Cemetery for ten girls who volunteered for logistical activities, who died in a B-52 raid at Đồng Lộc Junction, a strategic junction along the Ho Chi Minh trail

Đồng Lộc Junction (Vietnamese: ngã ba Đồng Lộc) was a strategic road T-junction at the beginning of the Ho Chi Minh trail which was extensively bombed by American forces during the Vietnam War. Although it is often referred to as a "crossroads" in English sources, a crossroads is ngã tư (4-junction), whereas a T-junction is ngã ba (3-junction).[1]

The entrance to the 10 girls' graves

Đồng Lộc Junction is located in Đồng Lộc township of Can Lộc District, Hà Tĩnh Province, on the Ho Chi Minh trail through the Annamite Range (dãy núi Trường Sơn) at the intersection of Highway 15A and Route 2 Hà Tĩnh Province.

The crossroads is now mainly remembered for the memorial to ten young unmarried girls aged 17–22 who were youth volunteers helping with logistics at the T-junction. At noon on 24 July 1968, on the 15th day of bombing, a bomb fell very close to the mouth of the tunnel where the 10 girls were hiding killing them all. The story of the ten girls was made into a film Ngã ba Đồng Lộc The Girls at Dong Loc Crossroads (1997)[2] directed by Lưu Trọng Ninh starring Thúy Hường, Hương Dung, Ngọc Dung, Yến Vy, and Xuân Bắc.[3][4]

The location today is a shrine.[5]

References

  1. ↑ The Bedside Guardian Volume 19 1970 "They did take me, at my request, to the Dong Loc crossroads, one of the principal areas where the Americans concentrated their bombs after March, 1968, and destined to become famous in the annals of aerial bombardment."
  2. ↑ Thanh Hương Vietnam, the land and the people Thế Giới Publishers 2000 "A series of high-quality movies have been brought to audiences such as The Girls at Dong Loc Crossroads by Luu Trong Ninh and Sawyers by Vương Đức.
  3. ↑ "Ngã ba Đồng Lộc (1997)". Archived from the original on 2012-05-19. Retrieved 2012-07-18.
  4. ↑ Philip Taylor, Social inequality in Vietnam and the challenges to reform Institute of Southeast Asian Studies - 2004 Page 318 "The movie named Nga Ba Dong Loc (Dong Loc Crossroad) was about ten female volunteers, who were killed by bombs while they were fulfilling their missions before having the first kisses in their lives.."
  5. ↑ Kirsten W. Endres, Andrea Lauser Engaging the Spirit World: Popular Beliefs and Practices in Modern Vietnam 2012 "The Ten Girls were each allocated one two-storied house, three sets of clothes, one box of adornments, one flat palm hat (nón quai thao) and one traveling case in which to store everything. Mrs Thiền had also thought of two other groups ... Đồng Lộc Junction"

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