On our journey back to Thanh Hoa in early 2024, our Thanh Hoa Newspaper colleagues led us to Phu Son apartment complex, Phu Son ward, Thanh Hoa city to meet Ms. Vu Thi Kim Lan - a former frontline worker who, along with 110,000 Thanh Hoa workers, contributed to the Dien Bien Phu victory. Her story took us back in history to the sacred moment of 70 years ago to relive the atmosphere of those arduous but heroic days.
Beautiful memories of a time of war and war Located on the 2nd floor of Phu Son apartment building, the room of Mrs. Vu Thi Kim Lan's family is small but cozy. Our first impression of Mrs. Lan is a small woman with white hair and a kind smile. Knowing that we came from far away Dien Bien, Mrs. Lan kept holding our hands and said: How precious! That's why, as soon as she put the hot, fragrant cup of coffee on the table, Mrs. Lan emotionally told the story of more than 70 years ago. At that time, to prepare for the Dien Bien Phu Campaign, the whole country went to war. In Thanh land, people wrote applications to volunteer to join the army, people volunteered to work as laborers on the front lines with great enthusiasm. Not inferior to the young men, many groups of female laborers on foot also enthusiastically traveled more than 500km through forests, wading streams, climbing mountains to transport food to the front. So the petite girl who had just turned 19 years old in Xuan Bang village, Quang Long commune, Quang Xuong district, Thanh Hoa province also wrote a volunteer application to go...
Mrs. Vu Thi Kim Lan and her daughter-in-law recall heroic memories of the past.
Ms. Vu Thi Kim Lan recalled: “When the campaign required a large amount of food, in my hometown Quang Xuong district, the whole village and commune participated in transporting food to Dien Bien Phu. In early 1954, along with 110,000 Thanh workers, including carts and shoulder poles, I also volunteered to carry rice from Quang Xuong district to the battlefield. The flow of people transporting food was non-stop day and night. My luggage at that time was a shoulder pole and a pair of pots with about 40kg of rice on my shoulder. Along the way, if I used it for cooking, I would replenish the amount at the next station before continuing on my journey. At that time, the road was extremely difficult, going through Thanh Hoa province to Hoa Binh and Son La... all were forest roads, so transporting food was very arduous. There were sections where we had to carry the pole straight instead of horizontally because the road was too narrow. There was nothing for meals except a little pressed salt and wild vegetables. The whole journey was long with the heavy shoulder pole but there was no place to rest. Every time they reached a stop, they would lay down their carrying poles, rest their heads on them, and then continue on their journey...". Yet, the 110,000 laborers from Thanh Hoa were still excited to set off, as crowded as a festival. Group after group followed each other up the mountain to the Northwest. When going through difficult sections, especially when crossing streams, the strong people would help the weak people with a hand or a leg to ensure the route. Every time an enemy plane flew over, Mrs. Lan and everyone else had to put down their carrying poles and lie face down on the ground to avoid bullets. But fortunately, during their entire journey, she and her teammates were not injured. Perhaps it was the dense forests that surrounded and sheltered the laborers... "During the Dien Bien Phu campaign, the hardships and fatigue were enormous. But when thinking about going to fight off the invaders who were invading our homeland, everyone was determined to go serve the campaign" - Mrs. Lan recalled with emotion. And the memorable moment in life Until today, although 70 years have passed, Mrs. Lan still cannot forget the moment when our army's "Determined to fight, Determined to win" flag flew on the roof of De Castries bunker. Mrs. Lan said: "On May 7, 1954, I was present at Dien Bien Phu. Hearing the news of victory, everyone was excited, forgetting all the fatigue and only had pride in their country. The army and the laborers were like stars in the sky because they were so happy. After so many hardships, difficulties, and sacrifices, the campaign was now victorious, liberating Dien Bien Phu." Victory was ours, but Mrs. Lan's journey to participate in the Dien Bien Phu Campaign did not stop there. After the campaign, she was recruited into the army, taking care of wounded soldiers at Treatment Team No. 6 and participating in bringing wounded soldiers back to their hometowns. On that journey, she also had many memorable memories. Ms. Lan recalled: “That year, when we brought the wounded back to Thieu Do village, Thieu Hoa district, a wounded comrade passed away right in the middle of the vast field. The medic was too tired so he temporarily withdrew to rest so he could have the strength to treat the other wounded soldiers. So I was the only one left standing guard over my comrade's body from 6 pm the previous day until 6 am the next morning. At that time, I was not afraid at all, but only felt sorry for my comrade who could not enjoy the joy of victory. It was not until early the next morning, when the medic returned, that he hugged me, moved because I had fulfilled my duty.” Ms. Lan's story took us back in time 70 years ago, when the whole Thanh Hoa province turned to Dien Bien with an iron determination to defeat the invading enemy. Along with Ms. Lan, tens of thousands of other Thanh Hoa people made many important contributions, both human and material, to the Dien Bien Phu victory. And then many names of Thanh people went down in history, such as: Hero To Vinh Dien, Nong Truong commune, Nong Cong district, sacrificed his body to block artillery; the image of the wheelbarrow of Mr. Trinh Dinh Bam, a laborer in Dinh Lien commune, Yen Dinh district, who dismantled the family altar to make a wheelbarrow to transport food to serve the resistance war and many other heroic examples, actions, and noble deeds... We - the young generation of Dien Bien today, with all our gratitude, would like to thank the great contributions of the army and people of Thanh Hoa to create the victory "famous in five continents, shaking the world" to have the beautiful land of Dien Bien as it is today.
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