A mother from Quynh village

I remember that at the end of the seminar on Ho Tung Mau, held by the Nghe An Provincial Party Committee on June 15, 1996, to commemorate his 100th birthday, Mr. Ho Anh Dung (then Director General of Vietnam Television) was invited to speak. He choked up as he said: "Our family has suffered much grief and sorrow for four generations because of the country. But there is one woman I especially respect and love the most because she endured seven heartbreaking deaths and countless hardships without ever enjoying any significant blessings. That is my great-grandmother, Phan Thi Lieu, the mother of my grandfather, Ho Tung Mau."

Photo by Tran To

Phan Thi Lieu was born in 1865, the second daughter of Phan Duy Thanh, a scholar, and Ho Thi Trach (daughter of Dr. Ho Si Tuan, a scholar who opposed the French). At the end of 1882, at the age of 18, Phan Thi Lieu married Ho Ba Kien, the eldest son of Ho Ba On, a high-ranking official. Just a few months after moving to her husband's home, she suffered her first major bereavement.

In March 1883, the French captured Nam Dinh Citadel. Judge Ho Ba On and Admiral Le Van Diem led their troops in fierce fighting, and Ho Ba On was fatally wounded. On his deathbed, Emperor Tu Duc wrote a eulogy for him, which included the following lines:

- A scholar rising up to defeat the enemy and protect the nation;

Together with the valiant general, he bravely risked his life, his courage inspiring his comrades!

- The pages of history, forever etched in memory, will forever retain their glorious legacy!

The book "Tung Mai Phong Tho" by poet Nguyen Tien Bang writes:

Bullets rained down on all sides.

To risk one's life for the country on the battlefield.

The gentle sound of the Yellow River's waters.

Day and night, weeping fills the air as we mourn the loyal souls.

No sooner had the first major funeral ended than the second major funeral of Phan Duy Thanh's father struck. The book "People of Quynh Village: The Struggles to Defend the Country" records: "In April 1885, Phan Duy Thanh, a scholar and military officer (equivalent to the Director of the Ministry of National Defense today), resigned from his position and returned home before the fall of Hue. Having been informed that the Minister of War, Ton That Thuyet, was secretly visiting Quynh village to discuss the Can Vuong movement, Phan Duy Thanh arranged to welcome Mr. Ton at the ancestral temple of the village elder Duong Doan Hai... Knowing the personality of his former superior, Mr. Phan, along with the scholar Duong Que Pho (son of Mr. Hai), mobilized neighboring families to disperse all their cattle, pigs, chickens, dogs, cats, and even kill crickets to ensure absolute silence for Mr. Ton to contemplate national affairs during his stay. Also present was the district chief of Huong Khe, Ho Phi Tu. They discussed building a fighting village and initiating a widespread uprising in response to the Can Vuong proclamation."

On November 18th, 1885 (December 24th, 1885), the French, mobilizing their reactionary collaborators under the command of Major Pen-lé-chi-é, committed a bloody massacre in the villages of Bao Hau and Quynh Doi. The leader of the resistance, Phan Duy Thanh, was murdered, along with his nephew Ho Ba Tri (Ho Ba Kien's uncle) and Ho Ba Cong (Ho Ba Kien's eldest son). On that same day, Mrs. Phan Thi Lieu suffered three deaths, a tragedy beyond measure! Driven by a sense of national duty and a desire for revenge, Ho Ba Kien, a man of profound learning and high academic achievement, refused to pursue a career in government. The book "Viet Nam Nghia Liet Su" (History of Vietnamese Heroes) records: "He was intelligent, well-read, and skilled in poetry and prose. He abandoned his studies to associate with chivalrous heroes, filled with hatred for the enemy. All the chivalrous men gathered at his house. He squandered all his possessions on entertaining guests."

