Uncle Ho's photo collector

(Baonghean) - Hundreds of photos cut from newspapers and magazines, bound into a book, recording Uncle Ho's revolutionary activities have been collected and preserved by Mr. Vo Van Xung, a veteran cadre of Vinh City, over the past 36 years with respect.

As one of the eight veteran cadres of Vinh City, Mr. Vo Van Xung is 92 years old this year (born in 1922), but is still healthy and clear-minded. He was born in a poor village in Phong Thinh commune, Thanh Chuong district, in a farming family with a tradition of studiousness. Since 1942, he has participated in local revolutionary activities, three times distributing leaflets against the French in Bai Phu (Anh Son district), the third time he was arrested and imprisoned at Rang station for 4 months, but the enemy could not get any information so he had to release him. After being released from prison, he continued to work in the Viet Minh organization, actively participating in the movement to mobilize youth for national salvation. As a Prime (primary) graduate, speaking French, knowing Chinese characters, and having a talent for literature and art, he was very successful in mobilizing young people. In 1947, he was admitted to the Party and assigned to be the Secretary of the Youth Union for National Salvation in Thanh Chuong district. When peace was restored, he was assigned by the Provincial Party Committee to work as a propaganda officer at the Information Department. In 1960, he was assigned by the Provincial Party Committee to work as a reinforcement officer for the Thai Meo autonomous region in the Northwest. During his revolutionary activities, he made many contributions and was awarded the First Class Resistance Medal.

After 18 years working as a cadre for a neighboring province, in 1978 he retired and lived with his children and grandchildren in block 10, Ha Huy Tap ward, Vinh city. In 2013, he was awarded the 65-year Party badge. In nearly 36 years of retirement, he collected over 300 photos of Uncle Ho, cut, pasted, and bound them into a book. Under each photo, there was a clear note about the time Uncle Ho lived and worked, and at the end of the book was a numbered table of contents. Opening the two books, I saw the beginning of the Declaration of Independence printed solemnly on a newspaper page and a classical poem about Uncle Ho's revolutionary life, handwritten by him in neat handwriting. On both sides of Uncle Ho's portrait were a pair of parallel sentences written by Chinese President Liu Shaoqi to pay his respects to President Ho Chi Minh when he passed away, which he himself copied in beautiful Chinese characters. He opened the book to show me the poem "A Thousand Years of Glory", a funeral oration for Uncle Ho on the day he passed away. Under the handwritten copy, he clearly stated that the author was Duc Thuy in Dien Tan, Dien Chau, Nghe An, published in Nhan Dan newspaper No. 5679 on October 2, 1969. He said that the funeral oration was very standard in terms of the rules of the parallel prose genre, the content was touching, many veteran cadres came here to read it and copied it.

Holding two albums of photos in my hand, with full descriptions of each photo, what surprised me was that in the photos of Uncle Ho taken with many people, he named each person correctly; from comrades who worked with Nguyen Ai Quoc abroad, to communist leaders and heads of state who visited and worked with President Ho Chi Minh when Vietnam had gained independence and freedom, he read all the names very accurately. He said as if confiding: "Uncle Ho is so simple". His eldest son Vo Van Vinh (born in 1950), a retired official of the provincial Statistics Office, explained: "These two albums of photos are like living treasures of my grandfather. Whenever something unpleasant happened or he was not in a good mood, he would take out the two albums and look at them for a while, and he would feel happy and excited again". The first line of the album, he wrote: "It's strange! Whenever there is something pressing about his psychology, his mind is wandering, looking at this album of photos makes him feel calm and carefree". On page 109 of the photo album, there is a small band, a piece of black cloth with a red stripe in the middle. He said that this was the mourning band he received when he visited Uncle Ho in 1969. Every year, on the anniversary of Uncle Ho's death, he takes out this mourning band to look at to remember him. He said that this is the most sacred keepsake of his life.

Sitting next to him, watching his trembling hands flip through each photo of Uncle Ho and listening to his emotional voice talking about each photo of Uncle Ho, my heart was also filled with tears. Deep in my heart, I understood that this veteran cadre, with nearly a century of living with friends, comrades and children, had engraved the image of Uncle Ho deeply in his heart.

Tran Hong Co