Arriving at Ca Mau Cape, I coincidentally met Major General Le Huy Mai, former Deputy Chief Inspector of the Ministry of National Defense , and his wife, Ms. Nguyen Thi Binh.
He and his wife are on a trip here. Major General Le Huy Mai happily said: “50 years ago, in a letter sent back to the rear from the boiling battlefield of the historic April days, I promised my wife that on the day Saigon and the South were liberated, I would take her to visit the most beautiful places in the South.”
Major General Le Huy Mai was born in 1946, from Hoanh Nha village (Giao Thuy, Nam Dinh ). He volunteered to join the army in 1964 and participated in many campaigns with resounding achievements. Typically, in 1967, he bravely investigated, researched, and proposed a plan to encircle and attack the Con Tien stronghold - a solid steel fortification on the US McNamara electronic fence line in the South of Ben Hai River; in January of the year of Mau Than 1968, he commanded 3 officers and soldiers to crush many enemy attacks, protecting more than 50 wounded soldiers in An Hung village (Trieu Tai commune, Trieu Phong district, Quang Tri province)...
Meeting in the land of the South of the Fatherland, with a long-standing friendship, Mr. Mai said: "During the General Offensive and Uprising in Spring 1975, I took on the position of Chief of Reconnaissance-Special Forces of Division 324, Corps 2. In early March 1975, following orders from above, Division 324 participated, launched many attacks and liberated Hue (March 25, 1975).
On the morning of March 27, the Division received urgent orders to advance into Da Nang. I remember that at 5:00 p.m. on March 28, Comrade Phung Ngoc Bao, Chief of the Military Intelligence Department of the 2nd Corps, informed me of an important piece of news: We had just received a phone call between President Nguyen Van Thieu and Lieutenant General Ngo Quang Truong with the content: The Viet Cong wanted to attack Da Nang, they needed a force equivalent to 4 army corps, and to mobilize that many forces to Da Nang, it would take at least 20 days.
I immediately reported the news to Comrade Nguyen Duy Son, Division Commander, and Comrade Nguyen Trong Dan, Division Political Commissar. Comrade Nguyen Trong Dan happily said: "Ngo Quang Truong's end has come!"
On March 29, 1975, Da Nang City was liberated. At 9:00 a.m. the same day, Mr. Mai was assigned to command a reconnaissance unit to protect a number of our high-ranking officers and the 324th Division Command entering Da Nang. He said: “During our time in Da Nang, we continuously received news of victory. In more than 10 years of military service, I have never seen our victory so great and so fast, and the development of the campaigns against the enemy so rapid as at that time; the joy of “waiting for the opportunity” to completely liberate the South had come. With the premonition of a great victory, the country reunited, I took the opportunity to write a letter to my wife. In the letter dated April 18, 1975, I wrote: On March 25, I was in Hue...
On March 29, he arrived in Da Nang City... The people welcomed him like relatives who had been away for a long time... The puppet soldiers, on the other hand, saw him with pale faces, trembling limbs, and surrendered one by one... One day soon, Saigon and the entire South will surely be liberated. That day, he will return and if he has the chance, he will take you to visit the most beautiful places in the South that he has set foot on...".
After the liberation day, Major General Le Huy Mai held many positions. His children were now grown up and he was able to retire under the regime. His promised journey - taking his wife to visit not only the most beautiful places in the South but also all parts of the country - had come true.
Source: https://baolangson.vn/uoc-hen-sau-ngay-giai-phong-5045908.html
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