Before 1968, Mai Hong Que had been known among the Saigon upper class as a very rich contractor who used to drive a car with the plate EC-6045, in and out the Independence Palace. That contractor’s real name is Tran Van Lai alias Nam Lai, a member of the revolutionary special task force who transported 2.5 tonnes of weapons and several troops into Saigon to attack the Independence Palace on January 2nd, 1968 with his car.

Born in 1920 in Kien Xuong (Thai Binh), Nam Lai had worked in a rubber factory in Thu Dau Mot province at the age of 16. He soon became conscious of the revolutionary ideas and joined the military unit named “determined to die”.

In 1955, he operated in inner Saigon and joined the trade union of mattress-making workers. Skilful Nam Lai succeeded in restoring the throne of the Cambodian Royal and was certified as a royal worker by King Norodom Sihanouk. With that certificate, he was employed to decorate the interior of the Independence Palace. This enabled him to get in and out of the Palace freely.

In 1966, Nam Lai was assigned to prepare weapons for Mau Than uprising in 1968. As planned, he bought three houses (now located at 287/70 Nguyen Dinh Chieu Street, HCM City) and two automobiles, a Citroen with license number NCE-345 and a Hino with license number of EC-6045. The image of an upper class contractor with an automobile marked with a seal of a dragon’s head was an ideal cover for him to secretly convey cement, bricks, sand and iron into Saigon to build a depot of, 30s.q.m in width and 2.5m deep under ground in 1967.

Later in the year, Nam Lai used his Hino to transport 2.5 tonnes of weapons, including guns, explosives, and bullets to this underground depot.

At 11pm on January 2nd, 1968, 19 special mobile troops gathered at the house at 287/70 Nguyen Dinh Chieu Street to receive weapons for their attack. The special forces’ leader To Hoai Thanh (Ba Thanh) ordered Nam Lai to stay back to provide weapons to other units, but he insisted on joining the attack because he knew every pathway around the Independence Palace.

At 1.30 am on January 3rd, 1968, Nam Lai drove Ba Thanh in his Hino EC-6045 to pick up other troops from Tran Quy Cap, via Le Van Duyet (present August Revolution street) and Nguyen Du to the rear gate of the Independence Palace.

The first AK rifle shots killed a group of guards. One of our troops placed an explosive block at the gate. Unluckily, that block did not explode. However, our troops kept crossing the fences to get inside the Palace. At that time, the enemies launched a fierce counter-attack and Ba Thanh was shot. Before dying, he ordered Nam Lai to return to the underground depot to provide the troops with more weapons and encouraged the soldiers to stay firm in the battlefield.

On his way back, Nam Lai saw a group of enemies closely circling the depot while a helicopter was firing at the target.

Knowing that the base was discovered, Nam Lai retreated to Ben Thanh Market and hid in a coal trench and then left for the Central region.

In 1972, he was arrested in Quang Ngai but was released very soon, as his ID card was under another name and during his detention he had pretended to be a mad person.

After the liberation of South Vietnam, he worked in the Department in charge of reviewing the Vietnam War under the Command of the Military Zone 7. He passed away in 2002 and was posthumously awarded the title Hero of the People’s Armed Force.

His comrades and his life and feats of arms were featured in the well-known film, “Saigon Special Mobile Troops”. The house at 287/70 Nguyen Dinh Chieu street became a national historical relic site and the EC-6045 numbered automobile is kept in the Museum of the Commando Arm.

Mrs. Dang Thi Thiep, Nam Lai’s wife and comrade, shared that the Hino automobile was bought in 1965 at a cost of 300 taels of gold, a large amount of money at that time. That vehicle was used most by Nam Lai as it could serve well his secret mission.

During the 1968 uprising, those two automobiles were taken by the enemy.

After 1975, supported by the Road Transportation Department, the Southern Transportation General Department, Dang Thi Thiep’s family found the Hino EC-6045.

Requested by the Museum of the Commando Arm, Nam Lai himself drove the vehicle 1,700 kilometers from HCM City to Hanoi to present it to the Museum.

Before passing away, he asked his wife and children to pay attention to the vehicle. However, only in July 2012 did Dang Thi Thiep and her youngest son have the opportunity to see the historical vehicle again.

Translated by Ha Thanh

Source: qdnd.vn