A paddle takes soldiers across the river.
(Baonghean) - In a simple level 4 house in hamlet 3, Dang Son commune - Do Luong, there is a mother, this year turning 100 years old, quietly living with her eldest daughter-in-law who is nearly 70 years old and her grandson. Every day, the mother gets up at dawn, making friends with a cane and the song of Kieu. Coming out of the war, the mother, like many other villagers, blends into a simple, honest life of worries. Few people know that the mother is Dau Thi Tan, the mother who rowed a boat to ferry soldiers, wounded soldiers, and transported ammunition and necessities on the Lam River during the two wars to save the country...
(Baonghean) - In a simple level 4 house in hamlet 3, Dang Son commune - Do Luong, there is a mother, this year turning 100 years old, quietly living with her eldest daughter-in-law who is nearly 70 years old and her grandson. Every day, the mother gets up at dawn, making friends with a cane and the song of Kieu. Coming out of the war, the mother, like many other villagers, blends into a simple, honest life of worries. Few people know that the mother is Dau Thi Tan, the mother who rowed a boat to ferry soldiers, wounded soldiers, and transported ammunition and necessities on the Lam River during the two wars to save the country...
Born and raised in her hometown of Dang Son, Do Luong, along the Lam River, like many others, Dau Thi Tan's mother (also known as Dau Thi Em) relied on the Lam River to make a living, rowing a boat along the river. For a weak woman like Tan's mother, rowing a boat was quite hard, but it helped her earn a living and take care of her family. She loved her oars and her job, as much as she loved her own hometown.
Tan's mother looked back at her old photo with tears in her eyes.
After getting married, family life and all the worries weighed heavily on her shoulders. She gave birth to 9 children, but could only keep 7, plus her husband's 3 children, a total of 10 people. Sometimes, her life seemed to be nothing but hard work, hardship, and pain. From the French to the American invaders. Mother Tan's husband actively participated in the frontline labor force during the resistance war against the French, and later during the resistance war against the Americans, all 5 of her children joined the army to fight the enemy. Mother always encouraged and motivated her children to be ready to fight for the Fatherland, to maintain their faith in the Party. There were nights when she sat at the bow of the boat, tears silently falling, blending with the river water when she heard the news that her children were injured on the battlefield. But, the next morning, mother was able to row more firmly.
During the years of the resistance war against the French, while her husband was a civilian laborer on the front line, Tan’s mother stayed home to take care of the family, raise the children, and volunteer to row a boat to transport wounded soldiers from Do Luong to the military medical station for treatment, and transport food to the battlefield in Upper Laos. At that time, for her, rowing a boat was no longer a way to make a living; her new transportation job was important and made her life much more meaningful. With each trip the boat safely reached its destination, she felt relieved and more confident that the resistance of the nation, though arduous, would surely be victorious.
During the years 1965-1968, the North was bombed heavily by the US imperialists, and Tan's mother's house and garden became a military food warehouse and kitchen for the soldiers. "Even the wooden coffin that my mother had saved for the end of her life was willingly given to the soldiers to pave the road to pull artillery", Tan's mother recounted. At that time, the Bara Do Luong dam area, her hometown, was heavily attacked by the enemy. Many people gave up their boat rowing jobs, but my mother still decided to keep the job because besides transporting passengers to earn a living, she also saw the need to help the soldiers cross the river safely. Once, my mother transported 10 soldiers of Battalion 4, Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiment 222 to the other side of the river to survey and establish a new battlefield.
That time, unfortunately, my mother's boat was discovered by enemy planes, and they continuously fired 20mm bullets and rockets down the entire length of Lam River. Knowing every section of the river, my mother quickly rowed the boat along the creek to the shallow section, signaling the soldiers to jump into the river and hide under the boat to avoid bullets. That day's boat trip was terrifying, but in the end, all 10 soldiers were safe, except my mother, who had two fingers crushed by enemy shrapnel. After that time, touched by my mother's heart and bravery, the soldiers of Battalion 4 accepted my mother as their foster mother.
One day in May 1967, at a time when the Lam River area through Do Luong district was the focus of US aircraft attacks, Tan's mother was assigned to transport some artillery shells to serve the anti-aircraft positions being fought.
With a strong determination to bring artillery shells to the soldiers, despite the sudden appearance of many enemy reconnaissance planes and bombardment of any targets they discovered on the river, my mother arranged the shells in the bottom of the boat, camouflaged them with firewood and quickly rowed across the river. Tan’s mother recalled with a smile: “That trip, I crossed the river safely”. She also went to artillery positions in Con Bu, Bai Dau, Vom Coc… to visit soldiers and wounded soldiers.
And so, during the two resistance wars against foreign invaders, Tan’s mother’s small, thin hands held onto the oars to safely let the soldiers cross the river. As the days and months passed, the Lam River continued to flow, witnessing layers of enemy bombs and bullets, witnessing the melting of blood and bones, and also silently witnessing Tan’s mother’s bravery and simple patriotism.
Mr. Tran Minh Diep - the third son of Tan's mother, a veteran, currently living in Hai Phong, recalls: "During the war against France, when I was young, I and my siblings and parents drifted on the Lam River every day. With a paddle, my mother often carried rice and coal to serve the weapons foundry in Cat Van.
Then the war against America began, and we brothers joined the army one by one. My mother stayed at home, still rowing on the Lam River, ferrying wounded soldiers and soldiers across the river. My second brother and I, that year, went to the battlefield in the South.
At that moment, my brothers and I were in tears. Before our eyes appeared clearly the image of my mother and the river of my hometown, the image that had been engraved in my memory since childhood. How could I express all the emotion, the longing for my mother, for my homeland, how could I express all the pride, when the name of my mother, the hard-working, diligent but brave mother, was resounding throughout the trenches. That news also resounded the names of our brothers, the soldiers fighting on the battlefields. From then on, we held our guns more firmly, more confident to fight and win. I still remember, later, Uncle Chu Manh - former Chairman of Nghe An province, also wrote a poem about Tan's mother rowing the boat...".
In October 1968, after reporting on her achievements at the Congresses celebrating the victory over the US in the war to save the country, Tan’s mother presented the Military Region 4 Museum with a rowing oar, a sacred relic that had been with her throughout the fierce war years. For more than 40 years, the oar and a black and white photo of a woman rowing a boat have been solemnly displayed in the Museum. Tan’s mother, like many others, then returned to a simple life, remembering her achievements as memories and considering them the inevitable actions of any citizen when the Fatherland was invaded…
Until one day, a villager came to visit the Military Zone 4 Museum and happened to see the photo and the oar of Tan's mother. He came to her and told her about it. Thus, the memories that seemed to have been hidden came alive in her heart. One morning in early spring 2011, Tan's mother was taken to the Museum by her children and grandchildren.
Mother trembled as she picked up the oar with registration number 674/G.41 and, in her emotion, told the visitors, museum staff and her children gathered around her about her old boat rowing job. The tour guide took down the black and white photo and asked her: "Do you recognize anyone in this photo?". Mother Tan squinted her eyes and smiled kindly, her wrinkled hand touching the words: "Mother Dau Thi Tan rowed the boat to take soldiers across the river". At that moment, the eyes of mother and her children today suddenly filled with tears...
Thuy Vinh
