MY CX-73 TEAM
Major General DAO HUU NGHIA
Former Head of the Mausoleum Management Board, and Commander
President Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum Protection Command
Some of us may not be familiar with the origin of the common name of a special technical team under the President Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum High Command: CX-73 Team. However, we - the first members of the team - understood it very early. It is the abbreviation of two Russian words, roughly translated: Permanent Preservation Equipment for President Ho Chi Minh’s body, associated with the design year: 1973.
CX-73 is a combination of technical devices primarily designed to create and maintain the necessary conditions for the long-term preservation of the body in terms of medical and to serve funeral ceremonies. The special technical team named CX-73 is responsible for managing and operating this set of technical equipment.
I received the assignment to CX-73 Team on August 29, 1975, the day the Mausoleum was inaugurated and the first tribute ceremony for Uncle Ho took place at the Mausoleum in the historical Ba Dinh Square. At this time, CX-73 Team was still under the Combat Engineer Headquarters, with Senior Lieutenant Nguyen Trung Thanh as the team leader, an electrical engineer who grew up as a worker, experienced, eager to learn, dynamic, and creative. The two technical assistants of the team are automation engineer Hoa Van Thuong and lighting engineer Nguyen Duc Hoa. Both graduated with honors from the Soviet Union, mastering the theory, and gaining initial professional experience during equipment installation. The team also includes three skilled and diligent workers: Vu Xuan Long, Le Manh Hung, and Tran Xuan Muoi.
Due to the special importance of the task, in addition to CX-73 Team, there is also a team of experts who regularly participate and are reinforced during major maintenance occasions. These are specialists who have been involved in the design, installation, and operation of all three mausoleums: Lenin's Mausoleum, Dmitrov's Mausoleum, and President Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum, both theoretically proficient and experienced in practical applications.
When I took the assignment to CX-73 Team, besides the great honor of being close to Uncle Ho, meeting him regularly, and directly contributing to his care and protection, I also felt the happiness of a young technical officer in a favorable working environment. The equipment, machinery, vehicles, and specialized tools within the scope of the Management and Operation Team, while new and diverse, are modern and closely aligned with the knowledge acquired during my university education. What could be more fulfilling than grasping, exploring, and conquering what I am passionate about, pursuing? I am truly drawn to the work. In addition to the field of measurement and automatic adjustment, I take the opportunity to understand the structure, principles, and working modes of the entire system. The equipment CX-73 Team is designed in a unified manner with advanced technical expertise, applying research results from various fields: electrical-electronics, automation, lighting, thermoelectric refrigeration, precision mechanics, etc. The specialized nature of the equipment, beyond the task requirements, is also due to their design and production tailored for a specific purpose, demanding close and precise coordination during operation. The CX-73 equipment system is the product of collaboration from many institutes, universities, and renowned manufacturing facilities of the Soviet Union, representing the intelligence, emotions, and expertise of Soviet scientists, experts, and technical workers dedicated to President Ho Chi Minh.
I quickly familiarized myself with the work. The working conditions are favorable, and the documentation and specialized books are quite comprehensive. There are experts to guide, and most importantly, alongside me is a strong collective, strong in both will and capacity. The team is close-knit, open-minded, and caring for each other. Each member of the team is assigned specific tasks, but many tasks are only completed with the concentrated intellect and effort of the entire team.
Team leader Nguyen Trung Thanh always oversees the work meticulously, knows how to select people for assignments, and works to both understand and check, setting new requirements when necessary. He is rarely satisfied with the results achieved. Working under his command, we always have to strive, always have to explore and be creative. He is also someone who knows how to encourage at the right time after each success or share when subordinates temporarily face difficulties.
