The story of a heroic Vietnamese mother waiting for news of her son for half a century

On the last day of August, we went to the coastal village in Dien Thanh commune (Dien Chau). In this fishing village, there is a mother who has been waiting for her two sons for nearly half a century. They areHeroic Vietnamese MotherDau Thi Du, one of 300 heroic Vietnamese mothers, was recently honored to meet Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc in Hanoi.

Du's mother is 95 years old this year but is still quite healthy. After the journey of more than 500 km round trip to meet the head of the Government, she said she did not feel tired at all. She was just excited. This was the second time Du's mother had metPrime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc. The last time, in February 2019, during his visit and work in Nghe An, the Prime Minister also directly visited and gave gifts to his mother, and burned incense at the altar of her sons.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc visited and gave gifts to Du's mother in 2019. Photo: TH

Ms. Du's son, Mr. Cao Duc Vuong, said that in recent years, her mind has not been clear. When strangers come to visit, she often mistakes them for her two sons who have sacrificed themselves, and calls out their names in vain.

Mr. Vuong is the only son left by his mother, and is also the one who is taking care of her. More than 70 years ago, Du's mother got married to a man who lived in the same village. Her husband was then an official of the People's Committee of Dien Thanh commune. They had 6 children together, 3 boys and 3 girls. During those years, the house of this young couple was also the place where the first days of the cadres who had gathered from the South lived. Many cadres stayed in this house for months. The cadres who had gathered initially still faced difficulties and confusion, and were taken care of by Du's mother's family. They were then assigned new jobs and places to live in the localities.

In 1967, Cao Huy Khuong, the eldest son of Du's mother and father, joined the army. At that time, Khuong had only been married for a few months. Khuong joined the army.right when the war was entering its most intense phase, his family did not know which battlefield he fought in. About a year after joining the army, he was given a few days' leave to visit his newborn daughter, then left again. That was also the last time his family saw him.

Mother Du is 95 years old this year. Photo: TH

For 3 years, there was no news about their eldest son, and the whole family thought something bad was going to happen to him. However, when Mr. Khuong's younger brother wanted to join the army, Du's mother and the whole family did not stop him, and even encouraged their son to join the battlefield. So in 1971, Cao Quang Huong, Du's mother's third son, joined the army. Huong waslspecial reconnaissance, at that time just turned 19 years old. After joining the army, he was sent to Yen Thanh district for training, then went to fight in the southern battlefield.

In 1973, the family received a death notice for their eldest son. The death notice stated that Khuong died on November 28, 1971. Nearly a year later, when the sadness had not yet subsided, the family received a death notice for Huong. The death notice stated that Huong died on October 31, 1972. The two brothers died less than a year apart. “I still remember that my family received two death notices in a row. My father was a commune official, he was strong so he hid his pain, but my mother collapsed,” Mr. Cao Duc Vuong recalled.

Not long after receiving the death notice of Mr. Khuong, the young wife left her young daughter with Du's mother and her husband to raise and went to find a new life. Du's mother said that at that time, life was very difficult. Although her husband was a commune official, his salary was not enough. When she left, the couple were not angry, on the contrary, they felt very sorry for her. That granddaughter was raised and educated by Du's mother and her husband, and now she has a family.

His two older brothers died, and their death certificates were lost and damaged, making them unreadable, so Mr. Vuong did not know which unit his brothers had fought in.search for graves, remains. Just remember, the death certificate stated the date, month, and year of their death, but it only stated that they died on the southern battlefield, not in which province or district, so it was very difficult to find.

In the following years, Du’s mother went to the District and Provincial Military Commands to seek information about the place where her children died, but to no avail. In the years 2010-2012, when many “psychics” and centers for searching for martyrs’ remains appeared, many people believed in them, so her family also went to some centers hoping for this spiritual search. As a result, the “psychic” information said that the grave of martyr Cao Huy Khuong was in Chu Se district, Gia Lai province.

Mr. Vuong immediately rented a car and went with his sons to this address to search. When he arrived at the location indicated, it was a hilly area near a cemetery. Locals told him that this area used to be a very fierce battlefield, with many clashes between us and the enemy. Hearing this, Mr. Vuong was very hopeful and hired an excavator to dig the ground to search, but this rather elaborate search yielded no results.

The family then continued to conduct 3 more search trips in Gia Lai, but still without results. 3 years ago, Mr. Vuong accidentally met a former comrade in the same unit as martyr Cao Quang Huong, his brother. This person said that Huong sacrificed his life on the battlefield in Huong Thuy district, Thua Thien - Hue province, and was buried by him on a hill there. Because at that time many people sacrificed their lives, the war was so fierce that he and his surviving comrades only had time to dig a hole to bury him but did not have time to leave any relics to serve the search later.

Mother Du with her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Photo: TH

This comrade also said that he had the opportunity to return to this hill, but it had changed so much that he could no longer recognize the burial site. “My mother is now old, and we don’t know how much longer she will live. But we know that in her mind she always wants to find the remains of my two brothers. That’s why I always feel guilty, and whenever there is any information related to their graves, we try to contact her. I just hope that one day, my mother will see my brothers again,” said Mr. Cao Duc Vuong.