For the sake of her husband and son's revolutionary careers, Mrs. Phan Thi Lieu "endured many hardships and difficulties to support her husband and son's revolutionary activities, at times having to sell all her possessions, work as a hired hand, and was imprisoned by the imperialists" (Ho Van Khue - Genealogy of the Ho family's branch). The book "Generations for the Nation" (Nghe An Publishing House, 1996) further proves this: "Mrs. Phan Thi Lieu often told her children and grandchildren that Mr. Kien and Mr. Linh (Mr. Kien's younger brother) had many friends. Mr. Doi Phan, Mr. Doi Quyen, Phan Boi Chau, Tang Bat Ho, Nguyen Sinh Sac... all visited this house. Some even brought their children along. Just carrying water for guests to bathe was very hard work. They gradually sold off their fields and gardens to support the nation."

In 1907, Ho Ba Kien was captured by the French in Son Tay and exiled to Lao Bao. "At 4 PM on September 28, 1915, under the command of Ho Ba Kien, prisoners from both prison camps rose up and killed enemy soldiers... The banner of rebellion fluttered high in the sky over Lao Bao... The rebels withdrew and established a base in Ta-cha village in Laos. On October 11, 1915, fierce fighting broke out between the two sides... The uprising was only suppressed in early November 1915, when the leaders and many rebels were killed" (The book "Forged in Fire" - published by the Propaganda Department of the Quang Tri Provincial Party Committee).

It wasn't until the middle of the following year (1916) that news of her husband's sacrifice reached the family. Phan Thi Lieu had to grit her teeth and endure the heart-wrenching pain, shouldering the burden of family and household affairs perfectly, fulfilling her roles as both the proud eldest daughter-in-law of the An family and the mother of two sons and one daughter.

In early 1920, under the guidance of Mrs. Lụa, her son Hồ Bá Cự (Hồ Tùng Mậu) went abroad to Siam (Thailand) and then to China, remaining away from home for 25 long years. Her second son, Hồ Ngọc Diệu, followed in his father's and brother's footsteps. In 1929, he joined the Tân Việt Party and then the Communist Party, serving as secretary of the local Party committee and later as deputy secretary of the Quỳnh Lưu District Party Committee. He was arrested and imprisoned for 7 years. After his release, he went to Nghĩa Đàn district to teach and continue his revolutionary activities. In early 1945, after the Japanese coup on March 9th, Hồ Tùng Mậu was released from prison and returned home. Only then was the whole family reunited. Mrs. Phan Thị Liễu finally had some peace of mind... But the joy was short-lived. On March 20, 1948, Ho My Xuyen, her eldest grandson, former Deputy Secretary of the Nghe An Provincial Party Committee, and member of the Government's Special Inspection Team, died unexpectedly while on duty in Luc Yen, Yen Bai province. This shocking news stunned her and her entire family. President Ho Chi Minh sent a letter of condolence to Comrade Ho Tung Mau. The letter included the passage: "I am also deeply saddened by the death of Xuyen. With Xuyen's passing, I have lost a son, I have lost a grandson, the people have lost a soldier, and the organization has lost a cadre... Please convey my condolences to your great-grandmother, aunt, and family..."

Before the grief over the death of her granddaughter Xuyen had subsided, two years later, in 1950, her second son, Ho Ngoc Dieu, passed away at the age of 43, due to the lingering effects of torture and beatings he endured while imprisoned.

A year later, on July 23, 1951, Ho Tung Mau was murdered by the French. Uncle Ho wrote a very poignant eulogy. At the end of the eulogy was the sentence: "To the late grandmother: Please do not grieve too much, even though we have lost Uncle Mau, we are all your children and grandchildren!"

In just over three years, Mrs. Phan Thi Lieu had to bear the burden of three terrible losses. Oh! What pain could be greater than this? Grief doesn't follow the deceased. Grief remains only with those who are still alive. These living people are three women from three generations: Phan Thi Lieu, Nguyen Thi Thao, and Nguyen Thi Chanh. All three were widowed after their husbands sacrificed their lives for the country. They lived together in a small house, sleepless nights worrying about how to raise their three young grandchildren, Ho Anh Dung, Ho Ngoc Hai, and Ho Duc Viet, to become decent people... In 1953, after enduring many hardships, Mrs. Lieu passed away!

How many people in our country face such a tragic situation? Mrs. Phan Thi Lieu truly deserves the title of a heroic Vietnamese woman!

Phan Huu Thinh