Special letter

Among hundreds of wartime letters collected and introduced in the book "Vietnam Wartime Letters" (People's Police Publishing House, 2015) compiled by Colonel and writer Dang Vuong Hung, there is a special letter that touches the hearts of readers. It is the letter of martyr Nguyen Van Thac, a young soldier who was an excellent student in the mathematics and mechanics department of Hanoi University of Science, sent to his lover, female student Pham Thi Nhu Anh, with a strange and touching promise: On April 30, 1975, he will answer the question "What is happiness?" .

In the midst of a fierce war, when the future was still unknown, the young soldier still wrote a beautiful promise like a dream. And later, when history closed a painful chapter on April 30, 1975, people were startled to realize that it was not only a promise of a couple but also a wish to put all their faith in the day of peace.

Nguyen Van Thac sacrificed his life on July 30, 1972, in a fierce battle at Quang Tri Citadel, when he was just 20 years old. Since that tragic moment, more than half a century has passed, but his letters, each line and each word, are still warm, as if they were written yesterday.

Ms. Nhu Anh, the recipient of those letters, kept them as treasures. No one but her could read them, including her future husband, even though he was very good at Vietnamese. It was only when the diary “Forever Twenty” was published along with “Dang Thuy Tram’s Diary” that the public was able to touch a sacred part of the love story and ideals of young people during the war. The letter with the promise “ April 30, 1975 ” became a strange and touching symbol of the desire for unification.

Strange premonitions and strong ideals

In other letters, Nguyen Van Thac wrote about his big dream, wanting to write a masterpiece like “War and Peace” but also entrusted Nhu Anh with his belief in the future: “ Nhu Anh is tomorrow, is the future of Thac .” That is how the young soldier passed on his passion for life, his desire to contribute and his belief in the next generation.

Nguyen Van Thac once wrote: “The happiness of Thac and Nhu Anh can only be closely linked to the common joy of the nation .” For him, happiness is inseparable from responsibility to the Fatherland. Thus, April 30, the day the country was reunited, is not only a great historical milestone, but also the moment when a separate promise becomes a reality for the entire nation.

To fulfill part of that wish, when the “Forever Twenty” Fund was established, Ms. Nhu Anh’s family gave up a small room at 72 Nguyen Du (Hanoi) as the first place of operation. A simple but meaningful action.

The soldier of the past has been lying in the motherland for 53 years, his 20 years old forever stopped on the page, but the love, ideals and beliefs he left behind are still intact as the first day. The last letter Nguyen Van Thac sent to Nhu Anh was not only a farewell to his lover, but also a greeting to the youth, to the Fatherland, to future generations.

The promise that on April 30, 1975, the answer to the question “What is happiness?” probably never needed to be explained. Because just by looking at the national flag flying on the roof of the Independence Palace that day; just by hearing the cheers of joy across the S-shaped land, we all understand that happiness is the day when the country is reunited, when blood and bones are not shed in vain, when the soldiers’ promise is continued with the complete victory and longevity of the nation.

Today, amidst the hustle and bustle of modern life, amidst the rushing flow of time, those wartime letters continue to be preserved and spread silently. Because each word is still imbued with the sweat, blood and tears of a generation that went through the war. They loved, lived, devoted their youth and sacrificed all the most beautiful things for the Fatherland. They are the shining examples, inspiring and encouraging today's young generation to know how to live a worthy life, to live to the fullest, to live with dedication, to be responsible for their homeland and country.

53 years have passed since the day martyr Nguyen Van Thac fell on the fiery land of Quang Tri, but the song of victory he left for the Fatherland with all his love and courage still echoes forever between heaven and earth. And the happiness he once wrote is the common joy of the whole nation.