Singing over the bombs

The enemy may have control of the "panhandle of Military Region 4", the bottleneck of Dong Loc Junction (Can Loc, Ha Tinh ) with its rugged terrain, complex terrain, and weak geology, making it disadvantageous for us to open bypasses, fight against swamps, cross streams, cross rivers... but the enemy cannot know that we have a "secret weapon" that no bomb or bullet can destroy, which is "singing that drowns out the sound of bombs".

Dong Loc - the fierce bombardment point of the US imperialists in 1968. (Photo archive).

There are things that no one says, but deep down, one must confess that if one went alone, one would not dare to go to Dong Loc, where bombs were like potatoes and bullets were like chaff at that time. However, a whole group of people went and sang, “I go to level the forest, I go to cut down the mountains, I am like a stream of water that flows endlessly,” so no one was afraid of death, and even if they died, it would be a glorious death. That was the common sentiment of a period of youth living and fighting alongside the heroes of Dong Loc T-junction.

I remember the years 1965, 1966... American planes dropped bombs from Ben Thuy to Deo Ngang (Highway 1) to the coordinates of Dia Loi fire, Loc Yen underground, Khe Ac, Khe Mo, La Khe, Tan Duc (Highway 15). I worked as a technical officer of Company 551-N55-P18 but was not as busy as composing poetry, sketches, playing, singing and even choreographing dances for the unit's art troupe to perform for ourselves and the people where the unit was stationed. Therefore, wherever C1 (short name of Company 551) went, the singing followed. The folk song sketches I wrote always included the place names or historical names of the locality where the unit was stationed, so the people loved them very much, and from then on, they loved and helped us even more.

Youth Volunteer Force on duty to clear the road at Dong Loc T-junction. (Photo courtesy)

In early 1967, the Youth Volunteer Team - N55 - P18 established a shock art troupe by selecting excellent actors from 8C (company) to send up. They were the larks: Hong The, Dang Ty, Minh Toan, Dieu Lan, Mai Lan, Hong Chinh, My Dung, Ai Lien, Bich Phuong, Xuan Chau (female), Nguyen Binh Khiem, Lai, Hoa, Viet, Ly, Nghia, Hau, Phuong, Hoi, An and Binh Nhuong (male). Binh Nhuong, Mai Lan, Dieu Lan were praised by everyone: They "sing like a radio".

Captain Nguyen Binh Khiem (C1 soldier) from Xuan Hoi commune (Nghi Xuan) was selected to study directing for 6 months at the Department of Culture. He was a "country bumpkin" in the vocal music department. However, he "threatened" the Secretary of the N55 Youth Union: If Thanh Binh (later Yen Thanh) was not assigned to the team, where would we get the performances to support the art troupe?

Binh Khiem ordered me to write something, I wrote it. If we needed poetry, we had poetry, if we needed folk songs, drama, spoken play, bingo, and folk songs... we had them right away! I even choreographed a few dances. Luckily, when I was doing arts activities in my hometown, I was able to attend a 3-month dance class organized by the Department of Culture. We had performances that won prizes at provincial, Military Region 4, and Ministry of Transport festivals, such as the performance "The Road and the Silk Scarf" or the poem "Your Name at the Crossroads". As for the poem "Cuc oi!", I did not publish it at that time. In addition, poems such as "Singing in July"; "Your Name is Nguyen Thi Thanh Nien Xung Phong"; the drama "Before the Day of Going to Hold the Gun", the dance "Capturing the Enemy Driver"; the spoken play "Con su linh cau duong", bingo "Con voi hai tuoc"... also spread from the art team to all 7Cs to become "Homegrown" performances of each C. There are performances where, in addition to popular songs such as: "The girl who opened the road" (Xuan Giao), "The joy of opening the road" (Do Nhuan), "The song of traffic and transport" (Hoang Van), "I am the driver" (Anh Chung), "The Truong Son road your car passed" (Van Dung), the rest are performances composed by Thanh Binh.

