Untold stories about hero Phan Dinh Giot

My uncle was a soldier in Dien Bien Phu, now he is 90 years old, but he is still sharp and healthy. Last Tet, my uncle took his grandchild to visit his grandparents, whose house is at number 3, Phan Dinh Giot Street, Ha Tinh City. Looking at the sign, the grandchild suddenly asked: " Grandma! What did Mr. Phan Dinh Giot do to have a street named after him ?" Grandma leisurely replied: " Phan Dinh Giot was a soldier in Dien Bien Phu like my grandma in the past ."

Martyr Phan Dinh Giot was born in 1922, in Tam Quang hamlet, Vinh Yen village (now village 5), Cam Quan commune, Cam Xuyen district, Ha Tinh province. He was born into a poor farming family, living in a dilapidated, dilapidated thatched hut. His father died early, his widowed mother raised her children alone. Because of poverty, at the age of 7, as the eldest brother, Phan Dinh Giot had to work as a servant for a landlord's family, to earn a living.

Talking about Phan Dinh Giot's youth, Phan Dinh Giat, Giot's younger brother, said: "He is 3 years older than me, his wife is Mrs. Nguyen Thi Ran. He got married but did not organize any wedding ceremony because his family was too poor, he just went to the girl's house to talk and then brought her to live with him.

Later, she gave birth to a baby boy, but at that time there was an epidemic and no medicine. The baby, only 7 months old, had a fever and lay on a bamboo bed in a rickety thatched hut. Hearing the villagers' advice, Mr. Giot ran around the neighborhood asking for folk medicinal leaves to boil water to steam his baby. But because of weakness and lack of milk, the baby died in Mr. Giot's arms.

Mr. Giat added: "It's a pity. If only the child were still alive, I could have burned incense for my brother."

When the national resistance war broke out, following Uncle Ho's call "All Vietnamese must stand up to fight the French colonialists to save the Fatherland", Phan Dinh Giot and his friends of the same age said goodbye to their wives, left the miserable life of slavery, and enthusiastically joined the village self-defense fight.

In 1950, he volunteered to join the main force. During his life of fighting, he participated in many major campaigns such as: Tran Hung Dao Campaign, Hoa Binh Campaign, Tay Bac Campaign and finally Dien Bien Phu Campaign.

In the battles that Phan Dinh Giot participated in, he achieved many outstanding feats. Once, he wrote a "Letter of Determination" with his blood and sent it to the Division Command, expressing the indomitable will of a revolutionary soldier.

In the winter of 1953, his unit was ordered to participate in the Dien Bien Phu Campaign with 500 soldiers, having to cross many high passes and deep streams, carrying heavy weapons, but Phan Dinh Giot still persistently encouraged and helped his teammates reach the finish line on time.

In addition to combat missions, his unit also participated in cutting mountains and clearing roads to pull artillery up and down slopes to the battlefield. Phan Dinh Giot always upheld the spirit of an exemplary Communist Party member, encouraging his comrades and teammates to be steadfast and determined to strictly follow orders from their superiors.

The younger brother of hero Phan Dinh Giot is Mr. Phan Dinh Giat.

Talking about the armed forces hero Phan Dinh Giot, writer Pham Ngoc Canh (at that time a drama actor of the Propaganda Troupe of the General Department of Politics) said: “The Propaganda Troupe went to the Dien Bien Phu battlefield to perform before the opening of the historic campaign. At that time, Phan Dinh Giot was a squad leader, Company 58, Battalion 428, Regiment 141, Division 312. Meeting his comrades and fellow countrymen, Giot was very happy... Giot invited me to the corner of the trench and asked: “Will Canh be returning to his hometown soon so I can send a letter to my wife?”

The love letter was two pages long, and Giot asked Canh to write it for him. The words were very touching. Actually, Giot was literate, because he had attended a popular education class, so before, every time he wrote home, he would only write a few short lines: "I'm still healthy - as long as there is peace at home, I'm at ease."

But this letter is quite long. It seems that soldier Phan Dinh Giot sensed something, so in the letter he told Ms. Ran many things: "If anything happens to me, stay home and remarry" and he also joked "I didn't go the wrong way, so I'm sure you won't be angry".

