Recorded in Khe Sanh

(Baonghean) -Quang Tri is in the jubilant atmosphere of celebrating the 45th anniversary of the Khe Sanh victory (July 9, 1968 - 2013). Passing through Dong Ha, Cam Lo to Huong Hoa... wherever we stopped, when they knew that we had traveled more than 300 kilometers from Nghe An to come here on this occasion, all the people of Quang Tri nodded as if to say that they understood that our coming and going was correct, natural! Khe Sanh - that place name has always resounded in the pride of victory, not only of the heroic people of Quang Tri...

As soon as I set foot on Ta Con airport and the vestiges of the old Lang Vay battlefield, I deeply regretted not having prepared carefully for this trip. Road 9 - Khe Sanh, Lang Vay, Ta Con... are places associated with the resounding victory that opened the series of Spring Offensives in the year of Mau Than 1968 of our army and people; the battlefields of the past, although still full of pride, it is difficult to recall the legends of the land and people that I should have been able to do.

At the Lang Vay Victory Monument.

Perhaps it was also because I had relied too much on the love of Quang Tri of a Quang Tri native. That was Mr. Tran Hoai, a resident reporter for the People’s Army Newspaper in the North Central region, born in Vinh Linh when the war had begun to signal the end of the American defeat on the Vietnam battlefield in 1971.

I know that for Tran Hoai, the two regions of Cua Tung - Vinh Linh and Khe Sanh - Huong Hoa are two homeland obsessions that are always deeply ingrained in the emotions in the short stories and quite full memoirs of a journalist in a soldier's uniform... 10 years ago (in 2003), on the occasion of accompanying a crew to make a documentary film commemorating the 35th anniversary of the Khe Sanh Victory of the Military Region 4 Newspaper - Television, Tran Hoai had an excellent memoir "Khe Sanh, not just one day..." in the People's Army newspaper, with a truly unique and accurate feeling that perhaps can only be found in the sensitivity of a son of Quang Tri: "I looked at the iron-colored rocks under my feet, on the world-famous stronghold and secretly thought that the steel of weapons, bombs, explosives had been melted and dissolved into the soil and rocks of Khe Sanh, not the metal elements melted by the earth's core at millions of degrees, erupting into a volcano erupting lava, making the land here bright red with blood".

On that “blood-red” land, there is now a rich green color of rubber forests, pepper, banana fields, and cassava of the Kinh, Van Kieu, and Pa Co people in the new “battle” to defeat poverty and backwardness. Every five years, Quang Tri solemnly celebrates the Khe Sanh Victory. Each time they are invited to attend, the soldiers of the battles of Lang Vay, Ta Con, Cam Lo… are surprised and happy because of the drastic changes in the old battlefields. Along the 60 kilometers from Dong Ha to Huong Hoa, it is difficult to imagine a heroic and fierce Highway 9 45 years ago. That legendary road has now become a part of the 1,450 km long East-West economic corridor running through four countries: Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, and Myanmar with increasingly busy trade.

It seemed as if there was a generation of children in this land of fire who all grew up with military careers (!). The Head of the Military Command of Huong Hoa District, Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Thuan Hue, was a high school classmate of journalist Tran Hoai in Vinh Linh. Leading us to the 320th peak of the former Lang Vay base, now located in Tan Long commune, Huong Hoa district, Lieutenant Colonel Hue kept telling us in detail about the developments of the Lang Vay battle, including the coordinating force of the local army of Huong Hoa district; that he felt proud and honored to be assigned to be in charge of military work here... The 320th peak is a "prime" mountain peak in terms of military, located close to Highway 9. Standing here, one can see the entire relic of Lang Vay base and a large area along the Se Pon River, all the way to Laos.

