Uncle visited Vinh village

• January 12, 2007 16:27

I am lucky enough to travel a lot, to the North, to the South, to the countryside, to the city, some places just for a moment. Many places I stopped for a long time. So many happy and sad memories, some hidden by time, some cherished and cherished by time, becoming flesh and blood. Vinh Thanh - Ru Thap (Vinh Thanh commune - Yen Thanh) has long been my beloved hometown.

Uncle Ho started the song "Solidarity"

At that time, at the foot of Ru Thap, there was a small thatched house, where the communal art troupe regularly practiced. The owners of the house were a very young couple. The husband, named Huong, was gentle and quiet, and played the flute quite well. The wife, named Ha, was pretty, smiling, and talkative, and was a good singer and talker. Every afternoon after practice, we often went up to Ru Thap to pick flowers and enjoy the scenery.

The eastern sea is the sea, the sea breeze blows up and hits Len Hai Vai, blows back and then lands on Ru Thap. Gardenia flowers, sim flowers, clover flowers and thousands of colorful wild flowers bloom innocently. The sun touches the mountains, spreading out on three sides. Cao Son and Cao Cac mountains touch the sky. The Mong Ga range is towering. The Yen Ngua range flutters its manes. And the villages, the gray thatched roofs, the peaceful smoke from the kitchen. At the foot of the hill, musician Nhat Tan and I received twenty handfuls of flowers from our "students". The wild flowers of Ru Thap are tiny white, pale pink, apricot green, lemon yellow and faintly purple. Distilled from the dry sun and wind, the color of the flowers is enough to make us cry.

Then one day, people from the villages in the commune flocked to Ru Thap. The tools they brought were pickaxes, shovels and hoes. Teachers and students from the two primary and secondary schools also flocked to the scene. The art troupe was also dressed up and ready to perform. "The art program to celebrate the launching ceremony of greening Ru Thap is hereby permitted to begin." Immediately, the drums and various instruments started to play. At the same time, Minh, Ha, Lan, Nhi, Van, Tien, Hai, Toi... in long dresses with graceful dance movements appeared on stage.

After the launching ceremony, thousands of people poured into Ru Thap. Their voices calling to each other and their laughter echoed throughout the area. That is, people were looking for the land that their team had been divided to dig holes to plant trees. The top layer of the hill was gravel mixed with horse tooth stone. Next was the young stone pavement, no one knew how deep it was. According to the regulations, the hole was square, each side was half a meter long and half a meter deep. A few picks and a few swings of the pickaxe could only dig up a handful of crushed stone. The dry sun and the monsoon blew hollow, but everyone was sweating. And thirsty, no matter how much drinking water the students brought up, it was gone.

Vinh Thanh was one of the first communes in the North at that time to respond to Uncle Ho's call for Tet tree planting. The first breakthrough of the campaign was Ru Thap. The plan was deployed to the production teams for people to discuss and debate. Many difficulties were raised but there were also many initiatives to overcome them. Digging holes first, not planting immediately but filling them with alluvial soil, waiting for spring to start to plant the trees. The tree seeds were provided by the elders' nursery. After the teams planted the trees, they handed them over to the Bach Dau Quan team to take care of and protect them. During the discussion and advice, someone's saying spread widely and was considered by everyone to be true: Trees are not afraid of hardships, afraid of suffering because trees grow through rocks, trees grow through water. The only thing to fear is people's lack of determination and self-confidence.

Uncle returned. Ms. Tran Thi Nhi, an officer of the President Ho Chi Minh Relic Museum, led us to meet Mr. Nguyen Dang Chuc, former Chairman of Vinh Thanh Commune at that time (1961). Mr. Chuc is 98 years old this year, still ruddy, healthy, his voice is still clear and unusually alert. At our request, he happily said: "How long have you been staying here?". I was really confused and didn't know how to answer, he continued: "If you don't have time, then tell me briefly, if you're willing to stay here tonight, then tell me at length." I was glad to have found the right person, and to have the person I came to talk to happily. Mr. Chuc said: "A few days before Uncle Ho returned, the Party Committee and the committee saw a very strange phenomenon. Every day, civil and police cadres from the province came to work. They asked and recorded all sorts of things - the production situation, people's lives, and activities of organizations. They also met many people, including the late Captain of the Bach Dau Quan team, to talk. During the working sessions, the provincial leaders mentioned the Dai Phong Cooperative in Quang Binh many times. At that time, Dai Phong was famous in the North. Our Vinh Thanh Cooperative sent cadres and members to learn from their experiences several times. Since then, Vinh Thanh soon had many good production examples that won the title of "Dai Phong Boys and Girls". In addition to that, the provincial delegation spent most of their time visiting Ru Thap. Here now is a lush green forest. Not only Ru Thap, the whole Vinh Thanh was a forest. Then, on December 8, 1961, the commune leaders were informed by their superiors that a delegation of Central cadres would soon come back. visit. On December 9, 1961, suddenly a helicopter landed on the grass at the foot of Ru Thap. Needless to say, the people of the commune were excited and surprised: People rushed to Ru Thap to see our plane to see the Central Committee with their own eyes. But not many people were so lucky. The helicopter only stopped for five minutes and then took off straight to the west." According to Mr. Chuc, from that moment on, the people of Vinh Thanh had a premonition that something very important had happened to Ru Thap. At 8:00 p.m. on December 9, 1961, Party Secretary Phan Duc Tue and Commune Chairman Nguyen Dang Chuc received an urgent telegram: On December 10, 1961, President Ho visited Vinh Thanh. So that whole night, Yen Thanh in general, Vinh Thanh in particular, were all excited, staying awake all night wondering if this was real or a dream? On the morning of December 10, 1961, before dawn, people from all over the district flocked to Ru Thap, banners and slogans filled the area. Strangely, the day before had been gloomy and gray, bitterly cold. But that day was unusually warm. Flocks of birds flocked to Ru Thap, perching on the treetops, chirping.

