Visiting Dong Loc Junction now, few people can imagine that it used to be a “no-man land,” a “bombarded place,” and a “flash point” because each square meter on this approximately 50ha area received at least three huge bombs.
In July 1968 only, Vietnam destroyed 1,780 bombs dropped on the Dong Loc Junction. Especially, during a fierce battle in the area, the ten female volunteers sacrificed their lives, becoming one of the noble and sacred symbols of the Vietnamese revolutionary heroism in the 20th century.
Now, on the old battle field, life has been revived with green forests, corn and rice fields and green vegetables. Highlights of the peaceful scenery in Dong Loc are relics, monuments, and other facilities recording the Vietnamese military’s glorious feats-of-arms. They are the Dong Loc Junction special national relic complex with the Dong Loc Junction Victory Monument featuring a proud female youth volunteer raising high a national flag during the enemy’s bombardment, together with other troops, transportation workers, militiamen and guerrillas overcoming hardships and danger to level roads, fill up bomb craters, shoot down enemy aircraft, destroy enemy bombs and pay the way for our troops’ vehicles.
One of the spiritual spaces at the Dong Loc Junction, where any visitor should offer incense to the fallen, is the graves of the ten fallen female martyrs, situated on the foot of Tro Voi hill covered in high green pine trees, annually offered with flowers and incense. These volunteers laid down their lives when they were at their youth - the most beautiful period of a person’s lifetime. On each grave places a white flower symbolizing the purity of the fallen.
Visiting the national youth volunteer hall of fame, visitors are taken back by fierce time at the Dong Loc Junction via resistance war exhibits, get opportunities to learn more about the lively, romantic and vigorous life of the older generations.
In addition to combat equipment for the Dong Loc Victory, such as wagons, wheelbarrows, excavators, binoculars, visitors can look at and find out precious exhibits such as a letter of Vo Thi Tan, Commander of Squad 4, Company 552, sent to her mother five days before her death, Vo Thi Tan’s hair presented to her beloved Nguyen Duc Hong, Tran Thi Huong’s diary, Vo Thi Hoi’s shirt and more.
Other facilities in the Dong Loc Junction relic complex are a national youth volunteer memorial house, Dong Loc Junction Temple, a monument dedicated to fallen workers of the transport sector, a statue of the ten Dong Loc female youth volunteers, a monument dedicated to people laying down their lives in the Dong Loc battlefield, and Dong Loc bell tower.
Peaceful sounds from Dong Loc bell tower remind visitors to never forget the national history and glorious combats of the previous generations.
As General Vo Nguyen Giap once confirmed, Dong Loc Junction - a brilliant feat-of-arms, a powerful historic name of the legendary Truong Son trail - is eternal.
Translated by Mai Huong