Unforgettable memories of Nghe An youth volunteers in Dien Bien Phu

REMEMBERING THE MOTHER OF MUONG LA

Born in the land of Da Son, Do Luong district, youth volunteer soldier Pham Ngoc Hoa has now turned 88 years old. At that age, he still made people admire him for his optimism and clarity. Rare sensitivity.

Perhaps that is why the Organizing Committee of the Program met to honor and pay tribute to the heroic martyrs, soldiers of Dien Bien, young volunteers, and frontline workers who directly participated in the Dien Bien Phu campaign in Nghe An province. trusted him to choose him to speak and interact in the program.

Receiving that trust, these days he is looking for souvenirs and memories that have stuck with him throughout his years of combat service.

And then, his emotions seemed to slow down when he found a poem written for his mother Muong La, a poem he wrote in his passionate nostalgia for a special mother he met while participating in the Campaign. Dien Bien Phu.

Back in time to October 1953, Pham Ngoc Hoa was then a 17-year-old boy with many dreams and ambitions. Hoa and three of his friends in Da Thi hamlet, Da Son commune enthusiastically set out to join the youth volunteer force in the Dien Bien Phu Campaign.

The year 1953 was the time when our people’s resistance war against the French transitioned to a general counter-attack phase, so the youth of Nghe An also nurtured within themselves a determination to defeat the enemy. According to the organization’s assignment, 4 young men from the land of Da Thi that day were assigned to different units, but they all shared the same joy when they set out to serve in combat.

Marching from Nghe An to Muong La district of Son La province, Mr. Hoa’s unit was lent a house by a village of Thai people to stay overnight. Mr. Hoa and some teammates slept in a simple stilt house belonging to a mother who was nearly 60 years old. In the dark of night, young man Pham Ngoc Hoa missed his home and mother, so he sat alone on the porch with tears in his eyes.

Seeing that, the Thai mother called Hoa to sit by the fire with her. Seeing that the shoulder of Hoa’s shirt was torn, she quickly went to find a needle and thread to sew it for her “son”. In the flickering firelight, her eyes and hands gently followed the needle and thread lines. Her love for that young volunteer was like that of a mother for her son. After carefully mending the shoulder of the shirt, the mother gently put it back on Hoa. In that moment, tears threatened to flow from both mother and child.

“During those years, the people of the Northwest actively supported human and material resources for the resistance war. They always consider the soldiers and youth volunteer forces as their children and do everything they can to help serve the resistance.

For me, receiving the love of special mothers here is the motivation for me to try to complete the assigned tasks, so that the country no longer has war, no more old mothers, no more children. Children suffer injuries caused by bombs and bullets.

And then, the four boys in Da Thi village worked together to maintain their spirit to go through the most difficult days of the campaign. Among them, 1 person served fighting at Ta Vai bridge (Chieng Hac commune, Yen Chau district, Son La province); 2 people were at the foot of Pha Din pass while Mr. Hoa and his teammates participated in road construction and defusing time bombs at the top of Pha Din pass.

During those days of “digging mountains, sleeping in underground tunnels, drenching rain, squeezing rice”, Mr. Hoa and the youth volunteer force fought day and night with the enemy every hour, every minute. Not only did they destroy slow-explosive bombs, they leveled bomb craters to restore roads, and they used every measure to open traffic to bring goods to the front…

At the end of the campaign, two people became martyrs, they forever remained in the heart of mother earth in the most beautiful age of youth. One person died not long after peace was restored, because his health was greatly depleted after severe malaria.

Now, when the whole country is looking forward to the 70th anniversary of the “Historic Victory of Dien Bien Phu”, it is also time for Mr. Hoa to recall the years that have passed. He sadly re-read the poems he wrote that year for his mother Muong La: “…After the shirt was patched, I put it on and felt warm/My heart fluttered and loved my mother so much/Northwest, Dien Bien, Na San, Muong La/There were old mothers with kind hearts/After half a century I returned to visit my mother /The news that my mother is no longer there suddenly makes my heart empty/The Northwest sky, Dien Bien is in the season of white flowers/The earth whispers to hear my mother calling my name…”.

THE FORK OF THE STORM AND THE TEAM OF TEAMS

“Co Noi intersection (Mai Son district, Son La province) is one of the most crucial road sections of the Dien Bien Phu Campaign. Because all support activities to transport weapons, food, civil servants… to the battlefield must go through this key intersection. Therefore, the French colonialists ordered the air force to turn the Co Noi junction into a “swamp”, in order to cut off the transport route, supplying weapons, food, civil servants… to the Dien Dien battlefield. Bien Phu.

Here, the enemy bombed fiercely, causing many officers and soldiers to sacrifice their lives to protect this key point,” Mr. Hoang Van Phai (born in 1936) – former youth volunteer of Nghi Trung land, Nghi Loc district, who once participated in the Dien Bien Phu Campaign, shared with us.

While sharing, Mr. Phai held a black and white photo of the Platoon Leader of his unit at that time. This is the person who saved his life in those fierce moments at Co Noi intersection in the past.

With deep emotions, Mr. Phai said that the Platoon Leader’s name was Duong Manh Thinh, 1 year older than him and served in combat nearly a year before him. At that time, Mr. Phai belonged to Team 40 participating in combat service at Co Noi intersection (Mai Son district, Son La province).

Under the command of the Platoon Leader, he and the soldiers in the unit stubbornly stuck to their guns, accompanying and coordinating with other units to promptly detonate explosive bombs, level the road, and maintain the “bloodline”. traffic” circuit.

Because of his long combat service, along with the repeated attacks of malignant malaria on his weakened body, Mr. Phai was exhausted and fainted as soon as he completed the task of leveling bomb craters. . Seeing that his teammates were in danger, his Platoon Leader immediately carried him up.

Amid the rain of bombs and bullets, that squad leader used his body to protect him. Taking him over a distance of more than 2 km to the medical station of the youth volunteer force.

Putting his teammates down is also when the squad leader is exhausted. However, after only resting a little, he returned to the area to continue performing his duties.

After peace was restored, remembering his gratitude to the Platoon Leader who saved him in the past, Mr. Phai still came back and forth, visited, and maintained his close comradeship and comradeship.

Although the war has receded into the past, Co Noi intersection and places associated with the Dien Bien Phu Campaign will forever be historical witnesses of the determined fighting and winning spirit of our army and people in general. , the youth volunteer force in particular.

It is the fire to light up the nation’s glorious traditions, and the motivation for the soldiers of the past to continue the heroic songs of peacetime…

Since February 1954, implementing the general mobilization order to serve the Dien Bien Phu Campaign, 5,438 young people in Nghe An province have enthusiastically joined the army, exceeding the prescribed target. All of these human resources were promptly supplemented by combat units and combat service in all battlefields of the Dien Bien Phu Campaign, contributing to the victory that was “illustrious in five continents and shook the earth”. of the Vietnamese people.

Thanh Quynh