[1] Thái Hà was born in Tân Hồng Commune, Từ Sơn district, Bắc Ninh province, a village famous for lacquer painting.
At the start of American bombing against Japanese occupying forces in Vietnam in December 1943, Hà was evacuated along with the École des Beaux-Arts de l'Indochine and his painting class to Sơn Tây, where he continued his studies.
[3] Thái Hà returned to Hanoi in March 1945 after the École des Beaux-Arts de l'Indochine closed, and joined the Việt Minh regime in August that same year.
After attending a two-month military course, he was assigned as a platoon captain to the Nam Tiến army and sent south to fight French colonial forces.
[5] In 1962, he went to study at the Nguyễn Ái Quốc School – a political institution teaching key communist Party members – and was commissioned to journey south along Ho Chi Minh Trail.
[6] His works became some of the most widely published images of the Vietnam War by North Vietnamese artists, alongside others such as Huỳnh Phương Đông, Trang Phượng and Nguyễn Thanh Châu.