According to Lieutenant Colonel Hue, the descendants of the Van Kieu and Pa Co ethnic people in Huong Hoa district who once sheltered soldiers and served civilians, contributing to the Khe Sanh Victory, are now actively working and producing, keeping up with the new business mindset, and striving to achieve an average income of 18.5 million VND/person/year in 2012. Meeting the Tan Long commune militia who were on duty to protect the TV event of the Military Television Station "Khe Sanh: From the Hearts", there were Ho Van Truc, born in 1979, Ho Van Banh, born in 1992, both of whom are Van Kieu ethnic people. They said that in addition to being on standby for combat, they also participate in production with their families, growing hectares of cassava and bananas for commercial purposes, earning nearly hundreds of millions of VND each year. Huong Hoa cassava starch factory has a raw material area of ​​up to 4,500 hectares in two mountainous districts of Huong Hoa and Dakrong of Quang Tri province and 2,000 hectares in neighboring Laos. SEPON cassava starch products manufactured by the factory are exported to China, Taiwan, Korea, etc. It was the first time I met the Van Kieu people whose stories of their belief in the Party and Uncle Ho were a beautiful and touching impression during the resistance war against the US; now, they are still as sincere and honest with the revolution as ever!

According to documents at the Huong Hoa Military Command, from the beginning of 1966, the US tried to increase troops and weapons to the Western part of Quang Tri, establishing a dense base system at key locations such as Ta Con, Lang Vay, Cu Boc hill, Dong Tri... Lang Vay base is considered the "work" of the US military commander in Vietnam - General Westmoreland, with the expectation of being a "hard-core" military base group in defense, blocking the Northwest of the Tri Thien battlefield; an "anchor" to the West for the strategic defense system in the South of the demilitarized zone; turning Khe Sanh into a patrol base to prevent enemy troops from Laos from flooding along Route 9 and also a base for commando operations to harass the enemy along the Vietnam - Laos border. At the same time, Khe Sanh was used as a springboard for ground sweep operations, an airport was built here for American reconnaissance planes to take off to search and destroy the main force of the Vietnam People's Army, and the Ho Chi Minh trail was the lifeline supplying support from the North to the anti-American battlefield in the South.

Lang Vay base was built on two high points 320 and 230, 600m long and 200m wide, with many trenches and solid fortifications with very strong firepower points, including 105mm artillery positions and 106.7mm mortars. Surrounding the base are layers of dense barbed wire fences, at the foot of the hill are large minefields with high lethality and destruction. The posts here are the US special forces and the Army of the Republic of Vietnam consisting of 6 companies, with 30 US advisors directly commanding...

The history of the Vietnam People's Army has clearly recorded and analyzed a lot about the attack to destroy the Lang Vay stronghold, considered the first combined arms battle with tanks participating in the attack of our army, destroying and capturing the entire enemy, collecting many weapons and equipment; it was the opening battle for the Khe Sanh Victory.

In Huong Hoa, we were lucky to meet two old soldiers who fought in the Lang Vay battle, two People's Armed Forces Heroes whose names are associated with the pride of the Khe Sanh Victory. They were Major General Le Xuan Tau, former Commander of the Armored Corps from 2000 to 2005, and Colonel Tran Huu Bao, a soldier of the heroic 304th Infantry Division.

On this occasion, the two men returned to Quang Tri to participate in events commemorating the 45th anniversary of the Khe Sanh Victory. Receiving us in the large lobby of a hotel in Lao Bao Town, Hero Major General Le Xuan Tau did not say much about the battle in which the tank number 555 commanded by him led the 3rd Platoon, 3rd Tank Company to fight fiercely, contributing significantly to the complete destruction of the enemy's Lang Vay stronghold on the night of February 6 to the morning of February 7, 1968. He only lowered his voice to talk about his comrades who had fallen throughout the war; told about his comrades who fought side by side and supported him to successfully complete his mission in the Lang Vay battle, such as comrades Phan Van Hai - at that time the Captain of the 3rd Tank Company, Le Van Bang - Deputy Political Commissar of the Company, both from Thanh Chuong, Nghe An, retired with the rank of colonel, now having difficulties in life that he has not been able to help, nor welcome them to Khe Sanh on this occasion...



Exchange with 2 armed forces heroes: Major General Le Xuan Tau and Colonel Tran Huu Bao - witnesses of the Lang Vay battle, Huong Hoa television bridge - Army television program, on the occasion of the 45th anniversary of Khe Sanh Victory.

