Following Uncle Ho's footsteps to visit his hometown 60 years ago

At 12:30 on December 8, 1961, the special plane numbered 58482 landed at Vinh Airport. To welcome Uncle Ho were leaders of the Provincial Party Committee, the Administrative Committee of Nghe An Province, and Military Region IV. From the airport to the provincial headquarters, Uncle Ho sat on a U-oat car, waving to tens of thousands of people from Vinh town, Nghi Loc district, and neighboring localities standing on both sides of the road with flags and flowers waving to him.

Nghe An people welcomed Uncle Ho to visit his hometown for the second time on December 9, 1961. Photo courtesy

On the afternoon of December 8, Uncle Ho had a talk with the Nghe An Party Executive Committee and worked with key leaders of the province. During the talk and work, Uncle Ho emphasized the consolidation of cooperatives, increasing agricultural output, and further promoting the work ofplanting trees, afforestation.

On the morning of December 9, 1961, at Vinh Town Stadium, Uncle Ho talked to cadres, soldiers and people in the province about the achievements of the Party Committee and People of Nghe An in the past time, reminding them of what needed to be done to "Strive to build our province into one of the best provinces in the North".

After finishing the talk, Uncle Ho visited Thai Lao Martyrs Cemetery (Hung Nguyen) and then went to Kim Lien commune, first to visit his maternal hometown Hoang Tru. Hoang Tru land - where he was born, lived the first 5 years of his childhood, the place that marked many memories of his family with his grandparents, aunt An and neighbors... Uncle Ho lit incense in the Hoang family temple, walked around the garden and recognized which places had been repaired compared to when he was a child. He sat on the steps of the house across from him, chatting with relatives and childhood friends, recalling his childhood memories.

In the old house in Kim Lien village, Uncle Ho was moved when recalling his childhood memories. Photo: Document

In his hometown Lang Sen, under the same banyan tree as 4 years ago, he had a friendly talk with the people of his hometown and some neighboring communes. At the beginning, he said:“The year before last, Uncle Ho visited the village. This time, he visited the village again and saw that our village had made a lot of progress…”. Just like the advice in his maternal hometown, Uncle Ho hoped that everyone would have the responsibility to make the people rich, the country strong, maintain solidarity, support and help each other, build strong cooperatives, contribute to building socialism in the North, and create a solid rear for the liberation of the South and the reunification of the Fatherland. Just like the first visit in 1957, this time he did not forget to advise the people on specific and practical tasks. In particular, Uncle Ho never forgot to pay special attention to the children. He said:“Foreign comrades come to visit and see parents letting their children have dirty, filthy faces. Aren’t the parents ashamed? They have to take care of and maintain hygiene for their children…”As for the children, they must study hard so that next time Uncle comes back, he will see everyone's progress.

At the end of the talk, Uncle Ho started the song."Unity"for everyone to sing. Thousands of people joined in solidarity with Uncle Ho under the shade of the banyan tree of their homeland.

On the afternoon of December 9, 1961, Uncle Ho met with party members and long-time cadres, visited Vinh Mechanical Factory, and visited Nghe An Mountainous Pedagogical School.

On December 10, leaving Vinh town, Uncle Ho boarded a helicopter heading to the Northwest of Nghe An to visit Vinh Thanh Cooperative, the first high-class agricultural cooperative in Nghe An province, with Emulation Fighter of the North Nguyen Quy as the Cooperative's Chairman. At exactly 7 o'clock, the helicopter appeared in the sky, slowly descended and landed at Ru Thap parking lot a few hundred meters from the stage to welcome Uncle Ho. At this time, although it was winter, the sun was still strong, although his forehead was covered with sweat, Uncle Ho was not afraid of the sun and walked very quickly as if afraid of making people wait too long.

Uncle Ho visited Vinh Thanh commune (Yen Thanh) in December 1961. Photo: Document

After hugging and receiving flowers from the children, shaking hands with the district and commune officials who welcomed him at the plane door, Uncle Ho smiled and waved to the people and began to talk. With his warm Nghe accent, his words resounded affectionately:“Dear compatriots! Uncle and the Central and Provincial Party Committee comrades visited Vinh Thanh Cooperative, the members and you. Uncle has the following summary story for your attention: Vinh Thanh Cooperative has made progress in all aspects. Generally speaking, Uncle does not need to tell anymore. Although Vinh Thanh Cooperative has made progress, it is too little...”.Then, Uncle Ho adviseddetailed instructions to the peopleabout the importance of water, fertilizer, and timing for rice and other crops. Uncle Ho praised the commune's tree planting, saying:“Growing trees here is quite good, but not really good…”.Then Uncle Ho talked about very specific things such as: Sanitation was not clean; Uncle Ho praised the Cooperative Management Board, the issue of solidarity, transparency and democracy in dividing work points, the Cooperative must care for the elderly and the lonely...

