Call me a warrior on the cultural front
I visited him at a small house, located in a small alley, a small street of Vinh city. Poet Yen Thanh, real name Nguyen Thanh Binh, was born in 1945, from Thach Vinh commune, Thach Ha district, Ha Tinh province.
His family has 4 daughters, his wife passed away in 2020. He lives alone, seeing old friends, poet friends from the bomb era as a source of joy in his old age.
Author Yen Thanh. Photo: Ha Tinh Newspaper
He joined the youth volunteer force in the period 1965-1971 as a bridge engineer, in charge of engineering for 2 Youth Volunteer Teams N53 and N55. From April 1, 1968, the People's Committee of Ha Tinh province ordered the mobilization of the entire Youth Volunteer Team N55 to ensure traffic in the Dong Loc area, 16km long from Cong 19 of Phu Loc commune to Khe Giao of Xuan Loc commune, Can Loc district.
He was wounded at Khe Ut in 1968 and is now enjoying the policy of a 4/4 class disabled veteran.
He became famous for his famous poem “Cuc oi”. Talking very frankly and openly with me about the fierce years at Dong Loc T-junction, about the heroic sacrifice of 10 female youth volunteers of A4 squad, 552 Youth Volunteer Company and the poem “Cuc oi”, he said: “I have 2 things that I still worry about. First, don’t call me a poet. Second, when talking about Dong Loc, I don’t want to call it “Dong Loc Victory” but can call it by another name that is more realistic and humane”.
As a cadre in the youth volunteer force in the Dong Loc area, which stretched along Highway 15 during the fierce days of hot sun and blinding dust, and in the pouring rain, the road was muddy with "wheel tracks", the loud sound of airplane engines and the rumble of falling bombs and exploding bullets, he understood the great mission and responsibility of the youth volunteer force.
The working hours of the youth volunteers in the Dong Loc area were from 6pm to 5am the next morning. At that time, Dong Loc T-junction was still deserted, with very few houses, so few people dared to go alone to this place of death, bombs like potatoes, bullets like chaff. But when night fell, under the light of parachutes and flares, thousands of people walked and sang “I go to level the forest, I go to cut down the mountains. I am like a stream of water flowing endlessly…” then no one was afraid of death anymore…
During the glorious period on the heroic Route 15, poet Yen Thanh did things that were not his forte or expertise but were extremely effective. He composed poems, recited folk songs and popular songs of the time for the youth volunteer art troupes.
Many nights of flares tearing the sky apart, enemy planes roaring, timed bombs, cluster bombs, and magnetic bombs filling the roads but still could not drown out the cheers and songs of the A4 squad with the drivers and soldiers. The cheers and laughter of thousands of young men and women volunteers echoed throughout the hills of Dong Loc.
I understand why Yen Thanh doesn't want people to call him a poet, but wants to call him a soldier on the cultural front.
Ten immortal flowers
Dong Loc T-junction, Can Loc District, Ha Tinh Province is known as a “bomb bag”, “fire pan” in the resistance war against the US to save the country. This is an important key point in the traffic artery of the strategic transport route 15A connecting the Northern rear with the Southern front.
During the days of the US “limited bombing”, Dong Loc T-junction was never silent. The soil and rocks were “plowed and re-turned”, bomb craters were dense, piled on top of bomb craters. It is hard to believe that on this small piece of land, on average, each square meter of land had to bear up to 3 bombs.
Dong Loc T-junction historical site. Photo: Communist Party of Vietnam Electronic Newspaper
In hardship and danger, with the spirit of “living on the bridge and on the road, dying bravely and steadfastly”, thousands of young volunteers, along with other forces such as artillery troops, engineers, militia, and police, day and night clung to the bridge and road to defuse bombs and clear the way for vehicles to pass. The sacred slogan “blood may flow, the heart may stop, but the traffic veins will never stop” has become the command of the heart and the unshakable will of the young volunteers at Dong Loc T-junction.
Squad 4 of Company 552, Youth Volunteer Corps 55 Ha Tinh are shining examples of the spirit of serving, fighting and sacrificing heroically at Dong Loc T-junction 56 years ago.
On the afternoon of July 24, 1968, the road through Dong Loc was blocked by 40 tankers carrying gasoline to the battlefield waiting in the vehicle storage area. Receiving orders from comrade Tran Quang Dat, then Vice Chairman of the province, the Head of the Dong Loc Clearance Committee requested that units work overtime during the day to clear the road in time.
Squad leader Tan was assigned by the unit to work during the day, both filling bomb craters and digging T-shaped tunnels. At exactly 2 p.m., the entire squad arrived at Road 15A at the foot of Tro Voi Mountain. Tan and her nine sisters had just finished digging two intersecting T-shaped tunnels, about 15 meters from the western edge of the road. Cuc agreed to dig a personal round tunnel reserved for commander Tan.
Two waves of American planes circled the island continuously, dropped bombs on the scene and then left. The whole squad was safe. Tan finished filling the bomb crater and took a break. The third wave saw a group of three F105 and F4H planes rush in. Tan told the women to hide. This time, they did not drop bombs but circled around a few times and then turned back towards the East Sea. Suddenly, one of the three planes suddenly turned back. Tan called the women to the emergency bunker and Tan went in last.
Everyone rushed into two long trenches that had just been dug and had no covers. A bomb dropped from an airplane covered the entire squad at 4:00 p.m. on July 24, 1968.
