After the wedding, the two spent one night together. The next day, he left to take over Dong Ha, and she stayed to serve the patients...
Couple Anh Thu - Tran Chieu taken when they were young - Photo: NVCC
They met during the resistance war, fell in love and got married on the battlefield. 55 years have passed but the story of their love is still vividly and freshly recalled by Mr. Tran Chieu as if it were yesterday, including the memory of the wedding night when his comrades covered him with... a hammock during wartime.
Beautiful girl, talented boy
Mr. Tran Chieu, now 85 years old, said that his love story began in the jungle in December 1969. At that time, his wife, Truong Anh Thu, a Quang Tri girl who grew up in Hanoi, had just graduated from medical school and was assigned to the Quang Tri battlefield as a doctor for the Tri Thien region's medical department. He, who had graduated from pharmacy in Hanoi, was assigned to the Quang Tri battlefield three years earlier.
They met, dated, fell in love and became husband and wife on this fierce battlefield. "Back then, we were in the same unit, the Tri Thien Regional Medical Department. When we first met, we had a slight crush on each other. Because I was a pharmacist and she was a nurse, we often met and worked together and found that we had a lot in common and so we officially dated" - Mr. Chieu recalled the fate that started on the old battlefield.
The reason for their fateful encounter was said to be because the girl was a beautiful, hard-working, and friendly young lady, whose image gradually left a deep impression on the boy's family. The boy "had many talents, was very elegant, very scholarly, and different in the battlefield setting".
At that time, in addition to treating patients and taking care of their health, Dr. Thu was also assigned to grow vegetables on the alluvial land by the stream to serve meals for the unit. "I was always moved by the image of her watering vegetables: two plastic bags full of water on both ends, carried across the place where I worked. That gait glided through the sunlight, and that smile too, how beautiful he was!"...
Mr. Chieu recounted many times that she complimented his talent. At that time, a fellow countryman gave him a piece of fresh venison. With just a handful of rice and a can of powdered milk, he quickly and skillfully made delicious banh cuon. "I said that today there was venison to make banh cuon, so I invited her to stay. She accepted. Seeing me make it, she was very surprised and touched. When we ate together, she praised me over and over again, and kept mentioning it."
Another time, two colleagues were preparing for a wedding in the unit. When she was worried about not having new clothes to wear to the wedding in a situation where all the clothes were old and no one knew how to sew. Mr. Chieu immediately said: "There is a way".
He took apart his girlfriend's old shirt piece by piece, then placed it on a white medical cloth, cut each part and borrowed a needle and thread to sew it back into a new shirt. "I was sewing the shirt while talking to her. She was very touched, saying that I had many unexpected talents. She said he knew everything. From then on, we admired each other very much."
Get married
For over 25 years, the biggest and most talked about regret of the whole family is the wedding photo of the couple Anh Thu - Tran Chieu in the middle of the battlefield, which was swept away by the historic flood in November 1999. According to the story, although the wedding was in the middle of a battlefield hut, the bride's dress was as beautiful as the wedding of a young lady in the capital Hanoi.
In early 1972, pharmacist Chieu and a comrade volunteered to cycle to Hanoi to receive central medicine for the Quang Tri battlefield. Five days of dangerous bombs and bullets, many scenes of destruction and mourning took place on the road, but it was nothing because the young man's will was focused on another important task. He brought with him a letter from his lover to her father in Hanoi, asking to marry him.
"I delivered the letter nervously. But fortunately, after reading the letter, the old man agreed immediately. He said: "That's good. If you find each other suitable, then build a family together. Depending on the situation, the unit will organize the wedding, but the family cannot go in."
After the liberation of Gio Linh on April 2, 1972, pharmacist Chieu continued his journey to Hanoi to receive central medicine to support the Quang Tri battlefield for the second time. This time, upon hearing the news, the leaders of the Ministry of Health gave gifts and congratulated the couple on their happiness.
The wedding news was sent out, many relatives, especially the bride's friends in Hanoi happily received it, congratulated her with many wedding gifts. Especially, the group of friends from the medical department provided Anh Thu with everything like a young lady getting married in the heart of Hanoi at that time. That was a pure white ao dai that fit the bride, white shoes, white socks, corsage, hairpin, Hai Chau candy, Ba Dinh tea, Thang Long cigarettes...
Returning to Quang Tri, they were afraid of being criticized as "petty bourgeois", so they went to present it to their chief named Son. Mr. Son decided: "It's up to you, you can wear whatever you want". The wedding was held at the Gio An battlefield, Gio Linh, Quang Tri in July 1972, with chief Son as the master of ceremonies.
The bride looked gorgeous in the middle of the evacuation camp that everyone had helped build. If there were no cups, everyone brought their own bowls of rice to drink tea and eat candy. The wedding was simple but very happy and photos were taken as souvenirs.
On their wedding night, the couple was lent a hammock by their comrades, surrounded by a temporary floor made of bamboo. After spending one night together, they temporarily parted ways. He went to take over Dong Ha. She stayed to take care of the patients. On her day off, she walked into the devastated Dong Ha to meet her husband. They officially became together and had a stable place to live when the town (now Dong Ha City) was rebuilt...
Live a happy life
Through many ups and downs, mergers, moves and changes, the couple remained committed to the medical industry until their retirement. In 1955, at the age of 15, Tran Chieu walked from his hometown of Cam Lo to Vinh Linh special zone (in the same Quang Tri province) to attend high school.
Being active and exposed to many things, growing up, he was admitted to the Youth Union quite early, and in May 1962 he was admitted to the Party, becoming one of the first young party members of this special zone high school.
After graduating, he went to the North with the intention of studying economics (finance) or maritime to travel around, but his superiors sent him to study pharmacy to serve the unification of the South. He attended the first course of the pharmaceutical industry of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.
After reunification, he participated in establishing a pharmaceutical company in Dong Ha, then went to Hue to work for Binh Tri Thien Pharmaceutical Company when the province was established. In 1989, Quang Tri province was re-established, he returned to his home province to work in the health sector and became deputy director of the Department of Health until his retirement in 2000.
Similarly, his wife Truong Anh Thu was a good granddaughter of Uncle Ho, met and took a photo with him in May 1955, studied medicine and went to the battlefield. After reunification, she continued to work as a doctor at the hospital in Dong Ha.
When Binh Tri Thien province was established in 1976, she moved to Hue and taught at the Medical College (now Hue Medical College) until her retirement in 2000. Ms. Anh Thu passed away in 2010 at the age of 65.
The couple has two daughters: the eldest daughter, Tran Thuc Anh, was born in 1973, during the war; the second daughter, Tran Hoai Anh, was born in 1978. Both are good students and work quite successfully in Hue City.
Among their three grandchildren, a granddaughter is following in her grandparents' footsteps: she is a medical student at Hue University of Medicine and Pharmacy and a grandson is a student at Hue University of Economics. They live near each other in Xuan Phu apartment building, Thuan Hoa district, Hue city...
"In this A-shaped bunker... the hospital held weddings... The wedding of Doctor Anh Thu and Pharmacist Chieu was more lively. Because Chieu went to Hanoi, the family sent some candy and cakes to prepare for the wedding. On the wedding day, I even used a chopstick heated by fire to style Anh Thu's hair like a goat's perm. Doctor Thu went to the battlefield... it was much more difficult than ours."
DR. NGUYEN THI LOI
(memoirs of a time, Thuan Hoa Publishing House 2018)
Source: https://tuoitre.vn/ra-gieng-anh-cuoi-em-ky-cuoi-tang-vong-che-dem-dong-phong-thoi-bom-dan-2025021423234209.htm
Comment (0)