Entering the train route
Accompanying the CTTNB reporter team to visit the old U Minh base, we were lucky to meet Colonel Bang Van Doi - a legend of U Minh in the resistance war and national construction. Having entered the age of 96, but just hearing the two words U Minh mentioned, his eyes were as if if they were brightly colored: "That is the line of fire". Then he took us back in time with fierce bombs and bullets...
Determining that this is the area of many leading agencies in the Southwest region, such as: Military Commission and Military Region 9, Security Committee of Region 9, Rach Gia Provincial Party Committee... the enemy regularly launched sweeps in many forms, such as: transportation warships, long-distance transportation, small fleets on the river... and also launched the "U Minh Grass Mound" campaign 3 times. Even every time they hit a place with bombs and bullets, they bring them to the U Minh forest that has fallen down as if to dump all the garbage before returning to the cave.
Working under the rain of bombs and bullets, but the reporter's equipment was very simple. Former journalist Tran Thu Dong in his memoir My Land and People has repeatedly expressed this feeling: It is not clear whether there are any reporters in the world who work like us? As war reporters, we go into battle like shock soldiers, but soldiers have weapons, but we only have pens and courage. Therefore, every time they take action in a professional match, they face danger and loss.
When we asked him how many times he faced death while working, Mr. Ngo Hoang Van immediately said: "Many times. If we count carefully, it will be up to a few dozen, even a hundred". However, it seems that the harshness of bullets is just like a spring that suppresses emotions for the guys and girls to jump up the fuel in the penny booth.
Every time we read the pages of wartime newspapers, we admire the beauty of the chicken skin. Because there is not only information about the fiery battlefield, but also the content of the heart that loves each little piece of homeland to the end of the emotions.
Writing about the time he escaped death after being equipped with modern weapons by the squadron under the support of the old Dam aircraft on April 29, 1968 (Battle Without Balance), Mr. Truong Thanh Nha described the emotions that only those who were once pressured to the last minute of human life could feel: When I understood that I was about to die, everything in life that I was most closely attached to appeared. It's all like a roll in which the settings, the characters are selected in a unique way and filmed very quickly...".
But as soon as he wrote about the pen of a battlefield reporter, he still retained the poetic quality in each word: I stepped ashore on the six-month journey as if stepping into a sweet spiritual world. Here, the people are all excited, everyone is waiting for me with all their worries. Everyone looked at me sympathetically and touched me affectionately. Each word of the speech seems to pour honey into my heart... I hear the wounds almost soothe after the fierce battle surrounded by the enemy.
The fire of the profession
"We consider the sacrifice for the revolutionary cause as a daily task, when one person is on duty, it is the turn of another" - Mr. Truong Thanh Nha helped the generations to mature after the war as we understand why, having just returned from the brink of death, the PV CTTNB volunteered to follow the troops to the battle. Many people even volunteered to follow the true army with the hope of getting the best work...
Photographer Le Ngoc Bich (born in 1947), former reporter of Chien Thang Newspaper, recalled that in January ( dry season) 1967 she participated with Company 1, Battalion 207 to attack Thuy Lieu (Go Quao district). Because the camera does not have a camera, to take a satisfactory photo, he asked to follow the main camera and suggested waiting for the enemy to approach at close range before issuing a shot so he could take close-up photos.
When the target was 5 meters away, from the ambush point, Mr. Bich suddenly stood up to play the engine and shouted for fire. When our army defeated the enemy in the first place, Mr. Bich rushed up to take photos of the soldiers chasing and fleeing the enemy. After that, one of those vivid photos won the Third Prize in the Southwest region trendy photo contest.
And we admire the sacrifice of Mr. Nguyen Thanh Nhan, Van Bay Tran (1932-1965), former Secretary of the General Department of Chien Thang Newspaper. Just to add vivid details to the article, he accepted to go into the forest, travel back to the scene and was discovered by an enemy helicopter and shot dead.
In 1965, the Rach Gia Provincial Front Committee mobilized people in An Bien and Vinh Thuan districts to dig and build dykes along the U Minh Thuong forest to prevent water from fighting against forest destruction and protect the revolutionary base. Mr. Bay Tran was assigned to report on this event. Although his weakness due to lung disease is rampant after a period of being tortured and detained by prisoners, after returning from a field trip, he heard that the project had new, expensive details, so he decided to return...
Or like Mr. Nguyen Van Cong, self-proclaimed Bay Truyen (1944 1971) painter of Chien Thang Newspaper, because of the passion for the profession, decided to join the fire front. With a love for his job, after being assigned to draw the cover of Xuan newspaper with the theme "Resistance against the strategic hamlet, returning to the old garden" (in 4 colors) for Xuan Nham Ty (1972), he volunteered to take on the responsibility of drawing the cover, drawing illustrations and making the entire 30-page newspaper box, 20 x 30cm thick. After that, he and the staff and workers of Ho Van Tau Publishing House completed printing 5,000 Xuan newspapers on time.
After the newspaper was published, with the desire to distribute it to readers soon, Mr. Truyen continued to take responsibility for sending the newspaper from the printer to the Provincial Post Office. "This is a brave act of love for the job" - Mr. Truong Thanh Nha recalled his teammates.
At that time, the rebels continuously launched a campaign to sweep through Vinh Hoa commune, Vinh Thuan district (now U Minh Thuong), committing many crimes against the people... But with the determination to issue newspapers in time to officers, soldiers and people to celebrate Tet, he decided to go... After dark, he put the gun on his shoulder and "carried the newspaper" to the forest... In the middle of the road, he fell into the enemy ambush area. After being suddenly shot, he died at the moment of New Year's Eve.
