PANO - Historical witnesses of the 12 days and nights in December 1972 gathered in Hanoi Library on December 4th to recall their days facing B-52s.
The event, held by Youth Publishing House and Tomorrow Media Company, aims to introduce the newly-published book entitled “Facing B-52s” and create a forum for witnesses to reminisce about Hanoi at the time of resilient fighting against foreign invaders to win the Hanoi-Dien Bien Phu in the Air campaign (the US dubbed it Linebacker 2).
The book is a collection of memoirs by 116 Vietnamese and foreigners who experienced the American B-52 bombing of Hanoi. Comprising of 3 parts, the book takes readers back to the time when Northern Vietnam fought against the destructive war on the life of Hanoians in the 1966-72 period, and how the Vietnam People’s Army could shoot down the American B-52 stratofortresses. Readers can also experience the 12 day-and-night struggle of resilient Hanoians under US bombardment, and be introduced to the story of the signing of the Paris Accords, resulting from the Hanoi-Dien Bien Phu in the Air Victory.
Witness Phung Tu Boi, born in 1958, confided that in wartime, whenever hearing the air raid alarm, people knew where to shelter because bombardment occurred daily and trenches could be found everywhere, including in offices, on streets and in each house. “During the bombardments, Hanoi seemed to be deserted, but immediately after the alarm stopped and the bombardment ended, streets were crowded and work resumed immediately,” Phung Tu Boi recalled.
For him, it was the indomitable spirit that inspired people to overcome every challenge. “Everyone could do many types of work and were ready to save or help others,” he stressed.
As a soldier in the Radar Service, Do Manh Hien recalled that in wartime, troops always thought of the ways to down B-52s.
In her memoir, US actress Jane Fonda recalled that once she came to the Vietnam-Soviet Friendship Hospital in Hanoi to have her legs checked up in 1972. Her being an American shocked people there, but she could not find any hostility in their eyes and that attitude lingered on in her mind many years after the end of the Vietnam War. On the evening of December 26th, US troops bombed Kham Thien Street. Hearing the air raid sirens at around 10:15 pm warning that US bombers were approaching, news photographer of Air Force and Air Defence Newspaper Nguyen Xuan At rushed to his house to take his camera and hid himself in a trench after taking two photographs of a B-52 on fire.
Memoirs of the 12-day and night Hanoi-Dien Bien Phu in the Air Victory will be resounding forever. The book “Facing B-52s” is significant, as it vividly depicts one of the magnanimous times of our history that will never fade.
Translated by Mai Huong