A general of wisdom and compassion.

VNA

 

General Vo Nguyen Giap

 

In 1972, when the US used B-52s to bomb Hai Phong and Hanoi, I was stationed in Quang Binh. There's an incident I'll never forget. One day, while gathering news from Western media, I received a shocking piece of news that left me paralyzed. I couldn't believe my ears. Then, not just one station, but several news agencies broadcast the terrible news: General Vo Nguyen Giap had died in a B-52 bombing raid during an inspection of a missile site… None of us believed it (or rather, we didn't want to), but for some reason, we all burst into tears, sobbing as if we had lost our closest relative. The Central Committee must have known, because the very next day, the Voice of Vietnam radio station continuously broadcast news of the General inspecting the units… The joy that came to us was immeasurable, even transforming into an optimistic spirit as if we were about to liberate South Vietnam. This shows just how important the General was in the hearts of the soldiers.

Exactly ten years later in Moscow, I had the honor of meeting the General in his capacity as Deputy Prime Minister in charge of Science and Technology. At that time, I was sent to study at Lomonosov University. For some reason, after a general meeting with representatives of postgraduate students and senior interns, the General asked me to stay for a private meeting. And I was so happy that, during that incredibly valuable meeting, I received guidance and advice from the General. It was also a stroke of luck, in what was a major event in my life, that I had the opportunity to meet Professor Dang Bich Ha, the General's wife. What I remember to this day is that when I told the General and his wife about how my unit cried profusely upon hearing the news that the General had been hit by a bomb, I thought he would laugh as if it were a joke. But no, the General showed such emotion that I was very surprised. The General was truly moved by a very real story about the soldiers' affection for him.

The whole world came to know General Vo Nguyen Giap after the earth-shattering victory at Dien Bien Phu. I also memorized many details about this great historical event, and I particularly appreciated his belief in certain victory and his decision to adopt the motto "fight surely, advance surely" instead of "fight quickly, win quickly." But if I hadn't heard the General explain this decision firsthand, I would only have understood it as a brilliant and artistic decision of a military genius. It turns out that what kept the General awake many nights before making this decision wasn't just the words "certain victory," but also his deep sorrow for the blood and bones of his soldiers. Rarely has a renowned general possessed such compassion and love for his troops, because "a general's success is built on the sacrifice of tens of thousands" is an accepted philosophy, a rule of war.

Perhaps it was because of the General's kind heart and compassion that, after the war ended, he thought so much about culture.

In 1988, I was fortunate enough to assist Professor Phan Huy Le in organizing the first International Conference on Vietnamese Studies. It was a great honor for the conference that General Le accepted the invitation to participate and present a paper in the plenary session. Thanks to this, I had the opportunity to visit 30 Hoang Dieu Street to hear the General's guidance. During one such visit, I learned a profound idea from him: "Vietnamese military art is a field belonging to the realm of culture." At first, I didn't fully understand, but the General calmly explained, essentially: Culture is all human creation for the purpose of the community's existence and development. In Vietnamese history, nation-building has always gone hand in hand with national defense; continuously from generation to generation, we have had to rise up and take up arms, using all our talent and intellect to protect national independence. All creations in the military field are for the survival of the nation and the country; if not culture, then what is it? I've told this to many people, and they all share the same thought: the General was not only a renowned military leader but also a great thinker and cultural figure.

During the preparation for the conference, we also had the opportunity to hear from the General about issues that, according to him, Vietnamese studies scholars both domestically and internationally have yet to find satisfactory answers to, and which he even said were "unexplainable."

First and foremost, it is the phenomenon of the Vietnamese nation losing its independence, then being placed under the rule of powerful feudal dynasties with strong military capabilities, abundant resources, and advanced civilizations for thousands of years, yet remaining unassimilated. According to the General, this is unprecedented in human history. This needs to be further researched and explained.

Secondly, it is the miraculous strength of the Vietnamese people in their resistance wars against foreign invaders. Almost all the armies that invaded our country throughout history were very powerful and fierce, including some armies considered capable of shaking the world. In the 13th century, there was the Mongol army, an army that conquered the entire continents of Asia and Europe, creating the largest contiguous empire in human history. That army was defeated three times by the Vietnamese people. The General said that this phenomenon cannot be simply explained. Only with a deep understanding of history can we explain why we defeated the United States, the most powerful empire in the world, a force that, before its defeat in the Vietnam War, any nation, even those considered superpowers, feared and avoided.

The General's guidance gave me the feeling of being taught by a profound historian, and I was involuntarily filled with an indescribable sense of pride. Beyond his innate talent, the General possessed a wealth of knowledge, a solid foundation of education and training. He was a student at the University of Indochina, the predecessor of Hanoi National University, a cradle for nurturing and training talent. My pride also stems from the fact that the General loved history and chose it as his profession. He often said, "If there hadn't been a war, I would have been a history teacher!" Perhaps that's why he accepted the position of Honorary President of the Vietnam Historical Science Association. Historians nationwide consider this a great honor. The General's intellectual and humanistic qualities likely stemmed, in part, from this foundation.

While I know that life and death are natural occurrences, hearing the news of the General's passing still brought a lump to my throat. I suddenly remembered a saying, whose origin I don't know when, but which has been passed down from generation to generation: "In life, a renowned general fights the enemy and saves the country; in death, he becomes a god." Throughout history, there have been national heroes who have become gods in the hearts of the people, such as the Trung Sisters, Ly Thuong Kiet, Tran Hung Dao, Tran Nhan Tong, Le Loi, Nguyen Trai, and Quang Trung…

Deep down, I believe General Vo Nguyen Giap will live on forever and become a sacred figure in the hearts of the people.