However, Thi was not a “golden goose”. His salary as a captain after returning from the war was only enough to cover the endless, long-distance trips of a journalist. All the big and small things in the house had to be covered by the carpentry shop of his wife, Minh, who was a virtuous and capable person.
Grown from war
In early 1975, while studying Literature in the final class of Phan Dinh Phung High School - a top school in Ha Tinh, the war against America entered its fierce stage. Thi and his friends were mobilized into the army to supplement the fighting on the Southern battlefield.
After the elite special forces training program at Gia Lam airport, Thi and his teammates were deployed to support the historic Ho Chi Minh campaign in 1975.
Journalist Le Anh Thi - Vietnam Veterans Newspaper presents gifts to female soldiers of the heroic Ngu Thuy Artillery Company in Le Thuy district, Quang Binh province.
After 10 years as an elite special forces soldier, going through many missions, many different battlefields, and facing enemy bombs and bullets many times, Le Anh Thi still steadfastly overcame them. As a military police officer in Ho Chi Minh City in the early days of liberation, he patrolled day and night, eliminating thugs, robbers, and shooters in the city center... In October 1977, he and his unit rushed to the Tay Ninh border, reinforcing the 429th Regiment, special forces of Military Region 7.
Witnessing with their own eyes the crimes of the Pol Pot soldiers, who crossed the Tay Ninh border at night and massacred 501 people in a commune of Tan Bien district along with dozens of our border guards, Thi and his comrades were filled with hatred. Their feet had left their mark day after day, sleepless nights, on the border strip of Tay Ninh province; from Kong Pong Cham to Niek Luong ferry to save the people and destroy the brutal Khmer Rouge.
Until today, nearly 46 years later, sitting and telling stories to me, Thi's tears still flow when remembering the sacrifice of the Special Forces Regiment Commander Ba Tong and 9 friends in the same platoon, most of whom were from Duc Tho, Ha Tinh in December 1977.
The memorial service for E Truong Ba Tong and his nine beloved comrades in their twenties at Duong Minh Chau base that night left a deep and inconsolable pain in Thi's heart, reminding him how to live and fight so as not to let down his deceased friends.
Thanks to his training, efforts, and excellent completion of his mission in the K battlefield (Cambodia), Thi was selected by his superiors to train as a special forces officer. When the Northern border war broke out, he and his fellow students were allowed to graduate early and promoted to military ranks by the Ministry of National Defense to supplement the front line in time.
The heroic sacrifices of our comrades and compatriots in the war against America and to protect the two borders in the Southwest and the North of the Fatherland revived the love of literature and writing of Captain Le Anh Thi.
Collaborator writer at the Special Forces, Le Anh Thi, soon caught the eye of his superiors. He was selected by the General Department of Politics to attend the first training course for military reporters and worked as a journalist in the armed forces until June 1988.
Journalist for comrades
After 10 years of dedicated work for the Veterans newspaper, in 2007, Le Anh Thi officially became a reporter for the editorial office and has been based in the North Central provinces until now.
Leaders of the Veterans Association at all levels as well as colleagues working in the area always have respectful and loving feelings when talking about journalist Le Anh Thi. He is a reporter who always lives responsibly for his profession, colleagues and teammates. That is shown in hundreds of his works about the noble examples and great sacrifices of veterans and their relatives in both war and peacetime.
Journalist Le Anh Thi (left) and Laotian colleagues working at Cau Treo International Border Gate, Ha Tinh.
Through his pen, the images and actions of soldiers returning from war become so beautiful. It is impossible to remember how many times Le Anh Thi has connected with readers, helping veterans and their families overcome illness and hardship. My colleague told me that once, based on information from a friend, Thi immediately got in the car and traveled all afternoon, traveling dozens of kilometers of forest roads to the home of veteran - wounded soldier Nguyen Van Buong in the mountainous commune of Huong Thuy (Huong Khe - Ha Tinh) to find out what happened.
Thanks to his article: “Save a veteran in critical condition” published in the Veterans newspaper, readers from near and far supported hundreds of millions of dong, helping Mr. Buong get to the hospital, promptly amputating a leg to save other parts of his body from infection and necrosis.
Reading his series of reports and notes: “April to Con Dao”, “Cambodia - the day of return”; “Echoes of Dien Bien ” will show the full force of his writing and passion for his profession of a journalist over sixty years old. This is the result of his multi-day trip, more than 10 thousand kilometers long from Con Dao, Phu Quoc, Ca Mau Cape, all the way to Cambodia, back to Lung Cu flagpole, Dong Dang Fort, up to the Dien Bien Phu battlefield.
In 2017, he traveled with the soldiers of Truong Sa for 15 days, visiting 11 large and small islands, taking thousands of photos, writing dozens of articles, and winning many valuable awards from Nhan Dan Television, Nguoi Lao Dong Newspaper, and the North Central Art Photography Festival.
Recently, he told me some very good news. The article: “53 years of sacrifice without being recognized as a martyr” and the years of effort he and the Ha Tinh Youth Volunteers Association spent to demand justice for former Youth Volunteers Tran Van Hoan in Truong Son Commune (Duc Tho - Ha Tinh) who sacrificed at Dong Loc Intersection during the resistance war against the US has received positive feedback. Earlier this year, Ha Tinh sent a dispatch to the Ministry of Labor - Invalids and Social Affairs requesting recognition of this case as a sacrifice while on duty. Hopefully, Mr. Hoan will have a decision to recognize him as a martyr on this occasion of July 27.
Thi laughed happily and did not forget to repeat the saying of the French revolutionary poet Louis Aragon, which he deeply admired, every time he talked about the responsibility of the living for the sacrifice of their comrades: "The dead should not be allowed to die twice. One is from enemy bombs and bullets, the other is from the forgetfulness of their fellow men!"
Khac Hien
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