The first photo of the resistance war
In 1961, the young man from Cao Lanh (old Dong Thap) Nguyen Ngoc Thanh volunteered to join the revolution at the age of 17 (born in 1944). In 1964, he was selected to study photography at R (Southern Substation). As the first generation in the resistance war to be well-trained in photography, he directly participated in revolutionary struggle movements to record the heroic image of the revolutionary army and enemy crimes...
During the fierce years of the resistance war against the US, he followed the fighting units, appeared in the "bomb and bullet" battles to promptly record historical moments. The works that put his life in exchange under the pen name Hoang Dung have promptly encouraged revolutionary struggle movements and are valuable documents for the history of the struggle for national liberation...
After the national reunification day, still with the spirit of working hard for the profession, he continued to travel and record moments of life from rural to urban areas... and proactively organized many photography classes, trained photojournalists for press agencies and the cultural and information movement...
This is considered the foundation to give birth and create conditions for the Dong Thap - Dat Sen pink photography team to strongly rise and become a strong locality in the region and the whole country. With such continuous and enthusiastic contributions, he won many national and regional awards, and was awarded many noble titles in resistance warfare and art. Notable among them are the Nguyen Quang Dieu Literature and Arts Dedication Award, the title of photographic Artist with many outstanding contributions (ESVAPA), the 60-year Party membership badge (2025)...
And the pain is more than death
In 1969, while on a business trip to Lang Bien (old Thap Muoi district), he was seriously injured in both legs by a blast. After the national reunification day, the assessment agency determined that he was 43% disabled and he was recognized as a 4/4-class war invalid. His legs were disabled, causing him towalk every step, but the war invalid journalist was more painful than physical pain.
Hearing that her husband was injured, his wife tried to go to the resistance zone to visit her husband and both accidentally caught the orange powder from the crazy enemy. Later, when he saw many unusual signs in his body and went to the doctor, the doctor concluded that he had cancer due to sequelae of the Agent Orange. And with this sequelae, in 1978, his wife gave birth to Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Hien in an unusual condition.
In addition to not being independent in daily activities, Mr. Hien is also often sick. A few years ago, his wife passed away after a stroke. He alone has struggled with a second surgical wound from the sequelae of a devastating cancer, while taking care of his son who had a kidney removed... His remaining children are not really generous, so all expenses of this family of 2 people with fragile health only rely on pensions and support levels of more than 10 million VND/month.
And I was very shy when he revealed the future bottleneck: "I have a request to visit so that later... I can send my child to the protection point managed by the social workers' union, but this place says that he is an adult so he is not a subject of management". And so, although he is always optimistic, I still feel that behind those smiles is more pain than death. Because with cancer, it was considered that he was facing the death penalty. But he is still responsible for the intestines that need his hands to take care of each piece of food and clean up all daily activities...
