Prime Minister Pham Van Dong's son: The army is an environment to train people

The son of the late Prime Minister Pham Van Dong joined the army at the age of 15. On the battlefield, he lived a difficult life as a soldier, experiencing the line between life and death.

The 80th anniversary of the founding of the Vietnam People's Army is an opportunity for everyone to look back at the history of the formation and development of a heroic army of a heroic nation, born from the people, fighting for the people; a special political force, a fighting force absolutely loyal and trustworthy to the Party, State and people. Recently, the National Archives Center III (Hanoi) announced a block of newly declassified archival documents related to the process of founding the Vietnam People's Army. Present at the announcement of the documents, Major General Pham Son Duong, son of the late Prime Minister Pham Van Dong, was moved to tears, his fingers carefully following the late Prime Minister's signature on important documents on the organization, personnel of the Ministry of National Defense and the naming of the Vietnam People's Army...

Need to promote the value of archival documents

- Major General, how do you feel when accessing documents related to the Vietnam People's Army today, especially documents with the handwriting and signature of the late Prime Minister Pham Van Dong?

Documents signed by late Prime Minister Pham Van Dong. (Photo: Minh Thu/Vietnam+)

Major General Pham Son Duong: First of all, I was very moved when I saw my father's signature. For many years, his signature did not change, except that later, when his eyesight got worse, his handwriting became a little slanted, but basically he still signed as he did when he was young. Second, I was moved when I had access to very valuable original documents. Although I have been in the army for many years, and was Deputy Director of the Institute of Military Science and Technology, Ministry of National Defense, this was the first time I had access to these documents. There are many documents that were published for the first time, and it took the archives many years to declassify them. The documents contain reliable information about the process of establishment, construction, consolidation of the organization, defense policy and the long development of the Vietnam People's Army. Among them are: President Ho Chi Minh's Directive on the establishment of the Vietnam Propaganda Liberation Army, December 1944; The speech of comrade Van (Vo Nguyen Giap) read on December 22, 1944 in the forest of Tran Hung Dao, Hoang Hoa Tham on the occasion of the founding of the first Liberation Army; or Official Dispatch No. 400-TTg dated September 23, 1954 of Prime Minister Pham Van Dong on naming the Army of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam as “Vietnam People’s Army.” Previously, I had access to the content of many documents but they were only quotes from other documents. When I looked at the original documents, I had a very different feeling. It was the respect and absolute trust in the accuracy of the documents.

- In your opinion, what is the significance of publishing and introducing this collection of documents in educating the younger generation about national history? Major General Pham Son Duong: Publishing archival documents is very necessary, especially in the context of easy dissemination of information but also easy to "copy and paste", there is a lot of inaccurate information about the People's Army. Previous documents were very brief, concise, easy to understand, suitable for the historical context at that time. This is the way of drafting documents that we need to learn. In my opinion, relevant agencies need to promote the value so that these documents and materials can come into life, spread widely, especially among the younger generation, both studying history and educating revolutionary traditions.

Major General Pham Son Duong shared with reporters of VietnamPlus Electronic Newspaper. (Photo: Minh Thu/Vietnam+)

- Recently, the Vietnam Military History Museum at its new location has attracted a lot of visitors, including many young people. It can be seen that they are still very interested in and love the history of our country. Through this, do you have any suggestions on how to display and introduce documents and artifacts to tell historical stories in an attractive way for young people? Major General Pham Son Duong: I think we need to combine display and information explanation. Nowadays, young people often use the Internet, so we must have a truly authentic and accurate historical information page to provide historical documents, so that viewers do not get confused and hesitant between many different sources of information. In the past, I really liked reading newspapers and listening to the radio. Nowadays, young people often watch Facebook and TikTok, where there is a lot of false information, which is very dangerous in terms of ideology. Therefore, we need an authentic and standard source of information for people to verify.

A glorious history - a heroic army

- Although he was the son of the Prime Minister and had many opportunities to study abroad, he joined the army at the age of 15 and remained in the army throughout his life. Could you please share the reason why? Major General Pham Son Duong: Growing up during the war, I, like many other young people of my time, really wanted to fight for the Fatherland. My father understood and supported my wishes, sending me to the military school at the age of 15, then studying at the Left Bank Military School. I joined the army and went to the Information Command, Military Technical Institute (now the Military Science and Technology Institute).

Some archival documents about the Vietnam People's Army. (Photo: Minh Thu/Vietnam+)

When the whole country mobilized for the general offensive and uprising in the spring of 1975, I wanted to go to the battlefield to dedicate my youth to the Fatherland, but because I was the only child, according to regulations, I had to have my family's opinion. I asked my father's permission to follow the first working group of the Military Technical Institute to the battlefield and Prime Minister Pham Van Dong wrote a letter of recommendation for his only son to go to B2. "The military environment is the best environment to train people," I always remember my father's words. - Late Prime Minister Pham Van Dong devoted much affection and care to the army. What qualities and personalities of the late Prime Minister influenced the soldier qualities of Major General Pham Son Duong?

Major General Pham Son Duong was moved when looking at documents signed by the late Prime Minister Pham Van Dong. (Photo: Minh Thu/Vietnam+)

Major General Pham Son Duong: It would be subjective and unsatisfactory if I talked about my own personality and qualities. I will only share this. Before he passed away, my father said: “I have no assets to leave you. I only leave a career to continue. I ask you to take care of your mother, take care of and educate your children to be healthy, obedient, and study well to become useful people for society and the country, worthy of being officers of our army.” My father's honesty, dedication, simplicity, and love for the people have always motivated and greatly influenced my personality. Going to the battlefield, living the arduous life of a soldier, experiencing the line between life and death, sleeping on a minefield without knowing it, but I find life and death so gentle. There are many memories, but what I remember most is the sincere affection between soldiers. I have friends all over the country, wherever I go, I have friends. When friends met and reminisced about their military service, they were all very happy and emotional.

- At the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Vietnam People's Army, what do you think about our nation's revolutionary army? Major General Pham Son Duong: I think that Vietnam has a glorious history and a heroic army. It can be said that war has tempered people so that soldiers have a lot of experience, fighting spirit and a noble ideal of sacrifice. We fought against an enemy with much greater military potential and still won. That is not the correlation of forces but the spiritual strength, will and creativity of our army in the way of fighting. Of course, to achieve such results, there must be the direction of the Party and the Government, along with the spirit of determination to fight and win of Uncle Ho, of the Central Committee and our army and people. That is a profound lesson for today's generation. - Thank you very much./. Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/con-trai-thu-tuong-pham-van-dong-quan-doi-la-moi-truong-de-ren-luyen-con-nguoi-post1003391.vnp