Nghe An female Youth Volunteers at Seng Phan key point
(Baonghean) -More than half a century has passed, the profound memories and heroic feats of the Youth Volunteer Force still live on in the country, forever being examples of selfless sacrifice for the Fatherland for future generations. Here is an article about a female platoon of Nghe An Youth Volunteers on duty in Laos during the resistance war against the US to save the country in the years 1965-1975.
Seng Phan is located in the south of Lang Khang district (in Khammouane province, Laos), a key area where the enemy focused on extremely fierce attacks during the destructive war of the US imperialists.
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When the enemy discovered that we were opening routes to the West and concentrating on transporting goods to the South by motor vehicles, they used all kinds of reconnaissance aircraft, attack aircraft to intercept and control our vehicles and mobilized all kinds of heavy bombers B52, B57 to attack tunnels, intersections, underground, unique road bends... especially focusing on the key point Seng Phan.
Seng Phan is called the 505 peak, with a high vertical mountain, at the foot of the mountain is a vital road that must be passed, on one side of the road is a swamp, for many consecutive years the enemy has rubbed and thrown hundreds of thousands of bombs to fiercely attack this place but could not achieve the intention of cutting off the "throat" because thanks to the stone wall blocking the area, most of the bombs just fell into the swamp.
Here, in addition to the engineering and air defense forces deployed on two ends and three sides, there is also a female Youth Volunteer Platoon (TNXP), most of whom are from Nghe An, who stay day and night at the foot of the key mountain to repair the tunnel when the enemy comes to attack and cause damage and blockage.
With such a heavy responsibility, the Platoon has built a plan and determined to complete the task entrusted to them by their superiors. The slogan is written on the cliff: "The enemy destroys, we repair so that vehicles and goods can enter as planned before the dry season". To properly carry out the proposed slogan is not easy, but it requires exchanging long years of hardship, toil, deprivation, and sacrifice by struggling day and night with bullets, bombs, and rocks.
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Anyone who has been there, has directly fought and served in combat in this key area, has witnessed the sisters on duty here, after each enemy attack, there was immediately a signal shot. When they knew the tunnel was damaged, they rushed in like charging troops into the enemy's fort, guns on their shoulders, hoes and shovels in their hands, working hard to dig and fill bomb craters. The young girls were in their 18s and 20s, each of whom had been in the army for 4 to 5 years, and had been through the tough times in their TNXP uniforms that smelled of gunpowder mixed into their battle clothes. The girls Tu, Bay, Loan, Tham... looked small and slender like students who had just left school, struggling to pull and push boulders weighing several hundred kilograms down bomb craters, to the side of the road. They diligently arranged each stone, planted stakes through the tunnel, along both sides of the road, and when they were finished, they heard a signal shot for the artillery to continue going in and out. There were women who, while on duty, were unfortunately hit by unexploded bombs or by planes that suddenly attacked before they could get into the shelter, and were injured or killed, leaving their youth in the mountains and forests of a neighboring country or carrying wounds that would last the rest of their lives.
The war was long, all sacrifices, losses and deprivations were things that all Youth Volunteers had determined and gladly accepted. But if men had to endure the same situation, it might be easier to overcome, but for women, there was lack of food, lack of sleep, lack of medicine, and even the daily necessities of women were not guaranteed. The jungle fevers kept raging, the skin was pale, the lips were dark, just as the poet Quang Tuyen wrote, "only the smile was intact for me."
Despite hardships, deprivation, and sacrifices, the nature of Nghe An girls is to sing and laugh, in the dead of night we hear young voices, murmuring and laughing freely, songs, folk songs, and folk songs resounding in the dead of night in the rugged mountains and forests. That optimism and love of life had a strong impact on the souls of us soldiers, especially the drivers when we had the chance to pass through this key point of Seng Phan. At that time, the drivers kept telling each other, "Anyone who has passed through the key point of Seng Phan, even just once, is enough to admire the bravery and creativity of the Youth Volunteer Women's Platoon here, truly worthy of the title of descendants of the Trung Sisters, Ba Trieu, and the younger sister of the heroic Ut Tich". The examples of bravery in combat service, achievements, and initiatives while on duty were reported at the annual dry season summary conference at Military Station 12.
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Up to now, the war has been over for more than 35 years, the author of this article has shared the sweet and bitter times with everyone, with the Nghe An Youth Volunteer Women's Platoon that held on to the western route of the friendly country during the years of steadfastly fighting fiercely with the enemy.
Now we are all over 60 years old, who is still alive and who is gone, life can forget many things, but each of us always remembers and is proud of our youth, all of which clearly demonstrated our spirit, courage, loyalty, and wholeheartedly following the sacred call of the Party, of beloved Uncle Ho, of our homeland and country.
Nguyen Hoat Muoi
