Meeting journalist Thai Duy again, hearing very new stories

On July 5, 2019, Ms. Phan Thi Quyen, wife of the heroic martyr Nguyen Van Troi, passed away, and it was exactly 55 years since Troi sacrificed his life. I had the idea of ​​visiting journalist Thai Duy - Tran Dinh Van (real name Tran Duy Tan), who helped us understand the example of sacrifice and the noble qualities of youth through literature and journalism. The work "Living like him" is a bedside handbook. Like "The country stands up" , "Hon Dat", "A story copied at the hospital" , "Gia dinh ma Bay", "Nguoi me cam gun" ... "Living like him" is like the voice of the country urging generations of people to go to battle to drive out the enemy and liberate the homeland. At the age of 94, journalist Thai Duy is still very lucid, talking openly and intimately. He said that in 70 years of working as a journalist, he only held one "position" , that is, a reporter, and only at the newspaper of the Front. Now his pension is 7.6 million VND a month, his wife has gone to the ancestors first, so he alone has enough. The old agency still gives him the Dai Doan Ket newspaper, and if he wants to read Tuoi Tre or Thanh Nien, he reads it at the newsstand at the corner of the alley. He confided:

Journalist Thai Duy in the liberated zone of the South, July 10, 1965

"In 1964, I was a reporter for Giai Phong Newspaper, the agency of the National Liberation Front Committee of South Vietnam, with its editorial office located in Tay Ninh. After Troi's death, the Saigon regime's press reported extensively on this event. At that time, I was working in Long An, only 30 kilometers from Saigon. Through that, we learned more about the unsuccessful battle at Cong Ly Bridge, the goal of which was to destroy the US Secretary of Defense; the heroic spirit of Nguyen Van Troi and the noble actions of the Caracas guerrillas of the Venezuelan National Liberation Front, who kidnapped US Lieutenant Colonel Smolen to ransom Troi... After that, the US betrayed and cowardly executed Troi at 10:50 a.m. on October 15, 1964 at Chi Hoa Prison, Saigon".
As a war journalist, when he heard the story, he and his colleagues all thought that they had to do something to honor Troi's bravery. Later, he learned that Ms. Phan Thi Quyen, wife of martyr Nguyen Van Troi, had been brought by Saigon commandos to the base of the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam and attended the Congress of heroes and emulation fighters of the South. He approached her and initially wrote an article titled: "The last meetings of Ms. Quyen and Troi" published in the Liberation Newspaper. But he received instructions that he needed a book about Troi, so he decided to go to Cu Chi to meet comrades who worked together and were in prison with Troi to gain more information... After finishing the book titled "The last meetings", he asked it to be sent to Hanoi...

Journalist Thai Duy recalled: " Later I learned that comrades in the Politburo and the Secretariat were very interested in the book. Prime Minister Pham Van Dong renamed the book "Living like him". In the preface of the book, Uncle Ho wrote "For the Fatherland, for the people, martyr Nguyen Van Troi fought bravely until his last breath. The heroic spirit of hero Troi is a shining example of revolution for all patriots, especially young people to learn from... Only about 1 month after sending it, our brothers on the battlefield heard "Living like him" read through the waves of Voice of Vietnam radio"...

In 1966, journalist Thai Duy was assigned to work in the North. He met Ms. Quyen a few times. As for Mr. Troi, one day after liberation, on May 1, 1975, journalist and writer Thai Duy visited and paid his respects to Mr. Troi's grave in his maternal hometown...

Journalist Thai Duy returned to his hometown on June 7, 2023.

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When filmmaker Mai Chi Vu conveyed the crew's idea of ​​inviting journalist Thai Duy back to Viet Bac, first to visit his homeland and relatives, then to return to the old war zone, he was very excited. He smiled happily. Being the same age as the Revolutionary Journalism (born in 1925), Thai Duy should be called the secretary of the nation's long marches.

He said: Working with Nam Cao in the National Salvation Literature and Arts, he was a student, learned to comment and write from Nam Cao. Therefore, the place names of Choi hamlet, Roong Khoa, Goc Xop, banyan tree hill, Tin Keo, Khuon Tat, Lung Lo, Co Noi, Gio pass, Giang pass... are unforgettable memories for him.

He said: Following the resistance, following Uncle Ho, whatever was assigned to do, the author had to do it well. Going into the field, before an event, writing articles, writing essays, writing political commentary or news, the author had to decide for himself, whichever genre was most effective.
His birth name, for his biography and news reporting, was Tran Duy Tan, his pen name for political commentary was Thai Duy, for literature and art was Tran Dinh Van... He said he was attached to the writing profession and accompanied the army through the resistance wars, in places with the most bullets and arrows... When talking to journalist Tran Lan Phuong - former Editor-in-Chief of Bac Can Newspaper, daughter of Mr. Tran Dinh Khoa, younger brother of Mr. Thai Duy, she said: After finishing studying at Hanoi Literature Synthesis, I went to No. 8 Tran Hung Dao Street to see him. He told me that I should pursue journalism; serve where I was sent to study, which is my hometown Bac Thai. What else is there to practice? Honesty and courage - qualities that are always needed in journalism.

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In 2020, I was a member of the Organizing Committee of the Congress to honor outstanding journalists nationwide. Journalist Thai Duy - Tran Dinh Van was one of the 8 great journalists invited to be honored. At that time, comrade Vo Van Thuong, Head of the Propaganda Department, reminded the Vietnam Journalists Association Press Museum to try to record in motion pictures the contributions to the profession and to the country of the great figures of the press, as materials for traditional education. In recent days, the post-production work on the film about journalist Thai Duy has been urgent because it is a publication to celebrate the 98th anniversary of Vietnam Revolutionary Press Day, June 21.

Phan Huu Minh

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/gap-lai-nha-bao-thai-duy-duoc-nghe-nhung-cau-chuyen-con-rat-moi-post251088.html