General Vo Nguyen Giap visits Tam Kim commune, Nguyen Binh district, Cao Bang province in 1994. (Photo: baocaobang.vn)

Duong Van Son, former Secretary of Nguyen Binh district’s Party Committee, said his parents and uncles are senior revolutionaries. They were alongside Uncle Van, alias of General Vo Nguyen Giap, during the hardest times.

Son recalled: “My father said Uncle Van stayed with the local people. He wore the clothes of local ethnic people and learned Tay language. He loved the villagers very much. They trusted him and did whatever he said. Even now, we call the him Uncle Van or Uncle Giap.”

He traveled back and forth to many places in Cao Bang, Bac Kan, and Lang Son province. He knew every mountain and village, such as Den Sinh mountain, Tac Hat mountain, Khau Lang summit, Khau Dang, Phia Vut, and Slam Cao.

Every place holds a memory of Uncle Van. He self-studied languages of the Tay, Nung, and Dao so he could stay and carry out revolutionary activities with them. It’s one of the things people respected and love about him most.

Nong Dinh Chien, a villager in Tam Kim commune, said he met Uncle Van when the General visited Cao Bang after the revolution succeeded.

“The General was close and plain as if he returned to his family after going far away. The people and officials of Tam Kim commune said he is a General of the people. When we built a new road and a new school, people called its Uncle Giap road or Uncle Giap school. If there was no General Giap, there would be no road and school like that. At New Year’s celebration, on the anniversary of Vietnam People’s Army December 22, and on his death anniversary, we burn incenses on his altar at Tran Hung Dao forest.”

During his last trip to Cao Bang in 1994, General Giap said he returned to his second home village and his family. 

Responding to his affection, the Tay, Nung, Mong, and Dao people in Nguyen Binh and other districts in Cao Bang province also see the General as their relative.