One time, the visit to Uncle Ho's Mausoleum had just started for about half an hour when the entire shift of the team became anxious because one of the four refrigeration units stopped working. This incident occurred too early for a device with high reliability and durability in terms of theory and manufacturing technology, while it had only been operational for a few hundred hours. Normally, according to the procedures and instructions, when such an incident occurs, it is necessary to suspend the visit. After a few minutes of discussion with the expert team, considering additional requirements for the solemnity of Uncle Ho's visit and the maximum working capacity of the equipment, Team leader Nguyen Trung Thanh calmly instructed the on-duty team to continue maintaining the operation of the entire system to serve the visit. He instructed the team to closely monitor the temperature inside the area where Uncle Ho’s body was stored and lower the external air cooling temperature. On the other hand, he assigned tasks to the remaining personnel to prepare vehicles, tools, and materials to handle the situation if it worsened. Time passed slowly. We nervously watched the temperature recording of the malfunctioning refrigeration unit along with the increasing temperature inside the area where Uncle Ho lay, worrying about the moment when the visit might have to be stopped. But what we feared did not happen. The temperature only increased within the permissible range and began to decrease gradually. Just as he predicted during the exchange with the experts: the other three working refrigeration units, under a greater load, were still capable of replacing the malfunctioning fourth unit.
That time, Uncle Ho's visit proceeded normally, like any other visit. None of the visitors outside knew that, inside, in the CX-73 area, an incident was occurring. Both we and the experts, who had never encountered such a situation before, remained calm, confident, and in control of the equipment.
From that afternoon until late at night, under the guidance of the expert team, we performed a final technical status check and removed the faulty refrigeration unit, replacing it with a spare one. After several trial runs, everything was fine. We expressed our gratitude to the expert team and bid farewell. I shook hands with Team Leader Thanh, looking at his slightly rugged appearance and expression, I still recognized a truly gentle smile. The next morning, Uncle Ho's visit proceeded normally again.
Compared to the Team Leader, the three technical assistants - Hoa Van Thuong, Nguyen Duc Hoa, and I - had a more convenient work and study history. Despite the busy workload, whether day or night, under the intense summer sun or the cold rain of winter, we have never hesitated to carry out our tasks.
At that time, just a few years after the Mausoleum project was put into operation, Major General - Commander Tran Kinh Chi directly assigned the task to CX-73 Team to find a lighting solution for the main block of the Mausoleum project. Initially, the Mausoleum was not equipped with a separate lighting system. The project was only illuminated by two 32-meter lamp posts on the north-south axis of Hung Vuong Street with very limited overall brightness. In practice, it was evident that the Mausoleum needed clearer lighting to reflect its true appearance and enhance the inherent beauty of a unique architectural structure, both modern and ethnic, during the evening and at night.
Taking on this additional task, with the same limited time and budget, making use of the available resources, tools at hand, we immediately focused on surveying, designing, and testing. Many lunch breaks were skipped, and many nights were spent working very late, especially during the testing and adjustment phases. On hot summer nights, with heavy and cumbersome equipment, high-powered lamps, there was nothing to hinder the youthful energy once we understood the importance of our work, our inclination for exploration, and our desire to contribute.
In the report on the results, the overall lighting plan for the main block of Uncle Ho's Mausoleum received some positive feedback. The Mausoleum was illuminated more clearly, harmonizing with the environmental landscape. The upward beams of light added to the grandeur of the architectural structure. The placement of lights was carefully calculated, ensuring no impact on the aesthetics of the project.
We understood that the achieved results were just the beginning. To have a complete design, sufficient investment conditions, and future implementation, there would be much more work to be done. However, one thing was certain: the scientific foundations, evaluation methods, design principles, experience, and effective lighting techniques gained during this project would serve as resources for us to confidently contribute to future lighting projects for the Mausoleum in the coming years.
Just like other technical equipment systems of the Mausoleum project, due to the urgent construction circumstances, the CX-73 equipment was not fully installed or installed but not according to the design requirements. In addition to the tasks of management, operation, maintenance, and repair of machinery and equipment, the whole team devoted a lot of effort, along with experts, to implement additional design, supplementation, or new installations. The construction work progressed smoothly thanks to the team's ability to absorb, skilled hands, and especially the diligence and hard work of electrician Tran Xuan Muoi and two mechanical technicians: Vu Xuan Long and Le Manh Hung. Besides the assigned tasks, they frequently helped and supported each other, especially when additional assistance, transportation, or additional manpower was needed. They were true craftsmen who excelled in multiple skills, able to take turns in their work, without hesitation towards any requests from colleagues. They also met the requirements for caution, meticulousness in task execution, and the necessary attitude for technicians working in the CX-73 environment.
