Memories of the K10 campaign on Tan Ky land
(Baonghean.vn) - During the resistance war against the US to save the country, the people of the districts north of the 17th parallel had to endure a lot of pain. So much so that they had to leave their homeland to evacuate. It was a difficult but very meaningful journey.
Special journey
After the successful resistance war against France, implementing the Geneva Agreement (July 20, 1954), our country was temporarily divided into two regions along the 17th parallel. It was thought that this temporary division would only last for 2 years (before July 1956). However, the "treachery" of the US imperialists and the puppet government of Ngo Dinh Diem as well as the later presidents of the puppet government caused this division to last for 21 years.
During the years of resistance against the US to save the country, both the North and the South had to endure countless losses and pain. Since 1965, the US imperialists carried out a war of destruction throughout the North, from the area north of the 17th parallel to Hanoi and Hai Phong. Especially on the northern bank of the Ben Hai River, the districts of Vinh Linh, Gio Linh and Cam Lo had to endure thousands of bombs and bullets.
Faced with that situation, from 1966 to 1968, the Party Central Committee decided to implement Plans codenamed K8 and K10, evacuating people from districts north of the 17th parallel in Quang Tri and districts south of Quang Binh province from the most fierce areas of the war. Of which, Plan K8 was implemented from August 1966 to October 1967, evacuating people to the northern provinces. By November 1967, Plan K10 was implemented, evacuating people to Nghe An and Ha Tinh provinces. In Nghe An, people were mainly brought to Tan Ky - a newly established district in 1963.
It is impossible to tell all the hardships that the people of Quang Tri had to go through. They carried each other, led each other away from their homeland without knowing when they would return. Traveling at night, on holidays, countless vehicles became moving targets of American bombs. More painfully, many groups of people remained on the move. After arriving in Tan Ky, the people of Quang Tri were welcomed and embraced with warm affection. People from two strange lands came closer together.
At that time, Tan Ky's population was only about 30,000 people, then it received more than 20,000 people from Quang Tri (first phase), including most of Vinh Linh district's people and a few people from Gio Linh and Cam Lo districts. After that, more people came and many people evacuated under the previous K8 campaign and from Ha Tinh also came to Tan Ky, plus 2,612 new-born children, a total of over 31,000 people.
More than 5 years attached to the new land
Mr. Nguyen Xuan Thang - Head of the Propaganda Department of Tan Ky District Party Committee shared: According to the stories of veteran cadres as well as documents left behind, after the K10 Plan was approved, the Provincial Administrative Committee and the District Administrative Committee together with local cadres and soldiers did political and ideological work for the people of 13 communes, out of a total of 15 communes in the district, where people came to evacuate. Tan Ky people also clearly recognized their responsibility to help the evacuated people.
Up to now, many Tan Ky people still remember clearly the day when Quang Tri people evacuated. People were willing to share food and clothes, help with seedlings, share land and household items, and help them stabilize their lives. When Quang Tri people arrived, it was almost Tet, and they had not yet built houses. Many belongings had to be left behind in their hometowns, but one thing that every family always brought with them was their ancestral tablets. As Vietnamese people, when the year ends and the new year begins, who doesn't miss their hometown and their ancestors? So, in addition to sharing food and bedding, in each Tan Ky family, the altar is also divided into two for Quang Tri people to place incense bowls to remember their ancestors. Only then can we know how great the sense of compatriots is.
According to the summary report of the unexpected reception of the K10 Plan in Nghe An, currently stored at the Nghe An Provincial Archives Center, before the evacuated people arrived, the local forces had built 97 houses, and when the people arrived, they built 200 more houses. By early July 1968, the people of Vinh Linh, Gio Linh, Cam Lo, together with the local people and soldiers, built 2,015 more houses; built 85 collective houses to serve as kindergartens, clinics, etc. There were 18,000 people with their own houses and 3,000 people living in people's houses.
Tet Mau Than 1968 was the first Tet that Quang Tri people had to leave their homeland. In the early days of living in Tan Ky, Quang Tri people always received the attention of the Party Central Committee and Uncle Ho. When hearing the news that the elderly, women and children of Quang Tri were evacuated to Nghe An, Uncle Ho directly called two comrades Vo Thuc Dong - Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee and comrade Chu Manh - Chairman of the Nghe An Provincial Administrative Committee at that time, to arrange and arrange food and accommodation for the people very carefully.
Mr. Thang also shared more information, through the agreement of the Central and the province, when the district cadres in Quang Tri were transferred, they were assigned to work in the departments, offices, and mass organizations in Tan Ky district. The district also established Department K10, specializing in monitoring and directing K10 agricultural production. In addition to production, cultural and social work, Party building work for the evacuated people was also given attention. From 815 party members when initially evacuated, by April 30, 1973, there were 1,056 party members, of which 148 were newly admitted, and many party members were introduced to activities from other places. Previously, on October 18, 1967, the 3rd Tan Ky district Party Congress opened. At this Congress, 23 official members and 2 alternate members were elected. By May 17, 1968, the Executive Committee had added 4 more members, including 3 comrades from Vinh Linh hometown.
