The old teacher and the story of finding Uncle Ho's 'image'

Over time, this special gift was lost, leaving regrets for generations of staff, teachers and students of the school. Teacher Hoang Nguyen - former Vice Principal of the school took the trouble to find it again.

Uncle Ho's gift

This year's Uncle Ho's birthday has a special meaning for teachers and students of Kim Lien Secondary School (Nam Dan), when the school held a ceremony to receive back a souvenir, a portrait of President Ho Chi Minh, which Uncle Ho himself gave to the school more than 50 years ago. The ceremony was attended by a large number of teachers and students, along with many generations of teachers who used to work at the school and are now retired, creating a truly warm and sincere atmosphere.

Kim Lien Secondary School held a ceremony to receive the portrait of Uncle Ho. Photo: NTCC

Looking at the old black and white portrait of Uncle Ho, reading his handwritten words: “I hope that teachers teach well. Students study well”, so many bright memories come flooding back. This is a gift that Uncle Ho gave to the school on his birthday (May 19, 1969).

The telegram accompanying the photo reads: The teachers and students of Nam Lien Secondary School, Nam Dan District (Nghe An) have been striving to continuously improve the quality of teaching and learning. The Nam Lien teachers have been recognized as socialist labor groups for 4 consecutive years, and Nam Lien School has many excellent students who have been praised by Uncle Ho.

Teacher Hoang Nguyen (2nd from left) and generations of teachers of Kim Lien Secondary School at the ceremony to receive the photo. Photo: NTCC

Receiving this special gift, teacher Nguyen Thi Khanh Van - Principal of Kim Lien Secondary School was moved and said: Receiving the restored portrait photo with Uncle Ho's handwriting as a gift to the school on the occasion of his birthday is a priceless gift for the staff, teachers and students.

This is also a great honor and pride for the school located right in the hometown of President Ho Chi Minh. This relic will be preserved and treasured by the school to educate the students about tradition. Not only that, generations of teachers and students of the school will follow Uncle Ho's teachings, try to teach well and study even better.

The passion of an old teacher in Uncle Ho's hometown

At the ceremony to return the photo, teacher Hoang Nguyen - former Vice Principal of the school was one of the happiest people. He was also the one who witnessed the photo's wandering for more than half a decade.

A portrait of Uncle Ho given to Nam Lien Secondary School with the words: "I hope the teachers will teach well and the students will study well."

Sitting in the middle of the sunny schoolyard, with flags and flowers flying in the sky to celebrate Uncle Ho's birthday, teacher Hoang Nguyen sadly recalled the image of the day the school received this photo. Due to the war situation, the photo was lost during transportation, so when the school received this precious photo, it was also the time when they heard the news of Uncle Ho's passing. The portrait of Uncle Ho was a precious gift, and was later used by the school in the memorial service for him. The ceremony was held on a small scale, with only about 10 students, descendants of the Nguyen Sinh family, attending in addition to the school's Board of Directors.

Teacher Hoang Nguyen also said that after that special ceremony, the school hung the photo in the office and he regularly personally cleaned and decorated it. During many flag-raising ceremonies, the photo was used by the school to perform the rituals at the beginning of the week and remind students of the school's proud traditions. During the years he was working, the photo was still kept intact. The only time the school temporarily left the photo was when an officer from the Ho Chi Minh Museum came to verify the portrait and asked to bring it back to the museum for 2 months to make a record of the relic.

The telegram was accompanied by a photo of Uncle Ho presenting to Nam Lien Secondary School (Nam Dan) on May 19, 1969.

No one remembers exactly when the portrait of Uncle Ho was lost, because later, Nam Lien Secondary School was merged, renamed Kim Lien Secondary School and moved to a new location - where the school is currently located. Many teachers also said that the photo might have been lost when the school dismantled the old school to build a new one. As a teacher who has been with the school for a long time, and was the one who directly received this photo from the Provincial People's Committee, teacher Hoang Nguyen was truly regretful.

The photo is associated with a period of the school's development, but later when the photo was no longer available, few teachers, students and people in the commune knew that their school and their hometown had previously received a portrait of Uncle Ho with his last words and wishes for his hometown...

At school, there are no longer the rituals and rules that generations of teachers at Nam Lien Secondary School and Kim Lien Primary School have worked hard to build to remind teachers and students to study and follow Uncle Ho's teachings...

Teacher Hoang Nguyen

In the mind of teacher Hoang Nguyen, losing the portrait that Uncle Ho gave is "a great loss" and the greatest wish of him and the old generations of teachers of the school is to "quickly verify, restore, and confirm the existence of this event"...

Even though he has been retired for more than 30 years, teacher Hoang Nguyen still struggles to find the old portrait of Uncle Ho. Photo: My Ha

With the desire to find the old portrait of Uncle Ho, since the mid-2000s, teacher Hoang Nguyen has repeatedly proposed his wish to the school's Board of Directors and the leaders of Kim Lien commune. However, because so much time has passed, the people who worked with him at the same time have gradually disappeared, so the search has encountered many difficulties.

