Unforgettable memories of Nghe An youth volunteers in Dien Bien Phu

REMEMBERING MOTHER MUONG LA

Born in Da Son, Do Luong district, the youth volunteer soldier Pham Ngoc Hoa is now 88 years old. At that age, he still makes everyone admire him for his optimism and rare clarity.

Perhaps that is why the Organizing Committee of the Program to meet and honor the heroic martyrs, Dien Bien soldiers, youth volunteers, and frontline workers who directly participated in the Dien Bien Phu campaign in Nghe An province trusted and chose him to speak and interact in the program.

Receiving that trust, these days he is looking for souvenirs and memories that have been with him throughout his years of service and combat.

And then, his emotions seemed to slow down when he found the poem written for his mother in Muong La, the poem he wrote in his deep longing for a special mother he met during his participation in the Dien Bien Phu Campaign.

Going back in time to October 1953, Pham Ngoc Hoa was a 17-year-old boy with many dreams and ambitions. Hoa and his three friends in Da Thi hamlet, Da Son commune enthusiastically joined the youth volunteer force in the Dien Bien Phu Campaign.

In 1953, the resistance war against the French of our people moved into the general counter-offensive phase, and the youth of Nghe An also nurtured within themselves a determination to defeat the enemy. According to the organization's assignment, 4 young men of Da Thi land at that time were assigned to different units, but all shared the same joy when they went to serve in the fight.

Marching from Nghe An to Muong La district of Son La province, Mr. Hoa’s unit was lent a house by the Thai ethnic minority village to spend the night. Mr. Hoa and some of his comrades slept in a simple stilt house owned by a mother who was nearly 60 years old. In the dark, young man Pham Ngoc Hoa, missing his home and his mother, sat alone on the porch, tears in his eyes.

Seeing that, the Thai mother called Hoa to sit and warm herself by the fire. Seeing that Hoa’s shirt was torn, she quickly went to find a needle and thread to sew it back for her “son”. In the flickering firelight, her eyes and hands gently followed the needle and thread. Her feelings for the young volunteer were like those of a mother for her son. When she had carefully finished mending the shirt, the mother gently put it back on Hoa, at that moment, tears welled up in both mother and son’s eyes.

“During those years, the people of the Northwest actively supported the resistance war with human and material resources. They always considered the army and the youth volunteer force as their own children and did everything they could to help serve the resistance war.

For me, receiving the love of special mothers here is the motivation for me to try my best to complete the assigned tasks, so that the country will no longer have war, no more old mothers, no more children suffering from the trauma caused by bombs and bullets.

Former Dien Bien Phu Youth Volunteer - Pham Ngoc Hoa

And then, the four young men from Da Thi village kept their spirits up to get through the most difficult days of the campaign. One of them served in combat at Ta Vai bridge (Chieng Hac commune, Yen Chau district, Son La province); two others at the foot of Pha Din pass, and Mr. Hoa and his teammates participated in road construction and defusing unexploded bombs at the top of Pha Din pass.

During those days of “digging mountains, sleeping in tunnels, raining heavily, eating rice balls”, Mr. Hoa and the youth volunteer force fought day and night with the enemy every hour, every minute. They both defused unexploded bombs, filled bomb craters, and restored roads, using every means to clear the way for goods to be transported to the front line...

At the end of the campaign, two people became martyrs, they forever lay in the motherland at the most beautiful age of their youth. One person died shortly after peace was restored, because his health had been exhausted after many bouts of severe malaria.

Now, when the whole country is looking towards the 70th anniversary of the “Historic Victory of Dien Bien Phu”, it is also the time for Mr. Hoa to recall the years that have passed. He sadly re-reads the verses he wrote that year for his mother in Muong La:“…The patched shirt is warm when I put it on/My heart is filled with longing for my mother/Northwest, Dien Bien, Na San, Muong La/There are old mothers with kind hearts/After half a century, I return to visit my mother/When I hear that my mother is no longer there, my heart suddenly feels empty/Northwest sky, Dien Bien in the season of white Bauhinia flowers/The earth whispers and hears my mother calling my name…”.

CO NOI INTERSECTION AND THE SYMPATHY OF COMRADES

“Co Noi Junction (Mai Son District, Son La Province) was one of the most important roads of the Dien Bien Phu Campaign. Because all activities of supporting forces transporting weapons, food, laborers, etc. to the battlefield had to pass through this important junction. Therefore, the French colonialists ordered the air force to turn Co Noi Junction into a "quagmire" by all means, in order to cut off the transportation route, supplying weapons, food, laborers, etc. to the Dien Bien Phu battlefield.

Here, the enemy bombed and shelled fiercely, causing many officers and soldiers to sacrifice their lives to protect this key point," Mr. Hoang Van Phai (born in 1936) - a former youth volunteer from Nghi Trung, Nghi Loc district, who participated in the Dien Bien Phu Campaign shared with us.

While sharing, Mr. Phai held a black and white photo of his unit's squad leader at that time. This was the person who saved his life in the fierce moments at the Co Noi intersection years ago.

In a calm emotional flow, Mr. Phai said that the squad leader's name was Duong Manh Thinh, 1 year older than him and joined the combat service nearly 1 year before him. At that time, Mr. Phai belonged to Team 40 participating in combat service at Co Noi intersection (Mai Son district, Son La province).

Under the command of the Squad Leader, he and his soldiers steadfastly held their ground, coordinated with other units to promptly defuse unexploded bombs, level the road, and maintain the traffic "bloodline".

Due to his long combat service, along with the successive bouts of malaria that had weakened his body, Mr. Phai was exhausted and fainted right after completing his mission of filling bomb craters. Seeing his comrades in danger of death, his squad leader immediately carried him up.

Amidst the rain of bombs and bullets, the squad leader used his body to protect him and took him over 2 km to the youth volunteer force's medical station.

The squad leader was exhausted when he laid his comrade down. However, after resting for a while, he returned to the area to continue his mission.

After peace was restored, out of gratitude to the Squad Leader who saved him years ago, Mr. Phai still visited and maintained a close comradely relationship.

Although the war has receded into the past, the Co Noi intersection and the places associated with the Dien Bien Phu Campaign will forever be historical witnesses to the spirit of determination to fight and win of our army and people in general, and the youth volunteer force in particular.

It is the fire to light up the glorious tradition of the nation, the motivation for the soldiers of the past to continue the heroic songs of peacetime...

From February 1954, implementing the general mobilization order to serve the Dien Bien Phu Campaign, 5,438 young people from Nghe An province enthusiastically joined the army, exceeding the prescribed quota. All of these human resources were timely supplemented to combat units and served in combat in all battlefields of the Dien Bien Phu Campaign, contributing to the victory that "resounded throughout the five continents and shook the world" of the Vietnamese people.