Le Anh Xuan and "Vietnamese Posture"

Editor's note: It is known that the Military Region 7 Command is completing the dossier to propose conferring the title of Hero of the Armed Forces to a number of cadres and soldiers who had achievements during the period of resistance against the US to save the country. Among them are a number of artists such as musician Hoang Viet, writer Nguyen Thi, poet Le Anh Xuan... and a number of other comrades. There is a respectful and interesting thing that Le Anh Xuan was proposed to confer the title of Hero along with Nguyen Van Mao, the soldier who created the "Stance of Vietnam" about whom Le Anh Xuan wrote a poem. We would like to introduce the article Le Anh Xuan and “Vietnam’s Posture” by writer Dinh Phong about the “relationship” between two heroes in the same event “Vietnam’s Posture”. (Ho Chi Minh City Police Newspaper, Friday, February 18, 2011).Ca Le Hien and I marched to the South with the group in 1964. Hien was in the education department because he was teaching at Hanoi University. Hien was two years younger than me, but I liked Hien so I talked to him often. When we went to school for training, everyone had to change their names to keep it a secret when they returned to the South, to avoid being discovered by the enemy as a Northern cadre sent to the front. At that time, Ca Le Hien changed his name to Le Lan Xuan because he had a girlfriend named Xuan Lan. Later, when he entered the battlefield, Hien changed his name to Le Anh Xuan. Crossing Truong Son was difficult, and Hien was weak, so he had to try very hard. With high spirit and determination, Hien also reached the last station. He was assigned to the Education Subcommittee of the Central Propaganda Department. In May 1965, the Propaganda Department summoned journalists and writers to attend the first Congress of Heroic Emulation Soldiers of the Liberation Army. Le Anh Xuan was invited to join the writing team and was assigned to write about Hero Nguyen Van Tu - his fellow countryman who had achievements in using spike pits and hornets to fight the enemy. The record was only one and a half pages long and Nguyen Van Tu had sacrificed himself, but with his love for his homeland and his willingness to exploit the materials of his comrades in arms, he successfully wrote the story Hero Nguyen Van Tu. In 1966, he and I participated in transporting weapons from the Vietnam - Cambodia border to the rear. With the support of the Phnom Penh government, a line of weapons was transported from Xihanucvin port to the Tay Ninh and Binh Phuoc borders. Trucks dumped guns and ammunition into the old forests. We rushed out to carry them deep into Vietnam. Light ones like ammunition boxes were carried on our shoulders, heavy ones like gun cases required two or four people to carry them. We ate in the middle of the forest, slept rough under the tree roots to bring guns and ammunition back to the troops later. One day in late 1967, I went to transport rice, taking a shortcut across the Political Training School of the Propaganda Department. From the house listening to the lecture, Le Anh Xuan ran out to the street, grabbed my hand and said very excitedly, "I have been admitted to the Party, I am attending a new Party member class." I congratulated Xuan. During the Mau Than 1968, most of the Propaganda Department's agencies went to send troops to the Saigon front. Le Anh Xuan and some of his sick brothers had to stay home. In the middle of the first phase (around March 1968), from the Saigon front, the brothers returned to the base. Some reporters from the Liberation News Agency had sacrificed their lives. The Propaganda Department gathered the political class to report the situation and clearly stated our determination to try to liberate Saigon as soon as possible. The leaders told a story that made all of us cry; Uncle Ho saw that the situation on the battlefield in the South was difficult, so he determined to train, carry bricks and stones to prepare to go to the South to direct the battle. The Politburo members asked Uncle Ho to rest assured, the whole Party and the whole people were determined to fight to liberate the South soon so that Uncle Ho could visit. We reminded each other to do something so that Uncle Ho would not have to cross Truong Son to the South - because Uncle Ho did not have enough strength to go like us. In early May 1968, Le Anh Xuan and Hong Tan were sent to "go to the streets" to participate in the second attack campaign. I went with the two of them to the outskirts. The battlefield was extremely fierce at that time, many of our comrades had sacrificed. Mr. Tran Bach