'The People's Newspaper is my luggage to go to war'

Bullets tore, fire burned, his body was no longer intact, but the Nhan Dan newspaper that soldier Dinh Xuan Ly held in his arms remained intact until the day he returned victorious. The Party newspaper that printed Uncle Ho's photo that year was the driving force that urged him to overcome all difficulties on the battlefield and was his luggage when he returned to peacetime.

Veteran Dinh Xuan Ly recounts battlefield memories with students of Dinh Hoa High School.

As a person who regularly read Party newspapers since he was young, most of the major events of the country published in Nhan Dan Newspaper since the 1960s have been carefully kept by Mr. Dinh Xuan Ly, like a collector. Every time the country celebrates an anniversary, he finds them again to compare, contemplate and research as a living resource for himself. Reading, then teaching himself to write, compose poems... and sending them to newspapers has become an elegant hobby for him. That is veteran Dinh Xuan Ly, a brave man who shot down enemy planes twice, in Ho Sen residential group, Cho Chu town (Dinh Hoa).

In 1971, when he was ordered to join the army to fight to liberate the South and unify the country, in addition to his simple belongings, Mr. Ly did not forget to wrap two issues of Nhan Dan Newspaper published on September 5, 1969 and September 10, 1969, reporting the day of Uncle Ho's death and the memorial service for President Ho Chi Minh , in a plastic sheet and carried it with him.

For more than 50 years, veteran Dinh Xuan Ly still recalls with emotion each time he flipped through that newspaper page to read on his way to the battlefield. Mr. Ly slowly recounted: That year I was 20 years old, like many young men of the same age, with a desire to go to war with guns to protect the Fatherland. At that time, we were very proud to be children of the revolutionary ATK, growing up on the land of Thai Nguyen , the cradle of revolutionary journalism (Huynh Thuc Khang Journalism School and the place where the first issue of Nhan Dan Newspaper was printed and published on March 11, 1951)...

I remember the eulogy printed in the newspaper to bid farewell to Uncle Ho was very special when the country was still at war, the North and the South were still divided. Most of the eulogy content was 5 honorable oaths: Farewell to Him, we swear to fight and defeat the American invaders, liberate the South, protect the North, and unify the country; continue to strive to realize the ideals of socialism and communism; maintain the unity of the Party, strengthen the Party's fighting power, act as the nucleus for the national solidarity bloc, ensure the complete victory of the revolutionary cause of the working class and the Vietnamese people; promote pure international sentiment, actively contribute to the struggle of the people of the world for peace, national independence, democracy and socialism; study His morality and style for life.

The oaths of farewell to Uncle Ho over the past half century have been and are being carried out by the entire Party and people, and generations of Vietnamese people. The eulogy read at the memorial service is a particularly valuable historical document, a heroic and moving piece of writing. The entire page 3 of the newspaper reported on the memorial service for President Ho Chi Minh at Ba Dinh Square, Hanoi Capital. The article talks about the life and brilliant revolutionary career of President Ho Chi Minh, his noble personality, the image of him reading the Declaration of Independence at Ba Dinh Square in 1945...

In the early days of his military service, Mr. Dinh Xuan Ly was trained as an infantryman, then became a soldier of the 320th Division marching along the Truong Son mountain range to the front line. There were times when he opened the Nhan Dan Newspaper and passed it around to read with his comrades, as if giving them unparalleled strength.

All three times Mr. Ly was wounded, the bullets tore through his backpack, hitting his back and stomach, but miraculously, the newspaper was still intact. "Every time I was transferred to the military medical station to recuperate, I flipped through the pages of the newspaper to read with the wounded soldiers. At that time, we seemed to forget all the pain and hoped to soon follow the troops to battle," Mr. Ly said.

On the battlefield, even though he was an infantryman and had just “been introduced” to the 12.7mm machine gun, when facing the enemy, his only orders were to fight and win. In a battle to capture an enemy post in Duc Co district, Gia Lai province, in 1972, Mr. Ly was assigned to a machine gun battery and assigned the task of gunner number 1.

After our troops had overwhelmed the battle, suddenly four American AD6 jets flew in from Da Nang sea to bomb the battlefield. The entire battlefield was silent as if no one was there. He nervously raised his gun and pointed it straight at the planes, waited until they were close, locked on the target and pulled the trigger. In a split second, the planes wobbled, emitted smoke and crashed into the sea. The three remaining planes were also frightened and turned around to flee. The whole unit cheered and hugged the artillery battery, cheering loudly at the miraculous victory when the infantry shot down the planes...

In 1973, when his unit participated in protecting the liberated zone in Gia Lai, the enemy sent HU-1A helicopters to attack. In a moment of surprise, the 12.7mm battery quickly moved into combat position. Mr. Ly waited for the helicopter to approach and when he counted 12 paratroopers and pilots on board, he decided to open fire. The first two shots quickly brought down the plane.

In November 1975, veteran Dinh Xuan Ly completed his mission and returned to continue his university studies and work until retirement age. Despite being a 4th-class disabled veteran and a subject infected with Agent Orange, he still diligently wrote articles and poems. The poetry publications of veteran Dinh Xuan Ly that left an impression on readers include: "Vang mai khuc quan hanh" "Ngoi ca", or the poems "Con ve Khau Ty" "Tears of reunion" ...

In 2017, he donated some battlefield relics and 2 issues of Nhan Dan Newspaper to Thai Nguyen Provincial Museum for preservation. Now 74 years old, every year he visits the place where his battlefield backpack and the 2 Nhan Dan Newspapers that followed him throughout his years at the front line are displayed, as if to remember his comrades and the youth who once crossed the Truong Son mountain range to save the country.

Source: https://baothainguyen.vn/xa-hoi/202506/to-bao-nhan-dan-lam-hanh-trang-theo-toi-ra-tran-18f28d9/