PANO – Stories of the glorious time fighting foreign invaders were recalled vividly by historical witnesses at the exchange, “Promoting the 70-year tradition of the heroic Vietnam People’s Army (VPA)” recently co-organized by the People’s Newspaper and the General Department of Politics of the VPA.
Seventy years ago, at the Tran Hung Dao Forest in Tam Kim commune, Nguyen Binh district, Cao Bang province, the Vietnam Armed Propaganda Unit for National Liberation, the predecessor of the VPA, was born with 34 members.
Recalling that old days, veteran, Lieutenant Colonel Nong Van Khai, former commander of Hoa An District Military Command in Cao Bang province said that when the unit made debut, materials for engineering workshop in Lam Son base, Hoa An district, such as iron buckets, shovel, copper pots, pig-iron pans, broken knives and sickles, were all provided by local people.
Delegates talking on the sidelines of the exchange
The French invaders reinforced their fortifications around the revolutionary base, arrested and killed many revolutionaries, they could not subdue the locals’ loyalty and strong will. What cook Nong Van Khai could not forget was that even though locals lived in poverty, they always put aside the best for the troops. The people’s support and assistance had been the driving force for them to defeat foreign invaders.
Actually, in combat, the boundary between life and death is like a thread. However, Vietnamese officers and troops were always ready to confront danger and to sacrifice their lives for peace, independence and freedom of the nation.
Hero of the People’s Armed Forces, Vice Admiral Nguyen Van Tinh, former Political Commissar of the Navy highlighted the courage and dauntlessness of Commando Unit 126 under the Navy. Between 1966 and 1972, the unit was involved in 5 campaigns with more than 300 battles, wiping out thousands of enemies, sinking and destroying 372 warships, cargo ships, dozens of tons of weapons and equipment of US invaders and the Saigon puppet troops.
For Hero of the People’s Armed Forces, Colonel Nguyen Thanh Trung, the air attack on the Independence Palace on April 8th, 1974 under the cover of a pilot of the air force of the Republic of Vietnam remained fresh in his mind. At that time, Squadron F5E Tiger (Squadron 540) was ordered to bomb western part of Phan Rang. With careful calculation, pilot Nguyen Thanh Trung hoaxed the enemy, flew from Bien Hoa to Sai Gon (now Ho Chi Minh City) with four Mk 82 bombs, two AIM missiles and 560 rounds of 20mm aircraft ammunition. At 8:15 am, from the aircraft Nguyen Thanh Trung dropped two Mk 82 bombs over the Independence Palace and flew the aircraft to the enemy’s Nha Be petrol depot.
Nguyen Thanh Trung held that it was only soldiers of the Vietnam People’s Army who could control the combat aircraft F5E, landing on the nearly 1km airway (the standard airway for such aircraft is 3km), and fly 10m from the ground. “It is Uncle Ho’s soldiers’ stuff and intellectual”, the veteran stressed.
Meanwhile, Major General Vo So, Head of the Truong Son-Ho Chi Minh Road Traditional Association recalled the time making ways for national salvation under the spirit “Opening roads to go ahead, combating enemies to march forward”. The general said that in 16 continuous years, Truong Son troops transported millions of tons of weapons, ammunition, food, thousands of cubic meters of oil and petrol, ensuring the reinforcement of troops to the front and materials and technologies for big campaigns. More than two thousands of Truong Son soldiers sacrificed their lives; three thousands of others were wounded and thousands were exposed to Agent Orange/Dioxin. Those sacrifices greatly contributed to maintaining the traffic for the liberation of the South and the reunification of the nation.
Lieutenant General Nguyen Trong Nghia, Deputy Director of the General Department of Politics said at the exchange that during the 70 years of construction, combat and growing up, generations of the VPA’s officers and troops, in any conditions, have always outstandingly fulfilled missions assigned by the Party and the people.
Translated by Ngoc Bich
Đăng ký: VietNam News