On the journey to find the loudspeaker reporters at the border in the past, CAND Newspaper reporters once thought that they only needed to go to the library, go online, and search through old photos to be able to piece together the memory. But no. Of the nearly 50 people who worked at Vinh Linh Radio Station that year, very few remain; many have sacrificed; many have quietly passed away after the peace . Even Ms. Nguyen Thi Kim Nhan, who was known as the "voice of the North", is now 93 years old, living quietly on Nguyen Hue Street, Hue City. Meeting her was a blessing, but her memories have now faded.
I asked journalist Nguyen Hoan, former Deputy Director of the Department of Information and Communications of Quang Tri province, a person who is very knowledgeable about historical documents, but he only knew a few old names and a few vague addresses. My heart sank.
O Nhan makes a radio program (scene recorded in the movie "17th Parallel Day and Night"). Photo archive
And then, one afternoon in Dong Ha City, while talking to Nguyen Hai Phi, a colleague working at the Dong Ha Cultural and Sports Center, I suddenly burst into tears when I heard him say: "There is Mrs. Nguyen Thi Xuyen, a former technician of Vinh Linh Radio, living right next to my house, alley 215 Ly Thuong Kiet!". I arrived. A small house. The 84-year-old woman - Mrs. Xuyen - welcomed me with bright eyes but her voice was somewhat slow. When mentioning the station chief Ngo Trang and the 500W speaker placed in Vinh Hoa in 1965, she suddenly burst into tears. I was speechless.
“We recorded in the basement back then. The machines had to be connected by manual wires, and the signal was unstable. If we said one wrong word, we had to start over, and after we finished recording, we had to wait until midnight to broadcast. If the enemy discovered us, the whole team would be dead,” Ms. Xuyen said. She started working at Vinh Linh Radio Station in 1960, when she was in her early twenties. At first, she worked as a sound engineer, then she also worked as a program editor and machine guard. She clearly remembers the 1965 bombing that hit the Vinh Hoa loudspeaker cluster: “So many died. Station chief Ngo Trang died. Ms. Thoa also died. The basement collapsed. I was lucky to escape through a side exit…”
After that battle, she stayed. She stayed. She was the one responsible for setting up the 500W loudspeakers in Hien Luong, Vinh Giang, where every time the loudspeakers sounded, the whole South bank fell silent. Once, she and her comrades had to pull the loudspeaker wires through the bullets to ensure the on-time broadcast of the “Program for Southern Soldiers”. During that time, she fell in love with a colleague at the station, a man who stayed at the broadcasting station on the North bank of Hien Luong. The two did not have a lavish wedding. A handkerchief, a full broadcast, and that was how they became husband and wife. Now, Ms. Xuyen’s daughter, son, son-in-law, and daughter-in-law all work at the Quang Tri Radio and Television Station. That legacy of voices is not only karma, but also the echo of a life ideal.
Back then, under the bombs and bullets, Vinh Linh Radio Station still maintained nearly 300 loudspeaker clusters. Every time it was destroyed, it only took a few hours for backup loudspeakers, wiring teams, and signal connections. Announcers such as O Kim Nhan, Do Cong Tich, Tran Dam, Huong Loan... still regularly broadcast: "This is Vinh Linh Radio Station, inviting compatriots and friends to listen to the program..." Those voices were not only heard by the people on the northern bank, but also penetrated Ben Hai, crossed the barbed wire fence, and reached the ears of Saigon soldiers. Some deserted just because of a letter from their mother played on the loudspeaker. Some surrendered because they heard the lullaby of their children from the North.
A loudspeaker cluster on the North bank of Ben Hai River in the 1960s.
In the afternoon, the Ben Hai River is as calm as a lullaby. Mr. Ho Van Du, a former cadre of Vinh Linh district, now over 80 years old, residing in Hien Thanh commune, near the northern bank of Hien Luong bridge, led me along the riverbank. Most of the old loudspeakers now only remain in the minds of Vinh Linh people. Recalling those years, he emotionally said: “The loudspeakers back then were the flesh and blood of the people. We listened to the loudspeakers to know the war situation, the evacuation orders, and our army’s victory. The enemy destroyed one loudspeaker, we erected ten. Sometimes the loudspeakers fell down, but people still tried to rebuild them, installed batteries, hooked up wires, as long as the voice of the revolution could still be heard.”
