A group of veterans who served the revolutionary movement of Vietnam until national liberation in 1975, all of whom are at least 50 years old, lightened up while recalling their time working in forests with innocence and pleasure.

Today, hundreds of the veterans join a ceremony in Ho Chi Minh City on the occasion that the Central Committee Office for South Vietnam -- the agency in charge of making policies and planning in the region during war – will be officially awarded the title of Hero of the People’s Armed Forces.

Replacing the Regional Party Committee of South Vietnam established in 1954, the Central Committee Office for South Vietnam started operations in 1961 and worked until 1975.

It was far too joyful

Veteran Tran Minh Tam, who also goes by Quan, smiled broadly many times while recalling the period during which he followed his father and older brothers to go into the forests to work for the revolutionary movement in the south of Vietnam.

Quan was initially taken to a revolutionary base in the forests in Tay Ninh Province -- just 100km from Saigon -- when he was 13 years old.

“In the forests, I had meals with rice and dried fish, although sometimes we had wild chickens or animals hunted by soldiers. Once, when I was given a big bowl of meat, I told the other soldiers that it made me far happier than living at home,” Quan recalled.

After staying there for several days the base, which included almost 500 people, was relocated to Ma Da, or Base D, in the forests of the southern provinces of Dong Nai and Binh Duong. Quan began to face challenges as he suffered malaria, painful and strained muscles, and indigestion from the exotic food in the forests.

It took young Quan two months to walk to the new base, he said.

“Soldiers assigned doctors to go with me to take care and treat my diseases. At the time the Ma Da forest was called ‘the mountainous shelter of all heroes’. I was so proud then.

“At nights, soldiers organized music shows. They even had a cine-projector to feature Charlie Chaplin films that had been taken from the enemy. I was assigned to keep the device and operate it to entertain soldiers,” Quan added.

“I am still crazy for it now,” he said smiling.

During the talk, the eyes of the veteran still happily glitter while fresh smiles light up his face upon recalling stories from his service.

Another veteran, Tran Quang Duc, was a ‘famed’ artist in the forests for his talent of singing and performing comedy.

“It was so joyful and amusing that I nearly left the base as a typewriter to be added to a cultural and artistic troupe of the army,” Duc admitted.

Army doctor Nguyen Thi Man agreed that her time in the Tay Ninh base was the happiest period of her life. A similar point easily recognized from talking with the veterans is their optimism. It is a fact that they led difficult and dangerous lives with abundant hardship in forests and they had joy and knew how to create happiness during difficulty.

Veteran Tran Minh Tam, or Quan, showed his notebook with pages full of diagrams of electricity circuits he learned on his own in forest (Photo: Tuoi Tre)

A test of life

By studying a notebook with pages full of diagrams and drawings of electricity circuits as well as radio techniques, Quan learned on his own, and he is now so skillful with electrical systems that he has been invited to give lectures to students.

He said he taught himself from documents provided by Russia in the forests, though he had finished only the third official class before entering the revolutionary bases. After his initial period on the base, Quan worked as a messenger before being assigned to study radio and electricity techniques.

“In the forests, we sometimes faced starvation. But you know, any way, it was easy to find something to eat, and didn’t go hungry for too long,” he told Tuoi Tre in HCMC yesterday.

The typewriter Duc said that every veteran can still remember their military principles in bases: ‘Absolutely confidential, precise, ready and urgent”.

“Even when I was brutalized by a fit of malaria with both fever and cold, I had to brace myself to be sound in my mind to complete the typewriting,” Duc said.

Madame Dang Hong Nhut, a veteran, recalled that she was the only girl in the Ma Da base, and as a result, “I had to become a nightingale [a singer] because of the tricky circumstance.”

“In the wet season in the forest, a jungle rain can last for many consecutive days, and all the wet clothes could not dry. So, men had nothing to wear and I had to alert them of my presence by singing out loud so that they could get out of my sight.”

With her music skills, she later composed the song “Giai Phong Mien Nam” (Liberation of the South) which was later selected to become the theme song of Giai Phong Radio.

Madame Dang Hong Nhut was the only girl in the Ma Da base (Photo: Tuoi Tre)