Article 9: Surprising gifts from mainlanders to Truong Sa’s garrisons

Poet, journalist Doan Ngoc Thu sings together with Truong Sa soldiers (Photo: Vietnam+)

Khanh Hoa (VNA) - Those are the songs and poems that express the sentiment of the the mainlanders to the sea, to pay tribute to the garrisons stationed on Truong Sa who are steadfastly holding the gun to safeguard the country.

During the visit to Truong Sa, besides the physical gifts, there were also spiritual gifts that the island soldiers kept as "treasures." These are the songs and poems that contain the sentiments of the Vietnamese people to the sea, to pay tribute to the soldiers day and night guarding the country’s territory.

‘Vong Vuon Chau’ poem: People return, love stays

With the earnest feelings of a mainlander who once visited Truong Sa, through the delegation, journalist-poet Doan Ngoc Thu-Deputy Editor-in-Chief of VietnamPlus E-Newspaper expressed her love for Truong Sa’s soldiers through the poem ‘Vong Vuon Chau’ performed by singer Tung Duong and musician Thanh Phuong 

The poem was composed by the poet Doan Ngoc Thu right on the trip to visit Truong Sa in 2016. When she posted the poem in the newspaper, musician Tran Anh Linh composed music and the song was later sung by singer Tung Duong with passionate, intense voice, giving listeners new tones.

When the poem was broadcast via phone on the islands, officials and soldiers working in Truong Sa couldn’t help feeling moved by the sentiments sent to the sacred island from the mainland.

Through the poem "Vong Vuon Chau," poet Doan Ngọc Thu wants to remind officials and soldiers at the beginning of the storm that "the land is always towards Truong Sa, always concerned and grateful to the soldiers who are on duty in the middle of the sky, day and night protecting the "flesh and blood" of their homeland."

The most regretful thing of the delegation during the trip to Truong Sa this time was that they were unable to go to DK1 Phuc Tan Rig. From a distance, on the rig, seeing officials and soldiers watching the ship, everyone cried. Through the radio in the operating room of the ship, the delegation members sang songs for them without stopping tears.

Among them, the most impressive is the song "Tam Su Truong Sa" by Tran Viet Truong - Head of the Commission for Propaganda and Education of Can Tho City Party Committee.

Sharing with VietnamPlus correspondent right on the deck, author Tran Viet Truong said that this song was composed from April 2018 during the first time he visited Truong Sa. However, that time the song was not complete and there was no artist to perform it.

After that trip, the songwriter always wished to return to Truong Sa to complete the song composed with all his heart towards sea and islands.

“Luck has come. And this time, as soon as I set foot on the first island, I finished the song and send it to artist Hong Thuy for practising. Finally, during the first cultural exchange on the KN-491 ship, I and the artist Hong Thuy performed the song for the whole group,” Mr. Truong shared.

The profound song was performed right on the ship, echoing in the middle of Truong Sa, making nearly 200 members on the ship cry. Two words ‘Truong Sa’ through the song become much closer to the mainland.

Poems carrying love

Before returning to the mainland, Ms. Hoang Thi Hien - Chairman of Trade Union of Vietnam Academy of Agricultural Sciences shared: When visiting and witnessing the lives of officials and soldiers on the islands and rig with untold harshness and dangers, I increasingly appreciate the meaning of life on the mainland. I wonder to have this glory, how many people have sacrificed their lives for national independence and for sea and islands’ sovereignty in order to adorn the Vietnamese national flag.

With these sentiments, Hien created a poem of Missing Truong Sa.

DK1 rig stalks across the sky of the country (Photo: Vietnam +)

In an emotional moment of saying goodbye to the rig, Ms. Ho Thanh Thuy, working at the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics, also confided in the poem "To you, soldiers guarding the rig."

Dedicated to Truong Sa Islands, Colonel Le Khac Thuyet - Deputy Director of the Nghe An Provincial Police Department also sent to Truong Sa soldiers a poem "Feeling Truong Sa" which he composed on the deck before returning to the land.

These poems and pieces of music contain the feelings of mainlanders, recorded by many Truong Sa soldiers in their notebooks. “In the island, despite the shortage of many things, the care from the mainland, especially the spiritual gifts helped the soldier always stand firm against the big waves, strong winds, protecting the sacred sovereignty of the Fatherland," a soldier said./.

Touched moments of parting soldiers at DK1 Rig. (Photo: Vietnam +)