Ms. Tran Thi Trung Thanh (second from left) and Ms. Nguyen Thi Thuy (second from right)
visited the Gac Ma soldiers' memorial site in July 2023 (Photo: thoidai.com.vn)

Ms. Nguyen Thi Thuy, born in 1944, overseas Vietnamese in Thailand, said that in 1962, she attended the National Day celebration (September 2) in Vietnam and was sat next to the aisle of the delegates. When Uncle Ho passed by, was introduced: "This is an overseas Vietnamese from Thailand". He stopped to shake hands, visit and encourage each person.

A few years later, Ms. Thuy worked as a worker at the Eight March Textile Company in Hanoi. Uncle Ho visited the factory. He didn’t go to the living room but visited the kitchen first.

After the visit, Uncle Ho advised the factory leaders to take good care of each person's meal, so that the workers could be healthy and do better in production.

The two times meeting Uncle Ho left a deep impression on Ms. Thuy.

"Uncle Ho was always interested in overseas Vietnamese. Even though he was very busy with hundreds of jobs, he still didn’t forget to tell factory leaders to take care of each meal for workers," Ms. Thuy said.

Ms. Tran Thi Trung Thanh, born in 1946, said that on September 2, 1969, she and her comrades at the Navy Command received news of Uncle Ho's death. Her unit organized a delegation to Hanoi to visit Uncle Ho. She and her comrades saw Uncle Ho lying there as if in a peaceful sleep, they could not hold back their tears. The image of the leader who dedicated his life to fight for peace, friendship and democracy is always etched in the hearts of her and her comrades.

The example of President Ho Chi Minh and the love for Uncle Ho had become the driving force that helped Ms. Thanh overcome the hardships of wartime and the highly disciplined environment of the military to fulfill her duties well. Later, when she no longer worked at the Navy Command in Hai Phong, Ms. Thanh still maintained that discipline and strong spirit. She said that spirit has helped her overcome illness to live a happy and healthy life at the age of 80./.

BTA