Usually, during the major annual maintenance, the work of the three technicians in the team was both extensive in volume, urgent in progress, and had to ensure the best quality.
That year, in addition to the usual routine maintenance tasks, the three technicians were also assigned two additional tasks: installing a new dehumidifying fan and supplementing the signal path-stopping position of the elevator in the CX-73 equipment. These were initiatives of Team Leader Thanh, after being tested successfully, he decided to officially install them. They systematically carried out the work, skillfully preparing tools and equipment, coordinating cable laying, connecting, and installing equipment racks. The ideas on the design drawings of the technical officers were taking shape in reality thanks to the knowledge and skilled hands of the technicians. The work was captivating, and they willingly worked overtime, hoping that at the end of each day, the work would be neatly completed, only stopping when the Team leader requested a break to preserve energy for the next day. Often, after finishing a day's work and cleaning up tools and materials, they realized they had worked continuously for many hours in the cold environment, feeling exhausted and hungry. Leaving the construction site, under the late-night starry sky of autumn, the figures and faces of the three artisans Hung, Long, Muoi were unmistakably "craftsmen," very robust and simple. Someone among them was humming the song "Night Stars”.
In every success of the CX-73 Team, there is a significant contribution from the Soviet expert team. In the early years, alongside the team, there were electrical engineers Nicolai, Associate Doctors of Automation Igorov and Utskin, automation engineer Igorvov. During the periodic maintenance, additional engineers were assigned, including temperature measurement engineer Iakhin, semiconductor refrigeration Doctor Leonov, mechanical engineers Kamuskin, Ixotov, two female lighting engineers Tanhia, Lena, and mechanical worker Karalov. They were talented experts, yet very humble and approachable. We understood each other and worked harmoniously. There was mutual respect and equal communication. As experts, they guided and helped us a lot professionally, but they also listened to our opposing opinions, ready to accept if convincingly presented.
In the initial months of operating the CX-73 equipment, despite strictly following procedures, the temperature inside the area where President Ho Chi Minh’s body was stored tended to exceed the allowable limit after the memorial service. To control this, adjustments were made forcibly within the working capacity of the thermal power refrigeration plates. We sensed that something was not right. After monitoring the temperature and humidity relationship inside and outside the area, discussing the causes and solutions with the experts and operations chief, including Ravin, the Team leader of CX-73 officially proposed adjusting the operation process to ensure external humidity outside CX-73 during memorial services. Accordingly, thirty minutes before the end of the memorial service, the temperature in front of the cooling fan of the hot plate of the thermal power refrigeration plates needed to be maintained lower than before by half a degree Celsius. This was a proposal with sufficient theoretical and practical basis, receiving high consensus from the experts, fundamentally addressing the risk of exceeding the temperature limit in CX-73.
Outside of work, despite being from different regions, with different interests and circumstances, the members of the CX-73 Team lived harmoniously. At that time, most of us were single, arranged to eat and sleep together in the same room, preserved the meal for someone who returned late, pooled funds for communal meals, were ready to share a bowl of pho, happily lending each other bikes, or borrowing money if someone had a late-night appointment with a wife or girlfriend but faced a broken vehicle or a shortage of money.
During trips to Vietnam for work, the experts still brought small gifts for us. We welcomed them with joyful banquets, featuring Vietnamese fried spring rolls, dried fish, and Russian vodka. Amidst the strong alcoholic scent, we all sang familiar Vietnamese and Russian songs.
That was my CX-73 team, leaving a strong impression in the memories of my youth, as a newly graduated engineer returning from abroad to work on the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum project. Many years have passed, and more things may be left behind, but the working environment, my teammates, and colleagues from the CX-73 Team back then, now, and forever will always stay with me.
