Love overcomes bombs and time

The love of Meritorious Artist Director Bui An Ninh and his life partner - Colonel Le Dai Hiep makes many people admire.

The love of Colonel Le Dai Hiep and Meritorious Artist Director Bui An Ninh has overcome the hardships of wartime, and now, after nearly 50 years of living together, is still intact as ever...

A love confession "filled" with wartime spirit

Meritorious Artist Director Bui An Ninh was born in 1948, the eldest daughter in a family of officials in Cua Bac street, Hanoi, known for her beauty and gentleness.

When Ninh was 8 years old, Le Dai Hiep, 6 years older than her (born in 1942), was the leader of Ninh's Team. When Hiep was 18, the young scholar joined the army. At only 8 months old, he became a "three-first" soldier. But Ninh only knew Hiep as the leader of the Team.

Colonel Le Dai Hiep and director Bui An Ninh when they were young.

At the age of 16, the charming student Bui An Ninh of Chu Van An School enthusiastically volunteered to be “three ready” to respond to the sacred call of the Fatherland. Before leaving for her mission, the young girl told her “in charge”: “I am going to fight like this, every time you come back from your unit, try to stop by my house to encourage my parents.”

In response to the girl's sincere message, "the man in charge" Le Dai Hiep advised: "Never step back and never let yourself be inferior to anyone, good luck to you."

On the fiery Truong Son battlefield, in the memories of her comrades is the image of Ms. "An Ninh Cua Bac" wearing a floppy hat, gracefully and rhythmically dancing in the dance team, and excitedly singing with the drivers and engineers at fierce "key points" amid the roar of jet planes. There were times when her tears were streaming in the smoke and fire of bullets and bombs, sadly seeing her comrades off to their final resting place.

The day Ms. Ninh went to B, Mr. Hiep in the Northern battlefield still kept his promise to the female student. Every time he returned from his unit, he stopped by her house to help her younger siblings and encouraged her parents to try their best so that she could feel secure in her duty.

Now, having passed the threshold of “youth”, Mr. Hiep said that, during the war that year, one person went to the Southern battlefield, and the other to the Northern battlefield. Once, he asked his unit to send him to the South to join the battle, but the purpose was to be closer to her. When they received the news that they were preparing to go to the Southern battlefield, they happily wrote letters to each other, but after only half of the journey, he was sent back, and the much-awaited “reunion” did not happen in the end.

In 5 years, they only met 3 times. She was in the Southern battlefield, the letters he sent to her were only as small as 3 fingers, just a few lines, sent with the letter to his parents. Mr. Hiep still kept the "letter notebook", recording the letters she sent from the Southern battlefield and copied the letters he sent her from the Northern battlefield. Afraid of losing them, he carefully copied them and kept them until now. He said, sometimes the two of them still took out the notebook and read them to each other, talking about the time apart as if they were still full of love.

Then, in the year of Mau Than 1968, Ms. Ninh and her unit went to the North to prepare for the program serving "Plain of Jars" and that was also the second time the two met. On the day of the reunion, as if their wish had been fulfilled, in the afternoon, on an old bicycle, Mr. Hiep drove Ms. Ninh back to the unit and asked softly: "Why don't we go forward?", Ms. Ninh shyly replied: "Yes, you go home and talk to my parents". Then after that time, Mr. Hiep went to Ms. Ninh's house to ask for her hand in marriage. That year was 1970.

However, after 2 weeks of marriage, she had to return to the battlefield in the South once again, their love continued to be a love in separation. He said that day, when his wife's whole group got into the car, everyone was reluctant, when he saw her off, she could only say 3 words "Comrade" but was so choked up that she couldn't cry...

Believe to the end for a steadfast love

War, separation, the time together was not much. On the day of reunion, to make up for the old days of youth, he always showed sincere affection and helped his wife. There were no flowers, no "winged" words, sometimes they made plans to go out to eat, go to the movies and tell each other old but not old stories.

"Love in Peacetime" by Colonel Le Dai Hiep and director Bui An Ninh.

The day they returned to Hanoi and got married, the couple only had an 8 square meter house, which was half a thatched house used as an entrance and exit. At that time, Vietnam's television had just begun to experiment, and the An Ninh artist had just gone through a challenging period in harsh conditions, her health had seriously declined, and she had just started working. In 1976, the couple's small, shabby house in Dai La caught fire, burning down all the necessary furniture. The husband was still in a far away military unit, the eldest son had to be taken care of by his grandparents, the wife had to go to school and often go to the hospital to treat stomach pain and malaria.

Colonel Le Dai Hiep expressed that now both he and his wife have become grandparents, living together under the same roof for nearly 50 years, they rely on each other to live, to be happy and take care of their children and grandchildren. Despite their old age, the two still whisper to each other that they live together to understand each other, always supporting each other in all aspects of life. "Trust each other to the end, help each other have enough strength to fulfill their duty to the country. And when living together, they are full of duty and love", Mr. Hiep shared with a gentle smile.

Live, learn, be passionate and contribute

With a rare determination for a “Hanoi lady” during the subsidy period, An Ninh overcame, learned from teachers and friends, and cultivated basic knowledge of the “7th Art” and directing after 4 years of studying, graduating from the directing department of the Hanoi Academy of Theatre and Cinema. Throughout that journey, Mr. Hiep has always supported all of her work.

Director Bui An Ninh: lives passionately and devotes himself to learning.

Director An Ninh said that she is proud of her youth and years of fighting, and always reminds herself to live rightly, study, be passionate and contribute. She said: “I crossed Truong Son, lived in the love of my comrades and compatriots to complete my mission. Therefore, I have drawn the lesson that we should live passionately and contribute to the fullest. We must learn and be creative as our life purpose, to live happily, live well and help others. If we do not learn, we will only become more regressive. To learn, we must sacrifice.”

For her, happiness is important besides family, which is when she retires but still does not quit her job, still goes to work, contributes with passion and creativity. Besides, helping her friends and colleagues, from the youngest to the oldest, to find joy in life is also the motivation for her to strive and improve herself.

During his time at the Arts Department of Vietnam Television, among the notable contributions of director An Ninh and his filming colleagues were 3 television series that won 3 gold awards at the National Television Film Festival: Tim em co ca si (1991), Hoang hon dang do (1993), and Giot ba tro troi tren ma mat troi (1994) with a new and lively way of expression.

It must be a pure Truong Son soul, a passionate Truong Son heart to have a Drop of sweat on the cheek of the sun filled with comradeship and love. Then there is the special Vietnam-Laos TV Bridge full of affection, sparkling with humanity - a long-cherished Security program to contribute to repaying the care and protection of the kind-hearted Lao mothers, the Lao ethnic people who gave up their land and villages to Uncle Ho's soldiers as a springboard to pave the way to victory.../

According to VOV