No one can accurately count how many loudspeakers were installed along the North bank of Ben Hai from 1955 to 1975. But people know that, from Vinh Son, Vinh Giang, Vinh Linh to Ben Quan, those loudspeakers accompanied the people in “eating bombs, living in bunkers, sleeping in bunkers, studying in bunkers”, and still loudly transmitted the indomitable will of the entire socialist North. On the other side of the river, south of the border, was the temporarily occupied area. Our loudspeakers became a nightmare for the enemy, not only because of the direct propaganda, but also because of the indomitable spirit they carried.
“The name O Nhan, or Nguyen Thi Kim Nhan, has been associated with Vinh Linh Radio for nearly two decades,” Ms. Xuyen recalled with emotion: “It was a clear, resilient Hue voice that once made the enemy furiously issue threatening announcements, such as cutting off the tongue and killing the woman holding the microphone. Then many times the enemy bombed the station, trying to cut off that voice. But we still held on, Ms. Nhan still held on. When the station was leveled by bombs, we immediately moved to B5 hill and built a new station. From the hill, we went down to the bunker, from the bunker, we went into the forest.”
Listening to Mrs. Xuyen, I suddenly remembered a scene in the famous movie “17th Parallel Day and Night” which recreated the image of Mrs. Nhan at that time, when amidst the whistling sound of bombs, she still quietly lit the oil lamp, adjusted the microphone and said: “This is Vinh Linh Radio Station – the voice of the people on the border!”. In 1972, when Quang Tri was liberated, the station moved the radio network to the southern bank of Thach Han River, setting up stations in Long Quang, Nhu Le, Hau Kien, Nhan Bieu… These stations initially only had 1 generator, 1 100W speaker, and a few hand-pulled wires, but their power was immense.
Mr. Le Minh Tuan, Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Quang Tri province, choked up when he heard the stories of reporters and technicians on the battlefield at that time, like Ms. Nhan and Ms. Xuyen: “I was really moved. They were true journalists, reporting with blood, sweat, and voices amidst bombs and bullets. Without modern microphones, no television systems, no internet, they only had loudspeakers, reading voices, and a great belief in truth and justice. Today's generation needs to know, needs to remember, and needs to be grateful!”
Slogan placed on the North bank of Hien Luong Bridge during the years when the country was divided. Photo: Archive
After the country was unified, the Vinh Linh Radio Station was dissolved as an inevitable part of the changing role of radio. But for many people, especially journalists today, that place is the cradle, the example of a generation of truly combative journalists.
“If the Safe Zone (ATK) in Thai Nguyen is considered one of the first revolutionary press centers of the country, then Vinh Linh is the first front. Vinh Linh Radio Station is a symbol of courage, creativity and close ties with the people. Those who worked as journalists using loudspeakers in the past were silent heroes. They deserve to be honored and thanked by today's generation,” Mr. Tuan emphasized, adding that Quang Tri province is coordinating to propose building a revolutionary press memorial area at the border, a place where young people can come to listen to the broadcasts from loudspeakers and understand how their fathers and brothers worked as journalists with their own lives.
More than half a century has passed, the generation of loudspeaker journalists now has only a few people left, but they live forever in history, in memories. On the 100th anniversary of Vietnam Revolutionary Press Day, when talking about dedication, honesty, and revolutionary spirit in the profession, many young journalists have returned to the old land of Vinh Linh, which used to be the red address of combat journalism, not only to collect memories, but also to find the living material, beliefs and ideals that the previous generation had worked hard to cultivate.
Today’s press may be more modern and spread faster, but it will always lack something if it does not reflect on itself in the light of the public loudspeakers that once blared amid bombs and bullets. Those loudspeakers are now silent, but their echoes, the voices of the people, still resonate!
Source: https://cand.com.vn/Phong-su-tu-lieu/mot-thoi-lam-bao-bang-loa-o-bo-bac-gioi-tuyen-i772052/
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