Born in 1922 in Hung Yen, Ta Luong came from a relatively well-off peasant family but did not have much education. Initially unconcerned with the revolution, he was later recruited into the Viet Minh, in late 1943, by some friends and relatives from neighboring Bac Ninh. He then recruited some of his own friends, engaged in propaganda, and helped organize the local uprising in the district of Van Lam, Hung Yen, during the August Revolution. He also talks about the stealing of Japanese weapons in the months before the Revolution, as well as a shootout between local protesters and Japanese troops. Among other things, he recalls the Tuan Le Vang (“Gold Week”), the administration and law (or lack of it) in Hung Yen in 1945 and 1946, fighting against the French in early 1947, and the reception of evacuees from Hanoi at around the same time. He talks about how he had to hide in underground bunkers for long stretches of time, and how contact with the Party and with other members of the resistance was assured by local villagers and especially women volunteers. The latter supplied the cadres with necessary items like food and clothes during the winter. Ta Luong also describes attacks on the Hanoi-Haiphong railway during the war. Occupying several leadership positions in Hung Yen (Van Lam district), he mentions the increase in the recruitment of Party members in the late 1940s, but also how many of these were “opportunists” who later caused problems for the Party. He talks about the arrival of Chinese advisors starting in 1950, and says that the Vietnamese themselves committed the mistake of dogmatism during that time, forgetting the reality of the Vietnamese experience compared to the Chinese one. After being sent to the Viet Bac area for a political training course, he returned to Hung Yen only to be accused of being a member of the Quoc Dan Dang (the nationalist party). The accusation was eventually rescinded, after the mistake was “discovered”. During his political course, his loyalty was also suspect because he was one of the few cadres in his area who had somehow avoided capture. He finally talks about his personal life during the war, as well as relationships between male and female cadres during the resistance.