The man who felt peace twice

Floating in happiness

Throughout his childhood, living under the oppression of foreign invaders, Mr. Tu Han, a son of Hau Nghia, Duc Hoa, Long An province, clearly felt that his fate and even his life were not decided by him.

His neighbors and relatives could be arrested or even shot at any time by the enemy, even when they were having a meal. Hatred for the enemy was fueled by such things that he saw and heard every day.

When he was 17, when the enemy gathered people into strategic hamlets, Mr. Tu Han and other young men in the village decided to escape to join the revolution. From then on, he joined Battalion 45, fighting right in his hometown. During the Ho Chi Minh Campaign , Battalion 45 was tasked with fighting from Tan Tru to Ben Luc and capturing Ben Luc Bridge.

The greatest asset of veteran Major Tran Quoc Han is the collection of medals and awards he received during the resistance war.

In early 1975, the situation on the southern battlefield changed rapidly. The liberated areas expanded rapidly. In Long An, around mid-April, many communes in Chau Thanh, Tan Tru, Can Duoc, and Can Giuoc were liberated. Around April 20, in the north of Thu Thua and Ben Luc, many enemy posts and forts were wiped out.

On the night of April 29, in conjunction with the uprising masses, the armed forces captured Tan An town. Mr. Han was present in the army that advanced to the town after the country was completely unified.

From that moment on, the young man realized that he, his comrades and the people could proudly and officially take control of their own homeland. The days of “tasting honey and lying on thorns”, working in secret, and the great sacrifices of his comrades were duly rewarded on that 30th day.

Not long after returning to town, veteran Tu Han continued to join his comrades in the force to sweep away enemy remnants in Sac Forest.

“Our forces surrounded and called for surrender. The enemy almost lost their will to fight, they surrendered, some crossed the border. After completing the mission, we returned to the town, received new tasks, and started rebuilding our homeland. At that time, my teammates and I returned to reclaim land and build the K45 farm in Ben Luc district,” said Major Tran Quoc Han.

Peace on your land

Not long after that, the southwestern border was threatened by the enemy, Mr. Han and his comrades went to perform international duty in Cambodia, both helping to liberate their friends from the genocidal regime and protecting the country's territorial sovereignty against the threat of Pol Pot. "On their land, we had 9 army regulations, not touching anything belonging to the Cambodian people, even vegetable gardens and fish ponds that had been abandoned for a long time, we were not allowed to pick vegetables or catch fish. Thanks to that, the Vietnamese army was trusted and loved by the Cambodian people" - veteran Tran Quoc Han said.

The Liberation Day badge of April 30, 1975 is kept by veteran, Major Tran Quoc Han until today.

During the months of international duty, veteran Tran Quoc Han once again felt the joy of liberation. When the genocidal regime was defeated, the people who had previously “fled the enemy” returned home one by one. After the exhausting days of war, they were almost penniless. At that time, Vietnamese soldiers “shared half” their bowls of rice with the people of the neighboring country, helping them rebuild a new life.

Mr. Han said that seeing people returning to their homes and cleaning up their fields and gardens, he felt as familiar as the image of his family and relatives in the past. The veteran suddenly realized that peace is beautiful everywhere, but the most emotional feeling is still in his own homeland.

After completing his international duty, the day Mr. Han returned home, his first child was almost 2 years old. The child hid by the door and watched the strange man enter the house, not knowing that it was his father. Veteran Tran Quoc Han shared: “After helping our friends defeat the genocidal regime, the Vietnamese army stayed to help our friends for a while. During that time, I was given leave twice. Once was to get married, I had 3 days off at home and then went back to work.”

Badge for International Duty for soldiers performing international duty in Cambodia

The love story of Mr. Han and his wife was nurtured from the early days of working together to build their homeland after the country's reunification. Not long after, he went to Cambodia to do his duty, and had to send all his feelings in distant letters. In 1980, when the situation in Cambodia was stable and there was enough love, the "young couple" were allowed by both families to "return to the same house".

Having experienced peace twice, veteran Tran Quoc Han understands more than anyone else the value of peaceful days. He understands the pain and loss of war and also witnessed the changes after reunification. The beauty and joy of peace have been greatly multiplied over the past half century./.

Guilin

Source: https://baolongan.vn/nguoi-2-lan-cam-nhan-hoa-binh-a193435.html