Memories of General Vo Nguyen Giap in the hearts of Muong Phang people

People of Muong Phang commune watch films about the life and revolutionary activities of General Vo Nguyen Giap. (Photo: Xuan Tien/VNA)

For the ethnic people in Muong Phang commune (Dien Bien Phu city, Dien Bien province), General Vo Nguyen Giap is a relative.

In Muong Phang valley, during the Dien Bien Phu campaign in 1954, General Vo Nguyen Giap built the Campaign Command base at the foot of Pu Don mountain, surrounded by the vast Muong Phang jungle.

Here, the General made correct and wise decisions, demonstrating his outstanding military strategy and vision to create the Dien Bien Phu victory that "resounded throughout the five continents and shook the world".

After the historic Dien Bien Phu victory, the campaign headquarters was kept intact by the people of Muong Phang. The image of the General is always engraved in the minds of every local resident. The affection that the General had for the people of Muong Phang became the motivation for them to unite and join hands to build the village to develop and prosper.

Intact memories of the General

67 years after the historic victory of Dien Bien Phu (1954), 17 years after the last time General Vo Nguyen Giap visited Muong Phang (2004), the image and memories of the General are still intact in the memories of everyone here.

On the porch of the stilt house at the end of Bua village (the Thai pronunciation means “lotus village”) of Muong Phang commune, every day, Mr. Lo Van Bien (born in 1957, former Secretary of the Party Committee of Muong Phang commune) spends a certain amount of time in the early morning to clean the red tape recorder that the General gave to his father, Mr. Lo Van Bong, during the General’s last visit to Dien Bien in 2004.

During the Dien Bien Phu campaign (1954), Mr. Lo Van Bong was a security guard and liaison for the Dien Bien Phu campaign headquarters. Not long after the Dien Bien Phu campaign ended, Mr. Lo Van Bong became one of the people involved in looking after and protecting the vast Muong Phang jungle surrounding the system of trenches, camps, etc. of the headquarters.

Mr. Lo Van Bien (Bua village, Muong Phang commune, Dien Bien Phu city, Dien Bien province) cleans the tape recorder that General Vo Nguyen Giap gave to his father, Mr. Lo Van Bong, during the General's last visit to Dien Bien in 2004. (Photo: Xuan Tien/VNA)

After nearly 20 years, the tape recorder has become a priceless keepsake of Mr. Lo Van Bien’s family. Mr. Bien’s family said that although the tape recorder is considered a “family heirloom”, only Mr. Bien is allowed to use the drawer where this keepsake is kept.

For Mr. Lo Van Bien, if one day he does not clean and admire this souvenir early in the morning, that day he feels like he is missing something close and familiar.

Mr. Lo Van Bien still remembers clearly the General's visit to Muong Phang. In 2004, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Dien Bien Phu victory, Uncle Giap visited Muong Phang.

From early morning, the Thai, Kinh, and Mong people in Muong Phang commune gathered, waiting to meet the General. After Uncle Giap visited the trenches, fortifications, and camps in the Command Headquarters, when he returned, he spent a lot of time meeting, visiting, and talking with the people. He advised the people to unite, try to do business, develop the economy, and build a more prosperous and spacious village.

That day, Uncle Giap gave gifts to the people in the commune. Uncle Bong, his father, received a gift along with a tape recorder and radio. Having the radio, Uncle Bong was very happy and proud in the following days.

In 2013, Mr. Bong passed away. At his deathbed, his last wish was to see and touch the radio one last time and to instruct his children and grandchildren to preserve this keepsake carefully.

For Mr. Luong Van Nanh (Phang 1 village, Muong Phang commune), even though he is nearly 90 years old, the memory of meeting General Vo Nguyen Giap that year is still intact. In the ancient Thai stilt house, his hearty voice seems to drown out the sound of the drizzling rain in the gable.

What happened in the early morning at Phieng Ta Let field, where people were waiting for the General, is always imprinted in the memories of many generations of people here.

Mr. Luong Van Nanh (Phang 1 village, Muong Phang commune, Dien Bien Phu city) told the younger generation about his memories of meeting the General in 2004 when the General returned to Dien Bien. (Photo: Xuan Tien/VNA)

The General was very close and friendly. That day, the General told the people of Muong Phang that, during the Dien Bien Phu campaign, the people united, secretly protected the General and everyone.

