Nguyen Loi: A loyal and devoted revolutionary soldier

His grandfather passed the bachelor's exam but did not become an official. He joined the Can Vuong movement led by patriot Phan Dinh Phung, then was captured and killed by the French colonialists.

Nguyen Loi's parents were workers. At the age of 14, after his father passed away, the young Nguyen Loi went to work as a worker in the Ben Thuy Match Factory.

Portrait of revolutionary Nguyen Loi. Photo archive

In late 1926 and early 1927, young Nguyen Loi joined the Hung Nam Association (later renamed Tan Viet Revolutionary Party, abbreviated as Tan Viet Party, a predecessor organization of the Communist Party of Vietnam). Around mid-year, while working in Quang Tri at the request of the owner of the automobile factory Bach Thai Dao, Nguyen Loi was arrested by secret police and taken to Vinh Prison. The enemy brutally tortured him to force him to confess about the Tan Viet organization, but he did not say a word. In mid-November 1929, the Nghe An Southern Court sentenced Nguyen Loi to 2 years of suspended sentence.

At the end of 1929 Nguyen Loi was admitted to the Indochinese Communist Party.

On May 1, 1930, under the leadership of Vinh Provincial Committee, directly led by Mr. Le Mao, Hoang Trong Tri, Nguyen Loi,... in Vinh-Ben Thuy, a large demonstration of workers and farmers in and outside the city took place to celebrate International Labor Day May 1. This demonstration opened the revolutionary movement of 1930-1931 nationwide.

At the end of May 1930, Nguyen Loi was arrested for the second time by the French colonial secret police. Although brutally tortured and enticed, he remained loyal to the revolution and did not reveal information about the party's base, so near the end of August 1930, they had to release him.

During the revolutionary recession, despite the enemy's fierce attacks, the Central Region Party Committee office still existed in the area of ​​De Thap Street (now in Block 2, Ben Thuy Ward). Mr. Le Viet Thuat still persistently stayed here to direct activities throughout the Central Region. During this period, the effective collaborator of Secretary of the Central Region Party Committee Le Viet Thuat was Central Region Party Committee member Nguyen Loi.

A street in Vinh during the French colonial period. Photo courtesy

In December 1931, because a contact could not bear the torture and confessed, exposing the Central Region Party Committee, Vinh secret police sent soldiers to surround and arrest Party Secretary Le Viet Thuat.

In early 1932, Nguyen Loi was arrested by the secret police for the third time. The Vinh secret police tortured him brutally in order to find the Central Region Party Committee, but they could not achieve their goal. When he was arrested and taken to Vinh Prison, Regional Party Committee member Nguyen Loi wrote a short letter to the Regional Party Committee Secretary Le Viet Thuat with the following content:

"I have been admitted to Vinh Prison. I am being taken care of by the brothers. You send someone to ask Mr. Nguyen Xuan Khoi to find a connection in Vinh area. He will bring the connection in Nam Dan district to you and introduce it to Nghe An province.".

In July 1932, Nguyen Loi was exiled to Lao Bao Prison, then Ban Me Thuot Prison.

Thus, after being arrested three times, sentenced to death and then reduced to life imprisonment, and tortured to the point of near death, Nguyen Loi remained loyal to the revolutionary movement. For 13 years, he was imprisoned in Lao Bao prison and Buon Ma Thuot prison. Once, he prepared a plan to escape, his comrades succeeded but he himself could not escape. Among the Central Region Party Committee members, Nguyen Loi was imprisoned many times and his prison time was also among the longest. Whenever he was released from prison, he threw himself into work, no matter how difficult or dangerous it was. During the August Revolution, he participated in leading the uprising to seize power in Dien Khanh, Vinh Xuong districts, Nha Trang town, Khanh Hoa province. During the resistance war against French colonialism, he served in the Vietnam People's Army, as Political Commissar of Regiment 210.