Relying on extremely favorable natural conditions, fertile land, mild climate, many unexploited hilly areas, the K10 people quickly adapted to the new situation. With the virtues of diligence, hard work, and perseverance, the evacuated people soon had a stable life, reducing the burden of subsidies for the State. The relationship between local officials and people with K10 became increasingly strong. People truly loved and helped each other in all areas of production and life. Many experiences in cultivation and processing of the Quang Tri people were learned by the people in Tan Ky. In particular, the Tan Ky people introduced two new crops, pepper and cassava, from the Quang Tri people to grow and became the main crops of the district.
Love of two hometowns
After more than 5 years in Tan Ky, from April 16, 1973 to June 15, 1973, 817 trips were organized to bring Quang Tri compatriots back home with more than 25,000 people, along with thousands of tables, chairs, cabinets, blackboards from schools, medical stations and over 660 breeding pigs. At the same time, Tan Ky was left with more than 1,785 hectares of newly reclaimed land, 155 hectares of newly planted cassava, and thousands of tons of food in the cooperatives' granaries.
In addition to the repatriates, in Tan Ky there are also many children of Quang Tri who have registered to stay in the new land. On the journey to learn about the K10 Plan, I visited the house of Mr. Ngo Van Kham, who is currently residing in Tan Ky town. Mr. Kham was born in 1937 in Vinh Giang village (Vinh Linh). Although he did not go to K8 or K10, he came to Tan Ky by chance. In 1968, while fighting on the Quang Tri battlefield, he was injured and imprisoned by the enemy in Phu Quoc prison. He was not released until 1973. During that time, he had no news from home. Only later did I learn that his family also followed K10 to evacuate to Tan Ky.
Returning from Phu Quoc prison, Mr. Kham was sent to the Military Region 4 nursing center for wounded soldiers. Here, he fell in love with a nurse from Do Luong - Thai Thi Minh. In 1978, they came together with a modest wedding party. By 1983, life was difficult, with two small children and living in a cramped dormitory, Mrs. Minh asked to be transferred to the facility of the nursing center for wounded soldiers located in Nghia Dung (Tan Ky). Coincidentally, this was also the place where Vinh Giang people, including Mr. Kham's family, had evacuated in the past. Mr. Kham smiled, "In the past, we were not evacuated, but now we make up for it, let's just say that K10 has not ended yet."
Not only evacuating people, at the end of November 1967, Vinh Linh High School was also moved to Tan Ky. Based on Mr. Thang's instructions, I went to Tan Phu commune and met teacher Phan Huu Thanh, a former teacher at Vinh Linh High School. Teacher Thanh was born in 1946 in Thua Thien province (now Thua Thien Hue), and at the age of 2, he followed his parents to the North. In 1969, after graduating from the Faculty of Biology, Vinh University, teacher Thanh was assigned to teach at Vinh Linh High School. At that time, knowing that the school had evacuated to Tan Ky, he walked from Vinh straight to this place to receive the school and classes.
Teacher Phan Huu Thanh said that when he arrived, the students had been studying for a year. Unlike primary and secondary school students, which are usually located right in the commune where people evacuated; high schools, in addition to the main location at Ru Oi, Nghia Hoan commune, are also scattered in a number of other communes. Students study and live in collective houses made of bamboo and thatch, built on low hills. That day, teacher Thanh was assigned to be the homeroom teacher of class 8M (10-year program), mainly from Vinh Tu and Vinh Trung communes of Vinh Linh district. The special thing that teacher Thanh remembers most about his students is that they are all well-behaved and polite. And it seems that because they have suffered so much loss and pain, they are all very strong and determined, just like the will and spirit of the people of the steel land of Vinh Linh.
During his years of teaching at Vinh Linh High School, even though it was only a short time, Mr. Thanh had the chance to witness many generations of students grow up. Some went to university; some followed their families back home in 1973. Notably, during the 5 years of evacuation, there was one time in April 1972, even though they had not graduated yet, the school had to say goodbye to 181 students who went to B.
In my teaching career, that was the day of farewell that left me with the most emotions. The farewell was filled with tears and mixed emotions. The students left when they were still very young. They hadn’t even finished the school year, hadn’t even had time to hold their graduation certificates (they were only given special permission to graduate early). Later, the group of students who went to B that day met each other many times. But there were also students who remained forever on the battlefield, right on the beloved land of Quang Tri...
Later, when Vinh Linh High School returned to his hometown, Mr. Thanh asked to stay in Tan Ky to continue teaching until his retirement. In recent years, many people and students of Quang Tri have returned to Tan Ky to visit their second hometown. Vinh Linh and Tan Ky have also become two sister units, with many coordinated activities.
5 years is not a long time in a person's life, but for the people of Vinh Linh, Gio Linh, Cam Lo, it is enough to build a close, close, and lasting emotional relationship with the land of Tan Ky...