| Journalist and photographer Nguyen Minh Tuong, famous for his legendary photograph of troops trekking along Truong Son (the route that is now known as Ho Chi Minh Trail), reveals how and why he shot the photo in 1966.
 | Photographer Nguyen Minh Tuong and the legendary photo of troops trekking along Truong Son. |
Journalist and photographer Nguyen Minh Tuong, famous for his legendary photograph of troops trekking along Truong Son (the route that is now known as Ho Chi Minh Trail), reveals how and why he shot the photo in 1966.It was the 28th of the 12th lunar month and I was walking up to the Se Banghion River four days after leaving my office, Vietnam News Agency, in Hanoi for a People’s Army base in Laos.
After wrapping the camera, clothes, and rucksack carefully in a large plastic sheet, I began to wade into the clean, clear and cold water to get to the other side where I would meet Dang Trung, commissar of K75, who had invited me to the base to spend Tet (the lunar New Year) with him and the troops.
As soon as I set foot on shore, I heard the sound of a gun cocking and a shrill female voice saying, “Stop! Who are you?”
A pretty, young volunteer in a khaki shirt and tai beo hat appeared with an submachine in her hands and I showed her my papers. After looking through them carefully, she smiled at me and introduced herself: “My name is Ha. I’m from Ha Noi.”
Before I could greet her, I heard the sound of two metal objects striking together repeatedly; it was an air-raid alert coming from the other side of the river.
After pushing me down into an air-raid shelter, Ha strapped her gun on her shoulder and climbed up a bare tree.
She was counting the number of bombs being dropped by B52 planes. After the planes flew away, she would go to the bombed site to dismantle unexploded bombs — defusing bombs and sweeping mines was one of her tasks.
Thoroughly impressed by the heroic girl, I took some photos of her sitting on the tree branch. Her slender figure in khaki stood out against the blue sky in the photos.
Two days passed quickly and the New Year arrived. On the Eve, we had a meal together while listening to Uncle Ho’s New Year greetings on a small radio.
After the meal, Ha sat silently in a corner of the dugout, writing a letter to her mother in the light of a kerosene lamp. I promised to hand the letter to her mother when I returned to Ha Noi.
Ha worked as a guide for me around the forest in the following days. I took photos of B52 bombings and volunteer girls gardening, feeding chickens, and washing clothes by the stream.
I also took a photo of Ha holding a branch of orchids in her hands. She gracefully inclined her head to one side to pose for photo. How much I liked her!
I then visited a nearby unit for a week. When I got back, I was stunned when Trung told me that Ha had been killed four days ago while defusing bombs. She had neutralized two but a third exploded, he said.
Ha’s death broke my heart. I realized I could not stay at the base any longer and so said good bye to Trung to walk up Path No. 7 to the Cha Lo Border Post at the foot of Mu Gia Pass in Quang Binh Province. In my rucksack were Ha’s letter to her mother and some of her photos.
I thought about the impermanence of soldiers’ lives during war and decided then I would record on film unforgettable moments or events from the war I experience or witness.
It was my way of paying tribute to soldiers like Ha and her comrades who sacrificed their lives so that the nation could achieve independence.
The seminal photo
At the border post, I heard the commanding officer say that the troops would operate along the new border path soon.
An idea flashed through my mind and I asked a soldier to lead me to the site.
We climbed up a tall hill. Standing at the top, I saw a sloping path run between two high, steep mountainsides. I wanted to take a photo of the troops climbing up the slope. I realized it would look very impressive.
I got up very early the next morning to go up the hill again to wait for the troops. At around 11 am, they appeared.
I took out the camera and captured the moment on film. The troops were climbing up the slope while the sun shone brightly down on the forest, the mountainsides, and on the hats and shoulders of the soldiers.
I later returned to Ha Noi. I went to Ha’s house on Hang Than Street to give her mother her letter and photos. The poor woman happily looked at the photos of her pretty daughter, not realizing she was dead. I left without telling her that her brave, young daughter had made the ultimate sacrifice. I couldn’t.
Three years later I met poet To Huu and showed him the photo of the troops. Huu admired the photo for a while and recited two lines of verse:
“Troops are trekking through Truong Son to the South to save the country,
Hardships and challenges could not discourage their firm belief in a future victory.”
I asked To Huu for permission to use the first line as the photo’s title. The rest is history. VietNamNet/SGGP |