At the same time, he also kindly reminded about the role of the Party cell in directing to improve productivity, production efficiency and build rural solidarity. He advised:“The Party cell must further strengthen rural solidarity, making all members and farmers excited and enthusiastic to participate in production, practice thrift, develop and consolidate the Cooperative.”...

After the talk, Uncle Ho visited some places in Vinh Tuy village: kindergarten, livestock farm, visited and gave gifts to some people. When passing by the row of buffalo pens, he said:“We must feed the buffalo at night so that they will have the strength to pull tomorrow. We must feed the buffalo at the same time so that they don’t lose sleep.”When stopping by the nursery in Vinh Phuc hamlet, talking to the babysitters, Uncle asked them if the children ate and slept on time, if they had enough nutrition... Then Uncle said something like: Taking care of children is hard work, because children are often fussy, so you have to be patient and hard-working. Uncle wished the elders to take good care of the children so that their parents could work in the fields with peace of mind. Then Uncle visited Mrs. Tham's thatched-roof house, Ms. May's house... to ask about the people's lives.

Next, when visiting the hospital, Uncle asked about the health of the three younger people and told Ms. Tam (in charge):"I will try to study more, improve and cultivate my skills to serve people better and better."

From the hospital, Uncle Ho and the Central delegation returned to Thap mountain where the helicopter was waiting for him to continue visiting Dong Hieu farm, Nghia Dan district.

Representatives of cadres and workers of Dong Hieu Farm (Nghia Dan) welcomed Uncle Ho to visit. Photo: Document

Dong Hieu Farm- one of the leading flags in state-owned agricultural production. The Organizing Committee arranged a Volga for Uncle Ho to visit the coffee hill, but he chose the muddy GAT 69 parked in the yard. The GAT 69 left the Farm headquarters and headed up the coffee hill. When he saw the rows of coffee intercropped with peanuts, Uncle Ho encouraged: You guys are doing very well, we need to expand the area of ​​coffee intercropped with peanuts to get short-term benefits for long-term.

During the time Uncle Ho stayed at Dong Hieu Farm, the Farm leaders arranged for him to take a lunch break in the Director's room, but he refused and went to rest in the Union Secretary's room.

In the afternoon, he went to the yard of Dong Hieu Farm to meet thousands of workers and farmers in the neighboring areas, who, upon hearing the news of Uncle Ho's visit, gathered at the Farm headquarters. Here, he kindly advised cadres, party members and people on improving tools to increase labor productivity, on emulation, and on the role of the Party Committee, Party cell, Youth Union, cadres and party members in work, study and labor. He advised:“To develop production, the Farm must support the Cooperative and local people. In return, the Cooperative and Dong Hieu people must also help the Farm. If we maintain solidarity, we will succeed.”sure to succeed!”.

After giving badges to three exemplary cadres and workers, he raised the bag containing the badges and said loudly for everyone to hear:“I hope that all workers will excellently complete all assigned tasks, have many initiatives to improve production, bring about higher labor efficiency, and contribute to the development and building of our country to become more and more prosperous. Those who do well, I will award the Uncle Ho Badge”...

Uncle Ho took a photo with Dong Hieu Farm staff and journalists during his visit to his homeland (December 1961). Photo: Document

At this time, it was late afternoon, Uncle Ho and his escorts boarded the plane. Standing in front of the helicopter door, he waved goodbye to thousands of people who were also raising their hands to say goodbye to him. Many people had tears in their eyes. He returned to Vinh town to go to the capital Hanoi because there were still many important national affairs waiting for him to handle...

A short trip back to his hometown, only a few days, but Uncle Ho's work schedule was packed: He went to the places he needed to go, met the people he needed to meet, and cared about all aspects of the economic, cultural, and social life of Nghe An province. In particular, he focused on reminding party members and cadres to enhance the Party's leadership role, build a new life, build socialism, and always paid special attention to children, the elderly, and women. His advice and encouragement became a great source of encouragement, creating more strength and motivation for the people to compete and strive to successfully complete the first 5-year plan. At the same time, Uncle Ho's teachings raised new issues about the position and responsibility of Nghe An in the cause of building socialism in the North, especially in the fight to liberate the South and unify the country.

Exactly 60 years since the winter of 1961, the second and last time the homeland welcomed Uncle Ho back to visit, but his images, impressions, feelings and advice are still deeply imprinted in the hearts and souls of the people.

Tourists visit Uncle Ho's hometown. Photo: Huy Thu

The places Uncle Ho visited are "red addresses" that always promote good values, especially the traditional educational values ​​of the source associated with implementation.“Studying and following Ho Chi Minh's ideology, morality and lifestyle”. His precious sentiments and advices have always been engraved in mind by the cadres and people of Nghe An province in general and the localities where Uncle Ho's footsteps were in particular, becoming a compass and a strong source of motivation for the Party Committee, government and people of the province to overcome all difficulties and challenges, successfully complete their political tasks, and be determined to build the province into a model province of the whole country as Uncle Ho always wished...