Uncle Ho's photo collector
(Baonghean) -Out of infinite respect and gratitude for President Ho Chi Minh, a former soldier has quietly collected more than 400 photos of Uncle Ho and is preparing to open a small exhibition to serve the people in the block on the occasion of the 119th anniversary of his birthday. He is Ta Quang Loc (Chairman of the Veterans Association of Tan Phuc block, Hung Dung ward, Vinh city)...
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His diary on the way to the battlefield quoted Uncle Ho's words: "The task of the youth is not to ask what the country has given them, but to ask themselves what they have done for the country." That was also the motivation that helped him overcome all hardships, and he fought bravely and steadfastly on the fronts of A Luoi, A Bia, Cao Diem 935, Coc Bai, the Route 9 Southern Laos campaign... The 3rd Company of the 12ly7 infantry of the K54-F324 Battalion of Ta Quang Loc was twice awarded the title of Hero of the People's Armed Forces. He himself was wounded many times and was transferred to Hospitals 112, 108, 268, and Military Hospital 4 for treatment with a disability rate of 81%.
After the war, returning to normal life encountered many difficulties and hardships: having to worry about stabilizing family life during the subsidy period while having to cope with the pain caused by recurring wounds when the weather changed. But with the traditional nature of Uncle Ho's soldiers, he was always optimistic, loved life, lived honestly and simply. Uncle Ho's teaching "Disabled but not useless" gave him strength and confidence to overcome everything. After nearly 10 years of struggling with portrait painting and selling tea to raise his children to adulthood, despite his poor health, Ta Quang Loc still actively participated in local work, 14 years as the head of the veterans' association and then the head of the exemplary residential group, trusted by the Party and loved by the people.
Busy with family and social affairs, it was not until 1996 that he had the opportunity to fulfill his long-standing wish. That was to collect photos of Uncle Ho. He confided: “Although I have never met Uncle Ho, his image and teachings are always imprinted in my mind. I want to collect many photos of Uncle Ho to display for many people to see and learn from and follow his moral example.” In addition to collecting through books, newspapers, documents, relatives, friends... in the journey to find Uncle Ho's photos, there were times when he had to spend his own money to travel back and forth from the South to the North many times to get valuable photos.
Whenever he heard that someone was keeping a precious photo of Uncle Ho, he would pack his bags and go out to ask for or buy it. The two photos of President Ho Chi Minh with French President Georges Bidanlt in 1946 and the photo of Uncle Ho in 1933 when he had just returned to the Soviet Union from China were collected by Mr. Khang at Bac Hong ward (Hong Linh town, Ha Tinh province). As for the photo of Uncle Ho at the National Congress of the French Socialist Party in December 1920 and the delegate card to the 5th Congress of the Communist International in 1924 of comrade Nguyen Ai Quoc, he had to go to the house of Mr. Nguyen Van Giang (in Quynh Mai ward, Hai Ba Trung district, Hanoi) twice to get them. The most difficult time was when I packed my bags and went all the way to Binh Thuan ward, District 7, Ho Chi Minh city to collect Uncle Ho's autograph "Di bat bien - phan van va" in 1946 and the photo of Uncle Ho moved when mentioning the Southern compatriots at the 6th session - 1st National Assembly in December 1956.
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In early spring 2008, Ta Quang Loc was allowed by Nghe An Publishing House to publish a collection of poems called “Love of the Countryside” consisting of 86 poems and he is currently preparing to publish two collections of poems on the topic of preventing corruption and social evils. Royalties from his poems are also used by him to collect photos of Uncle Ho. To date, he has a collection of more than 400 photos of Uncle Ho divided by period and carefully annotated. They have appeared in reports of Nghe An Television, Vietnam News Agency and VT1 Vietnam Television. For him, collecting photos of Uncle Ho is not to become “famous” but comes from his deep respect and gratitude for the Father of the nation.
Currently, the nearly 70-year-old veteran is enthusiastically preparing the outline and content for the Uncle Ho photo exhibition at the cultural house of the bloc to celebrate the 119th anniversary of Uncle Ho's birth. His wish is to organize a larger exhibition to welcome a large number of people to come and see, contributing to the propaganda of the campaign "Studying and following the moral example of Ho Chi Minh".
Khanh Ly