After 1954, Nguyen Loi gathered in the North and was appointed Director of the Hanoi Mechanical Factory. This was the largest mechanical factory in the North at that time, built by the Soviet Union. After a while, he joined the Lao Cai Provincial Party Committee and concurrently served as Party Secretary of the Lao Cai Apatite Mine.

From 1962 to 1970, Nguyen Loi was assigned by his superiors to be the Party Secretary of Vinh Technical Workers' School (now Vinh University of Technical Education) and Principal of the School from 1967 to 1972.

At the end of 1964, due to the US bombing of the North, he and the school leaders cycled from Vinh to the mountains and forests of Quy Hop to find an evacuation site. After that, the School moved to the mountainous area of ​​Bai Tap, in Quy Hop district. To reduce damage in case the US bombed the evacuation site (called area A), in April 1966, a part of the School crossed the Dinh River, passed through Coc Mam village, and established a new evacuation area, called area B, about 20 km from area A.

Current campus of Vinh University of Technical Education. Photo courtesy

The process of moving hundreds of tons of machinery and equipment was extremely difficult and arduous, because we had to work day and night by hand, lifting them from the factory to the car by digging a gentle tunnel for the car to move down so that the floor of the car was level with the factory floor and then put the machine on the car, without a crane like later. Nguyen Loi contacted Military Region 4 to help the engineers and the school's Youth Union dig a tunnel to put the machine in the limestone mountain in Quy Hop. In extremely difficult conditions at the evacuation site, we had to live with mountain mosquitoes, forest leeches, deep ravines, poisonous water; had to eat cassava and sweet potatoes, had to use plane leaves instead of green vegetables, ... but everything was overcome. Teachers and students joined hands to build over 10,000 m²home, install equipment by yourself, ensure good teaching and learning activities.

During the fierce war, Nguyen Loi still rode his bicycle from Quy Hop to the Provincial People's Committee Office in Anh Son district, about 60 km away, to report and contact work. One day, on his way back to school, it was dark and the road was difficult to travel, so he had to park his bike under a tree in the forest and climb up a tree to rest, wait for dawn and avoid wild animals. People who used to work at the school often said: "Uncle Nguyen Loi was a wise, dedicated, impartial leader."

Nguyen Loi's wife was Mrs. Ho Thi Nham, born in 1918, a cadre who participated in the pre-uprising. Mr. and Mrs. Nguyen Loi had 3 children: the eldest daughter was a doctor, the second son was a worker, the third son was a university lecturer. They taught their children to be independent in life, study, and work, not to rely on their father's merit and prestige; the eldest son joined the army after graduating from high school, then was discharged and entered professional school.

With his great contributions to the nation's revolutionary cause, Nguyen Loi was awarded the Ho Chi Minh Medal (in 1985), the Second Class Resistance Medal, the Second Class Victory Medal and many other noble awards by the State.

Revolutionary Nguyen Loi was awarded many noble prizes by the State. Photo: GĐCC

Revolutionary soldier Nguyen Loi was always a model communist, steadfast, brave, responsible, exemplary in all social activities and very affectionate, loyal to his family, relatives and neighbors. His comrades in the Party cell called him “Mr. Loi the Forger” because he was a mechanical worker and later many people called him “Mr. Loi the Forger”.

After retirement, he and his family lived in Vinh City and did not move to Hanoi as many people thought. While he was working or retired, his friends who were working in high positions often visited him whenever they had the opportunity to pass through Vinh City.

Nguyen Loi passed away on July 8, 1988 in Vinh City after years of steadfastness and dedication to revolutionary activities and building his homeland.

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References:

1. Nghe An Provincial Party Executive Committee:Nghe An - Communist role models, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 2010, pp. 71÷87.

2. Executive Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam, Vinh City,History of Vinh City Party Committee (1930-2005), Draft, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 2010.

3. Propaganda Department of Nghe An Provincial Party Committee:Vinh Prison, Nghe An Publishing House, 2005.