Female Youth Volunteers with strong comradeship
Although she is nearly 70 years old, she still looks active and agile. The enthusiasm of the Youth Volunteers of the past still flows in her veins. The years of being attached to her comrades, fighting side by side, have given her the faith, health, and resilience to stick with the association's work.
(Baonghean) -Although she is nearly 70 years old, she still looks active and agile. The enthusiasm of the Youth Volunteers of the past still flows in her veins. The years of being attached to her comrades, fighting side by side, have given her the faith, health, and resilience to stick with the association's work.
She is Nguyen Thi Hong Than, President of the Association of Former Youth Volunteers in Hung Loc Commune (Vinh City). Born in 1944 in Tan Son, Do Luong, she early participated in the work of the Youth Union and local mass movements. At the age of twenty, she was the secretary of the commune youth union, commanding local youth union members to collect duckweed, build irrigation works, increase production... to serve the front line. Being proactive and exemplary in all movements and activities, in 1965, she was honored to join the Party ranks at the age of 21. That same year, she wrote an application to join the youth volunteer force. She was assigned to Unit 326, Team 3 of the Provincial Youth Volunteer Force as Deputy Company Commander and Secretary of the Youth Union Branch.
During the years stationed in Bai Son (Do Luong), her unit was tasked with opening Highway 15B from Giang Son intersection to Hoa Son and connecting it to Highway 7. She and 150 team members actively followed the road, filled bomb craters, leveled forests, and cleared mountains to quickly complete the new road. To encourage the spirit of her comrades, she proposed an initiative to form a sisterhood with nearby army units; organized cultural and artistic exchanges, using "singing to drown out the sound of bombs", she also contacted her superiors to organize literacy education for the unit's team members. In 1966, she was sent by the provincial Youth Union to attend a training course on Youth Union work in Hung Yen. After that, returning to her unit, she was elected as Party cell secretary, in charge of the Youth Union and youth movement of the unit.
In early 1967, she was assigned to be in charge of organizing Team No. 3 (including 6 units: 326, 327, 328, 304, 307 and 330). These were difficult days for female Party cell secretary Nguyen Thi Hong Than. The trips to bases and localities to recruit soldiers; the long marches at night, the trips through the forest to bring soldiers back to the unit... Identifying herself as a pillar, a leader, she always upheld the spirit of determination to overcome difficulties, to take the lead so that her brothers would not falter; she was always close to, encouraged the spirit of the team members in the unit, organized many activities and movements to attract, gather forces, and improve the efficiency of the unit's operations. During her years as the Youth Union Secretary, her unit was awarded a Certificate of Merit by the Ministry of Transport, and a Certificate of Merit by the Provincial Youth Union for its many outstanding achievements in Youth Union work and youth movements.
At the end of 1967, she was assigned to work at the provincial party committee office until her retirement in 2002. In the 1990s, when the government had a policy of granting benefits to former youth volunteers, at that time the Association of Former Youth Volunteers had not yet been established, she and some of her colleagues stood up to act as a liaison committee, a basis for connecting, certifying, and verifying those who had participated in the Youth Volunteers, ensuring their rights to enjoy all preferential policies of the government.
In 2006, the City Youth Volunteer Veterans Association was established, and she was elected to the Executive Committee of the Association. In 2007, she was the President of the Hung Loc Commune Youth Volunteer Veterans Association. She confided: “I work for my brothers, for my comrades. The Association is a spiritual support, a warm home for the members...” For four consecutive years, the Hung Loc Commune Youth Volunteer Veterans Association has been the leading unit of the city, and has been awarded a Certificate of Merit by the Provincial Youth Volunteer Veterans Association.
She was honored to be awarded the Third Class Independence Medal; Medal for the Archives Career by the Party Central Office; and 40-year Party membership badge.
Duy Nam