The people's feelings for the General and the army are very deep. The General spoke with emotion. The General advised the people to continue promoting the tradition of solidarity and hard work to make every family more prosperous and the village more beautiful. The people must preserve the Muong Phang forest and the relic site so that the younger generation will always remember the history and be proud of the nation.

When Uncle Giap shook hands with the people in a tearful and emotional way to say goodbye to everyone, the people of Muong Phang cried, Mr. Luong Van Nanh said.

Leaving Phang 1 village, we went to Phang 2 village (Muong Phang commune) to meet Mr. Lo Van Anh, who still keeps valuable mementos of General Vo Nguyen Giap. In the traditional stilt house, the owner hung a photo of General Vo Nguyen Giap with many Muong Phang people in the most prominent and visible place.

Mr. Lo Van Anh shared: "The photo is the moment when Lo Thi Doi, my grandmother and many Thai people in the commune were photographed with General Vo Nguyen Giap when the General visited Dien Bien again in 2004."

Anh Anh said: “The person standing next to Uncle Giap in this photo is my grandmother, Lo Thi Doi.” When she was alive, Mrs. Doi treasured this photo very much. Occasionally, she would take it out to look at and tell her children and grandchildren about the General.

He advised his descendants and family to make efforts to build his hometown Muong Phang and preserve the Command Headquarters Relic Site. The day he heard the news of the General's death, Mr. Doi was sad. All day he sat leaning against the door, holding a photo of him and the General, looking towards the Dien Bien Phu Campaign Command Headquarters and crying.

According to the elders in the commune, in January 1954, when the Campaign Command moved its location from Huoi He Cave (now Na Nhan Commune, Dien Bien Phu City) to Muong Phang, Lo Thi Doi and many people in Muong Phang Commune participated in propaganda and mobilized people to contribute food and provisions to the soldiers in the Campaign Command, contributing to the good logistics and support for the revolutionary base area.

Mr. Lo Van Anh (Phang 2 village, Muong Phang commune, Dien Bien Phu city, Dien Bien province) wipes the photo of his grandmother, Lo Thi Doi, taken with the General during the General's last visit to Dien Bien in 2004. (Photo: Xuan Tien/VNA)

Mr. Lo Van Anh said that when listening to his grandparents and ancestors tell the story, he understood more about the contributions and affection that the General had for the people of Muong Phang commune.

As descendants, on Uncle Giap's birthday or other important occasions of the country, people in the commune come together to Uncle Giap's memorial site to burn incense, remember and show gratitude for the General's contributions.

Building villages worthy of the name of revolutionary base

Muong Phang Commune is located outside Muong Thanh Valley, nearly 40km from Dien Bien Phu City. The whole commune has more than 1,100 households with over 5,440 people belonging to the Mong, Thai, Kinh ethnic groups... living in 20 villages, of which the Thai people account for 73%, the Mong people account for 24%...

Muong Phang terrain is a long valley, surrounded by high mountains, cooled by Pa Hoc Khieu streams (green bamboo forest), Huoi Luong, Pa Khoang lake (bamboo forest).

With strategic advantages in terms of terrain, geomorphology and convergence of military factors, favorable for monitoring the battlefield's developments in the Muong Thanh basin, during the Dien Bien Phu campaign in 1954, Muong Phang was chosen by General Vo Nguyen Giap to build the campaign command post.

The system of trenches, camps, fortifications... of the Command Center was arranged in a continuous system, hidden discreetly and safely under the canopy of the old forest at the foot of Pu Don mountain. Here, the headquarters of our army was "stationed" for 105 days (from January 31, 1954 to May 15, 1954).

This is the third and final “stop” until the campaign ends, victorious.

After 67 years, with the cooperation and solidarity of the Party Committee, government and the Kinh, Thai, Mong ethnic communities, the revolutionary base area of ​​Muong Phang has gradually changed and prospered.

Socio-economic development, people's lives are increasingly prosperous... worthy of the revolutionary tradition of the revolutionary base area.

Leading us on a wide, spacious asphalt road running through the commune center, Chairman of the People's Committee of Muong Phang Commune Lo Van Hop said that in 2018, the commune met new rural standards.

