Researcher Dao Tam Tinh and the journey of collecting war memories

(Baonghean) - For the 72nd time (December 22, 1944 - 2016), the whole nation respectfully and affectionately recalls the birth of the Vietnam Propaganda Liberation Army with 34 initial soldiers in Tran Hung Dao forest, Viet Bac resistance base, the predecessor of today's heroic Vietnam People's Army.

With Mr. Dao Tam Tinh, a prestigious folklore researcher, who has spent many years patiently collecting and preserving a huge amount of antiques with thousands of years of cultural value, he opens his heart to many generations who held guns to protect the fatherland with a collection of artifacts closely associated with Uncle Ho's soldiers in the two resistance wars against colonialism and imperialism and to protect the Fatherland.

Mr. Dao Tam Tinh and sculptures made from aircraft wreckage.

No one knows when his idea originated, but his war treasures are so rich and unique. Let's look at and cherish the bamboo hat that has turned brown, covered with parachute net, and woven with camouflage parachute pieces from the time of the resistance war against the French. Just with the bamboo hat and the captured floral parachute blanket from the time of "barefoot clothes, hunting and fighting the enemy" has revived the "life of the soldiers accustomed to hardship" in the shortages and difficulties of the years of fighting the French. We encounter the primitive weapons of the national guards in the early days of the resistance war such as the sword, the barrel of the musket cast from the time of the Phan Dinh Phung uprising.

The artifacts that accompanied the liberation army during the anti-American war are preserved quite systematically and abundantly. From the old Soviet canteen, the water-boiler and food container to the enameled drinking cup with the image of the liberation army under the liberation flag and the words "Determined to defeat the American invaders". From the daggers and bayonets equipped for infantry soldiers to the self-medicine bags at the front, all bear the mark of the battlefield.

There is a flag engraved with the name of the soldier and the place name Khe Sanh, Truong Son, where fierce battles took place between the troops, protecting the survival of the strategic transport route called the Ho Chi Minh trail. Most of the original artifacts have gone through a life of battle, so they are almost not intact, some are still stained with the sweat of the soldiers, so thick that washing cannot erase it. Perhaps that is why each artifact, although not having an exact history, still exudes authentic value, has the power to move, when we touch the symbol of heroic, tragic memories.

The exhibits gather the faces of Truong Son motor transport soldiers with a "huge" canteen containing engine cooling water, the eternal bicycle of the liaison soldier in the central region; the nylon tank to protect against rain and sun, faded by time. Just that much, for the soldiers of Group 559, Truong Son troops who used to carry goods on their shoulders over Ba Thang slope, peak 1001, opening the West Truong Son road for motor vehicles to transport goods to the B2 front, Southeast since 1966, it was like suddenly seeing again the faces of young, fresh and familiar comrades who went to battle together years ago.

Among all the war relics, there is one deadly and destructive thing of the enemy that Uncle Ho's soldiers, whether on the front or in the rear, meticulously and creatively created into countless daily personal items. That is the piece of the F105D aircraft wreckage carved into a relief with the image of a militia woman carrying a gun to plow. The unique relief with the plow blade turning the ground is the 300th plane shot down in the North in Vinh city. Then there are tea sets, coffee filters, thermos bottles, plates, hair combs, beach lamps, table lamps with cute floats... all made delicately, eye-catching, and convenient from flare tubes, cluster bomb shells, bomb wings, rocket wings.

This is a skillful product of soldiers created between two battles on the front, at transport stations along the Truong Son road, even in the battlefield infirmary. Shining behind the shape and form of the object reborn from weapons and means of killing is the calm, confident state of mind of the victor even when fragile under the range of B52 bombs, under the barrage of artillery, artillery and toxic chemicals. The artifact seems to recall the time of fighting against the US, deprived and arduous but full of the will to defeat the US, all for the South. Here is a bicycle carrying goods with a handle, a set of load-bearing racks. Here is a dining tray cast from a cluster bomb shell, a flare tube.

Here, for more than half a century, is the anti-aircraft storm lamp of the young volunteer who used to lead the car through the Ben Thuy key point every night. Here is the harrow blade, the harrow that turned the land to plant potatoes, when the fields were full of bomb craters and artillery shell holes. Here is the hand-made rice mill, the clean rice winnowing box woven from shiny black bamboo, bearing the mark of time when every night my mother, my sister, and my lover diligently sifted and selected the firm, clean rice grains to send to the battlefield.

Here are the sickles and scythes used to cut rice in the time of agricultural cooperatives, typical examples of intensive farming to achieve rice productivity of 5 tons and 6 tons. The artifacts, both aged and ageless, collected and picked up by folk researcher and former Director of Nghe An Library Dao Tam Tinh with an endless passion, certainly have little material value, many people do not even recognize their names, but they are vivid pieces of the picture of agriculture and rural areas in the great rear of the North during the war against the US with the will of "not a pound of rice missing, not a soldier missing".

There are also enamel bowls that were used by the bomb squad to plow the fields, fill in bomb craters at ferry terminals and bridge piers to go to the front. The cooperative members had to be exemplary producers and good militiamen to be considered for purchase with trade coupons. There are also boxes of barber tools from the Vinh town barber cooperative in the evacuated neighborhoods and residential areas and boxes of clothes that were originally 37mm artillery shell boxes of the Vinh - Ben Thuy air defense force. All the artifacts still have the pristine appearance of the war, death and love of the people in the rear, bearing the imprint of hard work, saving rice grains with the smell of bomb smoke from so many Nghe villages sent to the front lines.

War artifacts.

Recently, Mr. Dao Tam Tinh has acquired more artifacts from the resistance war against the French, which are the Dien Bien Phu victory badge, the Truong Son soldiers' commemorative medal, the soldier's badge participating in the campaign to liberate the South named after Ho Chi Minh and a Nationnan battery-powered transistor radio equipped for cadres during the war against the US. Mr. Dao Tam Tinh received war artifacts from friends, colleagues who are passionate about collecting antiques and most of all, veterans who participated in the resistance war against the US, luckily survived, many of whom were disabled for life.

Visiting the humble house of Mr. Dao Tam Tinh in Xuan Hung hamlet, Hung Loc commune, Vinh city, we encounter a cluttered space preserving countless historical artifacts of the revolutionary war. Surely he also wishes to enrich the treasure trove that not everyone can create for themselves in a day or two if they simply seek material benefits. He smiled gently, answering the question about his idea of ​​building a personal revolutionary war museum in the near future, wanting to give today's generation the heroic historical memories of the nation, not just rare relics that have to suffer the fate of being lost, cold, and gradually fading away due to the negative side of market life.

Vinh, December 7, 2016.

Article and photos:Van Hien