Telling the story of Truong Sa and DK1 Platform

The book is divided into 6 parts with 30 interesting stories for school-age children, including "Pet Dog in Truong Sa", "Parents are Barringtonia acutangula trees", "Children in Truong Sa", "The Hard Years", "Finding the Dreamland", "The Shoals and DK1 Platforms".

In particular, part 1, as its name suggests, includes stories about dogs raised by our soldiers on the island such as "Yellow, Black, Spotted, Mi Lo... with many unique features" ("The Dogs and the Scent of Co Lin Island"). They are like soldiers on the island, "always looking forward to seeing ships come to visit" and join in guarding the sea and sky. The most touching is: "On Truong Sa Island, many dogs shed tears when saying goodbye to soldiers who had completed their duty and boarded ships to return to the mainland" ("Sulky Dog"). If part 1 is a story about the "friends" of the island soldiers' pets, the next two parts are sparkling reflections of family affection and children's life on the island. These are observations and sympathies about the difference in family affection between children on Truong Sa and children on the mainland. Among them, we cannot help but mention the story of the little girl Thuy (currently Major Le Thi Minh Thuy) - the daughter of Major Le Dinh Tho - who sacrificed his life in the naval battle at Gac Ma Island on March 14, 1988 ("Remembering the image of my father in Truong Sa"). It is also a touching image when children and their parents come to burn incense before the memorial stele of 64 martyrs who sacrificed their lives at Gac Ma Island erected on Sinh Ton Island ("Where parents burn incense every day")...

The author also shares experiences that not everyone knows in detail, such as the children's special uniforms "which were stylized to resemble the uniforms of Navy soldiers" ("Soldiers' shirts go to school"), or the performances when performed in units where "The audience was hundreds of soldiers who applauded enthusiastically" ("The students all sang well and danced well"). The children learned history right around them, "from Uncle Ho's church, the martyrs' memorial stele, the stone engraved with the poem "Nam Quoc Son Ha", the Hung Dao Dai Vuong monument" ("History page by the school gate...").

And to keep life peaceful on remote islands as well as in the sea and sky of the Fatherland, we cannot forget "The Hard Years" as the name of part 4. Those were the days of overcoming storms to build and embellish the island in the midst of fierce waves at sea. The hard life, lacking green vegetables of a difficult time. The long days without fresh water "sometimes had to mix a little sea water into cooking, which made our hearts ache. The water had a murky taste, so the rice could not be cooked evenly, everyone looked at each other at meals". It was the memory of Major General Hoang Kiem about the difficult years "designing houses to guard Thuyen Chai Island and other submerged islands. Once, a storm hit the sandbank of Da Lon Island, all 70 soldiers hugged each other tightly in a cluster, while the waves rushed in and sometimes flooded up to their necks" ("Building houses, planting landmarks to guard the island, protecting Truong Sa")...

But more intense are the pressures in the last part of the book called "The Shoals and DK1 Platform" which takes readers through the shoals on the island, witnessing the endurance and sacrifice of the platform soldiers. That is the example of sacrifice "in the face down position and floating on the sea" of Deputy Captain Pham Tao and officer Le Tien Cuong "whose bodies could not be found" in January 1991 in the platform area located at Tu Chinh beach ("Standing on the platform in the middle of the storm"). "The noble sacrifice of officers and soldiers of DK1/3 Platform in Phuc Tan cluster when the storm hit in the early morning of December 5, 1990, the platform was overthrown and swept away all 8 officers and soldiers into the sea..." ("On the tilted house in the middle of the storm"). The children also learned the difference between the old generation of platforms (painted blue) and the new generation of platforms (painted yellow) "capable of withstanding a level 15 super typhoon" ("New generation DK1 platform"), or the story of receiving Tet gifts by rope from island soldiers ("Drop goods for DK1 platform")...

Building on the success of the previous work “Telling the Story of Hoang Sa”, with a clear and simple language and writing style for children, along with many vivid images, Le Van Chuong has continued to contribute to the salty pages of the sea and islands with impressive and touching stories through “A Journey to Truong Sa and DK1 Platform”.

Source: https://hanoimoi.vn/ke-chuyen-truong-sa-va-nha-gian-dk1-708881.html