In the side story of Hero Colonel Tran Huu Bao - the infantry soldier of the Lang Vay battle in the past whose feat of single-handedly destroying 78 enemy soldiers was awarded the title of elite hero, in his warm Nghe An accent, he said that we remember history, keep the pride in the fighting spirit and victory in the Khe Sanh Campaign to both close the wounds of war and multiply the desire for peace...

In 2011, when Major General Le Xuan Tau visited Khe Sanh again, he met an American veteran, a former advisor at the Lang Vay base. John (the veteran's name) brought his family of six to visit Khe Sanh and exclaimed to Major General Le Xuan Tau: "You won rightly because you fought with all your courage!"

Does Mr. John understand that that courage comes from the purpose of a just war of the Vietnamese people? Perhaps this is also the American veteran who returned to Lang Vay in 2003, and the image of him sobbing, kneeling on the ground of the old battlefield has been engraved in Tran Hoai's journalistic memory, although he has never written about it. Does that pain of the American veteran have a part of the awakening of the person holding a gun to spread war?

Ta Con Airport relic on a windy Quang Tri afternoon; event organizers are urgently setting up the stage and podium to prepare for the 45th anniversary of Khe Sanh victory to take place here.

Currently, many war artifacts are displayed here, from military uniforms and personal equipment of American soldiers to military transport aircraft and helicopters of the USA brand. In Ta Con, since 1966, the US army has built a large base cluster that has become the largest military position in the Route 9 - Khe Sanh defense system with a scale of 2 km long and 1 km wide, including many small bases with solid, dense fortifications and a large airport for taking off and landing heavy military transport aircraft such as C130, C123, troop transport helicopters and armed helicopters.

In our Khe Sanh campaign, the battle at Ta Con Airport was the final attack (from May 8 to July 15, 1968) to force the US troops to retreat from Khe Sanh. History records: “The victory at Ta Con contributed greatly to the glorious victory of our army and people on the Khe Sanh Route 9 front, closely linked to the 1968 Spring General Offensive and Uprising, contributing significantly to forcing the US to withdraw its ladders and relieve the burden on the Saigon puppet government, stop bombing the North, and sit down at the Paris negotiations, starting a process of strategic failure for the US.”

Ta Con historical relic is also located in Tan Lap commune. Although it has not been fully restored, it has become an attractive destination for domestic and foreign tourists on their journey to explore the "DMZ tour" (demilitarized zone tourism).

According to Mr. Le Quan Mien - Head of the Ta Con Airport Historical Relic Management Board, every year, this place welcomes about 7,000 visitors. Notably, there are many European, American, Canadian, and Australian visitors to Ta Con who are very knowledgeable about the Ta Con base and the Ta Con battle; and an American who came here once told Mr. Mien that: The defeat of the American soldiers in Ta Con - Khe Sanh was the happiness of tens of thousands of American families when from then on they were able to welcome their children back, away from a fierce and meaningless war of the American army! On the Ta Con field today, besides the restored war artifacts, trenches, fortifications... are the peaceful green of vegetables that the people used the vacant land to cultivate.

Laura, an American girl and her group of friends who crossed the hemisphere to Vietnam, to Ta Con, stood for a long time in front of each artifact and model, walking thoughtfully on the airport's vestiges. Laura gave me her email address, adding below "TACON - meaningful!". I don't know if Laura is the child or grandchild of an American soldier who fought in Ta Con or not, but her smile and eyes towards us were as friendly and peaceful as this Ta Con afternoon!

Saying goodbye to Khe Sanh - Huong Hoa, saying goodbye to the historic Ta Con and Lang Vay, we followed Highway 9 to Cam Lo, Dong Ha...; remembering the words of the Commander of the Military Command of Huong Hoa District, Nguyen Thuan Hue: "After 45 years, the Khe Sanh Victory is the eternal pride of the people of Huong Hoa, of the Van Kieu and Pa Co ethnic groups here; but perhaps it would be more complete if Khe Sanh really exploited the potential of tourism to the source and to recall the old battlefield, to contribute to more revenue and improve the people's lives even more". And I "tormented" myself again for not having prepared carefully for this trip, and had to make an appointment to return one day to fully feel the pride of the Khe Sanh Victory on the legendary Highway 9!

Sam Temple