Youth venture into the rain of bombs and storms of bullets
I can’t be a girl’s charm/ My long hair follows the Truong Son strip…/ I’ve experienced the dust of the road, I’ve experienced the wind and dew/ I can’t ignore all the hardships/ I can’t stop my footsteps as a girl…
Ms. Nguyen Thi Oanh in Le Thanh Nghi ward (Hai Duong city) is in her seventies but still remembers and reads to me a poem that she has memorized even though she does not remember who the author is. Ms. Oanh said that was the most realistic image of the girls who opened Truong Son road more than 50 years ago.
“In 1973, I hid from my parents and wrote a volunteer application to join the army. Even though I knew my family did not agree, the desire to contribute and bring my youth along with many people from Thanh Cuong’s hometown (Thanh Ha) to save the country motivated me to be determined to set out. My grandmother that day also told me that if you die at home, you will still find the body, but if you go in there, you won’t know where to find it. Wiping away tears, saying goodbye to my family, I and six sisters in the commune set out on the mission of opening Truong Son road for each trip of our soldiers to go to the South to fight,” Ms. Oanh said.
Hai Duong currently has more than 1,400 female Truong Son soldiers. They are female veterans, former youth volunteers, and front-line civilians present throughout the Truong Son route doing many different tasks in the 70s of the twentieth century. Hai Duong girls that year were only about 18 or 20 years old from all localities in the province volunteering to go to the battlefield. The towering Truong Son mountains, the sacred forests and poisonous waters, where bomb bags and fire pans cannot falter the girls who seem weak and weak. They entered the Truong Son fire line with the mindset “We will not return until the Fatherland is not at peace”.
“Leaving my family when I was just 18 years old, I got on the bus and went to war with the hope that one day I would meet my father and brother on a fierce battlefield,” said Ms. Nguyen Thi Dao, a native of Thong Nhat commune (Gia Loc), The former youth volunteer who was present at important bases to open the Truong Son road recalls.
The path of youth
Many people call Truong Son a legendary road, a line of fire… but many Truong Son female soldiers of Hai Duong consider that place a route of youth. So many Hai Duong girls have given back their youth on this route. They entered the battlefield with many joys and sorrows, warmth and love, but also had deep traces of pain and loss when their comrades lay in the Truong Son range.
Ms. Pham Thi Phian, Head of the Liaison Committee for Truong Son female soldiers of Hai Duong, fondly recalled the years of eating in the mountains and sleeping in the forests with her teammates. “The first days on the battlefield, looking at the tall green Truong Son range, made me miss home so much. On the days when letters from home arrived, I didn’t dare to open them and read them before dinner because I was afraid my sisters would hug each other and cry and then skip meals. Overcoming the hardships. “Sick of home, deprivation, hardship, danger, we women consoled and encouraged each other to complete our tasks,” Ms. Phian said.
Truong Son mountains and forests surround the soldiers, embrace and protect brave female veterans and young female volunteers, but also leave them with unforgettable obsessions. Those are wild malaria attacks that no warm blanket can cover. Terrifying flash floods that after just one hour, tents, paving tools, and medical equipment were swept away by the water.
For young girls aged 18 – 20, the poor life in the sacred forest and poisonous water is nothing when having to witness the sacrifices of their comrades. “Before each time we opened roads and destroyed bombs, we had a memorial service. Because after each enemy bomb attack, the number of troops gradually dwindles. There are afternoons when rice comes up and no one can swallow it. The bowl of rice was filled with tears because my comrades were buried by bombs, unknown where. The chopsticks and bowl are still intact, waiting for the missing person to return,” said Ms. Nguyen Thi Ha in Lai Vu commune (Kim Thanh), wiping away tears as she remembered the years serving to destroy bombs and open Truong Son road. through Da Deo pass, Quang Binh province.
HAI MINH
