(Dan Tri) – In 1970, at the age of 25, Ms. Nguyen Thi Minh Chau was awarded the title of Hero of the People’s Armed Forces. She was also the only female commune police chief in Nghe An to receive this title.
Keeping the village peaceful, "sharing the fire" with the front line
Nearly 80 years old, Ms. Nguyen Thi Minh Chau (Hung Dung Ward, Vinh City, Nghe An) still has the demeanor of a police officer, although the signs of age are clearly visible on her face. Few people know that she is the only female commune police chief in Nghe An to be awarded the title of Hero of the People's Armed Forces, when she was only 25 years old.
The stream of memories slowly took her back to the years of performing her duties as a commune police officer during the period when the whole country entered the fight against the destructive war of American imperialism.
“I came to the police profession by chance. I was only 19 years old at that time, I saw the Party as something very sacred and wanted to be in its ranks. Therefore, I obeyed whatever the organization assigned me. At 19 years old, I became a commune police officer, even though I had only finished 4th grade and had no idea what my job was.
At that time, living in an atmosphere where the whole country was determined to defeat the American invaders, and there were no men in the localities, women had to take on the burden, from production to village and communal work. We worked and studied at the same time, with the sole goal of building and protecting the rear to share the fire with the front line," said Ms. Chau.
With the guidance of her predecessors, the support from the government and the district police, and through the challenges of practical work, policewoman Nguyen Thi Minh Chau quickly matured in terms of expertise, experience, and working capacity. In 1966, Ms. Chau became Deputy Chief of Quynh Hong Commune Police (Quynh Luu, Nghe An). A year later, she was admitted to the Party and assigned to be Vice Chairman of the Commune People's Committee and Chief of the Commune Police.
Quynh Hong, with its location along Highway 1, near Giat Station (Quynh Luu District), became the focus of US imperialism's attacks to cut off the supply route to the southern battlefield. This was also an area with many potential risks of infiltration by enemy intelligence groups to sabotage the government, sabotage the achievements of the revolution, and lure in the people...
In addition to the task of ensuring security and order, the Quynh Hong Commune Police Department, together with other forces and local authorities, participated in keeping traffic flowing smoothly on National Highway 1, protecting and evacuating supplies to the battlefield from enemy shelling from the sea and bombings. Ms. Chau was the one who came up with the initiative to classify the political attitudes of each family and the “3-hand management” model to store assets, in order to ensure absolute safety for more than 3,500 supplies serving the battlefield when passing through the area.
The lesson of relying on the people by establishing the Security Teams and the Blue Bird Teams helped Ms. Chau raise the people's vigilance against the intentions of spies to sabotage security and national unity. During her work, Ms. Chau discovered many cases of embezzlement and corruption occurring in cooperatives in the area...
The only female commune police chief in Nghe An was awarded the title of hero (Video: Hoang Lam).
As a woman, Ms. Chau has certain limitations. However, she considers herself to be “fearless” when caught in a task, such as the time she caught a thief alone in the middle of the night in August 1967. At that time, bicycle thefts were occurring continuously in the area. At that time, a bicycle was the biggest asset of many people, equivalent to tons of rice. The police of Quynh Hong commune and Quynh Luu district police investigated, but the thief remained a mystery.
Normally, patrol teams are arranged with 3-4 people, including commune police and police officers from clusters and hamlets. That day, even though it was not her shift, she still carried a flashlight to patrol.
“I noticed a tall, thin figure walking in the opposite direction. I turned on the flashlight and asked, “Who is it?” The man turned around and walked quickly. His unusual behavior made me suspicious, so I immediately followed him. He crossed the village, circled around the field, and headed to the hamlet on the other side of the field. I followed closely.
If I let him into the village, I was afraid it would be more difficult, so I fought a mock battle. I turned on the flashlight, shouted “Comrades, get in position, prepare your formation” and tried to get ahead. When I got close, I successfully restrained him with my bare hands, took the knife from him and took him to the commune police station,” Ms. Chau said.
During the initial investigation, the man confessed that he was Nguyen Van Quy (28 years old, from Thanh Hoa), who was scouting around to see which houses were open to steal bicycles. The case was transferred to the Quynh Luu District Police, where an inter-provincial bicycle theft ring involving many high-profile criminals was dismantled. Quy and his accomplices committed many thefts and sold them to a bicycle repair shop. Many of the stolen items were disassembled and thrown into a pond to hide, then recovered by the police and returned to the people.
With outstanding achievements, for many years, Quynh Hong Commune Police Department has been a unit determined to win the movement to protect national security. On August 25, 1970, female Commune Police Chief Nguyen Thi Minh Chau was awarded the title of Hero of the People's Armed Forces, when she was only 25 years old.
