic Site was almost just a hill of wild grass. The key area that needs to be restored and preserved is the rice field where people leveled bomb craters to plow and cultivate. Dong Loc T-junction in 1968 only remains in films and photos saved along with the memories of living historical witnesses.

The legendary Dong Loc T-junction is a golden history of the fighting of 22 units and groups, with 16,000 people directly participating. The direct force at Dong Loc T-junction that day alone was 3,000 historical witnesses. However, after the war, dozens of Youth Volunteer Units were disbanded. From the comrades in the command to the soldiers who returned to civilian life in all parts of the country, not to mention those who passed away due to injuries, illnesses... Other units still had their names, but the witnesses had also retired or passed away. Dang Thi Yen made a "solo" journey back in history from the South to the North to meet insiders to investigate and collect documents and artifacts related to the Dong Loc area and Youth Volunteer Units. While listing the names of the units that needed to be directly investigated, Dang Thi Yen noticed: the remote addresses were all the Dong Loc T-junction security forces, while the collective units that directly ensured daily traffic were the Youth Volunteers and intra-provincial traffic units.



Dang Thi Yen with artifacts of the Youth Volunteers at Dong Loc Junction that she collected.

From there, Dang Thi Yen went to meet and verify groups and individuals nearby such as "bomb disposal king" Vuong Dinh Nho, La Thi Tam, Uong Xuan Ly, Nguyen Tri An, Nguyen Tien Tuan, then the families of 10 female martyrs of TNXP C552-N55-P18. Met with TNXP company commanders such as Nguyen The Linh, engineer Nguyen Thanh Binh (aka poet Yen Thanh)... Through their opinions, she built long-distance meeting programs in the South and the North. Especially long trips to find TNXP addresses in the provinces in the South and the North to collect information about the TNXP force nationwide.

In the northern provinces, Yen went all the way to Thai Nguyen to meet Brigade 210 (the predecessor of Anti-Aircraft Regiment 210), to Hanoi to meet Colonel Tran But, the chief of staff, who directly commanded the Regiment fighting in Dong Loc in 1968. Then went all the way to Hai Phong, Bac Ninh, Hung Yen, Hai Duong, Thanh Hoa to meet historical witnesses. Then went to Bac Can to find the Q1 Youth Volunteer Company, to Tuyen Quang to Vinh Phuc, Ninh Binh to Quang Binh to learn about the Cave of 8 girls, Road 20, Road Quyet Thang. To Nghe An to learn about the 13 martyrs of Truong Bon... Those trips brought Yen more living documents and valuable artifacts for the National Youth Volunteer Relic Site.

For the sacred land of Dong Loc

To expand the documents and artifacts for the National Youth Volunteers Relic Site, Dang Thi Yen, a "long-distance woman", traveled to 20 provinces where Youth Volunteers liberated the South. She met with Mr. Tran Manh (aka Hai Van), former Chief of the Southern Youth Volunteers General Team, to learn more and was wholeheartedly helped by Mr. Manh to bring each historical witness. Among them was Ms. Giap Thi Thanh Tien in Ben Tre, in Binh Gia Regiment, Q Division. Ms. Tien and several of her teammates jumped into the stream and soaked themselves in the water to "make a human bridge" for wounded soldiers to pass over their shoulders and bodies. Next, she went to Ba Ria - Vung Tau to meet Mr. Ba Leo (aka Bui The Ba) to collect more than 30 artifacts.

Since 1998, Dong Loc T-junction has become the "Red Address" of the Youth Volunteers nationwide, a place where people from all over the country come to offer incense and flowers to commemorate the Youth Volunteers' martyrs. At the same time, the Dong Loc T-junction Youth Volunteers Relic Site is also a place for former Youth Volunteers to meet again after many years apart. The management board of the relic site, including Yen, acts as a bridge between the gratitude ceremonies for those who have contributed to the country and the live-television art exchange programs: "The Legend of Dong Loc", "The Sacred Land of Dong Loc"... leaving a deep impression in the hearts of people across the country for the contributions and sacrifices of the Youth Volunteers.

From here, many sponsors have helped former Youth Volunteers with especially difficult circumstances and illnesses with material and spiritual support, and built gratitude houses, and supported and consoled the families of 10 female Youth Volunteers who heroically sacrificed at Dong Loc Junction on the afternoon of July 24, 1968. After 14 years of construction and growth, from the scale of 23.5 hectares approved in 1998, to date, the National Youth Volunteer Relic Site at Dong Loc Junction has been approved to expand to 110 hectares. From the monument to the bell tower, the guest house, and the office have been built spaciously. The relic site to the conservation area of ​​war artifacts and Youth Volunteers has been planned grandly. That is the merit of the whole country and the whole Ha Tinh province to build and embellish.

Ms. Yen recalls the normal days when nearly 40 staff members in the village, including contract employees, lived in two level 4 houses. Ms. Yen was both the deputy head of the department and the union president. She sympathized with her brothers and sisters, who always had unscheduled guests all year round, and the frequency of holidays and festivals increased dozens of times compared to normal days. The same number of people had to be picked up and dropped off by the receptionist. Meanwhile, the salary was very low, the accommodation was shabby, and there were no days off during the service. As the union president, Ms. Yen proposed to the Relic Site's leadership to open a service selling incense, flowers, and souvenirs to tourists to increase the income of the staff. That initiative was both meaningful in service and increased the average monthly income of each staff member from 1 million VND to 1.5 million VND. Ms. Yen recalls that once a tourist left behind a wallet and property equivalent to 350 million VND, Ms. Yen personally returned it to that tourist. The tourist was very grateful and considered Ms. Yen as a close friend, and still keeps in touch with her regularly. In 2010, after 34 years of working for the Museum industry, especially 12 years of working side by side to build the Dong Loc T-junction Relic Site, Ms. Yen retired according to the regime. Although she retired, Ha Tinh Provincial Youth Union still signed a contract with Dang Thi Yen to continue to be in charge of the museum aspect of the relic site. The only difference was in the command position, but Ms. Yen's daily work remained the same as before...

Minh Thu