The veteran collected thousands of documents about Uncle Ho.

(Baonghean.vn) - Thousands of photos, hhundredsArticles and dozens of books about President Ho Chi Minh's life and career have been collected and preserved by Mr. Pham Ngoc Binh for the past several decades.

Commemorating the meeting with Uncle Ho

Coming to Lang Son commune, Anh Son district, it is not difficult to meet veteran, wounded soldier 4/4 Pham Ngoc Binh. Born in 1936, from hamlet 6, Lang Son commune, Anh Son district, in a family of 8 siblings, he is the 6th child. Growing up, he participated in the Youth Union and then worked as a land officer in the commune. In 1960, following the sacred call of the Fatherland, Pham Ngoc Binh enlisted in the 25th Engineer Battalion of Nghe An Provincial Military Command, stationed in Dun Hill, Nam Dan.

It was during his years working in this unit that he and his teammates were lucky enough to meet Uncle Ho, and then fate brought him to the passion of collecting documents about Uncle Ho from then on.

Mr. Binh is cleaning and preserving documents about Uncle Ho. Photo: Le Tuong Hieu

Mr. Binh shared: In 1961, one day on duty, the battalion came down to announce that Company 1 had selected 10 comrades with good health, good political qualities, and good expertise to command the battalion and assign a special mission, and he was allowed to participate. That night, Mr. Binh and his teammates were very nervous and worried about what the mission was, but they carried it out very urgently, requiring high standards.

At the time of assigning tasks, the Battalion Commander stood up and said: To ensure absolute safety for President Ho Chi Minh on his second visit to his hometown, the superiors requested the unit to select 10 officers and soldiers of the engineering force to conduct mine clearance and explosives clearance in Vinh Thanh commune, Yen Thanh district and Kim Lien commune, Nam Dan district. The time is very urgent, the workload is large, so we request to work actively and urgently. This is a great honor but also a very heavy responsibility. The unit's leaders and commanders have the highest determination.

On the way back, the young soldiers were extremely excited and happy, because since childhood they had always wanted to meet Uncle Ho and now they had the opportunity. The whole unit initiated the emulation movement "working during the day is not enough, so take advantage of working at night", determined to complete the task excellently, ensuring absolute safety when Uncle Ho returned to visit his hometown.

During the days Uncle Ho visited his hometown, the engineering soldiers witnessed his words, gestures, and dress in a very simple, friendly, and extremely altruistic way. Like his comrades, Pham Ngoc Binh could not hide his admiration and love for Uncle Ho.

When Uncle Ho returned to the capital, the People's Army Newspaper published an article and photos of the event of Uncle Ho's visit to his hometown. When his comrades had finished reading it, Mr. Binh asked his unit for that day's newspaper, and he cut out the photo of Uncle Ho's visit to his hometown as a souvenir.

Since then, his passion for collecting documents about Uncle Ho came back to him. Later, whenever he went to work in the locality, whenever he heard someone say they had pictures, books, or newspapers about Uncle Ho, he would ask for them. If he couldn't get them, he would use his salary to buy them.

His reputation spread far and wide, friends, neighbors, children and especially his good wife always supported his work. Therefore, many people supported him by accidentally coming across pictures, articles or books about Uncle Ho and brought them home as gifts for him. If anyone lived far away, they sent them to him by post.

However, some people said he was crazy, his house was cramped, his finances were difficult, and he spent all his money on his children's education instead of doing unnecessary work. He didn't care about those rumors and quietly pursued his passion every day.

"Museum" of thousands of documents about Uncle Ho

Up to now, he has classified the documents about Uncle Ho by each period and he has bought more than 100 large frames, inserting more than 1,000 photos of Uncle Ho. The frames are numbered and noted, where this photo was taken, what year, with whom...

Besides that, there are hundreds of articles and dozens of books written about Uncle Ho that he has collected over the past few decades and he also classified them into stages from his childhood to when Uncle Ho left to find a way to save the country, the period of founding the Communist Party of Vietnam until when Uncle Ho became President.

In each stage, he divided it into topics such as: Uncle Ho with farmers, with children, with intellectuals.

He happily confided: There was a time when he collected many photos of Uncle Ho. To keep the photos for a long time and respectfully, he had to laminate them and buy photo frames, spending all his salary. When his wife asked if he had received his salary this month, he had to say he lent it to a friend and would get it next month!

Mr. Pham Ngoc Binh's passion for collecting documents about Uncle Ho has always received support from his wife. Photo: Le Tuong Hieu

Seeing his gentle wife sitting beside him, always smiling, I asked if Mr. Binh had a passion for collecting documents about Uncle Ho, and if she ever objected. She said: "I completely support his work. Every time I see him struggling to find a photo, I feel more sorry for him. Or sometimes when I hear someone say that they have valuable documents about Uncle Ho, whether far or near, he will ride his bike to ask for or buy them at all costs."

For many years, Mr. Binh's house has been a familiar address for teachers and students in the area to visit, study, and learn about Uncle Ho's life and career. He not only welcomed them warmly and served them attentively, but also told them about the circumstances of each photo and article about Uncle Ho, creating passion and interest in learning about him.

Admiring Uncle Ho, in addition to collecting documents, Mr. Binh also composed hundreds of poems about Uncle Ho and used his salary to print them into books to give to friends. He also collected and displayed pictures and documents of leaders of the Party, State, Government, Army and National Assembly through the ages. These photos were also laminated and framed by him, arranged in chronological order and by different topics.

It is known that Mr. Binh's family was honored as a Cultural Family at the district level three times, once at the provincial level, and was awarded a Certificate of Merit by the People's Committee of Nghe An province. He himself was awarded three Glorious Soldier Medals of the first, second, and third classes and one Anti-American Resistance Medal. His children and grandchildren are all obedient, kind, and successful, with five daughters-in-law and sons-in-law all working in the People's Public Security sector.

Saying goodbye to Mr. Pham Ngoc Binh when the afternoon sun was setting, we always remembered the words of this April 4 war invalid: "As long as I live, I will continue to collect pictures, books, and newspapers about Uncle Ho and always teach my children and grandchildren to always study and follow Ho Chi Minh's ideology, morality, and style."

Le Tuong Hieu