Intact memories of a time working for the party newspaper

Journalist Duong Huy: My vibrant youth

I was one of the first people to work for Nghe An newspaper when it was first established (in 1961). At that time, I had just finished studying at the Pedagogical College. And it can be said that I spent my entire vibrant youth life attached to that dear home.

I started my journalism career with…folk songs and satirical poems. I was a naive student, not familiar with journalism, only knew how to write folk songs (propaganda folk songs) with the first works using matchboxes to fill the blank space in the newspaper. Later, the newspaper published the “Whispering and Telling Each Other” column, and I was assigned to be in charge.

Like many other young people, my passionate fantasy heart thought that writing for newspapers was simply a matter of…creating. But then, I realized many things after being sent by the province to “go to the base” to “train new reporters”. I packed my bags and went on a 3-month practical experience at Ba To Cooperative in Hung Tay, Hung Nguyen (famous for the name of Hero Cao Luc).

Although I was born into a farming family, my hometown had no agricultural land. During the 3 months I lived and ate with the members of the commune, I learned how to plant in straight rows, how to raise water fern... and also how to debate many agricultural issues. However, when I wrote the article, I still made mistakes, not being able to distinguish between polyculture and extensive farming. I remember when reading this article, the then Provincial Party Secretary, Comrade Vo Thuc Dong, underlined my small but silly mistakes.

Still not over yet, after 3 months I was sure that I was “mature enough”, but unexpectedly, I woke up and continued to be assigned to participate in improving cooperative management in Quynh Luu. I was assigned to Quynh Ngoc commune, together with the Party Committee of the commune to direct and mobilize people to migrate. I still remember those days, there is nothing more difficult than mobilizing others to listen and understand. The policy of migration and population dispersion is correct, but the place where I was born and raised, the place that has attached to me so many memories, so many tears, sweat… is not easy to leave.

I still remember the tears of the people who agreed to dismantle their houses to move to another place. I myself, on that trip, also carried a pillar of a house for a local, with a heavy heart. Now, the land we mobilized the people to move to is the current Ngoc Son area. Seeing the people doing well and having many changes makes me extremely happy.

And for me, the most memorable years of my journalism career were the years of war against the US. We wrote in the rain of bombs and bullets. The pages still smelled of gunpowder. I remember the time the enemy bombed Cat Mong Airport (Nghia Dan), I was assigned to go there to report and write. The enemy bombed in the afternoon, so that night I asked for a military vehicle from the province to go.

On the way to the airport that night, we had to go through the dark jungle. Suddenly, on the bumpy small road, in front of the car lights, a bomb appeared stuck right in the middle of the road. We were in a dilemma, there was no other way to get out, and cutting down the forest to build a new road next to it was also not feasible, afraid of provoking the bomb. The final decision was made: Keep going, and the car swerved to get through the bomb's wings. Luckily, we escaped safely.

In memory of the first battle against the Americans on August 5, 1964, amidst the smoke and bombs, the entire editorial office divided into many groups to write articles and had time to publish a report. Each of us went to a different location. I went from the office to the anti-aircraft artillery unit near Vinh Airport, now hearing enemy planes circling overhead, after a while I hid in a roadside bunker for shelter. Despite all the hardships and difficulties, we still managed to write a report for the next issue. Editor-in-Chief Nguyen Huong also asked me to write a folk song to be printed in the same issue, which was:“The Americans have hundreds of planes/ Then here they have millions of riflemen/ Surrounded by a net of fire from all directions/ Then the American tiger burns like burning straw.”

There were many hardships during the war. Once I went on a mission to Dien Chau, American bombs fell on the road, the bridge was completely destroyed. There was a section of the bridge over the river that had only 2 sleepers. I carried my bicycle, and while I was walking across, a plane passed overhead. I had no choice but to stand still on the 2 iron bars, precariously in the middle of the river, waiting for them to fly away. Another time I went to Quynh Luu to write about agricultural production, I had just had a lively conversation with a group of rice transplanters I met in the field, but after walking 200m I heard an explosion. I turned back and saw a bomb falling, one of the group of rice transplanters was dead, and the others were injured.

