Handing over the letter, Ms. Thu explained, "I just found this letter in my father's stack of documents. I'm sending it to you, Uncle..." I called and told Poet Tran Dang Khoa... What a surprise! He exclaimed into the phone and said emotionally, "It's so precious. That letter is very special to me. Most special among the letters I've sent to my poetry-loving audience over the past half-century - special, not because of the letter I wrote, but because the recipient - Uncle Nhu - was the first journalist in the country to come to my house, interview me, and write an article introducing me to the public, published in the People's Army Newspaper. And what's even more special is that he was a martyr, and I know very well about his sacrifice. I know my letter didn't reach Uncle Ngoc Nhu. Because by the time the letter arrived at the People's Army Newspaper's editorial office, Uncle Nhu had already gone to the battlefield. Uncle Kim Dong, probably a friend of Uncle Nhu, still keeps that memento of him. I really want to see that letter I wrote again."

Poet Tran Dang Khoa. Illustration photo: nhavanhanoi.vn

Then, quite naturally, he remembered almost the entire letter and the poem "Village in Season" that he sent to Uncle Nhu, when the poem had just been written but hadn't yet been published in the newspaper, which greatly astonished me because of his memory.

At that time, Tran Dang Khoa was only in the third grade at the village school in Truc Tri hamlet, Quoc Tuan commune, Nam Sach district, Hai Duong province (formerly). He had his poems published in newspapers when he was just a second-grade student. And remarkably, the first poems of this young poet were about soldiers. According to Tran Dang Khoa, the soldiers, on their way to the battlefield, often rested in his village, in his own house. And the first people to hear his poems were also soldiers.

The first journalist to meet Khoa was Mr. Phan Huynh, also a reporter for the People's Army Newspaper. But the first journalist to write about Khoa and introduce him to the public was Mr. Ngoc Nhu in the People's Army Newspaper. That article didn't directly mention Khoa, but rather wrote about the struggle of the army and people along Highway 5, the strategic road connecting Hai Phong port with Hanoi , running through Khoa's hometown. Among the bridges, Lai Vu and Phu Luong, were key targets of American bombing. Journalist Nguyen Ngoc Nhu wrote: "And especially, amidst the smoke and fire of enemy bombs and bullets, the simple, pure voice of a boy who had just finished second grade rose up. That was the voice that drowned out the sound of bombs in this land. That was the tiny poet Tran Dang Khoa." The author only dedicated those few lines to Khoa in the article, but he remembered them vividly.

In Khoa's memory, journalist Ngoc Nhu was a thin but very agile and cheerful soldier. He came home in the scorching midday sun, sometime in May or June. He rode an old Phoenix bicycle. A backpack was strapped to the back, and a sack of rice was slung across his shoulder. It was midday. Khoa's mother told him to go to the garden to pick spinach and amaranth, then she hurried to the fields to catch crabs. The meal consisted only of crab soup with wild greens and a few fried eggs. But it was very enjoyable. When he left, Nhu even filled a bowl with rice and left it with the family. Khoa's mother refused to accept it. There was plenty of rice in the countryside. But he insisted on leaving it, saying the rice was too heavy and would weigh down his shoulder. Then he left.

Khoa also managed to read to his uncle the poem "Pomegranate Flower" he had just finished writing: "I planted a green pomegranate tree - The pomegranate tree hears the sound of the hoe and its branches are full of flowers." Uncle Nhu said: "You wrote it like this, readers might misunderstand. It's not that the pomegranate tree hears the sound of the hoe calling, but the sound of the hoe planting and tilling. How could a newly planted pomegranate tree bloom so quickly?" Khoa immediately corrected it: "The hoe's call hasn't stopped yet, but the branches are full of flowers." And then: "This afternoon I suddenly heard cicadas singing / Cicadas singing in the midday sun, the fruit gradually turning golden / I ate it and found it sweet and delicious? I gave it to my uncle as a reward, and he smiled at me? At night, his bullets flew up? Red like pomegranate flowers against the blue sky."

Uncle Nhu's suggestions seemed to spur Khoa on; every time he put pen to paper, Khoa would write poems about the soldiers. Whenever Khoa wrote a new poem, he would copy it and send it to Uncle Nhu. Then Uncle Nhu would write back to Khoa, offering comments and suggestions. Uncle Nhu praised the poem "Pink Candy, Green Candy," which described the children's visit to the soldiers at the anti-aircraft artillery unit during Tet (Vietnamese New Year), particularly the unexpected concluding line: "The cannon stands there watching / It seems it also wants pink candy and green candy."

In his letter to Uncle Nhu, Khoa wrote: “I received your letter. I enjoyed reading it very much, but you are not Uncle Huynh, so I ate greedily. Please don't be angry with me…” “Eating greedily” is a misunderstanding, a colloquial expression from Khoa's hometown. At first, Khoa thought Ngoc Nhu was the pen name of journalist Phan Huynh. But they were two different journalists.

