Uncle Ho's White Lotus Shirt

In 1948, the Vietnam Buddhist Association presented Uncle Ho with a precious shirt. It was a shirt made of Ha Dong silk, light chicken fat color, with two white lotus flowers embroidered on the two lapels, very delicate, so it was called the Bach Lien shirt. At that time, the Binh Tri Thien front was in a fierce battle. Uncle Ho did not wear that shirt, but sent it to the Administrative Committee of Inter-Zone Four to sell and raise money to support the soldiers of the Binh Tri Thien front.
The auction of the precious shirt was held in Do Luong (Nghe An). Many organizations, businesses, industrialists, merchants, wealthy households, officials and people in the area attended. Viet Thuong Company in Thanh Hoa and Nghe An Economic Construction Group also participated in the auction. The auction format was very simple: whoever bid the highest price would own the shirt, but those who did not win the auction would also donate the money they paid to the resistance.

President Ho Chi Minh visits the Military Region Command, December 9, 1961. Photo: Archive

Resonating with the heart of leader Ho Chi Minh for the soldiers, the auction took place in a lively and exciting atmosphere, because everyone wanted to own the precious shirt, the embodiment of the heart of the father of the nation. In the end, the person who owned that treasure was Physician Pho Duc Thanh. He paid for the precious shirt with an amount equivalent to 160 taels of gold at that time. The entire amount collected in the auction was transferred by the Administrative Committee of Inter-Zone Four to the fiery Binh Tri Thien front.

Uncle Ho visited air defense soldiers during the resistance war against America. Photo: Archive

Physician Pho Duc Thanh was born in Hung Yen, but started his career in Vinh in 1926. He was the manager of the Vinh Hung Tuong Southeast Medicine Company, the largest in Central Vietnam at that time. He was the father of Van Ung balm, the predecessor of the later holy Sao Vang balm, which Nghe An Newspaper introduced. He was a generous person who advocated and participated in many social charity activities before the August Revolution.

After the August Revolution, he joined the Vinh City People's Council and was a member of the Executive Committee of the Inter-Zone 4 Science and Technology Delegation. During this time, Mr. Pho Duc Thanh was also the Head of the Inter-Zone's Weapons and Equipment Department.

In 1947, he sent his son Pho Duc Thanh to Macau to buy weapons by boat to equip the Quang Trung group in Nghe An. Another son of his, doctor Pho Duc Thuc, was assigned to take care of President Ho Chi Minh's health during the early period of the resistance war against the French, but unfortunately he died early due to a serious illness in 1949. The Military Medical Clinic named after Pho Duc Thuc at that time was the predecessor of the current heroic Military Hospital 354.

Physician Pho Duc Thanh with the White Lotus shirt, 1948. Photo courtesy

Physician Pho Duc Thanh was also the one who collected and bought at a very high price a document bearing the handwriting of Phan Dinh Phung, the leader of the Huong Khe uprising, dated February 10, the third year of Ham Nghi, or March 4, 1887. This is a poem Phan Dinh Phung wrote for To Ba Ngoc (in Minh Thanh, Yen Thanh) because he admired To's heart and merit in helping the insurgents. In 1965, the physician donated this precious artifact to the Vietnam History Museum.