3 days as a wife, 7 years waiting for her husband
At that time, the Quynh Hong Commune Police Department had 23 members, from the commune to the hamlet. At one point, the department had up to 15 female officers, including key positions such as Chief and Deputy Chief of the Commune Police Department. Many of them had husbands fighting in the southern battlefield.
“In the morning, during planting or harvesting season, I wake up at 3 to 4 a.m., finish my farm work and family chores, then I can go to the commune to work or go to the district meeting, and perform the duties of a commune police officer.
My husband went to fight in the Southern battlefield, he was the only son in the family. My father-in-law was a party member, my mother-in-law was a progressive woman, they always created conditions and encouraged me to strive in my work," Ms. Chau confided.
While Mrs. Chau was talking to us, Mr. Tran The Phiet (84 years old) just sat quietly watching his woman. Their story is also typical of love in wartime, a love that was nurtured during the war, matured through challenges and remained firmly attached through all the ups and downs of life.
“We didn’t have time to fall in love when we got married. We lived together for only 3 days and 2 nights, then he went to war and was gone for 7 years without any news or letters,” said Ms. Chau.
When she grew up, he joined the army, so even though they were from the same village and were 4 years apart in age, the two did not talk much to each other even though the marriage was promised and arranged by their two mothers.
On April 17, 1966, the soldier returned from Hanoi to see her, informed her that he had orders to go to “B Dai” (the Southern battlefield) and proposed to her. So they got married, a wedding to put the person who left at ease, to give his parents hope for a grandson to continue the family line. Who knows what war is like?
Before they had even started living together, he left for the battlefield. She stayed home, fulfilling her duties as a daughter-in-law in the family and as a deputy, then chief of the commune police. Work took her away, and only on long, cold nights did she face loneliness and weakness, not knowing who to confide in.
She quietly packed it up, tried to act strong, but late at night she sat motionless for hours at the well at the village entrance. She worried about her husband who was under the threat of bullets and arrows, worried about her in-laws when he was an only child, and felt sorry for herself when she had not yet conceived a child during their short honeymoon.
She was just an ordinary woman. But she was born in wartime, a time when women could only wait and try to do their jobs well, to “share the burden” with their husbands, so that the song of peace and national unity would soon be sung…
She hid her weakness, but how could she fool her thoughtful mother-in-law? “One day, she took my hand and said, ‘Why don’t you go find a child to lessen your loneliness? Later, when Phiet comes back, your parents will tell you.’”
I was shocked and burst into tears, crying because my mother-in-law thought so much of her daughter-in-law. She loved me so much, how could I do something wrong to my husband? I believed he would come back, we would have our own children,” Mrs. Chau recalled.
But it was not until 1972 that the joy of reunion truly became a reality, when Mrs. Chau was sent to attend a police training course in Ha Tay province (old). Mr. Phiet, after fighting in Tay Ninh, was wounded and went to Hai Hung province (old) to recuperate. She was taken to the place where her husband was recuperating to meet him after 7 years of not hearing from each other. Her first son, Tran Hai Ha, was the result of her many trips from Ha Tay to Hai Hung to visit her husband.
After finishing the course, she returned to her hometown and a year later, she took a job at the Quynh Luu District Police. They had three more children together. During the first years of liberation, they overcame the common difficulties of the whole country, raised their children, and fulfilled their duties well.
She has worked in many different positions such as: records officer, security, criminal, interrogation... In every position, she has completed her tasks excellently, contributing to protecting the peaceful life of the people until her retirement with the rank of Major.
“I still remember one afternoon, standing by the roadside to catch a bus, a man approached and shouted, “Ms. Chau, do you remember me?”. The man raised his left hand with the little finger cut off, and continued: “Thanks to your teachings, I cut off my own finger, determined to start my life over.” Only then did I realize that it was T., a 16-year-old boy, who was my “target” when I was still the Chief of Police of Quynh Hong Commune.
T. was a loafer, a playboy, and participated in theft, so I had to file a case and send him to a reform school. When the case was completed, I called T. up and spent the whole afternoon talking, analyzing, and confiding in him. I told him he was still young and had a long future ahead of him, and that he had to be determined to change, only then could he continue living with his head held high. I was happy that T. had changed in a positive direction…”, Ms. Chau said.
Following in their mother’s footsteps, her two children became People’s Police officers. To her children, Mrs. Chau is both a mother and a comrade, and a person who gives them opinions and advice, so that they can be steadfast in life and in their careers.
After retirement, Ms. Chau continued to participate in local mass organizations. “The title of Hero of the Armed Forces is the result of the efforts of the entire Party Committee, government, Public Security Department and the people of Quynh Hong commune. I am just a representative. I always keep that in mind and remind myself that no matter what position I am in, I must strive to be worthy of the title of hero,” said former Major, Hero of the People's Armed Forces Nguyen Thi Minh Chau.
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