Special reunions at Long Dai ferry terminal II

Long Dai pontoon bridge, photo taken in 1972. Photo: archive

Immortal poems of youth

To Mrs. Bui Thi Kim Lien, Bui Nang Dac is a special younger brother. He is the youngest in a family of 8 siblings, “very obedient, has beautiful handwriting and is good at writing poetry”.

“In the morning, Dac went to school and by noon, when he returned home, the whole neighborhood knew because he kept singing the song Truong Son Stick . At that time, Dac's love for his country was boiling,” said Ms. Lien.

In early 1971, although he had just taken the entrance exam to the Polytechnic University, Mr. Dac was still determined to volunteer to join the youth volunteer force. He told his sisters: "I have to go, I have to fight to contribute to protecting the homeland."

“Dac waved his hand and left. We could only hug him and cry, telling him to take care of his health. I will never forget the image of my brother leaving at that moment,” Ms. Lien continued.

In the backpack of the young man from the rice fields of Thai Binh, there was also a blank diary. On each journey, he recorded his own feelings about the war. On the front cover, Dac carefully wrote in green letters: Truong Son Song. The writing was in fountain pen, very round, neat and neat. In the lower right corner, he wrote the name of the unit C130.CT471QB…

Part of the poetic diary page in Truong Son Song

C130 – his youth volunteer company at that time had the mission of opening the Truong Son road, section 15 and Long Dai ferry (now in Truong Ninh commune, Quang Tri ). This was an important route connecting the Northern rear with the South so that food, provisions and equipment could be "spread" across the front line. The US army had dropped tens of thousands of tons of bombs and artillery shells here in an attempt to cut off our army's important vital traffic route.

In early 1971, to reduce losses, Long Dai ferry was divided into two branches: Ferry I near the bridge and Ferry II about 500m downstream. At the same time, C130 was mobilized to stand guard with the engineering troops at Ferry II to ensure the ferry was always open.

Living and working in such harsh conditions, the young men and women in their twenties still had faith. In the poem “Twenty Years Old”, Mr. Dac wrote: “Twenty years old is full of calm wind/Twenty years old is dreaming of dreams/Twenty years old has a soul like a boundless sea/Emotions are broad with a soaring poetic soul”. When thinking about his comrades, he continued: “That group of people were twenty very young/Going to Truong Son to cut mountains and open roads…”

Each line of the author's poem carries with it the will, optimism, and readiness to overcome all difficulties. 4 months after arriving in Quang Binh , he confided: "I still remember that afternoon/ The Party Committee sent a notice to go to the battlefield/ Urging us straight to the battlefield/ Through the forest, breaking rocks to open the Truong Son road". Or like in the poem Up to Truong Son , he excitedly said: "Our frontline troops fought/ Opened the road to drink the enemy's blood/ On the hot, sunny days of autumn/ The frontline troops defeated the enemy and made achievements".

Besides the pages affirming the determination, the diary also contains the confessions of a young heart, ready to vibrate with emotional beats. That is when Dac caught sight of a fellow countrywoman in the middle of the battlefield: “Meeting a girl from the homeland/ Her green hair faintly smells of the fields/ Oh, her cheeks are rosy from the sun/ Her eyes seem to penetrate the heart/ Oh, the smile that colors love/ Of a ten-ton rice field girl.”

“My brother is a very emotional person. Dac often writes home letters, and there are always poems in the letters. Dac tells stories about the Long Dai ferry, and about the hardships of the Company. But Dac always tells: Mom and sisters, don't worry, I will never abandon my mission to go home. I love you so much, Mom, you have to be strong at home to be our spiritual support,” Ms. Lien recalls.

When first published in August 2025, the poetic diary entitled “Leaving Truong Son” deeply moved readers. Through each page, the next generation could partly imagine the hardships; the burning desire to devote their youth to the Fatherland as well as the love for their homeland and country of the young men and women in their twenties at that time.

Unfulfilled promise

On June 30, 1971, Bui Nang Dac wrote the poem “Return” to his mother: “On the Truong Son mountain range, the rain and forests are full of leeches/ I still miss you – Mom!/ When you left, you made a wish/ In eighteen months, you will sit next to me/ After eighteen months of duty, your return will be the same as before”. However, that promise was not fulfilled when, more than a year later, on September 19, 1972, he sacrificed his life in a bomb attack on Long Dai Ferry Terminal II.

Veteran Vu The Huyen, a comrade of martyr Bui Nang Dac, said: “On September 19, 1972, I was on duty at the ferry terminal. But that morning, Dac asked to switch with me. I agreed and went into the forest, cut down trees to build an A-shaped bunker. In the afternoon of the same day, when the boat carrying rocks from the South bank was about to dock, it was discovered by an American reconnaissance plane. They fired smoke flares at Ferry Terminal II so that the plane could drop bombs. 12 people standing on the shore quickly ran into two A-shaped bunkers for shelter.”

The bombing ended with three soldiers dying while transporting goods by boat from the north bank to the south bank. Twelve other soldiers also lay down forever at the ferry terminal and in the shelter.

