The poet, now in his 80's, said that May 19 is a special day for his family because it is associated with the memory of his dear father who followed President Ho Chi Minh from the early days of the resistance war against French colonists.
In September 1945, in response to the leader’s appeal, his father, Phan Nam Anh (later renamed Phan Hoa Sinh), a renowned silk merchant in Hanoi, and many other capitalists donated money and gold to the government during the Gold Week from September 17-24, 1945.
This event was an important turning point, changing the life of businessman Phan Hoa Sinh when he decided to respond to President Ho Chi Minh's call to follow the resistance war with aspiration to defend and liberate the nation. During the nine-year resistance war from 1946 to 1954, Sinh was honoured to live and work with the leader and many of his comrades like Pham Van Dong, Vo Nguyen Giap, and Truong Chinh in the Viet Bac base.
According to poet Thanh Phan, his father learned a lot from the President, especially in his working style and simple and humble lifestyle.
His father’s patriotism then inspired Thanh Phan who has written many poems about Vietnam, especially Hanoi.
