An exchange on Thach Han river

PANO – The Thach Han River in the central province of Quang Tri has witnessed a number of feats of arms of Vietnamese liberation fighters and carries inside itself untold sweet memories of the then young generation, who sacrificed their youth for the cause of national liberation.

It was the Thach Han River that encouraged the youth of the 70s to achieve brilliant victories in the fiercest battles and gave them great inspiration for writing poems to record the feeling of the soldiers fighting at the ancient citadel of Quang Tri.

A collection of poems by war veterans who took part in the Quang Tri Campaign in 1972 titled “Resounding the Thach Han River” was published in April 2007 by Writers’ Association Publishing House. The poems are regarded as heart-to-heart talks and sincere feelings of experienced soldiers. The work consists of 81 poems composed by 18 soldier poets including 3 martyrs.

Those soldier poets volunteered to go to the front in response to the sacred appeal of the nation while they were in university. They marched to Quang Tri battlefield with the dreams and romanticism of young age, with more the nature of a student than the experience of a soldier.

In their eyes, life on the fierce front still looked optimistic and full of hope.

They turned the heart-tearing news of their native villages being bombarded and devastated by the enemy’s bombings into poems with the strong determination to fight and to win and hatred.

The publication of this 200-page collection of 81 poems is to commemorate the soldiers who heroically fought for 81 days and nights in the fierce battle in Quang Tri province.

Translated by Mai Huong