The story goes that: On the afternoon of March 13, 1954, his unit was ordered to open fire to destroy the Him Lam stronghold. At the beginning of the battle, a series of our artillery pieces thundered loudly on the enemy's heads, the whole battlefield shook, covered in smoke and bullets, the soldiers of Company 58 rushed forward to clear the way, continuously attacking until the 8th bombardment.

Next, Phan Dinh Giot fired the ninth shot, and was wounded in the thigh, but he did not retreat, he volunteered to fire the tenth shot. Our soldiers had to fight with the enemy to capture each stronghold and each hill in Dien Bien Phu. Meanwhile, the French army from the loopholes rained bullets down on our positions, causing many casualties and injuries to our soldiers.

Along with other wounded soldiers, Phan Dinh Giot was transferred to the rear, and his wounds were bandaged by nurse Phan Cong Thanh. The bandage was just finished, the wound had not stopped bleeding, and wounded soldier Phan Dinh Giot was filled with the spirit of killing the enemy to avenge his comrades.

At 10 p.m., through the storm of bullets, he rushed forward and fired two more consecutive rounds, destroying the last fence, opening the way for his teammates to advance and destroy the bridgehead bunker.

Taking advantage of the enemy's extreme confusion, our troops switched to using hand grenades to attack the bunkers. At the right moment, Phan Dinh Giot rushed close to bunker number two, threw the hand grenade and fired to restrain the unit from charging forward. But once again, he was wounded in both the shoulder and thigh, bleeding profusely. His comrades brought him back to the rear, and he was given emergency treatment by nurse Thanh. His health had weakened significantly.

At that moment, suddenly the enemy fire from bunker number 3 fired very strongly at our formation, the assault force was jammed. Many soldiers who rushed forward were sacrificed before the enemy's guns. Although seriously wounded, exhausted, and weak, Phan Dinh Giot suddenly rose up, grabbed his armor and rushed to bunker number 3 with the sole thought of being determined to put out the gunfire of this bunker!

He gathered all his remaining strength, raised the barrel of his submachine gun and fired hard into the loophole and shouted loudly: "Determined to sacrifice for the Party... for the people...", then he leaned forward, gaining momentum and rushing straight into the enemy bunker, blocking the loophole. The most powerful firing point of the French army had been extinguished.

Soldier Phan Dinh Giot passed away... at 10:30 p.m. on March 13, 1954. His entire body was destroyed by enemy bullets. Phan Dinh Giot's body filled the loophole. The French soldiers inside the bunker were trapped and could not shoot out anymore.

Seizing the opportunity, the entire unit rushed forward like a storm to completely destroy the Him Lam stronghold on March 13, 1954, winning the opening battle of the Dien Bien Phu Campaign.

The Vietnamese people are very proud of the image of the heroic martyrs of Dien Bien Phu, which not only appears in children's books and heroic songs, but also in revolutionary poetry, typically the poem "Hoan Ho Chi Minh Si Dien Bien" by poet To Huu:

Comrades buried in gun mounts/Heads covered with loopholes/Crossing through barbed wire mountains/Raging storms/Comrades pressing their backs to save artillery/Body crushed, eyes closed, still holding...

And the hero himself

Phan Dinh Giot is like a big mountain/His loving chest crushes the loopholes.

Dien Bien Phu had to go through 56 days and nights of “digging mountains, sleeping in tunnels, eating rice balls in the pouring rain, blood mixed with mud”, and now 70 years have passed, we are still always moved to remember the heroic martyrs who sacrificed their lives. The example of sacrifice of hero Phan Dinh Giot has been known to all progressive people with the victory “resounding in five continents and shaking the earth”.

Soldier Phan Dinh Giot is one of the 16 Heroes of the Vietnam People's Armed Forces, who were recognized for their achievements in the Dien Bien Phu Campaign. On March 31, 1955, Phan Dinh Giot was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Vietnam People's Armed Forces. Later, he was also posthumously awarded the Second Class Military Exploit Medal.
To commemorate the heroic feat of Hero Phan Dinh Giot, the I Corps Museum still preserves two of his precious relics, which are the canteen and the submachine gun that he used in the Dien Bien Phu Campaign. Notably, in addition to Ha Tinh city, Phan Dinh Giot's hometown, many cities and towns in provinces across the country have streets named after him.

(Source: Tien Phong)

Link: https://tienphong.vn/dieu-chua-ke-ve-anh-hung-phan-dinh-giot-post1631471.tpo

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