Female military doctor and 2,310 days and nights of fierce battlefield B

Nguyen Phung Hoang was a female military doctor. During the anti-American war, she volunteered to go to B, experiencing 7 years of fierce bombs and bullets until the day the country was reunified.

Ms. Hoang was born in 1948, a girl originally from Hanoi. Born and raised during the war, experiencing many ups and downs in life, overcoming bombs and bullets, the girl finally completed her mission well and returned home strong.

In her old age, she always wished to meet her comrades again, to return to the old battlefield filled with memories of a bloody time. That wish was difficult to fulfill because her legs were limping due to rheumatism, her eyes were dimmed by time, and she passed away on the American Independence Day, July 4th last year. She left behind the fierce war through her diary pages, which are now kept by her relatives with respect.

Two poems excerpted from the work "That Day" by female doctor Nguyen Phung Hoang. Photo: LN

Ms. Hoang passed the entrance exam to Hanoi Medical University in 1962. Graduating in 1968, she refused to stay at school and volunteered to go to B - to the Southern battlefield. The first place she went to was Bu Dop (Binh Phuoc), the land where the song "Tieng pestle on Bom Bo village" originated, working in zone 10 Bu Gia Map. In addition to her military medical work, she also participated in increasing production to serve the resistance.

Bombs, fierceness, hunger, and malaria were always present in the life of the young female military doctor. Hunger and lack of salt for many months made her body swell, and malaria tormented her legs so much that she didn't want to walk. "I was so hungry that at night I only dreamed of eating, of going back to Hanoi to eat pho until I woke up and the feeling of hunger was still there," the female doctor wrote in her diary.

Doctor Hoang's war zone was very close to the enemy, death was just around the corner, many of his comrades had passed away. One day in early 1971, the enemy suddenly swept in, artillery was pounding loudly, helicopters dropped a large number of troops. Upon receiving the news, Doctor Hoang and his comrades quickly moved the infirmary and patients to another place without leaving a trace.

In her diary, Ms. Hoang described: "Moving on your own was difficult, but at that time we were also able to move the infirmary, patients, along with a lot of belongings and food reserves. When the enemy arrived, we had already retreated without a trace. Because we were carrying patients, we could not go far, so we could still hear the enemy calling each other and swearing."

The enemy searched for her and her teammates for a long time, but found nothing, so they ambushed them again. Doctor Hoang's team stayed quietly in the forest, enduring hunger, thirst, and pain. One of her teammates was discovered and shot dead by the enemy.

In her military career, Dr. Hoang not only saved people but also stood between life and death when facing the enemy. One time, she was chased by a helicopter. She and her teammates hid under a bare tree, feeling as if they had been exposed. Suddenly, the image of her loved ones, her mother's face flashed through her mind, making the female doctor feel suffocated and her eyes sting. Luckily, she and her teammates were able to escape into the forest.

The memory that Dr. Hoang remembers most during the years of war is getting lost on an elephant trail. At that time, the female doctor had to stay in the village to deliver a baby, so the next day she went back to Bom Bo hamlet alone to attend a meeting. The young girl accidentally walked into a section of road with many small, evenly spaced, jagged holes. Only after looking closely did she realize that she had elephant footprints.

Not seeing an elephant, the female doctor suddenly slipped and fell into the abyss, luckily the bushes stopped her right next to the stream. Alone in the dark, Mrs. Hoang waded through the stream and climbed the slope in the middle of the wild forest, hungry and thirsty for a day and a night before returning to the war zone.

Mrs. Hoang said that no one in the battlefield could escape malaria. The sudden bouts of jungle malaria came like a storm, chilling the body from the inside out. After each time of hard running, hunger, and fatigue, and malaria, Dr. Hoang’s infirmary received and treated many patients with severe, malignant malaria.

The young girl herself had malaria, vomiting for a whole week without eating anything. One of her students waded through the stream to catch fish and cook porridge for her. "The bowl of fish porridge that day was more delicious than anything I had ever eaten," Ms. Hoang wrote.

In the dry season of 1971, the civilian forces were ordered to withdraw to Cambodia to preserve their forces. A group of soldiers with all the components from medical, propaganda, finance, organization, mass mobilization… and even wounded soldiers, patients and children.

Shoulders heavy with all kinds of luggage, guns, medicine and food, two hundred people walked together for a whole month. The forest path was muddy because of the rain, and every time they encountered a slope, the rubber sandals were slippery, the straps stretched out and cut into the calves, causing excruciating pain.

Doctor Hoang had an accident when her toes were not strong enough to grip the ground and she fell down the slope without anyone in the group noticing. Her ankle was swollen and bruised, the girl had to try to crawl step by step while the enemy planes were still rattling overhead.

In early 1972, after Loc Ninh was liberated, Dr. Hoang transferred to work at Loc Tan Hospital, 2 km from Loc Ninh. After the enemy bombing, many patients were brought to the hospital. She still remembers a patient who screamed for two days and nights. The doctor thought he had a cranial nerve injury, but could not find any wound or determine the cause.

When the patient's head was shaved, many wounds on the scalp were revealed, caused by glass fragments and small splinters. The doctor removed all the foreign objects, cleaned them, and prevented infection. Finally, the patient stopped screaming and was saved.

After peace was restored, the woman still remembered the 2,310 days of hardship and tension on the battlefield, filled with nostalgia. She missed her family, her friends and her lover. Her first lover was a university teacher who got married after the female doctor went to B.

On the battlefield, at the age of 29, Ms. Hoang met the man who would become her life partner until the female doctor passed away. He was Doan Nhat Hong, born in 1931, a former teacher at a school for students in the South.

The two got married in the war zone, but there was no marriage certificate or banquet. The wedding lasted only 15 minutes and her comrades made peanut candy to celebrate. Despite the hardship, she was extremely happy.

On April 30, 1975, the infirmary was still located in the forest. At 5 pm, when Dr. Hoang turned on the radio, she heard the news that Saigon had been liberated since noon. Too surprised, she and her comrades cheered loudly throughout the forest. All their hopes and desires now had the chance to burst into joy.

Later, Dr. Hoang's family moved to Da Lat to live. She and her husband have two children, who are currently working and living in Saigon. Mrs. Hoang once confided that the thing she feels happiest about in her life is that her two children are not disabled by Agent Orange, even though she and her husband have lived through years of fierce bombs and bullets.

According to VNE