Commemorative ceremony in Trung Lap village

For over 70 years, every November 21 of the lunar calendar, 27 households in Trung Lap village, Xuan Lap commune (Tho Xuan) have held death anniversaries on the same day. "That was the saddest past of the whole village," said Mr. Do Huy Nhat, Party cell secretary and head of the Front Work Committee of Trung Lap 2 village.

During the resistance war against the French, the villages of Xuan Lap commune were a solid rear area, becoming the evacuation and stationing place of many agencies and units of the province and the central government such as: Regiment 9, Regiment 66 (75mm artillery unit), Battalion 355, Division 304; Pham Hong Thai Military Arsenal; Military Weapons Department of Inter-Zone 3; Workplace of General Hoang Minh Thao and Chinese experts; Political Department, Military Intelligence of Division 308, which regularly worked with Generals Vuong Thua Vu and Cao Van Khanh; Institute of Anti-Malaria Microbiology; Treasury and Finance Department of Inter-Zone 3; Rear Military Hospital B; Hospital K71 of the army (after 1954, it was handed over to Thanh Hoa province and converted into Thanh Hoa Tuberculosis Hospital); Station to receive French prisoners of war (wounded or sick); Inter-Zone 3 Nursing Camp - a place to care for and treat wounded and sick soldiers returning from the battlefield; Inter-Zone 3 Bank; War invalids camp of the province; Weapon and food warehouses... In addition, the villages of Xuan Lap commune were also chosen as meeting places and political and military training classes for the province and inter-zones Three and Four...

"Despite the hardships, with a passionate spirit of patriotism and hatred for the enemy, the people of Xuan Lap in general and Trung Lap village in particular are always ready to sacrifice and share; support and help the agencies and units stationed and working here as if they were blood relatives. Therefore, the movements "Assistance for national defense"; "Rice for the army", "Self-sufficient militia", "Support for local troops", "National bonds", "Resistance bonds", Party fund, Gun purchase fund... were all responded to and participated in by the people, selflessly" (Xuan Lap commune's geographical records, Thanh Hoa Publishing House, 2019).

Mr. Do Huy Nhat, Party cell secretary and head of the Front Work Committee of Trung Lap 2 village, introduced the memorial stele.

The resistance war against the French became more and more intense, requiring more contributions of human and material resources to the front line. On May 1, 1951, to address the need for food, the Government issued the Agricultural Tax Decree (No. 13-SL) and on July 15, 1951, it issued Decree No. 40 to promulgate the Temporary Regulation on Agricultural Tax. This was a major policy that was thoroughly implemented by the entire Party and the entire people.

Under the close direction of the Party cell and the inspection and supervision of the government and organizations, in the first tax collection in 1951 alone, the villages of Xuan Lap commune collected more than 100 tons of rice.

“In addition to the joy of completing the agricultural tax target with the state, to celebrate the founding day of the Vietnam People's Army (December 22), to celebrate the Ha Nam Ninh campaign (also known as the Quang Trung campaign), from the morning of December 21, 1951, the people of Xuan Lap village held a festival. The joy instantly turned into sadness. The French colonialists dropped 9 bombs on this place, killing 36 people, destroying houses and gardens,” said Mr. Do Huy Nhat, Secretary and Head of the Front Work Committee of Trung Lap 2 village.

Mr. Do Dinh Ton witnessed the death of 36 people when he was just 7 years old.

Although he was only 7 years old at that time, Mr. Do Dinh Ton still remembers the event very clearly. Because, "In my family alone, 7 people died, including my grandmother, my eldest uncle, my second uncle, my aunt-in-law, my father, my mother and my younger brother. Almost everyone died, and the 5-room house was also destroyed. My family only had my 10-year-old sister, me, 7 years old and my 2-month-old sister, along with a pile of dirt and 2 bomb craters."

Of the 36 people who died that day, 31 were from the same village, including 3 who were very young, about 1-2 years old, and had not yet been named. Therefore, the elders in the village named them Red. The identities of 6 people have not been determined to this day.

"Located right at the village intersection, the memorial stele of 36 innocent civilians reminds descendants in Trung Lap village in particular, and Xuan Lap commune in general, of the years when the whole nation overcame hardships and sacrifices, and villagers died from bombs and bullets of the French colonialists. Hating the enemy, many young people in the village volunteered to join the army, participating in campaigns, including the Dien Bien Phu campaign," added Mr. Do Huy Nhat.

Kieu Huyen

Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/le-gio-chung-o-thon-trung-lap-213112.htm