About places "barefoot, steely will"

(Baonghean) - “Barefoot, Steel Will” is the name of a book by American veteran James G. Zumwalt. This book recounts the indomitable will of our fathers and brothers who were determined to sacrifice for the independence and freedom of the nation… The S-shaped strip of land in general and Nghe An in particular, has many heroic evidences representing the spirit of “barefoot, steel will”…

TOn my trip to Con Dao, I was lucky to meet Mr. Le Van Thong, a former youth volunteer, an anti-American soldier, who later changed his career to work in transportation. A few days ago, he called me and made an appointment: In April, let's go on a trip together, to places of "barefoot, steely will".

Our first destination was the grave of the Armed Forces Hero Hoang Kim Giao and soldier Luong Van Tin, in Nam Hung commune, Nam Dan district. Respectfully lighting incense sticks, remembering the souls of the two martyrs, Mr. Thong gently said: We, the drivers of the past, are able to live to this day thanks to the sacrifices of those who sacrificed their lives to destroy magnetic bombs like Mr. Giao and Mr. Tin. Our life today is like this thanks to those who sacrificed themselves for the country, "not regretting not passing the car's house". Each era has its own way of thinking, but today's youth must not be heartless, forget the past...

Passing Nam Dan to My Son, Do Luong has the legendary Truong Bon site. According to Mr. Thong: The land here is soaked with the blood of heroes, of young volunteers, of 41 local people who fought bravely against the enemy. In the past, Truong Bon was like a blood stream in a unified body, determined to never stop flowing. Today, Truong Bon has trees covering the red hills and mountains scarred with bombs and bullets. The common grave of 13 young volunteer martyrs on Ky Lon slope has been beautifully restored, with a large church... Leaving Mr. Thong to stay and chat with his comrades, I went out to look at the Truong Bon historical site, which is entering the final stage of completion. The site has a total investment of nearly 175 billion VND, with a construction area of ​​217,327m2, built with the philosophy of "When drinking water, remember its source". To have enough space for construction, 47 households in hamlet 10, My Son commune gave up their space for the project. April has come, the sun is gentle like a muse. On the hill, the sim mua flowers begin to show their purple color. The purple color is heart-wrenching, like regret and longing, like a reminder of the pioneering boys and girls who put aside their aspirations, dreams, and personal happiness to rush into the rain of bombs and bullets.

We returned to the 0th kilometer of the legendary Truong Son road. On September 9, 1964, tens of thousands of engineers, Youth Volunteers, and people from districts of Nghe Tinh province (old) gathered to start construction of this road. They made a miracle, digging and building thousands of cubic meters of earth and rock, restoring dozens of bridges, directly shooting down planes, and capturing many pilots. They used a large piece of wood and carved it into kilometer 0 to mark the starting point of the road. Mr. Thong said: During the resistance war, the Truong Son road in Nghe An was an important support artery. This was one of the first key points of attack, and also the last place to stop the gunfire to fight back against the American planes. And here, together with the army, traffic workers, and local people, 43,000 Youth Volunteers in Nghe An and hundreds of thousands of Youth Volunteers throughout the country sacrificed their blood and youth for the independence and freedom of the Fatherland, for socialism.

Standing absentmindedly beside the campus, the stone stele, the monument "The rear towards the front line", Mr. Thong was remembering the heroic army of that year, remembering the road he had passed with the Than streams, remembering "Our Sen village / Building walls and ramparts / Building ramparts inside and outside / Leaving room for firecrackers / Every five meters / Did it well / Don't think it was a fair achievement / Building two ramparts / It was almost a month", remembering the Sen ferry / "The ferry trip through the year of fire and bombs / The rice and ammunition carts and the village men went to battle / The ferry trips day and night silently / The sun-drenched farm oranges went downstream... no canoe, my heart was the engine / My hands rolled and grabbed the hot fire thread...".

Up North, the Truong Son road is now majestic, spacious and beautiful; on both sides are lush green forests of "white gold" rubber, tea gardens, hybrid acacia forests, sugarcane forests, coffee, watermelon, fruit gardens, and grass hills for livestock farming. Mr. Thong told me about the story of 10 girls from Lang Sen village, Nghia Dan district, traveling 50 km barefoot, the story of the "soldiers' tea shop" in Quynh Chau commune (Quynh Luu)... During the years of fighting against the US, to protect and keep the traffic arteries open, our army deployed in the Hoang Mai area an air defense regiment, 3 Youth Volunteers companies, 2 railway bridge companies, 1 engineer company, 1 cargo handling company and hundreds of local militia. In just 2 years (1965-1966),In Hoang Mai, hundreds of fierce battles took place between us and the enemy.

Ben Thuy is the final destination of the journey that Mr. Thong took me to. The old ferry has now become a bridge. The Ben Thuy area, from 1964 to 1972, was the center of the bombardment fire, an area of ​​only 2 square kilometers but had to endure more than 3,300 bombing raids both from the air and from the sea with more than 24,600 bombs, mines, and rockets of all kinds; up to 75% of the Ben Thuy ferry unit was injured or killed. Considering the number of battles as well as the amount of bombs and bullets, the number of people sacrificed and injured, perhaps there are few places as fierce as this. Also within about 2 kilometers of the Ben Thuy area, there were dozens of units and many individuals awarded the title of Hero. Peace was restored, the old ferry was recorded in history, the Ben Thuy bridge connected the left and right banks of the Lam River. The modern Ben Thuy II bridge was built and put into use. This is a strategically important traffic project on National Highway 1A, connecting Nghe An and Ha Tinh provinces. Standing on Ben Thuy II Bridge, looking at the flowing blue Lam River, Mr. Thong said: "Any river flows into the sea."

He gave me a book that was no longer new, “Letters in Wartime”. Opening the book, I saw the 19th letter from martyr Hoang Kim Giao to his wife: “Please find the greatest and most genuine happiness of your life in the attachment to the collective, in bringing the enthusiasm of youth to foster the common happiness of society, bringing your feelings so that your heart overflows with every breath of the great, vibrant, vast, colorful life of the Fatherland”… Perhaps this book, the journey he has taken is what Mr. Thong wants to confide in himself and me?!

Thanh Chung