Going, meeting, witnessing the vibrant life, the hardships were no longer insignificant. We were eager to do journalism, eager to live. The agency evacuated from Vinh to Hung Nguyen, Nam Dan, Do Luong and then back to Vinh, we were the ones who rebuilt our "common roof" on the land we had passed. I still remember, the last time we moved to Vinh, Mr. Nguyen Tuong, who was then the head of the administrative department, personally went to buy bamboo, made a raft to go down to Cua Tien River and the brothers in the editorial office rushed out to carry the bamboo to the shore, rebuilding our editorial office. Living together, sharing the sweet and the bitter, giving each other advice on the smallest things. On the wedding day of Mr. Le Quy Ky - a reporter for the newspaper, we dug a tunnel together to organize (the newspaper was evacuated to Nam Dan at that time).

The Nghe An Newspaper collective has grown from such simple things. Forever in my mind is the image of the manuscript pages being carefully read, the editor-in-chief pondering and weighing each word written and printed. Back then, Huy Chuyen was the editorial secretary, seriously ill but still stuck to the editorial office to type every night. I am truly grateful for those difficult but loving days. I am grateful for the exciting youth of Nghe An Newspaper for giving me the opportunity to experience and grow up.

Journalist Hoang Chinh: A place of warm human affection

For me, my life as a journalist, working at Nghe An Newspaper, has many things worth mentioning, many memories, but perhaps the biggest thing that remains for me when I retire is the warmth of human affection.

I look back at everything I have had in my life, not to mention the spiritual values, but even the material values ​​bear the strong imprint of...humanity in the newspaper.

I remember in the 2000s, I was still riding an old bicycle, I was probably the last person in the office who didn't have a motorbike. At that time, I was working in the Secretariat, where Ms. Thuy Lien was the Head of the Office (Ms. Lien later became the Editor-in-Chief). The whole office discussed with me, I had to buy a motorbike to ride! Seeing me shaking my head, everyone pressed me, saying that if I didn't have enough money, I should borrow more from the office, and then everyone would contribute a little bit to help me. Then everyone did contribute. The whole office contributed 2 million VND, I borrowed 5 million VND from the office, I had 8 million VND in savings, that was enough to buy a 79 model motorbike, upgrading from a "pedal" motorbike to a "hand-cranked" motorbike.

I remember the spring outing that the whole office organized, I wanted to take advantage of that, invite everyone to visit my house in Yen Thanh. The plan was sudden, so the house had no preparation. The ducks at home were feeding in a far away field, so the artist Huu Tuan of the Newspaper was assigned to stay home with me… to catch ducks. The two of us waded through mud from head to toe to catch the duck, when we got home we didn’t know how to cut its throat so we had to… cut off its head. That day, we made the whole office laugh and the story of cutting off the duck’s head is still told to this day.

I remember when I built my dream house in my hometown, my colleagues came to celebrate my new house. The leaders congratulated me with something unique and quirky. That got the whole group's support. The group made a flag and streamer, and the treasurer, Ms. Canh, bought an aluminum basin... to go to Yen Thanh to hold the "ribbon cutting" ceremony. When we got close to my house gate, the whole group held flags and streamers, banged on the basin, and shouted slogans. My whole family and I could only hold our stomachs in laughter. That day, Mr. Ba Tan (then Head of the Economic Department) planted a coconut tree for me as a souvenir. The coconut tree was very strange, it was only taller than a person but already bore fruit. Today, my children and grandchildren still eat the fruit from that coconut tree, always praising: Nghe An Newspaper Coconut is sweet and cool!

I also remember the time I published two books, “Women’s Stories” and “Jade Emperor’s Strange Cases,” and brought the books to give to my colleagues at work. However, Ms. Hong Toan (at that time a reporter from the Social and Cultural Department) accepted my free books, but both times she tried every way to support me a little. I firmly refused to accept them, so she said privately: “You work hard to write books and spend your salary to print them. Consider it buying a few copies to help you, it’s not much.” That sincerity moved me. I knew she understood my own difficulties.

Those little stories may not be worth much compared to what I have with Nghe An newspaper, but they are things that will stay with me forever, reminding me of my loyalty to the editorial office, to each person who is living, working and continuing us to build the newspaper today.

Thuy Vinh (written)