In the process of searching for Uncle Ho's "image", he was suggested by the officials at the Kim Lien Relic Site to contact the Ho Chi Minh Museum again, because in the past, the museum officials had come to the school to preserve the relics. Therefore, in 2017, teacher Hoang Nguyen sent a letter to the Ho Chi Minh Museum to express his wishes.

At that time, teacher Hoang Nguyen also had the opportunity to directly meet the staff of the Ho Chi Minh Museum at the Kim Lien Relic Site. However, for the first time, the answer from the Museum was "not keeping this photo". After that, through the letter he presented, the Ho Chi Minh Museum once again searched the warehouse to verify and compare with existing documents and photos. Thanks to that, a typed manuscript document and 2 pages of handwritten manuscript of President Ho Chi Minh were found related to the event of President Ho Chi Minh giving his photo to Nam Lien Secondary School in 1969.

Finding old photos is the wish and desire of many generations of teachers at Kim Lien Secondary School. Photo: NTCC

The difficulty at that time was that although there were documents, the museum did not preserve any photos of President Ho Chi Minh that he had chosen to give and this was not mentioned in the documents. To help the school find the portrait of Uncle Ho soon, the museum sent a reply letter with 4 portraits of him for verification.

Recounting this, teacher Hoang Nguyen added: As soon as I received the photos from the museum, I immediately recognized the photo that Uncle Ho had given to the school, because at that time I was the one who directly received and preserved it while working at the school. I also met with some former teachers and students to ask them to remember which photo and most of them chose the photo with the symbol A169/A - Q2.

To get the final photo, later, teacher Nguyen Vuong Linh - former Principal of Kim Lien Secondary School (now Principal of Dang Chanh Ky Secondary School) asked Kim Lien Museum for the original photo of Uncle Ho to restore.

Based on the old documents of the Museum, he also asked his friends to reassemble the lines that Uncle Ho sent to Nam Lien Secondary School in the past according to the original. The restoration process also encountered many difficulties because the old documents were from a long time ago, many words were blurred and faded and it took a lot of effort to process them exactly like the old original.

Follow Uncle Ho's example all your life

Teacher Hoang Nguyen was born in 1932 in Huong Khe district, Ha Tinh province. Before becoming a teacher, he joined the army, studied at Tran Quoc Tuan Military School and fought against the French. One day in early May 1954, he participated in major battles in the Inter-Zone 5 battlefield, was wounded in the battle of Nui Sam - Phu Yen and was captured by the enemy. The after-effects were the permanent loss of a right leg.

During his imprisonment, because he did not receive any information, the Inter-Zone 5 Command sent a letter to the locality and the commune held a memorial service. In August 1954, the French returned the teacher to the free zone of Inter-Zone 5 and he was regrouped to the North and taken to the A33 Disabled Soldiers Camp located in Nghi Trung Commune (Nghi Loc).

Teacher Hoang Nguyen and teacher Nguyen Vuong Linh discuss during the process of restoring the portrait of Uncle Ho. Photo: My Ha

Following Uncle Ho's teaching "disabled but not useless", later, despite being a severely disabled veteran, he decided to study and contribute to the education sector. With determination and the spirit of overcoming difficulties, he self-studied, self-educated to improve his qualifications, and graduated from the Faculty of Mathematics - Vinh Pedagogical University. During his career, he taught at Hung Thuy Primary School - Vinh, Nghe Tinh Workers and Farmers Supplementary School and from 1965, he transferred to teach at Nam Lien Secondary School (Nam Dan) until his retirement. This land of Uncle Ho's affection also held him back and he considered it his second home. Currently, teacher Hoang Nguyen's family is living in Lang Sen, Kim Lien commune.

Talking about his work process, Mr. Nguyen is always modest, because according to him, as a teacher, everyone must be dedicated, devoted, and devoted to their students and their school. But behind those very simple stories are the determination and efforts of a war invalid teacher who always firmly believes in being a useful person, a person who is "disabled but not useless". Therefore, during his work, he has 4 initiatives that have been popularized in the province and nationwide, and 3 self-made teaching aids that have been classified as good by the Ministry of Education and Training. His achievements have also contributed to the overall achievements of Nam Lien Secondary School and helped the school receive a Letter of Merit from Uncle Ho for "constantly striving to improve the quality of teaching and learning".

Students of Kim Lien Secondary School at the ceremony to receive the portrait of Uncle Ho. Photo: NTCC

Teacher Hoang Nguyen has also been awarded 22 Certificates of Merit and Medals, including the Anti-American Medal and the Labor Medal. In 1977, he received an award at the "National Conference of exemplary war invalids and martyrs' families". An even greater honor was that in 1988, he was honored to be one of the first teachers to be awarded the title of Excellent Teacher by the President.

Now, at the age of over 90, the old teacher with wooden crutches is still diligently working for the village and the country, still passionate about the career of educating people. In that arduous but glorious journey, he always firmly believes in the Party, in beloved Uncle Ho to become a useful person, a good teacher as he advised.