From the observation post, C-Chief Nguyen The Linh ran down with Squad 5, Squad A8 and the bulldozer drivers nearby. When the smoke from the bomb gradually dissipated, no one appeared, only a few shovels, hats, shoes and sandals lying around the crater. After 2 hours of digging and crying, when the sunset had fallen on the Tro Voi mountain range, everyone discovered a head of black hair. Gently digging the ground, they picked up Vo Thi Tan, her body was soft, still warm, her face was purple, but her heart had stopped beating.
Everyone continued to painfully dig up the ground, discovering 6 people buried deep underground in the tunnel, the outermost was Nguyen Thi Xuan, then Nguyen Thi Nho, Vo Thi Ha, Tran Thi Rang and finally Tran Thi Huong. Digging the second tunnel perpendicular to the previous one, they found Duong Thi Xuan, Vo Thi Hoi and Ha Thi Xanh.
All 9 girls sacrificed their bodies while still intact, still warm, placed on 9 stretchers, lined up horizontally as when alive, the squad usually gathered. Only the deputy squad leader Ho Thi Cuc was still not found. Everyone assumed that Cuc had escaped to the mountains somewhere but continued to dig.
On the night of July 24, 1968, the unit decided to embalm and bury the 9 girls behind Bai Dia mountain pass. The grave area was divided into 2 rows, the front row was Vo Thi Tan's grave on the left, and on the right was an empty grave for Ho Thi Cuc. The unit buried the 9 girls but did not hold a memorial service, waiting to find Cuc.
On July 25, 1968, the Department of Transport sent a DT 54 bulldozer to dig for Ho Thi Cuc, but the unit quickly decided to dig by hand. It was not until 10:00 a.m. on July 26 that the unit found Cuc in the round tunnel that she had dug the previous afternoon, wearing a flat hat and carrying a hoe on her shoulder.
On the night of July 26, 1968, the unit quietly held a burial ceremony for Ho Thi Cuc at the cooperative warehouse yard. Thus, 10 female youth volunteers at Dong Loc Intersection said goodbye to their beloved comrades at the age of 18 or 20 on the fateful day of July 24.
Author Yen Thanh next to the stone stele engraved with the poem “Cuc oi” at Dong Loc T-junction (Can Loc – Ha Tinh). Photo: Tran Trung Hieu
Record for a poem
Talking to me about the context of the poem "Cuc oi", poet Yen Thanh, with tearful eyes, slowly recalled the tragic historical moment of 10 female youth volunteers at Dong Loc T-junction exactly 56 years ago.
If the afternoon of July 24th was the fateful day of the 10 Dong Loc girls, then the afternoon of July 25th was also a special afternoon, urging poet Yen Thanh to immediately write the poem "Cuc oi".
On the afternoon of July 25, on the second day that his comrades were trying to find Ho Thi Cuc in the bomb crater area, Yen Thanh entered the house of Chief Nguyen The Linh, he saw the remaining burial coffin had been moved to the gable of the ash garden of Mr. Bieu's house (Chief Linh's father). Sitting in deep thought, he felt sorry for Ho Thi Cuc's miserable fate. He sobbed, his face covered in tears, he sat next to Cuc's coffin and wrote a poem tentatively titled "Where is the Virgin's Soul?"
After 2 hours of painstakingly pondering over each word, he finished writing. Hesitating over the unfamiliar name, he changed it to “Cuc oi”. He quietly hid the poem in his pocket, not daring to tell anyone.
The next morning, July 26, he and the unit secretary went to the bomb crater where his comrades were looking for Cuc. Both stood solemnly and lit incense on a small table with an upside-down rice bowl and a banana tree trunk as an incense burner. Mr. Yen Thanh held the piece of paper, read very quietly the entire poem "Cuc oi" then burned it and both returned to the unit at 8:00 p.m.
At nearly 10pm, the news came that the unit had found Cuc…
After a while, Mr. Yen Thanh rewrote the poem “Cuc oi” and sent it to the “Voice of Poetry” program of the Voice of Vietnam. One night in August 1968, the poem “Cuc oi” was resounded on the Voice of Vietnam radio waves, read by artist Van Thanh. The 10 girls of Dong Loc T-junction mentioned in the poem “Cuc oi” are like 10 virgin moons shining brightly in the sacred land and sky of Dong Loc.
The famous poem "Cuc oi" by poet Yen Thanh has inspired sublime music, and to this day has been set to music by many musicians, adapted into cheo, cai luong and recited poetry.
40 years after the poem “Cuc oi” was published (1968-2008), the People’s Committee of Ha Tinh province coordinated with the Ha Tinh Association in Ho Chi Minh City and the City Musicians Association to organize a songwriting contest about the 10 girls of Dong Loc crossroads. Seven authors participated and composed music from the poem “Cuc oi”.
Those are the songs "Cuc oi" by Bui Hang Ry, "Em o noi mo" by Vo Cong Dien, "Cuc oi" by Vu Phuc An, "Cuc oi" by Nguyen Trung Nguyen, "Nhung trai tim trinh liet" by Pham Van Thang, "Cuc oi" by Ho Tinh An, "Mai goi ten em noi Nga ba Dong Loc" by Quang Vuong.
Of those 7 works, 2 are being commonly used in many art performances: “Cuc oi” by Bui Hang Ry and “Em o noi mo” by Vo Cong Dien…
Saying goodbye to him late at night, the 80-year-old war invalid showed me an invitation with the name of Poet Yen Thanh from the Management Board of Dong Loc T-junction Relic Site, to attend the incense offering ceremony in memory of martyrs on the morning of July 24, 2024.
Vietnamnet.vn
Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/thang-7-linh-thieng-gap-lai-nguoi-thuong-binh-tac-gia-bai-tho-cuc-oi-2304985.html
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