Photos: Vietnam children during wartime

Growing up amidst bombs and war, the first lesson of Vietnam children during wartime was tunneling to shelter, communication trenches, braidng straw hats, raising chickens, and hewing sticks for soldiers who hit the road to the battle.
June 07, 2016 | 09:45

Growing up amidst bombs and war, the first lesson of Vietnam children during wartime was tunneling to shelter, communication trenches, braidng straw hats, raising chickens, and hewing sticks for soldiers who hit the road to the battle.

Photo exhibition Children during wartime introduced nearly 100 photos depicting scenes of living, learning and production labour of Vietnam children during the war. The exhibition was held at VanMieu – Quoc Tu Giam on June 1st under the Children books’s program by Hanoi city.

Photos: Vietnam children during wartime

When war broke out, the first lessons of students were tunneling to shelter, communication trenches, and braiding straw hats to go to school. To ensure safety, schools were scattered into many places, each of which offered communication trench systems to avoid bombs.

Photos: Vietnam children during wartime

Children and pupils in cities were evacuated to the countryside. With no electricity and no parents besides, the children gradually learnt to adapt to the life in wartime.

Photos: Vietnam children during wartime

Classes were organized everywhere: storage yard of the cooperative or local houses. Ruined schools because of bombs didn’t prevent pupils from walking to classes.

Photos: Vietnam children during wartime

The bombing matured “the prodigies” such as Nguyen Ngoc Ky, Dang Thai Son, Tran Dang Khoa. Nguyen Ngoc Ky (Hai Hau, Nam Dinh) was paralyzed in both arms since childhood, and learned to use his legs to write instead of hands. Good at learning and poetry, Nguyen Ngoc Ky later graduated from Faculty of Literature, General University and became a teacher to thousands of proficient students in his hometown.

Photos: Vietnam children during wartime

Attentive faces of a pupil when listening to the lecture.

Photos: Vietnam children during wartime

Besides academic tasks, children also contributed significantly to the resistance war with the movements such as Small plans and Thousand good deeds. In the picture, children were giving Truong Son sticks to soldiers who were about on the way to the battle.

Photos: Vietnam children during wartime

Teachers and students of Hoa Loc Secondary School (Hau Loc, Thanh Hoa) were trenching and making earthwork around the classes.

Photos: Vietnam children during wartime

Perform Small plans, raising chickens to sell to the cooperative.

Photos: Vietnam children during wartime

Bombs could not overwhelm the laughter of children running on the road in a village of Dong Anh (Hanoi).

Photos: Vietnam children during wartime

Smiles of two children in A-tunnel, a kind of tunnel which was erected by straw and soil to avoid bombs.

Photos: Vietnam children during wartime

Mid-Autumn Festival

Compiled by VNF ( Photos: vnexpress.net )