“Live to tell the story of heroes” - the latest work by author Nguyen Quang Chanh was released on the occasion of the 79th anniversary of the founding of the Vietnam People's Army (December 22, 1944 - December 22, 2023). The work is about touching stories about noble, ordinary heroes who live in the hearts of the people. The author of the book shared many interesting things about his work.
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• It is known that author Nguyen Quang Chanh is a former officer of the Ho Chi Minh City Science and Technology Committee. What motivated him to write and publish books on the topic of revolutionary war - just by looking at it, you can see that it is a lot of work?
• I am not a writer, I used to write for newspapers but did not specialize in this job. However, the chance meetings with heroes like Uncle Bay "pilot", Uncle Tu Cang... and hearing their stories were so good that even though I am not a writer, journalist, and do not have the ability to write in a polished way, I still want to write them again. Write in a way that I hear and write as it is, simple and sincere. I understand that if I write too polishedly, the content of the story and my characters will no longer be true to what I have heard, so I choose to write honestly, without much commentary. I am just a recorder, everything behind needs to be left for the characters and the story to shine on their own. I write first of all to express my gratitude and affection for the heroes I have met, write to preserve for myself, for my children and grandchildren, then for relatives and friends to read via Facebook, if I have more conditions, I will print books to spread more widely and more officially.
“Living to tell about the heroes” by author Nguyen Quang Chanh truthfully records the heroic people of the People's Armed Forces who fought bravely, tenaciously, and sacrificed heroically. Through the stories told by the insiders, they are very real and extremely touching. The simple soldiers of Uncle Ho's army in all branches of the military, from special forces, commandos, intelligence, infantry to air force, entered the battle and made outstanding achievements, overcoming all difficulties and dangers, ready to sacrifice to defeat the American invaders and their lackeys. These brave examples need to be told more to spread among the majority of Vietnamese people, especially the youth, thereby making generations of young people proud and grateful to the generations of fathers and brothers who fought steadfastly, sacrificed their blood and bones in the struggle for national liberation and reunification. Time will pass, but true stories like this will help people remember forever the patriotism and boundless sacrifice of Uncle Ho's soldiers and officers in the resistance war against the US to save the country. The book is a good source of information toeducate patriotism and revolutionary traditions in the youth, especially in the youth of the armed forces, so that they will be absolutely loyal to the Party, protect the Fatherland and build the country more and more prosperous. General Pham Van Tra - Former Politburo member, Former Minister of National Defense . |
• Sir, what motivated you to complete the work "Living to tell the story of heroes", when the book "Telling the story of the H.63 intelligence cluster" with the same topic was just released less than half a year ago?
• The book "Tell the story of the H.63 intelligence cluster" received quite unexpected support for me when after only 7 days of its release, the book was reprinted, and up to now, there are quite a few pirated copies of the book being sold widely on commercial websites.
After the success of this book, I confided to the designer that next, I would make a book telling stories about heroes, going into many stories of fate, touching... After just over a day, he sent me a beautiful cover, for a book that had just begun in the idea. The book cover made me happy at first sight, but with his meticulousness and perfectionism, the designer still made the 10th cover, until he was truly satisfied. He made me both motivated and pressured, forcing myself not to stop but to try to "crawl" along with the flow of emotions to do it. I had 99 days to complete the manuscript. Many of the contents were articles I had posted on social networks. Of course, to put articles from social networks into the book, it was a great effort of the writer and the designer to present it, and when opening the book, readers can easily feel it. At the end of the book, the acknowledgments section is presented as a rolled-up note with suggestions of recognition and gratitude that last over time, which is the idea of the designer. I am grateful to him for such meticulous care. I feel very clearly that I have a companion who is creating my brainchild with me, completely out of heart, not for money, to be able to produce a book that is not only of quality in content but also aesthetically pleasing, respectful, worthy of the topics and people that I am aiming for. That is a great help in completing this thick book in a relatively short time.
• What makes this book different from many of your previous books about heroes?
• Right at the book launch event “Tell the story of the H.63 intelligence cluster” - the most recently launched book, I promised everyone that I would launch 2, 3 more books about heroes because their documents and stories are so full in me, and the flow of thoughts about this series of topics is so inspiring, the stories are endless. Not only about H.63 but also many other units, special forces, pilots... many heroes in many fields have stories that leave a deep impression on me.
The books I write are often written as a storyteller. After “The Story of the H.63 Intelligence Group”, I honestly intended to write the next book about heroes. However, after sitting with the designer, we came up with another idea: we are living and telling stories about heroes, and that story will continue forever in this life. I think of a Russian writer - Valentin Rasputin, who wrote a very good work about World War II: “Live and Remember”. I think my book is very suitable for the title: “Live to Tell the Heroes”.
Why “retell” and not “tell about”? Because I hope that stories about heroes will spread, be passed on from person to person, from generation to generation, especially reaching the hearts of the young generation.
• There are pages in this book that you wrote when you couldn't hold back your emotions and burst into tears. Can you share more about those pages and those touching stories?
• In fact, with many characters I met, I heard about extremely difficult situations and stories that, without extraordinary willpower, would be difficult to overcome. For example, when I wrote about Hero Bay Uoc, the story was told by my uncle's son according to his father, when American planes fired at the 10th Regiment infirmary, including Ms. Men, my uncle's wife. He ran out and witnessed the scene, only able to sit down, hug his knees and cry out: "Oh my God". Or the scene when he went to look for his fallen comrades but could not find them because they had been eaten by the crocodiles of Rung Sac. The pain of witnessing his comrades die twice was so empty and fierce. When I wrote about that, I tried to imagine what it would be like if I were in that scene, and tearfully followed the character's pain.
As for Ms. Vo Thi Tam, her 31st Regiment, commanded by Mr. Hai Hoang, participated in the second phase of Mau Than 1968. They fought the enemy in Thiec market, District 11, District 6 for nearly a month. Enemy artillery destroyed several houses where they were hiding. Ms. Tam was injured and buried in the rubble. When she woke up, she saw her left eye bulging out, covered in blood. She used her hand to push that eye back into its socket after suffering so much pain...
Armed Forces Hero Tu Cang told me about his own younger brother, who sacrificed in Ba Ria, Mau Than in 1968. Because the location of the shelter of all the leaders of Long Phuoc commune was revealed, the whole group decided to sacrifice themselves instead of surrendering. Because if they were captured, an unfortunate situation could happen later, affecting their comrades and organization. Luckily, a female comrade was so scared that she ran out of the shelter, was captured and returned, and later told the story to her comrades, only then did they know the circumstances of this collective sacrifice.
I have read many books about war but I did not see the brutality there as in the stories I heard. That is why I want to share those stories through my writings.
• Thanks for sharing!
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