Do Van Quang was born in 1928 in Nam Dinh and later moved to Tuyen Quang. In the later days of World War II he joined the local youth association (thanh nien cuu quoc), saying he was first “awakened” (giac ngo) to revolutionary ideas by Xuan Thuy, who also encouraged him to join the Party in 1949. At an unspecified time in 1945, he joined the Tuyen Quang self-defense militia and took a weapons training course, which included learning how to destroy buildings and installing mines. The services of his militia group were often solicited as he operated in one of the access points or transition areas to the safe zone of the Viet Bac (An Toan Khu). He also mentions the various troop support campaigns organized in the area, such as providing and sewing clothes and the providing of rice. In 1951 he became the chairman of the local peasants’ association (nong hoi), which was then organizing and propagandizing among the peasants following the decree on agricultural taxes. With the increase in dan cong (civilian labor/mobilized workforce) for the military campaigns in the 1950s, he talks about the collecting of bicycles in his area in order to send them off to the needed zones.