Stories of soldier life and daily life of the "silent hero" Pham Huu Tham

Airplane killer

"The Nemesis of Death" is the title of a novel by writer Le Hoai Nam based on the war diary of veteran Pham Huu Tham, born in 1945, from Hue Tri village, An Phu ward, Kinh Mon town (Hai Duong).

His small house is located just a few steps away from Hue Tri communal house. At nearly 80 years old, the couple lives a simple life in a 5-room house that is hundreds of years old, left by their ancestors.

Every time it rained, the house leaked and water flowed everywhere, so the grandparents had to prepare pots, pans, basins, and basins to catch the rainwater. The dirt floor was always damp and moldy. There was nothing valuable in the house except an old television. When guests came to visit, because there were no tables and chairs to drink water, the grandparents often spread out mats and invited everyone to sit on the ground.

In early 2024, the grandparents' house was renovated by their children and grandchildren, raising the floor but still retaining the traditional features of the old 5-room house.

Enlisted in April 1968, after 2 months of training, he marched with his unit to the Southern battlefield and was assigned to Company 14, Regiment 38, Division 2, Military Region 5. After many life-and-death battles with the enemy, soldier Pham Huu Tham became Deputy Military Battalion Commander, holding the rank of lieutenant.

During his 14 years of service, Lieutenant Pham Huu Tham participated in many campaigns, such as the K700 Thuong Duc - Quang Da Campaign (March 1970), the Hon Chieng Post Holding Campaign (May 1972). In total, he directly participated in 127 battles, destroying 253 enemies. He was credited with shooting down 19 aircraft, including 4 jets and 15 helicopters. He was awarded 7 Military Exploit Medals of various types, 4 times won the title "Brave American Destroyer", 4 times won the title "Brave Aircraft Destroyer" and many other titles "Emulation Fighter" and "Determined to Win Fighter"...

During the Great Victory of Spring 1975, after participating in the liberation of Da Nang, Mr. Tham and his unit were sent to support the naval forces to liberate the Truong Sa archipelago. Together with his comrades, he secretly boarded a ship to cross the sea, and directly participated with the water commandos in the battles and successively liberated Song Tu Tay, Son Ca, and Nam Yet.

When Truong Sa archipelago was liberated, Mr. Tham was assigned as Political Commissar of Son Ca island for 3 months. He then took on the important responsibility of Deputy Island Commander of Song Tu Tay until the end of August 1976, when he returned to the mainland and was transferred to Brigade 126 of the Navy Command.

The Southwestern border war broke out in December 1978. Lieutenant Pham Huu Tham continued his international mission in Cambodia, attacking and pursuing the enemy to the Thai border. He did not return home until July 1979. In January 1982, due to poor health, Lieutenant Pham Huu Tham was given sick leave.

"Soldiers" - battlefield diary

He began writing his war diary in the first hours after leaving the bamboo village to join the army: “At 8:00 a.m. on April 5, 1968, we gathered at Hue Tri communal house, including 12 people…”.

He said that the purpose of writing the diary at that time was to keep it as a souvenir, so that he could read it with his children and grandchildren later, and remember his years of fighting.

In those days, there were no books to record like today, so he took advantage of his free time to find leaflets, calendars, and pieces of paper to write down the events of the day and put them in his pocket. Later, he collected these diary pieces into a war diary.

Reading the diary, many people are surprised by the detail. Every day and time, what he ate, where he went, what he did, how he fought, all were recorded in detail. On days when he didn't have much time, he wrote briefly. On important events or big battles, he wrote in more detail and meticulousness.

Recently, through the introduction of a relative, also a comrade, his seemingly forgotten diary came to Colonel, veteran, writer Dang Vuong Hung, President of the "Soldier's Heart" Club. The "Soldier's Heart" Club coordinated with the "Forever 20" Club to organize the publication of the book "Soldier" to pay tribute to a veteran who had contributed to the country, a silent hero.

There is a passage in his diary that he wrote like this, so that readers can understand why he is called "The Hero of Airplane Destruction":

I grabbed the first plane about to land at the 700 peak, fired two rounds, the plane was hit and fell into the ravine. The second plane just landed slowly, I fired three more rounds. The plane caught fire and fell into the forest. The third plane slowed down, just reached the top of the hill, I fired a round at the plane door, three more rounds at the head and propeller shaft, the plane caught fire and fell into the hillside. The fourth plane just reached the peak and turned around to prepare to land, I fired four to five rounds in a row, the plane fell on the spot, lying at the top of the 700 peak. The five planes behind saw this, panicked and turned around to run away. (With the above achievement, I was later certified by the unit as a "Brave Aircraft Destroyer").

Each page of the diary conveyed to readers a lot of honest and naked information about the lives and bloody and tearful battles that lasted year after year of soldiers in the resistance war.

And it was the true stories in this diary that were valuable materials for writer Le Hoai Nam to write the novel "The Nemesis of Death". Some selected content in the work was also included in volume 16 of the collection "Soldier's Memories - To show gratitude and act more humanely".

The Hero's Wife

Behind the exploits of veteran Pham Huu Tham, it is impossible not to mention Mrs. Duong Thi Gai (born in 1944), his hard-working wife, a solid supporter. She not only raised her husband's children and shouldered the family's responsibilities during difficult years, but also kept the mementos he brought back from the battlefield.

The day we arrived, she carefully opened the time-worn cabinet and took out many medals, certificates of bravery, certificates of merit, certificates of merit, and documents and records of confirmation from her husband's former comrades. She arranged and packaged everything carefully and neatly.

They had four children, two boys and two girls. The eldest son, Lieutenant Colonel Pham Huu Tri (1964 - 2011), unfortunately died of illness while still in the army. The second son, Pham Huu Tuan (born in 1966), volunteered to join the army when he was not yet 16 years old, and was assigned to the 126th Naval Brigade for three years and six months before leaving the army due to his family's difficult circumstances.

Over the past 10 years, Ms. Gai has sent her relatives to war four times. In 1968, holding her two children in her arms at the village entrance, she sent her husband off to the army. In 1978, she took a train to Cam Ranh (Khanh Hoa) to visit and send her husband off to fight in Cambodia. Seeing that the country was still at war, in 1981, she volunteered to encourage her two sons to join the army, when they were not yet 18 years old. At that time, she had a strong belief that her husband and children would return victorious.

In her hometown of Hue Tri, she worked hard to raise her children, take care of her parents-in-law, and do farm work like many other women during the war. She joined the Women's Association of Three Talents, the Association of Soldiers' Wives, and was the deputy head of the village's production team. After decades of returning to normal life, veteran Pham Huu Tham was proposed by his old unit and the local government to be awarded the title of Hero of the People's Armed Forces. Division 2 (Military Region 5) sent a request letter No. 09/CV-DN, dated September 20, 1996 to the Ministry of National Defense, the Political Department - General Department of Politics, and the Standing Committee of the Party Committee of the Military Region 5 Command.

8 years later, from August 17 to September 20, 2004, there were successive documents requesting the Party Committee and People's Committee of An Phu commune, the Veterans Association of An Phu commune (now An Phu ward), the Military Command of Kinh Mon district (now Kinh Mon town); Company 14 of the 38th Infantry Regiment, the Party Committee - Command of the 38th Infantry Regiment... All agreed to propose to superiors and competent state agencies to confer the title of Hero of the People's Armed Forces on Lieutenant, veteran Pham Huu Tham.

But those requests received no response. Currently, Mr. Tham receives more than 3 million VND in monthly allowance for disabled soldiers. That is also the amount he and his wife spend on food and medical treatment for old age.