Uncle Ho's picture and the Party's founding anniversary in the Southern battlefield

A group class during the resistance war. Photo: GD&TĐ

On the eve of the Lunar New Year of the Rat in 1972, preparing to welcome the New Year of 1973, we had just finished the elementary pedagogical class for students in the provinces of the South Central region when we received a message from the leadership of Zone 1 (abbreviated as K1) to return to the K base to celebrate the Lunar New Year and listen to the new situation and policies of the Central Bureau when the Paris Agreement had just been signed and the Party's founding anniversary was celebrated. Upon receiving the order, Ho Minh Kha and I quickly packed our belongings into a small bag (like a backpack but smaller) and followed the liaison to the K base.

At that time, it was the middle of the dry season, the road from where we lived to the base had to be taken by boat along the canal bank, and in some places, we had to walk through the dense forest of Dong Thap Muoi. Many sections of the trail went under the dense canopy of intertwined tree branches. Occasionally, we came across three-way and four-way intersections with fresh branches hanging across. The liaison officer told us: you guys go carefully, stick to the formation so as not to get lost or get caught in the grenades and mines that our side had planted to guard against the commandos.

After about four hours of walking, we arrived at K's "guest area". Although it was called a guest area, it was just a small forest cleared of trees below, with round and A-shaped bunkers to avoid bombs and artillery, and auxiliary poles at the tree roots to hang hammocks. Here we met Ms. Sau Luoi, Mr. Ba Hong, Mr. Tu Tay... leaders of Zone 1 and some cadres in the Zone's office. Immediately after that, we had a meeting to assign work. That year's Tet, the 43rd anniversary of the Party's founding, coincided with the first day of the Lunar New Year, so the atmosphere of preparation was even more bustling. People in the liberated areas along the Vietnam - Cambodia border sent in pork, chicken, duck, fish, banh tet, rice wine, gai wine... There were also Dien Bien cigarettes and two packages of Hai Chau candy, gifts from the North sent down from R (Central Office).

Our group of teachers was assigned the responsibility of preparing the altar and decorating the place where the anniversary was held. From the beginning of the afternoon, Ms. Sau Luoi told me: "Mr. Hai Tien prepares a report on the history of the Party's founding. Mr. Ba Hong reports on the victory of the Paris Agreement and the immediate task, combining it with the recognition of official Party members." The most difficult thing was finding materials to make the national flag, the Party flag and Uncle Ho's picture to set up the altar. Mr. Sau Kha had the initiative to take white paper from the lesson plan book and tie it into two rectangles about two spans long and one span wide. I asked Ms. Nam Lien, the agency's nurse, for the red medicine bottle that the military infirmary had just given me to color it red, took some turmeric mixed with a little water to paint the five-pointed yellow star of the national flag, the hammer and sickle of the Party flag, and then dried it on a charcoal stove. As for Uncle Ho's picture, no one in the agency had it.

When I set out to cross Truong Son, I brought two 3x4 cm miniature photos of Uncle Ho that I bought on the shore of Hoan Kiem Lake. I kept them carefully in my notebook, but when I arrived at the Tay Ninh C war zone, I gave one to Uncle Nguyen Huu Dung, the head of the sub-committee. I also gave the other one to Mother Nam in Ke Cung hamlet, who had taken care of me when I was wounded in the foot on the way from R to Dong Thap when crossing Route 1. Luckily, Uncle Ba Hong remembered: "The day Thai Duy Trap from Yen Thanh and Tran Hanh were captured by the enemy, in the belongings they left behind and sent back to the base, there were two ten-dong bills with Uncle Ho's picture. So we found the bill with Uncle Ho's picture and pinned it in a prominent position under the two flags. As for flowers, the youth union members picked a bunch of water hyacinths and a bunch of lotus flowers for us.

Uncle Ho and the delegation from the South visited the North (1949). Photo archive

On New Year's Eve, we had the initiative to tie three flashlights to the tree branches above, covering the flashlights except for a small hole to shine directly on the five-pointed yellow star and the hammer and sickle, shining on the banknote with Uncle Ho's picture, making the image of the Fatherland and Uncle Ho even more sparkling. Seeing the national flag, the Party flag, and Uncle Ho was like seeing the whole North, as if to lessen the longing for loved ones and the North. On the morning of the first day of Tet, which was also the morning of February 3, we gathered at the memorial platform. It was just a simple cloth backdrop stretched across, a table made of water coconut stalks, a few rows of chairs made of cajuput branches, more than twenty people solemnly performed the flag-saluting ceremony, sang the National Anthem, the Party Song, and the Leader's Song. After the ceremony, I recounted the historical event of the Party's founding on February 3, 1930, and then read To Huu's poem "Thirty years of our life with the Party" to help everyone understand more. Looking down at the audience, I saw everyone moved to tears when I read To Huu's poem. I had read this poem many times, but I had never felt as happy and honored as when I read it in the middle of Dong Thap Muoi that day. When it came to the direction of Uncle Ba Hong - Deputy Secretary of Zone 1, when it came to the announcement of the decision to become an official party member, I was honored to be on the list of three probationary party members recognized as official party members of the Southern People's Revolutionary Party. Even more honored, right after reading the decision to recognize official party membership, I was assigned to join the Party Committee of the Education - Health - Youth Party Cell of Zone 1 and was advised by Uncle Ba Hong: "Although Comrade Hai Tien had just joined the Party in early June 1972, in the difficult and fierce circumstances in the area between us and the enemy, he tried to stick with the people and the land, and together with the comrades in the Party Cell, he completed the task well. The Party Cell had 2 Party members who were imprisoned by the enemy, so it was necessary to add another Party Committee to the Education Party Cell. Attaching the Party Committee's task means attaching more responsibility, and it is even more necessary to be exemplary in enduring hardship and sacrifice. The Party Cell trusts you and hopes you will complete the assigned task well."

After the ceremony, we gathered around the Tet feast. Northern and Southern accents were lively and warm on the 43rd anniversary of the Party's founding, which was also the first day of the traditional Tet holiday of the nation.

Today, 50 years have passed, after 1975, Ms. Sau Luoi returned to work at the Ho Chi Minh City Women's Union, Mr. Ba Hong returned to join the Bac Lieu Provincial Party Committee, Mr. Ho Minh Kha - Secretary of the Party Cell at that time returned to work as Principal of the Secondary School in Quynh Luu, Mr. Tran Hanh and Mr. Thai Duy Trap escaped from prison and returned to the base, then returned to Nghe An to continue working as teachers. The sisters and brothers who guided and protected me during the most difficult and fierce years, but also the most beautiful days of my youth, have now mostly returned to the world of the good people, but the memories of the day I officially became a Party member on February 3, 1973, the founding day of the Party, are the most profound memories of my life.

Ngo Duc Tien