Vinh Linh steel land does not forget the image of Fidel on the banks of Tuyen river

Rain from Mang Chang cave to A Sau runs all the way to A Luoi. Rain from midnight at the beginning of the week through the end of the middle of the month. September 1973.

Cuban President Fidel Castro shakes hands and congratulates outstanding female guerrilla Hoang Thi Cham at Doc Mieu base, Gio Linh district. (Photo: Archive)

I stood quietly at the end of the three-wheeled truck covered tightly with canvas, amid the cries of wounded soldiers. The vehicle was reserved for transporting wounded soldiers from the battlefield to Vinh Linh for treatment, so there was no room for an able-bodied person like me to hitchhike, even though the sudden onset of jungle fever made me unable to hold on to the side of the vehicle.

One leg was wedged between three boxes of canned meat, the other leg was lifted high, occasionally resting slightly on the wounded soldier's backpack to relieve fatigue, both hands tightly holding onto the rope stretched across the ceiling of the car.

I swayed like that, to get through the rainy night, to get through the malaria that tormented me every other day. The wounded soldier was tired:

- Hey man! Sit down on this backpack, let me rest my head on it. Mom... it hurts...

I sat down, the rain splashed on my face, running down my spine, chilling me. The rain-soaked wind swirled in circles in the valley, suddenly blowing over Con Meo slope. The truck shuddered, swaying. The seriously wounded soldier bit my bleeding shoulder, trying to hold back the pain. He breathed heavily, his voice tired:

- Brother, suffering like this, will we win?

Silence!

- Hey man! Give me some water.

I cupped my hands to catch the raindrops and let them fall by dropping onto his dry tongue.

- What unit are you in?

Silence again! I could not say that I was a resident reporter from Liberation Radio and was hitching a ride to Dong Ha, so I could only comfort him:

- I will win! Go to sleep...

Past the pass, the wind seemed to stop blowing, and patches of blue sky appeared. Dong Ha town was littered with bricks and tiles, basking in the pale yellow afternoon sun. Liberation soldiers stood solemnly on both sides of the road, waiting.

I asked each soldier: What is the important matter? No one answered. Finally, I had to tell the commander: "I am a reporter at the front." He said softly: "We are protecting the international delegation visiting. High-ranking!". A young soldier rushed forward:

- Comrade Fidel's group went that way.

We got in the car and drove straight north. When we reached Con Tien, I knew I was late, so I saw a militia woman wearing a black turtleneck shirt, carrying a rifle, waving the flag of the Liberation Front and the Cuban flag. I made her acquaintance:

- You just went to pick Fidel up!?

- Yes, I left early to stand near Comrade Fidel. Fidel spoke very well.

Militiawoman Do Linh excitedly recounted: Fidel was big, tall, waved a flag, and spoke loudly, "The American empire lost in Quang Tri as it lost in Heron. America will definitely fail in Vietnam."

- Did Fidel say anything to you?

- Fidel asked: Why are you wearing black clothes? I say that with constant fighting like this, wearing black clothes will keep you from getting dirty and will also hide your enemy's eyes. I don't know what the interpreter said, but Fidel laughed loudly and said: "Black is the color of mourning for the enemy, girl."

Arriving at Hien Luong, the Cuban delegation met four commune members who were working in the fields when they came across a cluster bomb. The bomb exploded, and all four were seriously injured. Fidel went down to the scene to inquire about the victims and promptly sent an ambulance. One month after returning to the country, Comrade Fidel also sent gifts of encouragement to visit the four Hien Luong residents who were injured. On the day he received the gifts from Comrade Fidel, a representative of Vinh Thanh commune said:

- Vinh Linh has been used as bombs for a long time, so bombs exploded before or after the war are the same. However, the sound of explosions in peacetime is more harsh, louder, and more dangerous!

After the war, 687 people in Vinh Linh died from bombs and bullets and the same number were injured.

Base 241, Tan Phu village, Cam Thanh commune, Cam Lo district.

Even now, 50 years have passed, and the people of Vinh Linh still cannot forget the image of Fidel visiting Tuyen land one day in mid-September. Setting foot on the steel land of Vinh Linh, Fidel stopped for a long time, his hand on his chest, not going into the reception room but going straight to the land in front of him, the land mixed with sand and still mixed with bomb fragments of Team Four, Thuong Hoa cooperative, Vinh Long commune.

Fidel picked up a handful of sand and put it in his palm, examined it carefully, and said, "This land can grow corn well." For the past several decades, Thuong Hoa village, Vinh Long, Vinh Linh has not only had a good corn and potato harvest, but also a good rice harvest. After the war, Vinh Linh is changing its appearance. The Fatherland has awarded the cadres, soldiers, and people of Vinh Long commune as a heroic commune during the anti-American war.

Despite all the changes, joys and sorrows, Vinh Linh people will never forget the image of Fidel on the banks of Tuyen River - September 15, 1973 - a beautiful sunny day in the middle of a rainy month.

Vinh Tra (VOV)

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