The secret of the tomb of hero Nguyen Van Troi
At the HCM City Martyrs Cemetery on Hanoi Highway, there is a grave with the inscription “Heroic Martyr Nguyen Van Troi…”. But he does not rest in peace here. Bee posted a story about this hero’s grave on the 45th anniversary of his death.
Grave found 2 days after Troi was executed
At exactly 9:45 a.m. on October 15, 1964, the US imperialists and the Saigon government hastily executed him at the Chi Hoa shooting range; even though they had previously agreed to release him when the Caracas (Venezuela) guerrillas released US Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Michael Smolen.
They hurriedly took his body to the Republic of Vietnam cemetery in Go Vap at 1:00 p.m. But Nguyen Van Troi was a Viet Cong, so at 5:00 p.m. they secretly took him to Do Thanh cemetery (now Le Thi Rieng park, District 10, Ho Chi Minh City). That day was exactly 6 months since he and Ms. Phan Thi Quyen got married.
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All day, Ms. Quyen ran around everywhere but did not know where he was buried. The next morning, she read the newspaper and found out. She and his father arrived and saw 3 newly buried graves, not knowing which one belonged to her family. Luckily, our people have the custom of "opening the graves". On the morning of October 17, when she went to burn incense, she saw that the 2 graves next to hers had been "opened". So they found his grave.
The secret agents followed her closely to see if anyone had contacted her. After her brother passed away, Quyen followed his father back to his hometown for a while to relax. In Saigon, without fear of being implicated, relatives and friends prayed for him for 7 weeks at Phap Van Pagoda.
In early 1965, the organization let her escape to the liberated zone. On December 25, she brought flowers and incense to pay her respects to him, saying goodbye before leaving. Because his grave was on “donation land” (it would have to be moved 3 years later), she discussed with her family that she would take him to Van Giap cemetery, right at the intersection of Giong Ong To. On the night of the 29th, she secretly left for “R” (war zone).
"Who allowed the Viet Cong grave to be moved?"
Hearing her Southern accent, everyone thinks she is from the South. But that is not true, she is originally from Van Giap village, Bach Dang commune, Thuong Tin, Ha Dong (right next to National Highway 1A, only about 20km from the center of Hanoi).
Because of the limited land and large population, the Van Giap people scattered from the early years of the 20th century. Some went to the South to work as coolies, others wandered to Nam Vang... Fathers and sons followed each other, relatives followed each other, this family followed that family. By the 1950s, half of the village lived in the South.
In 1937, her parents followed her grandmother to Phnom Penh. He worked as a barber, and she ran a small business at the Chup rubber plantation (Kongpongcham) and gave birth to her in 1944. Because he participated in the patriotic movement and was rounded up, in 1956, the whole family had to return to Saigon.
The Van Giap people living abroad supported each other. In 1956, they bought a piece of land near the Phu Nhuan intersection to build a pagoda named Phap Van (worshiping two ladies Phap Van and Phap Loi of Van Giap). Every January 17th or April 15th, Van Giap people from all over the country come here to worship and remember their homeland.
In 1960, seeing that the Van Giap population in Saigon was growing, the Mutual Aid Association decided to buy 10 hectares of land in Giong Ong To (now in District 2) to build a cemetery.
On May 7, 1967, Troi's father, his sister's parents and family moved him to Van Giap cemetery. When completing the procedures, the manager of Do Thanh cemetery became suspicious: Who authorized the transfer of the Viet Cong grave? It must have been a duplicate name and a small fee was paid to complete it.
When he arrived at Van Giap cemetery, he saw the tombstone reading “Nguyen Van Troi, 26 years old, died on October 15, 1964”. The local police also became suspicious. They had to play the “duplication” and “chi” card to finish.
At that time, she was in “R”. In the summer of 1969, she was taken to the North. It was not until after April 30, 1975, that she returned to visit him.
5 bags of cement to build hero's tomb
In 1978, her father passed away. In 1981, she decided to build a tomb for him. Having just gone through the war, there were many shortages. To build, she needed cement, bricks, and sand. Ms. Ba Thy gave her 5 bags of cement, but when she brought the letter of introduction to the place, the warehouse had just run out (!). She met Mr. Bay Than (vice chairman of the City's Bamboo, Rattan and Leaf Cooperative) and asked for help. He decided to use the union fund to buy this amount of cement.
Reported to the Van Giap Village Board of Directors to ask for permission to build a tomb. They said they would take care of the bricks, sand, and labor. The villagers hired workers to engrave the words “Nothing is more precious than independence and freedom” and a five-pointed star on the tomb. The new tombstone had a picture of him standing in the middle of the execution ground.
Every year on War Invalids and Martyrs Day, July 27, or on the day of Troi's sacrifice, October 15, we, the students of Nguyen Van Troi Military Academy, go with Ms. Quyen to burn incense for him.
At the inauguration, she invited the Board of Directors, Mr. Bay Than and relatives to attend to thank the people and the agency for their kindness towards him.
With a thousand things to do, it was not until 1994 that the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs invited the family to the table to welcome him to the Ho Chi Minh City National Prison, right next to Hanoi Highway. She thanked him and suggested: “At the execution ground, Mr. Troi was shot by the enemy more than once; when he died, he had to be buried and dug up three times; the family honestly did not want him to suffer again.
The family also intended to wait for the organization, but in 1981, the Rattan, Bamboo, and Leaves Cooperative and the neighbors helped build a grave for him. Now, if they move, they are afraid that they will disappoint the neighbors, wasting the money and effort they have contributed.
On behalf of my family, I would like to ask for your permission to rest here. If the city has a new plan in the future and Van Giap cemetery has to be moved, my family will move you to the martyrs' cemetery." That is why the city's martyrs' cemetery has reserved an empty grave for you.
According to KH&DS
