According to the programme’s director, Trinh Le Van, the performance will recreate a small-scale battle complete with a military camp and soldiers who will re-enact the scenes from events that transpired 40 years ago. “The performance does not aim to just relive moments from that magnanimous historical event in Ha Tinh, but hopes to present an image of the province’s present,” he said.
The performance will present special acts in praise of the past and pay rich tribute to the historic central site’s people. Songs which were awarded in a music composition contest inspired by the death of the 10 girls, will also be performed.
The show will be broadcast live on VTV1 channel at 8pm tomorrow night.
A meeting between veteran composer Doan Nho and war heroine La Thi Tam will be the programme’s main highlight. The song Nguoi Con Gai Song La (The Daughter of the La River) by Nho was inspired by the heroine who is the only surviving member of the volunteer team.
A delegation of young overseas Vietnamese participating in the Viet Nam Summer Camp 2008, will also join the programme as a way to learn more about the history of their motherland.
The Dong Loc junction _ today a popular tourist site – was an important site in the liberation forces’ North to South supply line. US aircraft dropped almost 50,000 bombs and thousands of rockets on the 50ha area between 1965 and 1968. Nearly 500 Vietnamese soldiers and labour volunteers died at the place during those three years.
Various activities have already been held to celebrate the event, including a music composition contest inspired by the deaths of the 10 girls on July 24, 1968; music and poetry performances, a painting exhibition on the Dong Loc Junction theme and a joss-stick offering ceremony at the Dong Loc War Martyrs Monument.
A requiem ceremony for the martyrs, who laid down their lives at the junction was organised at the site yesterday. — VNS
