I was fortunate to be the son-in-law of the dreamy land of Hue. My father-in-law was Mr. Phan Thanh Du, who was then the Director of Hue Tourism Company. I mentioned him just as an excuse to talk about the history of a construction on the Perfume River, which is the floating house located right next to Truong Tien Bridge.
I dare say that 99% of Hue people do not know that this place, nearly 40 years ago, marked a historical milestone, welcoming General Secretary Le Duan, General Vo Nguyen Giap and Head of the Central Party Organization Committee Le Duc Tho on the day of the fireworks display on March 26, commemorating the 10th anniversary of the liberation of Hue City. Just the presence of the supreme leaders here proved that the floating house at that time was the pride of our hometown city. Hopefully, these precious and unique images of that day are still preserved.
Surely the elders still remember the image of Mr. Bành's beautiful floating house made of bamboo rafts on the Perfume River from the French colonial period. This floating house was like a highlight that urged the Secretary of the Hue City Party Committee, Hoang Lanh (also the Deputy Secretary of the Binh Tri Thien Provincial Party Committee), to think of a more modern floating house also on the Perfume River. Thinking is doing, and so near the end of 1984, Mr. Hoang Lanh and a number of comrades were sent by the Standing Committee of the Hue City Party Committee and the Standing Committee of the Binh Tri Thien Provincial Party Committee to Hanoi to meet with the Standing Committee of the Air Defense - Air Force Command (PKKQ) to ask for... the shells containing the missiles to make a buoy system, so that the house could float on the water. Perhaps because Mr. Hoang Lanh came from the army, he understood the value of the shells covering each of these missiles. Before the Standing Committee of the Air Defense Command, Mr. Lanh presented that the province wished to have a beautiful floating house as bright as a red lotus flower on the Huong River, that Binh Tri Thien's economy was still limited, that Hue's tourism industry was being shaped and developed... Hearing that, without hesitation, the Air Defense Command was very happy to contribute to beautifying the Huong River and immediately assigned Colonel Truong Minh Ta, a native of Hue, to be in charge of the project.
So Colonel Ta became the “architect” and project manager. Mr. Phan Thanh Du built a temporary house right under Truong Tien Bridge, installed a landline phone for Colonel Ta to rest and manage the work. Supplies from the Air Defense Command were transferred in, including 40 missile shells, each 8 meters long, nearly 1 meter in diameter, very heavy. Each truck could only carry 3 shells. Binh Tri Thien Province also “asked” for tons of iron, assembly accessories… To transport these shells and supplies, it took twenty-eight cars and two transport battalions of the Command.
Mr. Ta conducted a survey of the current to find a place to place the floating house, so that storms and floods would not cause the floating house to drift away. Mr. Hoang Lanh and Mr. Cong sent a series of highly skilled workers to the construction site to be tested for forging, welding, forging, and cold-working. Machinery and equipment were dispatched promptly. In mid-November 1984, the project officially began.
The working atmosphere was urgent, the whole stretch of the Perfume River under the Trang Tien Bridge became more bustling than ever. Colonel Ta ran around inside, Director Du ran around outside, struggling with the endless rain, with the winter winds heavy with the water vapor of the Perfume River, many times the rice went cold because they didn’t have time to eat it… Then, more than three months later, the floating house shaped like a lotus flower was completed in the joy of the leaders and people of Hue. And since that day, the bright red lotus flower has always shone brightly on the Perfume River.
The image of a man in his late sixties, in a unique faded civilian outfit, directing a group of workers working day and night, left a good impression on the leaders and people of Hue. That person was none other than Colonel Truong Minh Ta. Hearing his clear voice, no one would have thought that he was now ninety-five years old, still healthy, clear-headed, remembering every beautiful and generous memory despite the hardships and fatigue during the months of conceiving this floating house.
Asked if the floating house no longer belonged to the Hue Tourism Company, what did he think? He smiled, no matter who it belonged to, the floating house would live forever on the Perfume River. Then the eyes of the old man over ninety lit up when he mentioned the anniversary of the day General Secretary Le Duan, General Vo Nguyen Giap, and Mr. Le Duc Tho left their footprints.
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