"If the shift hadn't changed, I would have been the one left behind, not Mr. Dac," Mr. Huyen said regretfully.

When the pain had not yet subsided, only 4 days later, American planes continued to bomb the Long Dai II Ferry Terminal, causing soldier Tran Manh Ha to sacrifice. After 2 bombing raids, the C130 Company lost a total of 16 people, including 7 women and 9 men, all from Kien Xuong, Thai Binh. They have forever transformed into each river and wharf in the most brilliant age of youth...

In her hometown of Thai Binh, Mrs. Bui Thi Thao said: “On September 17, 1972, I still wrote a letter to my brother. I sent the letter hoping that it would arrive. But I never expected that, just 2 days after I sent the letter, my brother would die. When I heard the news, my heart was torn, the whole family was shocked. Everyone hoped that the day my brother would return to his family, his old mother and the village during Tet 1973.”

Mr. Bui Minh Duc, the brother of martyr Dac, added that the day his younger brother left for Quang Binh, he was working. The two brothers still wrote letters and encouraged each other. “Dac was very determined. He said: I promise you, when I return, I will continue to go to school, until I finish! But my wish could not come true because I sacrificed, like many other noble sacrifices of Vietnamese youth at that time.”

The National Merit Certificate of Martyr Bui Nang Dac is solemnly hung in his hometown. Photo: Provided by the family

In 1975, Mr. Duc went to Long Dai to bring his younger brother back to his hometown for burial. In 2012, he returned to the old ferry when the Memorial House of 16 Youth Volunteers was inaugurated. Most recently, in September 2025, he continued to have the opportunity to visit Long Dai when the new Memorial was inaugurated and received the Certificate of National Historical Relic. On his third return, he and his family were deeply moved by the statue of martyr Bui Nang Dac placed solemnly in the grounds of the relic site. The statue is in a sitting position, holding an open diary, facing the Long Dai River. Right behind, a white stele engraved with the poem Returning ….

Bursting into tears when she saw her figure, Mrs. Bui Thi Thao hugged the statue, sobbing: “This chin, this face is exactly her”. Mr. Duc, though calmer, also choked up: “This is the third time I have been to Long Dai. On this occasion, seeing her statue, reading the poem she wrote, I feel warm in my heart. It is just a pity that my mother is no longer here to witness this moment”.

Statue and poem of martyr Bui Nang Dac in the relic site

Gratitude from today

Also on this return to Long Dai, before Mr. Duc and Mrs. Thao's eyes was a relic site with a new look. In April 2025, with the support of T&T Group and many businesses and individuals, the project to Upgrade and Renovate the Long Dai Ferry Wharf II Historical Site officially started.

According to many people working in the field of construction design consultancy, building a new Memorial in just 3-4 months is almost impossible, because the workload is extremely huge. The construction unit must create a site, build a stele house area with an area of up to nearly ^3,000m2 ; build a celebration house, two rows of waiting houses for the flower lantern releasing ceremony and a flower lantern releasing dock. That is not to mention repairing degraded items and building a monument and a 16m high relief.

The highlight is the new Memorial, which simulates a sheaf of rice consisting of 16 ears, 16 meters high, on a star-shaped pedestal.

However, with the great determination of the implementers, with a grateful heart, the relic site was completed on the 53rd anniversary of the martyrs' death.

The highlight is the new Memorial, simulating the shape of a bundle of rice consisting of 16 ears, 16m high on a star-shaped pedestal - a sacred symbol in memory of 16 young volunteers from the rice homeland who fell more than 50 years ago. At the foot of the monument are photos of 16 young volunteers from the 5-ton homeland. Some have their portraits engraved. Some brothers and sisters have only one line of memorial stele left. "No one remembers their faces or names/But they made the country".

At the exhibition room in the reception house, modern 3D mapping technology is used to recreate the historical moment of the old ferry terminal. Many other related artifacts such as trays, bowls, and household items of the brothers and sisters were also collected from the surrounding people and comrades.

According to Mr. Do Quang Vinh, Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of SHB Bank, representative of the sponsoring unit, shared: “Today's generation is fortunate to live in peacetime thanks to the sacrifices of our fathers and grandfathers. Personally, I am always grateful, respectful and always secretly hope to contribute more in honoring those who have fallen and helping to build a strong and prosperous country.”

On the evening of September 18, at Long Dai ferry, the program “Gratitude – The Fire and Flower River” took place with emotional moments. This is a deep gratitude to the heroic martyrs who sacrificed for the cause of national liberation, at the same time spreading the revolutionary tradition, arousing national pride for the young generation today and tomorrow.

Along with the inauguration ceremony of the project to renovate the Memorial Site of 16 Youth Volunteers, the two events organized by the People's Committee of Quang Tri province and Vietnam Television with the cooperation and support of T&T Group, SHB Bank, businesses, individuals... are clear evidence of the tradition of remembering the source of drinking water, showing gratitude and continuing the strong will of the previous generation to the future.

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/nhung-cuoc-hoi-ngo-dac-biet-ben-ben-pha-ii-long-dai-post814788.html