Letter from Tran Dang Khoa to journalist Nguyen Ngoc Nhu.
Letter from Tran Dang Khoa to journalist Nguyen Ngoc Nhu.
Poem by Tran Dang Khoa sent to journalist Nguyen Ngoc Nhu.

Tran Dang Khoa recounted that just a few days after Uncle Nhu returned, he received a letter from him. In the letter, Uncle Nhu promised to buy books and toys "for little Khoa." But before he could send them, Uncle Nhu had already passed away! Not just one, but many letters Khoa sent to the editorial office for Uncle Nhu never reached him.

During a special mission to the Southern battlefield that year, the People's Army Newspaper sent three reporters: Nguyen Duc Toai, Nguyen Ngoc Nhu, and Le Dinh Du. At the battle on the southern bank of the Ben Hai River, Gio Linh, Quang Tri , on the afternoon of January 21, 1968, journalist Nguyen Ngoc Nhu and journalist Le Dinh Du bravely sacrificed their lives at a very young age, leaving behind many unfinished plans...

Later, like Uncle Nhu, Khoa joined the army while still in the middle of 10th grade. Then, 10 years later, the General Political Department summoned army writers and poets who hadn't graduated from university to study at the Nguyen Du School of Creative Writing. Khoa shared a room with the writer and playwright Xuan Duc. And surprisingly, Xuan Duc was a soldier in the 47th Vinh Linh Battalion, who had repeatedly launched attacks across the Ben Hai River. Nguyen Ngoc Nhu was a journalist and reporter for the People's Army Newspaper, but he participated in combat like a real soldier, fighting alongside the 47th Vinh Linh Battalion across the Ben Hai River.

Playwright Xuan Duc said: “I knew Khoa through Ngoc Nhu. Ngoc Nhu was hit by a bomb, both her thighs were shattered, and she bled profusely. I bandaged her up, but I couldn't save her. I was the one who buried Ngoc Nhu along with two other comrades. In Ngoc Nhu's bag were Khoa's letter, three poems, and a letter from Ngoc Nhu's younger sister, Mai. I intended to keep them, but the team collecting fallen soldiers said they were treasures of the martyrs and couldn't be taken. I rolled them up, put them in a plastic bag, and buried them with Nhu's mutilated body! Now I regret it.”

Many martyrs passed away like that. Along with Uncle Ngoc Nhu, poet Tran Dang Khoa also remembers another soldier named Vu Lien, whom Khoa never met. Khoa only knew him through the People's Army Newspaper. That was a long time ago. Back then, Khoa was in 7th grade, and the village militia leader brought him a copy of the People's Army Newspaper that had two poems printed in it, one by Khoa and one by Uncle Vu Lien (Southern Liberation Army).

In the poem "Sending a Message to the Soldiers," Tran Dang Khoa wrote: "I hear where you fought, Uncle / Where warships burned, where planes crashed / Here I only see you smiling / You carried water, you sat playing marbles / Then from my house, you went / The rice ripened, sparrows flew back / The banana bunches swayed by the porch / The bamboo groves and sugarcane fields waved in all directions... / You crossed so many streams and passes / By now you must have achieved many more victories / Out here I stand and watch / On nights when guns roared, the fire blazed in the sky / I returned to my old classroom, the walls built / Trenches hidden under the lush green trees / You went to destroy the last enemy outposts / As long as there are enemies at the ends of the earth, you will continue to go / Still hoping for the day you return / And sit with me again by the porch playing marbles..." (1968).

And then there's the poem "To my nephew Khoa" by Vu Lien: Uncle goes to destroy the last remaining enemy outposts / So your school can be beautiful under the high sky / Uncle marches across the pontoon bridge / Receiving your verses, every uncle loves them / Marching over mountain passes / Remembering you fondly on afternoons playing marbles / Catching a glimpse of forest birds, remembering sparrows / The trenches in your hometown are no different from battle trenches / The red flames of victory blaze high / You hear of how many enemy outposts are destroyed / Uncle is still liberating Saigon / If the enemy still exists, Uncle will continue to go / When the enemy is gone, Uncle will return / And will sit with you on the porch playing marbles...

Tran Dang Khoa told me that he still doesn't know where Uncle Vu Lien is! Is he still alive, or, like Uncle Ngoc Nhu, has he perished in some forest? He said emotionally, "I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the People's Army Newspaper not only for introducing, encouraging, and supporting me in writing poetry, but also for allowing me to meet and get to know the soldiers who worked as journalists, such as Uncle Phan Huynh, Uncle Ngoc Nhu... And many, many other soldiers whom I only met through newspapers, like Uncle Vu Lien..."

    Source: https://www.qdnd.vn/van-hoa/doi-song/liet-si-nguyen-ngoc-nhu-phong-vien-dau-tien-viet-ve-than-dong-tho-tran-dang-khoa-867238