Mr. Phan Van Duong, born on August 15, 1942 at Vinh Tan Village, Tan Uyen District, is now residing at No. 195/69 Nguyen Tri Phuong Street, Chanh Nghia Ward, Thu Dau Mot Town, Binh Duong Province. In May, 1959, at his seventeen’s, he joined secret defending combatants at Vinh Tan and was instructed to fight together with local people against dominance of the enemy. Joining into ebullient movement of combating build-up, he was admitted to liberation force by April 1960.

 

Mr. Phan Van Duong (L) stands for photo with hero Huynh Thanh Son at a meeting of provincial association for veterans.

Agile with strong body, he was assigned as a reconnaissance commando who is specially trained to be fearless of dangers. He fulfilled all his tasks and won a position in Communist Party’s line by September 20, 1962. It was his great honor to become a member and thanks to experience gained throughout combating years; he was quickly promoted to higher rank after 1968.

From 1960 to 1971, he was promoted from a platoon officer to chiefs of C510 and C504 of the 5th Division. By 1977, he was promoted to captain.

Through the years, he joined in about 50 combats of all scale and was 5 times titled as combat hero. The most significant combat of all was the raid of US Army station at Bo La, Cong Xanh – a place of field battle battalion with canons and tanks, in the night of September 02, 1969. As a local people, he knew the positions well and helped to eliminate 6 canons, 3 tanks, 1 helicopter and 150 enemy soldiers.

On another occasion, in the night of November 25, 1970 his unit suddenly attacked one outpost of the 5th Division of the puppet army at Thay Phong crossroad; after 30 minutes fighting, his unit dealt heavy damages.

After the Southern region of Vietnam was totally liberated, he was transferred to many positions of the local Party and authority. On his retirement, he was selected to be a member of Vietnam Veteran Association’s Executive Board and Chairman of Binh Duong Veteran Association.

Reported by Vu Hung – Translated by Vi Bao