Today would be the 95th birthday of late Party general secretary Nguyen Van Linh, a simple and respectable revolutionary leader during the wartime against the US invaders.
Pham Van Hoa, former official of the Central Finance Administration Committee, who assisted Linh on secret missions in the city in late 1954, fondly recalled memories of the senior Party leader.
As an official of the city Party Committee in 1954, Pham Van Hoa (Sau Hoa) received an order from high-ranking authorities to stop his current job and disconnect with all people that he had been familiar with for a new mission, Hoa explained.
To prepare for the new task, he was given a sum of money to buy a house in the inner city. He bought a small house near Ban Co Market (now District 3). To ensure secrecy, he repaired and renovated the house himself.
A short time later, Sau Hoa and his wife received instructions to welcome a special guest, a middle-aged man with dark eyebrows, bright and virtuous eyes, and warm northern voice -- according to Hoa’s description.
Looking around the house, the guest nodded his head slightly and began speaking with the couple.
Sau Hoa said he recognized the man at first sight as Muoi Cuc (Nguyen Van Linh). A few years earlier, Hoa was chosen to attend a training course held in Saigon - Cho Lon special zone, of which Muoi Cuc was one of the teachers.
At a class that taught revolutionary fighters to detect traitors, Muoi Cuc asked Sau Hoa that if he believed absolutely in anyone’s loyalty to the revolutionary cause in his operations within the inner city.
“You taught always be on the lookout for double-agents, thus, I did not believe in anyone absolutely, even you, my lecturer,” Hoa remembered the reply he gave his mentor at that time.
Several of his classmates busted out laughing and the class representative said sorry to the teacher. However, Muoi Cuc said that nothing was wrong with that statement and Hoa was justified in his distrust.
Sau Hoa later asked Linh if he became angry with him at that time and felt the leader’s respect when he answered: “I appreciated your straightness and honesty and adored you for those virtues.”
One late afternoon when having dinner, Sau Hoa asked Linh’s advice about buying a motorbike with his savings. Linh smiled and agreed that it was a good idea. A few days later, Sau Hoa brought home a red motorbike.
One day when Hoa was cleaning the vehicle, Linh came and said that he liked the motorbike so much and asked Hoa if he try driving it on a small stretch of road.
Sau Hoa hesitated because he was afraid that Linh might face trouble from enemy soldiers, who usually stopped drivers and asked them to present papers, while Linh was secretly operating revolutionary activities.
However, Hoa finally agreed but told Linh that before he reached the nearby roundabout, he should stop and wait for him because there were many soldiers there.
Linh agreed and drove the motorbike out of the house’s gate while Sau Hoa rode a bicycle to follow him to the appointed place, where he saw Linh was waiting for him amid the scorching noontime sun.
Sau Hoa said he felt moved and loved the senior leader, who restrained himself on this occasion, from enjoying a simple activity freely, noting how Linh always respected the officers he commanded and how he always kept the promises he made to officials of lower ranks.
