TP - At 5:30 p.m. on May 7, 1954, the gunfire had just stopped, the Dien Bien Phu Campaign had been completely victorious, the Deputy Commander of the 308th Vanguard Army Division, Colonel Cao Van Khanh was ordered to stay behind to take over the Muong Thanh battlefield and return the prisoners of war.
Cao Van Khanh was born in 1917 in Hue, in an aristocratic intellectual family of the Nguyen Dynasty. He graduated with a Bachelor of Law from the University of Indochina, but he did not practice law but instead worked as a math teacher at a private school in Hue. After the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) was born, Cao Van Khanh participated in the founding and was Vice Chairman of the Hue Liberation Army, which later merged with the Viet Minh. When the French opened fire in the South (September 23, 1945), he was sent to follow the Southern army to Binh Dinh, and then became a member of the Binh Dinh Military Commission. After that, he was appointed as the Chief of Zone V. In mid-1946, he was the Commander of the 27th Division. In December 1947, he returned to be the Chief of Zone V. In August 1949, he was transferred to the North as Deputy Commander of the 308th Division, the first main division of the General Command of the Vietnam People's Army. He and his corps participated in many campaigns from the Border Campaign of 1950, to the Tran Hung Dao, Hoang Hoa Tham, Quang Trung Campaigns (1951), the Hoa Binh Campaign (1952), the Tay Bac Campaign (1952)... According to the stories of the Dien Bien veterans, Cao Van Khanh had a lover, Nguyen Thi Ngoc Toan, a female medic at the Dien Bien Phu front. The two met when Ngoc Toan was a beautiful student at Dong Khanh School, Hue, the daughter of Minister of Justice Ton That Dan, a noble family. When the national resistance war broke out, both teacher Khanh and his student Ngoc Toan, hearing the sacred call of the Fatherland, went to join the fight. Teacher Khanh worked at the Liberation Army Command, while female student Ngoc Toan participated in the medic. They fell in love when Cao Van Khanh was assigned to the Viet Bac resistance zone, holding the position of Deputy Commander of the 308th Regiment. In the Viet Bac resistance zone, by chance or fate, Cao Van Khanh met again the former high school girl, who had now become a brave female medic. The love between the two was not as romantic as the love in modern movies. The love story between General Cao Van Khanh and Ngoc Toan began unexpectedly. The story goes that: After the Dien Bien Phu victory, the 308th Regiment held a parade to celebrate the victory. Attending the ceremony was the Director of the Propaganda Department, Le Quang Dao. In addition to public affairs, Mr. Dao also had a "secret" to help Deputy Commander Cao Van Khanh. General Dao showed Cao Van Khanh a photo of a girl with jet-black eyes, mischievous, optimistic, and with a captivating smile that Cao Van Khanh suspected he had seen somewhere before? Yes! This was the daughter of the Minister of the Nguyen Dynasty, Ton That Dan (he had participated in the resistance war against the French from the very beginning). Through the matchmaking of Le Quang Dao and many other comrades, the relationship between Cao Van Khanh and Ngoc Toan gradually blossomed. At that time, love had to be arranged by a matchmaker. The regiment commander Vuong Thua Vu, who agreed to help his friend, came to discuss the matter with Ngoc Toan's family. When Mr. Vu met Ngoc Toan's mother, he cautiously said: "Sir, I have a good friend who is a good fighter. He is not married because he is busy fighting. Now he wants to be your son-in-law. Please allow him to write to get to know Ms. Toan." The old woman calmly replied: "I am looking for a son-in-law, not someone who is a good fighter. My son is an adult, so as long as he is a good person and my son likes him, I will accept him." Mr. Vu left with great praise: "I thought you were the wife of a mandarin, following feudal etiquette, but I never expected you to be so progressive!" Although they were in love, Ngoc Toan still felt uneasy in her heart. In her diary, she wrote: “...I saw that he was the type of person I wanted, to be my companion, to go through the life that I had planned...But I also demanded: Love is to respect each other, do not hinder personal aspirations, gender equality. I was afraid that if I got married during my career, especially since he was older, he might be patriarchal. But as a modest and mature person in life, he understood and conquered me...”. It was not until December 1953 that an event happened to Ngoc Toan when she went to find a new unit. She got lost at the right place where Cao Van Khanh was stationed, just returning from Luang Prabang (Laos). In the middle of the mountains and forests of the Northwest, the two lovers suddenly met by chance. She thought that it was fate that brought them together: “That chance meeting in the middle of the mountains and forests of Dien Bien made me realize even more clearly that I truly loved him”. When they parted, they promised to have a wedding at their family's house on the day of victory. The Dien Bien Phu campaign broke out, and more and more wounded soldiers were brought in for surgery. At night, holding a lamp to take care of each wounded soldier, Ngoc Toan's heart ached as he heard the wounded soldiers' breathing getting weaker and weaker. They were young men, only 18 or 20 years old. In addition to the common worries, there was also a personal worry for his lover - Cao Van Khanh - but what could he do!
