Uncle Ho's soldiers in poetry

The title “Uncle Ho’s soldiers” was born in the early years of the resistance war against the French colonialists and has become the affectionate name for the Vietnamese revolutionary armed forces ever since. “Uncle Ho’s soldiers” or “Uncle Ho’s soldiers” is a general name, and in each stage of the resistance war, they are called by a separate title with a formal character. That is the National Guard in the resistance war against France, the Liberation Army in the resistance war against America, the Volunteer Army in performing international duties and the soldiers in peacetime.

“Uncle Ho’s soldiers” - a noble title, a source of pride for officers and soldiers of the Vietnam People’s Army. Photo: Document

The National Guard in the "all-people, all-round, long-term, self-reliant and certain victory" resistance war were farmers holding guns. They were gentle, honest, rustic, uneducated, gathered under the revolutionary flag, trained in the military , and optimistically participated in the resistance war: "We/ People from all over/ Met each other when we were illiterate/ Got to know each other from the "one or two" days/ Not yet familiar with guns/ Ten military lessons/ Still smiling happily in the resistance war" (Remembering, Hong Nguyen).

They came from poor villages, coincidentally met and became "soul mates", "comrades" of each other: "Dark nights sharing a blanket became soul mates/ Comrades!" (Comrade, Chinh Huu). The National Defense soldiers were also enlightened urban intellectual youths who took up arms to fight the enemy to save the country. They saw sacrifice as a natural thing, proud when they fell to the roar of the heroic Ma River: "The robe replaced the mat you returned to the ground/ The Ma River roared a solo".

And so, they both hated the enemy from the bottom of their hearts and were very romantic when thinking about love and the meaning of life: “Eyes staring, sending dreams across the border/ Dreaming of Hanoi’s beautiful and fragrant figure at night” (Tay Tien, Quang Dung). That is why the national guards became the symbol of Uncle Ho’s soldiers during the nine years of resistance. And it was they who created the Dien Bien Phu victory “famous in five continents, shaking the earth”, burying the old colonialism and surprising the whole world : “Nine years of Dien Bien Phu/ Created a red wreath, created a golden history” (Thirty years of our life with the Party, To Huu).

Entering the resistance war against the US, Uncle Ho's soldiers were affectionately called the Liberation Army by the people of the South. This was a resistance war of new magnitude, between a small nation and a giant superpower. Therefore, the image of the Liberation Army was considered a symbol of a just war even though they were just "barefoot boys", but their gentle, cute floppy hats "didn't hurt a single leaf on the branch" were "stronger than all the bullets and bombs/ making the Pentagon tremble" (Spring Song 68, To Huu).

The Liberation Army is a generation of Uncle Ho soldiers following in the footsteps of the old National Defense soldiers into the resistance war with all the attitudes and thoughts of their own generation: "going the path that the previous generation has gone/ by many new ways" (A soldier talks about his generation, Thanh Thao). They leisurely "cut through Truong Son to save the country": "The car has no windows, not because the car has no windows/ Bombs explode, bombs shake, the windows break/ Leisurely sitting in the cockpit/ Looking at the ground, looking at the sky, looking straight ahead" (The car squad without windows, Pham Tien Duat).

Their sacrificial posture created the symbol of the Liberation Army soldier carved into the century: “Only leaving the Vietnamese posture carved into the century/ You are a Liberation Army soldier” (Vietnam Stance, Le Anh Xuan). From that posture “The Fatherland flies up into the vast springs” - Spring 1975 was a complete victory, bringing the country into a new era: peace and national unity.

Poetry about Vietnamese volunteer soldiers in Cambodia is also different from the previous National Defense and Liberation Army soldiers, especially in the naked way of addressing the lyrical ego with the extremely intimate "I, I, you, you, we...": "Line up for me to take roll call/You soldiers from far away, very young/Line up to listen to me tell you/The story of fighting and...love" (Roll Call, Pham Sy Sau). Living and fighting outside the Fatherland, perhaps we have to call each other like that to fully express our sincerity: "Tomorrow you will return with your lover in your arms/Please kiss me the kiss of a soldier's life" (To friends who have completed their duty, Pham Sy Sau)...

When everything is peaceful, the soldier's mission is to both build and protect the Fatherland. At this time, the soldier returns to the common title of "Uncle Ho's Soldier". Unlike the youth in peacetime in general, soldiers in peacetime, besides the mission of guarding the earth and sky, also worry about keeping the people safe in life. They are still the ones who suffer the most hardships, especially when the country is hit by natural disasters and epidemics.

At that time, they still took hardship as their friends, and wind and rain as their home: "Soldiers in peacetime/ The country is without enemy shadow/ Thinking it is near, yet it is far/ Still hardship is their friend/ Still wind and rain as their home" (Song of a soldier in peacetime, Tran Dang Khoa). The hardships, including the losses and sacrifices of soldiers in peacetime, clearly demonstrated the noble qualities worthy of the title "Uncle Ho's soldiers".

MAI BA AN

Source: https://baodanang.vn/channel/5433/202505/nguoi-linh-cu-ho-trong-tho-4006292/