The fire of enthusiasm of youth volunteers takes over the capital

In preparation for the takeover of the Capital before October 10, 1954, the Central Committee of the National Salvation Youth Union (now the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union) established a Youth Volunteer Team to take over the Capital with more than 300 team members who were high school seniors in resistance high schools in provinces from Thanh Hoa and beyond.

People welcome the army to take over the capital. Source: HNM

These more than 300 team members were divided into 30 squads, moving to the capital Hanoi in 3 waves: October 6, October 8 and October 9, 1954. Their main tasks were to support the army in taking over the handed over facilities; to propagate and explain to the people about the takeover policy of our Party and State, to expose the enemy's counter-propaganda; to mobilize the youth and people to actively participate in exciting activities to welcome the army and the Military Management Board to take over the capital.

A native of Hanoi, Ms. Le Thi Tuy (born in 1936), who had just finished high school at Hung Vuong Resistance High School, Phu Tho Province (where Ms. Tuy was evacuating with her family), enthusiastically and energetically joined the Youth Volunteer Team to take over the Capital at that time. Having studied and mastered French since childhood, Ms. Tuy was one of the team members who returned to the Capital in the first wave on October 6, 1954.

On the first day of returning to Hanoi after nearly 8 years of evacuation, Uncle Tuy and the team members gathered at Don Thuy Hospital (now Military Hospital 108). From here, the youth volunteers who took over the capital spread out everywhere to carry out their assigned tasks.

Participating with the troops in taking over the enemy's administrative and military facilities generally did not encounter any obstacles. However, only a few team members were assigned to the task of "taking over officers", the remaining team members had to secretly sneak into alleys and neighborhoods because the enemy was under "martial law" period.

Uncle Tuy recalled that on that day, the team members went to each family, politely knocked on the door to ask permission to chat, introduced themselves as youth volunteers coming to explain the takeover policy of our Party and Government, and invited people to participate in the work of preparing to welcome our troops to take over the capital in a jubilant and joyful manner.

Uncle Tuy said: “The first reaction of the people was to show great surprise when they saw us as young, handsome, pretty, extremely cute, polite and well-mannered, so they immediately had sympathy. When they found out that we were ordinary young men in the resistance zone who had also gone to school to the baccalaureate level and higher, and knew French, English..., some people even tried to let their children bring math problems for us to solve for them to truly believe us.”

From the initial belief, people also "poured out their hearts", discussed many other more important issues such as: property ownership, freedom of religion, freedom of business... Women are very interested in freedom of marriage, education, finding a job. Many women still believe the enemy's counter-propaganda, asking the communists if "goat-fighting", wearing ao dai and shoes are banned?...

Listening to the explanation and seeing directly that the youth volunteers were not like the enemy's propaganda, the people and young people were very excited, confident, and enthusiastically responded to the campaign policy to prepare well for the day of welcoming Uncle Ho's soldiers to liberate the capital.

In preparation for the day of taking over the capital, the team members themselves had to set an example in performing arts activities, teaching singing and dancing to young people, creating a jubilant and bustling atmosphere right from the moment the French troops withdrew to Long Bien bridge. In reality, the team had to do a lot of work beyond the original plan.

The human resources for implementation depended on the young labor force in each neighborhood. The cultural and artistic part depended on the team of students and people introducing bands. The children were very excited and enthusiastic to participate in dancing, singing, wearing uniforms, marching; learning revolutionary songs to create a vibrant atmosphere for the days celebrating the liberation of the Capital.

The only thing is, because these preparations all took place during the days when the enemy was still under martial law, they had to find secret locations such as temples, alleys, hidden streets, etc. to operate. However, later, seeing that the enemy was busy withdrawing and not paying attention to other things, the work was carried out more openly.

The most memorable was the night before October 10, 1954. Many days before, people gathered to prepare all the materials to sew many flags and slogans, so the night of October 9, 1954, the atmosphere was like an uprising.

“We stayed up all night, feeling happy as if in a dream, seeing the people and young people making colorful welcome gates to welcome the returning soldiers. Hang Dao Street displayed all colors of fabric and silk. Hang Non Street displayed all kinds of hats, caps, flags, fans painted green, red... Hang Thiec Street bent tin into sparkling dragons and phoenixes. Hang Gai Street displayed rows of lanterns shaped like dragons, phoenixes, fish, shrimp... People even secretly went to the outskirts of the city to bring back bundles of coconut leaves, hook leaves... to decorate more beautifully, creating brilliant images of the neighborhoods during the days of welcoming the soldiers back to the capital that year" - Uncle Tuy emotionally recounted.

The vibrant enthusiasm of the period of the youth volunteer mission to take over the capital has always been full and permeated in the heart of the female youth volunteer Le Thi Tuy from that time until now, when she is nearly 80 years old. In 1955, the Youth Volunteer Team to take over the capital was disbanded because it had completed its mission.

Mr. Tuy was assigned to work as a reporter at Tien Phong newspaper when he was only 19 years old. In 1982, he was assigned to the position of Deputy Director of the Youth Research Institute of the Central Youth Union. From 1989 to 1995, Mr. Tuy was the Editor-in-Chief of the Capital Women's Newspaper and then retired.

After retirement, Mr. Tuy still works, studies and contributes. According to a project of the Central Youth Union, Mr. Tuy went abroad to study and then returned to Vietnam to work as a consultant at the Happy Youth Consulting Center. The knowledge and experience accumulated during his time working in journalism helped him gain more life experience to share and advise young people, helping and encouraging many lives in life. Then, those stories of sharing and confiding were conveyed by him into life experiences, ways of dealing with people through stories and articles published in the "Home Builder" column of Vietnam Television and in the newspapers Phu Nu Thu Do, Suc Khoe Va Doi Song, Gia Dinh, etc.

Ms. Le Thi Tuy confided: “Remembering the days of training in the Youth Volunteer Team to take over the Capital, I am always proud and grateful to the Party and the Youth Union for creating training conditions for generations of young people like me to know how to live with ideals and contribute a lot to the Fatherland.

Until now, the enthusiastic and pioneering spirit of the young volunteers who took over the capital that day still fills my heart, ready to contribute, work tirelessly, continue, and pass on the flame of enthusiasm to the young generation of the capital today.

According to News