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One of a kind wedding
On the afternoon of May 7, 1954, the battlefield stopped firing, and female medic Ngoc Toan was ordered to go to Muong Thanh to receive a new mission. She left the deep forest of Tuan Giao, shouldered her bag, and at 5 pm walked across deep streams, abyss, and the towering Pha Din Pass all night, arriving at her destination at 2 am the next morning. Because she was fluent in French, she was assigned to meet and talk with the only female French prisoner, who was a flight attendant on a French military plane. At the request of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Women's Union, Uncle Ho ordered the release of this female prisoner. Female medic Ngoc Toan explained to the female prisoner about the leniency policy of our Government and advised her to write a letter of thanks to Uncle Ho. That was on May 18, one day before Uncle Ho's birthday. Arriving at Muong Thanh to carry out her mission, but perhaps due to fate, the female medic coincidentally met her lover - Deputy Commander Cao Van Khanh. Strangely enough, while the smoke and fire were still hot and the smell of bombs and bullets was still strong, the two people accidentally met each other - choked up and speechless, the two of them only had time to say "Brother"! "Sister"! Then suddenly tears flowed. They wanted to say many things to each other, but before they could say anything, Deputy Commander Cao Van Khanh was ordered to take over the Muong Thanh battlefield and return the prisoners. The bride and groom's wedding attire was the old military uniform like all Dien Bien soldiers, but the "auditorium" was filled with smiles as bright as blooming flowers and blessings in the joy of victory that was still ecstatic.
At that moment, Deputy Director of the General Department of Politics Tran Luong "read" the feelings of the two people: "We know that you two have loved each other for a long time, but because of the continuous war, there have been no conditions to plan a hundred-year marriage. It is rare for you two to meet like this, or to have a wedding here. We will be the officiating ceremony." Right in the middle of the battlefield still littered with bombs and bullets, without asking for your mother's permission, without family and friends present, and without even buying clothes... Even in the battlefield, a girl's marriage is a major event in her life! Why is it so hasty?  |
Cao Van Khanh and Ngoc Toan in the jeep
Now hearing about the wedding, many people joined in giving their opinions. All of Cao Van Khanh and Ngoc Toan's comrades joined in. When meeting General Le Trong Tan, Khanh introduced: "...Miss Toan, a doctor". - I have heard the name, but only met her today. And I also know that in a few days, this gentle, graceful Hue girl will become Ms. Khanh right here on this historic Dien Bien land. I congratulate you on your happiness" - General Tan said. After a day and a half of deep thought, on the afternoon of May 21, she agreed to marry. Later she wrote: "The death and life, the life and happiness of Uncle Ho's soldiers, thinking about life at that time was so natural and simple. When you love each other, why do you need to be so formal?" So the day of "getting in the car" was decided, the brothers assigned each other a task to decorate the De Castrie bunker into a wedding room. The wedding had no flowers, but the soldiers decorated the bunker with colorful French parachutes. Arrange enough seats for more than 40 representatives of the "two families". The bride's family were the medical officers, the groom's family were the officers of the 308th Division. On May 22, 1954, the wedding ceremony was held in the command bunker of the defeated general De Castrie, under the light of kerosene lamps. Emotions surged when the couple walked hand in hand into the bunker, amidst the excitement and loud applause of all the guests of the "two families", who were comrades who had survived the battlefield and returned. Many years later, Cao Van Khanh recalled this touching moment: "Do you still remember when you and I lovingly entered the command bunker of the De Castrie headquarters to hold the ceremony? Mr. Tran Luong officiated the announcement and Mr. Cam, the Political Commissar of the Front of the Medical Department, represented the bride's unit to speak. The wedding was photographed and filmed." The wedding was an event and a common joy for the officers and soldiers of Dien Bien Phu. Many years later, veterans of the “old age” still recall the romantic and poetic beauty of that happy day. The love that blossomed on the battlefield helped the commander of the main force and the beautiful female medic on the front line with the wedding held right at the enemy general’s command post and the battlefield became a wedding venue, when the smoke of bombs and bullets had not yet cleared.
The wedding had no flowers, but there were nougat, Philip tobacco, and Napoleon wine, which were spoils of war and brought by the guests to join in the fun. The wedding had homegrown performances. The groom sang “The Soldiers Return to the Village”, and the bride sang “The Muong La Baby”.  |
Cao Van Khanh and his wife
The wedding did not take place on a "flower car" but on a tank - standing next to the tank turret looking out at the devastated Muong Thanh battlefield, Ngoc Toan softly exclaimed: "How many comrades have sacrificed while I am still alive". She recalled that hundreds of young men had sacrificed in her arms at the field hospital, people who had certainly never been loved! The bride and groom took a photo on a tank that fought in Dien Bien Phu, Cao Van Khanh said: "That is our lifelong memory, the happiest days of you and me after the historic victory, in a historic setting, right?" The joy of victory, mixed with the love of a couple. The joy of a new relationship when the mission was completed. Simple but extremely intimate. A rare wedding, a love that will last a lifetime. Source: https://tienphong.vn/co-mot-hon-truong-dieu-ky-trong-ham-do-cat-post1631477.tpo
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