Major General Hoang Dan and his wife - Family photo
That is the story that Mr. Hoang Nam Tien - the youngest son of Major General Hoang Dan and National Assembly delegate Nguyen Thi An Vinh - told at the book launch of Letter to You on the afternoon of April 13 in Hanoi. The book launch attracted a large number of attendees, especially young people.
The story of the broken bowl was also told by Mr. Tien in the book Letter for You - a book Mr. Tien wrote about his parents' love through more than 400 letters they sent to each other during the decades of separation due to war that the family still kept.
General Hoang Dan - a different husband and father
Mr. Hoang Nam Tien said that in 1972, he was only three years old. During a family meal before his father left for the campaign, little Tien (whose name at home is Hai) dropped a Hai Duong porcelain bowl that was considered precious during the war and the extremely difficult subsidy period. The three-year-old boy was extremely frightened and about to cry.
Mr. Hoang Nam Tien (middle) emotionally tells the story of his father and mother at the book launch of Letter for You - Photo: T.DIEU
Seeing that, "Dan's father" picked up his porcelain bowl and dropped it on the ground. The bowl broke into pieces. After the sound of the bowl breaking, both father and son burst into laughter.
Not stopping there, Mr. Hoang Dan went into the cupboard to get four more Hai Duong porcelain bowls, dropping each one to exchange for the giggles of his children.
This was a very different thing in his father, leaving Mr. Tien with a great lesson in educating his children. With his children, General Hoang Dan taught carefully, trained them strictly, but was extremely gentle and loving.
Mr. Tien said that every summer his father took him to his father's military barracks to live with the soldiers.
So, at the age of 10-11, Mr. Tien knew how to shoot many types of guns, knew how to drive at the age of 12, knew how to give first aid to sick and injured people...
Not only is General Hoang Dan very warm and affectionate with his children, he also gently guides his somewhat strict and hard-working wife to be more caring and affectionate with her children.
Images of Mrs. Nguyen Thi An Vinh when she was young, when she was old, with her husband and youngest son Hoang Nam Tien - Family archive photo
Mr. Tien said that his mother grew up in an extremely difficult environment (her family fell into poverty and she had to go to work when she was only 8 years old), so she was very strict with her children and herself. Therefore, Mr. Tien's siblings grew up under their mother's strict education.
Seeing that, "Dan's father" wrote a letter to his wife, asking if she cared about the children and was affectionate with them.
It was 1962, when Mr. Hoang Dan was studying in the Soviet Union. In a letter to his wife, he told her a story about a psychological study in the US in 1958 that he had read.
A baby monkey that had just lost its mother was placed in a room with a monkey made of cotton and a monkey made of wood. The baby monkey only hugged the cotton monkey, not the wooden one.
The story shows that monkeys also want something warm and soft. Humans, of course, are even more so.
Letters General Hoang Dan sent to his wife from the Soviet Union - Photo: T.DIEU
Since that letter, Mr. Tien's mother changed a lot in educating her children. When she was pregnant with Mr. Tien, his mother started rubbing her belly to talk to her child.
When Mr. Tien was born, his mother often rubbed his back, massaged his feet, and read Kieu to her youngest son, until the last days of her life.
The general loved his army and shouted: "If you fight like this, mother Vietnam won't be able to give birth in time."
Loving his wife and children with a tender and great love, General Hoang Dan also loved his soldiers with the same love, like a brother and a father.
The Vi Xuyen front during the border war was extremely fierce, especially in 1984. Our soldiers sacrificed so much, causing the old general with a lot of battle experience to be extremely heartbroken.
He angrily shouted at the commanders here: "If you fight like this, mother Vietnam won't be able to give birth in time."
Mr. Tien said that after many years of fighting, his father always kept in mind that as a commander, in addition to victory, he must always remember that each fallen soldier is a son, father, brother... in a family.
A soldier falling in a battle is a small loss, but for each family it is an irreplaceable loss.
Therefore, when Mr. Tien went to Vi Xuyen, the soldiers told him the story of how his father, when he was the commander here, had a sore leg but still used a rattan stick to go into a cave just a few hundred meters from the enemy to encourage the troops.
When he was a major general, he still placed ammunition boxes to sit with the soldiers in a very simple and friendly manner.
The love story of General Hoang Dan and his wifeSource
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