A scene from the MV “Cuc oi” by Meritorious Artist To Nga. (Photo: Internet).

Not only that, except for the night when I went to the scene, during the day, in addition to my professional duties, I also composed folk songs (both antiphonal and response) and gave them to Binh Khiem to assign male and female actors to memorize so that they could go to the scene at night to act as catalysts for the movement of "singing to drown out the sound of bombs". As for me, if I went down to the Cs during the day, the O (ladies) in the squads invited me to the hut to draw pillows and embroidered scarves, and did not forget to tell me: "Draw me a pair of doves with their beaks together" and write below: "See you that day..." or: "Wait, the day of reunification..."...

At dusk, the units deployed from culvert 19 (Phu Loc commune) all the way to Khe Ut, Khe Giao (My Loc commune, Son Loc). Each squad was at least 30m apart to ensure safety when the enemy bombed. This was the time when "the enemy pilots were having dinner outside the 7th fleet" (as the youth volunteers jokingly said) and it was also an incredibly quiet moment. The A's could not see each other, the O's were not afraid of bombs but were "afraid of ghosts" so they silently pushed the carts, filled bomb craters, and fought against the mud... At that moment, I shouted:

(Oh... ho...) Who knew who in the past?

Because we fight together, America meets here.

Baby it's not daytime

Shout out so I can know you right away!

The last two sentences were added by me to “incite”. Hundreds of laughter and girls’ screams arose: “Thanh Binh, Thanh Binh”.

Then a soprano voice rose from the C2 scene:

(Oh...) Leaving with a heavy oath

Defeat the American invaders, I will marry you

Another round of laughter and applause.

I continued to sing:

(Oh...)

Go away, I told you so.

How to get someone like you

Another female voice from C7 (Dark side) replied:

(Oh...)

I love you but I don't want to love you

The water wants to flow but the ditch is not dug yet.

How do you handle it?

Dig a ditch to let water into the ditch.

I was walking further and further away, still hearing the voices of hundreds of girls chasing after me, "Have you lost? Have you lost?" challenging me.

Scene of Squad 4, Company 552 Dong Loc Youth Volunteers gathering together, telling each other stories about family and love during rare breaks (scene is part of the Art Program "Dong Loc Sacred Realm", taking place on the evening of July 23, 2022).

I remember, the nights I accompanied Mr. Tran Quang Dat (at that time, Vice Chairman of the Provincial Administrative Committee - concurrently Head of Dong Loc Security Department) to inspect the situation, he joked and humorously encouraged the units from anti-aircraft artillery, militia on duty, engineers, drivers, soldiers, leveling machines, traffic workers, and youth volunteers. Near dawn, we returned. At that time, on the roads leading to the 7 communes of Thuong Can, thousands of youth volunteers, workers, drivers, police, and soldiers were getting off work and returning home. The cheers of farewell to friends echoed on every road, lingering and nostalgic:

(Oh... ho...) How can I go home?

Hold hands and compose a poem

Love, longing, waiting, anticipation

Another anti-American sentence I will never forget...

Yet… it has been 55 years. Every time I think of Dong Loc, I think of the Youth Volunteers - the most beautiful period of my youth that I cannot take with me. I remember the Tam girls who, when they heard the company commander's whistle, quickly crawled out of the bamboo shell, some cleared bombs, others filled bomb craters, fought against mud, escorted vehicles or opened bypasses, new roads, worked with their hands and sang with their mouths. Yet, when work was over, they "crawled into the bamboo shell" to lock away the burning private love in their hearts. Then they took out their pillows to embroider, took supplementary cultural classes, practiced performing arts or immersed themselves in green letters...

Yes, there was a time when we lived and sang like that!

Yen Thanh

Source: https://baohatinh.vn/van-hoa-ha-tinh/tieng-hat-at-tieng-bom/251066.htm