 |
| After liberation, Colonel Pham Duy Tam (who controlled the steering wheel) often visited Truong Sa again |
DTiNews met with Colonel Pham Duy Tam, one of three captains who led the liberation of Truong Sa (Spratly islands) 35 years ago.
In April 1975, along with inland military forces, a special naval force swarmed towards the South for its liberation. They were charged with the task of heading towards the eastern seas and setting free the Truong Sa islands.
Colonel Pham Duy Tam, former Deputy Chief of the Naval army, is now living in Da Nang City.
Tam showed us pictures and documents which showed the story of his glorious past.
Tam was born in Hai Trach Commune, Bo Trach District, Quang Binh Province. He began fishing with his father from the age of five. His mother had passed away in 1945 when he was just 6 months old forcing him to go to work with his father at the young age of five.
In April 1963, he joined the army and then worked for a naval ship in Gianh River. On August 5, 1964, when American troops attacked the North, he was one of the first people who took part in shooting down American aircraft. He later went on to train in military school to become an officer.
In 1969, he became the Deputy Chief of Team No. 42 of the top-secret ships. In 1972, Tam was promoted to be a captain of a top-secret ship.
“All soldiers who joined top-secret ships never expected that we could survive and come back home, but we were always happy to sacrifice ourselves as long as we could carry weapons to the South as often as possible,” said Tam.
Before departing, people held a ceremony to commemorate them even though they were still alive because nobody thought that they could survive. Tam attended seven such ceremonies.
He told us about the voyage which impressed him most. In 1969, he participated in scouting for opening a new sea-path on the East Sea in preparation for transporting weapons to the South after being delayed because the enemy found out.
His scout team needed to explore defensive plans, observation systems from the air, and the sea in order to master the enemy’s fighting ships and aircraft and their tactics to attack Vietnamese ships.
Tam added, “After so many days on the sea, on September 1, 1969, our ship was discovered by the enemy when it came from Phu Quoc Island to Tho Chau Island. Despite they have many advantages in terms of weapons and fighting facilities, we were still victorious.”
His team was assigned to discover and differentiate islands occupied by the enemy. This was a very challenging mission because they did not have advanced equipments.
Although there were many obstacles, after 3 days, his team found Song Tu Tay Island and completed their mission. After only 15 minutes of fighting, the first island of Hoang Sa was freed on April 14, 1975.
After that, Son Ca was liberated on April 24, 1975, and another six occupied islands were freed on April 29, 1975.
After the war, Tam still worked in the Navy until he retired in 2004.
Legendary captain Pham Duy Tam