A citizen owns many rare relics from the resistance war.

Mr. Nhut cherished the Liberation Army newspaper.

2 revolutionary newspapers, 2 million dong not for sale

Mr. Nhut said that nearly 20 years ago, he was a motorbike taxi driver in Tan Chau town, Tan Chau district. In 2006, he saw a local selling a box of American machine gun ammunition. In that box of ammunition were two revolutionary newspapers: the Liberation Newspaper of the Central Committee of the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam, published on May 29, 1969, and the Liberation Army Newspaper of the People's Armed Forces of South Vietnam, published on June 20, 1969.

The seller said he was a scrap metal collector, and that he had dug up this crate of ammunition near the Vietnam-Cambodia border. He was selling the crate of machine gun ammunition for a few tens of thousands of dong, but was selling two revolutionary newspapers for 250 thousand dong.

The Liberation Army newspaper was carefully laminated and someone offered 1 million VND, but Mr. Nhut refused to sell.

Mr. Nhut recalled: “At that time, I was a motorbike taxi driver with very little income, I had to save money to buy rice to feed my family, but I saw in the newspaper a section about the Tay Ninh army and people competing to achieve great achievements to enthusiastically welcome the Provisional Revolutionary Government. I am a son of the province, seeing my locality published in the newspaper, I was very proud, I decided to spend all my savings to buy back 2 newspapers. At that time, many people said I was crazy. The money from motorbike taxi was not enough to support my wife and children, but I bought 2 old newspapers at too high a price”. After buying the 2 newspapers, Mr. Nhut had these souvenirs laminated and hung on the wall of his house. Every day, people in the neighborhood came to see and read the articles from the period when the South had not yet been liberated.

Rumors about the two revolutionary newspapers spread, and years later, an antique collector came to him and asked to buy the two newspapers for 2 million VND. Although at that time, his income from motorbike taxi driving was not much, Mr. Nhut firmly refused to sell.

Knowing how to value newspapers, but later, when an officer from the Tay Ninh Provincial Museum came to see and expressed his desire to bring these valuable artifacts back to display for visitors, Mr. Nhut immediately agreed. Mr. Nhut donated the Liberation Newspaper to the Provincial Museum, keeping only the Liberation Army Newspaper for himself.

Coins and banknotes with portrait of Uncle Ho, issued in 1946.

In 2010, his wife passed away from a serious illness, and Mr. Nhut returned to Vinh Hamlet (An Co Commune, Chau Thanh District) to live. This 52-year-old man still carefully preserves the Liberation Army newspaper in his house. Currently, the plastic layer on the outside of the newspaper has peeled off in some places. The newspaper's surface has turned dark yellow, but the news and images on the newspaper are still very clear. The newspaper is printed in large format, and on the solemn cover page, it states: "The National Congress of the People of South Vietnam was a great success, the Provisional Revolutionary Government and the Government Advisory Council were established."

Under this headline is the full text of the congratulatory telegram of the President of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam Ho Chi Minh and the Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam Pham Van Dong, the list of the Provisional Revolutionary Government, the list of the Government Advisory Council and the introduction of the basic contents of the resolution of the National Congress of Delegates (page 2), the Action Program of the Provisional Revolutionary Government (page 3)...

On page 7, there is an article “Competing to achieve achievements enthusiastically to welcome the Provisional Revolutionary Government” reflecting on the activities of the army and people in many localities such as An Giang, My Tho, Thua Thien, Gia Lai, Quang Nam, Tay Ninh... The section about Tay Ninh has the following content: “In Tay Ninh, in harmony with the victory of destroying 600 American-puppet soldiers, destroying 47 tanks in Go Noi and Bau Tram... At 4:30 a.m. on June 11, the Tay Ninh People's Liberation Army attacked an American Company stationed in Bau Sen... destroying this company, killing and injuring 100 Americans... Suffering a painful blow, immediately after that, the enemy recklessly sent a wing with tanks and armored vehicles to relieve the siege, but as soon as these troops reached Bau Sen, they fell into our army's ambush. The Tay Ninh Liberation Army soldiers suddenly opened fire and fiercely fought the enemy, killing 170 Americans, destroying 24 M113 vehicles...”.

Some of Mr. Nhut's Stone Age and Bronze Age artifacts.

Page 8 of the newspaper published the news: "Hanoi solemnly held a meeting to welcome the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam", article: At the Paris Conference: Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyen Thi Binh declared: "The US must have serious talks with representatives of the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam on the basis of the comprehensive solution of the Front"...

Many rare relics from the resistance war

In addition to the two revolutionary newspapers mentioned above, during his time as a motorbike taxi driver everywhere, whenever he saw someone advertising antiques, especially relics from the resistance wars against the French and the Americans, Mr. Nhut would save up to buy them. When we visited, in his glass cabinet he kept some antiques such as 3 axe blades, 1 stone spear blade, 3 bronze axe blades. The stone tools were somewhat chipped, the bronze weapons were also quite oxidized, some bronze spear blades were starting to rot. In another cabinet, the owner displayed many relics from the resistance war against the Americans such as a backpack, a conical hat, a conical hat, a wallet, a medicine box, a pair of sandals, oil lamps, razors of Uncle Ho's soldiers...

Bronze statue of Uncle Ho.

In the cabinet there was also a flower vase made of cast aluminum, on the body of the vase was printed the words "Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam", below the words was printed the flag of the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam with 2 colors blue, red, with a yellow star in the middle. On the other side of the vase was printed the image of a village girl rolling up her pants planting rice under the bamboo grove of the village. The owner also showed me a white painted iron cup, on the outside of the cup was painted the image of militia holding weapons in an attacking position under the flag of the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam and the words "Determined to completely defeat the American invaders".

Mr. Nhut also owns many books related to the life and revolutionary career of President Ho Chi Minh, such as "Stories about President Ho's life and activities" by author Tran Dan Tien; "Prison diary" by Ho Chi Minh. Mr. Nhut also owns 3 maps of the Tay Nguyen campaign, from March 4 to April 3, 1975; the Hue - Da Nang campaign, from March 21 to March 29, 1975; the Ho Chi Minh campaign, from 5:00 p.m. on April 26 to 11:30 a.m. on April 30, 1975.

Book "Stories about President Ho's life and activities" by author Tran Dan Tien.

In addition, Mr. Nhut also has coins, 50 and 100 dong banknotes with Uncle Ho's portrait, issued in 1946; a bronze statue of Uncle Ho; a bronze incense burner, an altar, a pair of mother-of-pearl inlaid parallel sentences and a number of vinyl records and radios; many historical documents proving Vietnam's sovereignty over the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagos...

Mr. Nhut added that after moving to Vinh Hamlet, in addition to working as a motorbike taxi driver, he also worked as a land transfer broker. Thanks to that, he had the opportunity to shop and exchange with antique lovers, so he had many more rare wartime memorabilia.

Currently, the real estate market is frozen, the motorbike taxi profession is also backward, he has become unemployed. Although his economic life is limited, he is determined to preserve these relics until the end of his life and refuses to sell them. Mr. Nhut confided: "When I am old and weak, I will donate these documents, books and newspapers to the State Museum for better preservation, contributing to introducing the younger generation to know more about the history of the nation."

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