A family of patriots in Vietnam

Professor Duong Quang Ham and his family led a silent, devoted life for the liberation of Vietnam during the resistance against the French invasion in the 1940s.

Now, young people know little about the life of the professor except for his name, as streets are named for him in Ho Chi Minh City and other cities. His hometown was Me So Commune, Van Giang District in northern Hung Yen Province.

As a professor, he was allowed to evacuate from Hanoi when it was heavily bombarded, but he refused, and remained there to continue working.

He died on December 23, 1946, at the age of 48, while approaching his student combatants on Le Van Huu Street when they were fighting to protect Hanoi.

“For me, professor Duong Quang Ham was my teacher and respected intellectual,” said Hoang Tan Anh, former head of Artillery Battalion 523 at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu.

“He devoted his life to the nation in a difficult time. He led a short life, but he was an example for his descendants,” Anh added.

A patriotic teacher

In the winter of 1946, France mobilized troops to re-occupy Hanoi, forcing people in the capital city to engage in a resistance to defend the nation.

Those who were not taking part in the fight moved to surrounding areas. Professor Ham was among those who were allowed to evacuate, but he refused, saying, “If I go, how can people look for me when they need me?”

In his lectures, he often included patriotic stories and details about Vietnam’s rich history of fighting invaders to spur patriotism across generations.

He continued to work at Chu Van An (Buoi) School despite the gunfire that could be heard all over the city. Fighting became fiercer every day, according to Artillery Battalion 523 chief Anh.

Staying to help defend the city was the traditional choice of the professor’s family. His father, Duong Trong Pho, and his uncle, Duong Ba Trac, were among the co-founders of the Tonkin (Đông Kinh Nghĩa Thục) Movement, which aimed at modernizing Vietnamese society and education by adopting new ideas from Japan and the West.

His students witnessed his death at the corner of Le Van Huu and Ham Long Streets. He was shot in a fierce attack by the French using tanks and heavy weaponry.

His body was lost in the burning ruins of the battlefield.

“This was not rare for patriotic soldiers and intellectuals during the war. But few people who died on the battlefield have graves,” Anh lamented.

However, this was not the end for Ham.

After his death, rumors surfaced alleging that the professor was peacefully living in France.

However, this plot to smear the name and prestige of Professor Ham was stamped out by Anh, the artillery battalion chief, and three comrades – political commissar Dang Van Thai of Duy Tan Company, head of sub area No.1 Ngo Huong, and member of Zone 2’s battle committee Do Duc Kien.

The four officials signed a letter confirming that they had witnessed the death of the professor.

A person does not always have to carry a gun to become a patriot; a teacher can do it in his own way, Anh recalled.

A family with a rich tradition of patriotism

Ham’s daughter, Duong Thi Ngan, was the first radio broadcaster in Hanoi. She read the appeal of late President Ho Chi Minh for a national resistance against the French invasion.

The professor’s other daughter, Duong Thi Thoa, was selected to hoist the national flag during the first National Day ceremony on September 2, 1945.

Thoa went to the streets to raise funds to help famine victims in 1945. She later joined revolutionary forces at military bases in the north.

After the war, she resumed her studies and became a doctor of philosophy.

Professor Ham has a grandson named Nguyen Viet Bac, a doctor at the Institute for Military Sciences and Technology under the Ministry of National Defense.

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