Currently, the locality is continuing to maintain the commune meeting the new rural standards, implementing the project "One Commune One Product Program" for the period 2021-2025, and striving to build 2 villages and hamlets meeting the standards of "model new rural villages and hamlets."

The development of infrastructure systems such as electricity, roads, schools, stations, traffic, and intra-field canals has created a premise and solid foundation for the locality to develop in all aspects in the present and future.

Up to now, the average income per capita of the commune has reached about 30 million VND/year; more than 98% of households in the commune have houses that meet the prescribed standards; more than 80% of villages and hamlets have achieved the title of cultural village.

The whole commune has nearly 220 hectares of winter-spring rice cultivation, with an estimated yield of 6 tons/ha and an estimated output of more than 1,300 tons; nearly 100 hectares of corn, cassava, and arrowroot, about 22 hectares of various vegetables, and more than 42 hectares of fruit trees.

In livestock farming, Muong Phang has also achieved important results. The whole commune has more than 4,500 cattle of all kinds, more than 46,600 poultry, more than 110 hectares of aquaculture...

In recent years, effective production and business models with high income such as pond fish farming, commercial fish cage farming, wild boar and porcupine farming, and fruit tree planting (sapodilla, macadamia, plum) have been widely replicated by local people.

More specifically, thanks to the boldness in converting crop varieties and exploiting advantages in land and soil, the whole commune now has nearly 10 hectares of long-term industrial crops.

By the end of 2021, the commune strives to reduce the poverty rate to below 3%, and the rate of households using the national grid to reach 100%...

Mr. Lo Van Hop, Chairman of Muong Phang Commune People's Committee, said that keeping in mind the advice of General Vo Nguyen Giap, local people have focused on economic development, strived to rise up, making the rural appearance of each village increasingly change.

People's awareness in protecting Muong Phang special-use forest, preserving and promoting the historical value of the Dien Bien Phu campaign headquarters is increasingly raised.

In the mind of every citizen, everyone wants to contribute to building their homeland to be more prosperous, worthy of being a land rich in revolutionary tradition as General Vo Nguyen Giap advised in the past.

The Party Committee, government and people of Muong Phang commune are determined to unite and join hands to successfully achieve the set goals.

Mr. Lo Van Anh (Phang 2 village, Muong Phang commune) shared that as a member of the Management and Protection Team of the Dien Bien Phu Campaign Command Relic, every day, performing the tasks of looking after, protecting and contacting the works in the relic site, he feels very happy.

Every time he approaches the General's Working Hut, he feels very proud and remembers the General. He will try his best to contribute with everyone to keep the relic site clean and beautiful.

Proud to be one of three schools in the commune named after General Vo Nguyen Giap, teachers and students of Vo Nguyen Giap Primary School strive to improve teaching and learning quality, achieving many achievements to be worthy of the school named after the beloved General.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh, Principal of Vo Nguyen Giap Primary School, said that after the General passed away, to pay tribute to the General, the provincial education and training sector renamed three schools at the preschool, primary and secondary levels in the area to be named after General Vo Nguyen Giap.

With that honor and pride, the collective of cadres, teachers, and generations of students working and studying at the schools always strive to compete, strive, and achieve high achievements in teaching and learning to be worthy of the school named after the General.

As for Vo Nguyen Giap Primary School, the school has now achieved National Standard Level II. Students are always trained in morality, talent, and the revolutionary tradition of their homeland, achieving many high achievements over the years.

In teaching, the school always focuses on integrating the program or organizing extracurricular activities for students to learn about the revolutionary tradition of Muong Phang and the Dien Bien Phu campaign. From there, it nurtures pride, fosters the national revolutionary spirit and further respects and remembers the General's contributions.

Late afternoon, leaving Muong Phang on the Loong Nghiu-Na Nhan road, traveling among the rolling waves of rice fields downstream of Loong Luong, we felt more clearly the prosperous life of the ethnic communities here.

The peaceful and prosperous village scene leaning against the mountain, with livestock and poultry farms, fish ponds, and fruit-laden gardens also appear on the inter-village road. In the distance, Pu Huot peak (the “Horn of Heaven” peak with an altitude of 1,700m above sea level) where General Vo Nguyen Giap had the Observatory placed to monitor the battlefield of the Muong Thanh basin during the Dien Bien Phu campaign still stands tall, majestic and has become a priceless historical relic.

According to VNA