At exactly 7 o'clock, a black dot appeared in the sky along with the sound of an engine. Everyone was silent and held their breath as they watched. The silver helicopter descended, circled Ru Thap, and then gently landed on the parking lot the day before.

"Long live President Ho! Long live Uncle Ho!" The sea of people raised their voices and cheered in the midst of a sea of flags and flowers when Uncle Ho appeared in front of the plane. He smiled and waved to his compatriots. Suddenly, everything fell silent. Oh Uncle Ho! Still in his mahogany-colored ao ba ba, with a silver-spotted beard and weathered hair. And his eyes, his eyes, shining brightly, looking everywhere. When Uncle Ho left the plane, everyone suddenly woke up, waving flags and flowers while tears flowed. Uncle Ho's words resonated warmly: "Planting trees here is quite good, quite good but not really good. You should choose trees that are worth planting, many casuarina trees grow quickly, but they are only used for firewood. To create a landscape, you should plant some royal poinciana trees. They also grow quickly, have beautiful flowers, and only last about 4 or 5 years. I suggest that the elders plant and be in charge of all the tree planting, and you children are in charge of supporting the trees... Today, Uncle Ho came back and could not visit other cooperatives in the district and province because there was no time. Other communes and cooperatives need to sympathize. As for this cooperative, don't think that when Uncle Ho came back to visit, you are the best, and then become arrogant and complacent, thinking that you don't need to learn from anyone else.... Among the 20 Dai Phong boys and girls of Vinh Thanh, Uncle Ho awarded badges to 5 outstanding children: Nguyen Thi Tuy, Pham Trong Kinh, Nguyen Thi Nhuy, Nguyen Ta and Nguyen Thi Duong. Does everyone agree with Uncle Ho?". The Tower moved like waves "Yes, sir, yes, sir!".

The sun was getting stronger and stronger. The sun was dry and harsh. Nguyen Quy, the head of the cooperative, a competitive soldier in the whole North, saw that Uncle was sweating and respectfully offered him a handkerchief. Seeing that, Uncle gently waved his hand and refused. Uncle was instructing the people about irrigation in agriculture, about overcoming natural disasters, about improving living standards... The sun was getting stronger and stronger, Mr. Phan Duc Due felt guilty when he saw that Uncle had been in the sun for too long. He hesitantly held an umbrella and approached Uncle. Everyone understood and looked in agreement.

And as soon as the umbrella was opened, Uncle Ho raised his hand and pushed it away, then pointed down at the thousands of people sitting below: "... Vinh Thanh is my second homeland". Uncle Ho's voice echoed far and wide. There were a few seconds of surprise and then the shouts rose like waves: Long live President Ho! Long live Uncle Ho!

Saying goodbye to Mr. Chuc, we met Ms. Tuy, Ms. Nhi, Ms. Duong... who were Dai Phong boys and girls from the past, now with white hair. When talking about the day Uncle returned, they all seemed younger, talking as if they had just said goodbye to Uncle yesterday. We went to the nursery school on the day Uncle visited. Here, Uncle used to give candy to the children, instructing the women to take care of, raise, and cultivate people. The small house was so sacred and precious.

Returning to Ru Thap, stepping on the first step, I was moved by the lyrics of a song by musician Nhat Tan that was still fresh 45 years ago. "Each step up, up Ru Thap is a journey that Uncle Ho took us on". After climbing 79 steps, I immediately saw the Ho Chi Minh Museum, built one year after Uncle Ho returned. The house was small, too simple, and truly not worthy of being a museum in Uncle Ho's second homeland. We were truly warmed when comrades Thai Huy Hoang - Party Secretary, and comrade Tran Xuan Bay - Chairman of the Commune People's Committee told us: The province has a project to upgrade and re-plan the entire museum area in the near future.

There was a day in Ru Thap, forever Ru Thap had a day that went down in history - The day Uncle Ho returned to visit his hometown!

Phan The Phiet
(Creative camp - Provincial Literature and Arts Association, December 2006)