Dang, in charge of Propaganda of the front, did not want writers and journalists to go to the battlefield because he was afraid of casualties. Then he requested: Only those who had their agency's head introduce and guarantee them could go to the front. I did not have a head here, so I had to carry my backpack to the rear. Mr. Mai Loc and Mr. Giang Nam, the heads of the Literature and Arts Subcommittee, signed the papers allowing Le Anh Xuan and Hong Tan to "go to the streets". The two of them left the day before, and two days later I received news that both of them had sacrificed themselves. When Le Anh Xuan and Hong Tan arrived at the battlefield, the Americans suddenly arrived and set up a checkpoint. The local guerrillas took them down to a secret bunker. This was a low-lying area, and all the bunkers were flooded, making it difficult to breathe. Xuan and Tan had no experience in secret bunkers in the plains. According to the rules, they were not allowed to sleep in a secret bunker. If two people were in the bunker, they had to take turns staying awake. When they felt suffocated, they had to use a piece of wood from the bunker to make a hole for ventilation. However, perhaps the two men did not dare to make a hole because the Americans were stationed right on top of the bunker. In the afternoon, the brothers did not see the two men return, so they ran to the bunker and called out to them, but there was no answer. The two men were suffocated and passed away. After the first wave, Giang Nam returned from the front and told stories about the Saigon battlefield. He talked about a soldier who fought at Tan Son Nhat airport and died standing up as if he was continuing to destroy the enemy. Le Anh Xuan was very moved. He wrote a poemLiberation Army, read it to writer Le Van Thao. Before going to the battlefield, he gave the poem to writer Anh Duc, in charge of the Liberation Literature newspaper. The men at the magazine discussed changing the title of the poem toVietnamese posture. An interesting coincidence: When Le Anh Xuan returned to Long An, I was able to stick with Le Minh Xuan's 6th Binh Tan Battalion - consisting entirely of children from Binh Chanh, Tan Binh. Le Minh Xuan told me about the attack on Tan Son Nhat airport in December 1966. At that time, American planes from Tan Son Nhat were attacking the North very fiercely. Saigon soldiers were very sad, looking for ways to take revenge, to stop American planes from going to the North. Le Minh Xuan and Nguyen Van Kip (aka Dong Den) were in charge of F100 commandos to find ways to attack the airport. The coordinated attack "to avenge Hanoi" caused a huge stir. Hundreds of American planes and tanks were burned. In that battle, there was a soldier who was stuck in the airport the whole next day and fought until the last bullet. When he was seriously wounded, the enemy called for surrender. He shouted loudly: "The Liberation Army does not know how to surrender" and then fired until the last bullet. Because he was stuck in the wreckage of the plane, the soldier seemed to still be standing straight, leaning against the plane, so the enemy panicked and poured bullets on him until he collapsed. Because it was dark and they could not recognize each other's faces, at first no one knew the name of that steadfast soldier, whether he was from the 6th Battalion or F100. That is why in Le Anh Xuan's poem, he wrote“What is your name, my dear?”After the liberation day, both units re-examined the list of martyrs and found that soldier. His name was Nguyen Van Mao, Deputy Commander of the Reconnaissance Platoon of the 6th Battalion of Binh Tan. His hometown was in Vinh Loc B Commune, Binh Chinh District. He currently has a biological brother living in his hometown. In the yearbook of the Ho Chi Minh City armed forces, it was clearly stated that the martyr was Nguyen Van Mao, of the 6th Battalion of Binh Tan, a unit that attacked Saigon three times, with the participation of Nguyen Thi, Ngoc Chau, Lam Tan Tai, Pham Khac... right in the street battles. Nguyen Thi sacrificed herself in the loving arms of the soldiers of Battalion 6 (*). When Le Anh Xuan wrote the poemLiberation ArmyThe soldiers have not yet found the real name of the soldier with the “Vietnamese Posture”. Whether or not he knows the name of the soldier leaning against the plane, “Vietnamese Posture” has still become an immortal song about the heroic liberation soldier on the runway of Tan Son Nhat in the battle to “avenge Hanoi” at the end of 1966.(*) In early 2010, the President awarded the title of Hero to Battalion 6 Binh Tan - including the soldier "Standing Posture of Vietnam".