The story of a son who never met his father's remains as a martyr

“Here is my brother,” Mr. Nguyen Dinh Doanh cried out like a child before the astonishment of the officers and soldiers of the Martyrs’ Remains Collection Team (Nghe An Province Military Command). “I am sure this is my brother. No one else,” the man over 60 years old affirmed firmly, running to hug his niece, sobbing in the room where more than 80 sets of martyrs’ remains were worshiped in Laos. These were sets of unidentified martyrs whose identities had just been exhumed during the 2017-2018 dry season, preparing to be brought back to Vietnam for burial.

The brother that Mr. Doanh mentioned is martyr Nguyen Dinh Quang - the only case whose identity has been identified among hundreds of martyr remains that the Nghe An Martyr Remains Search Team found in Laos in the past 3 years.

Ms. Nhung (middle) during the time she brought the remains of martyr Quang back to the country. Photo: Tien Hung

In 1970, a 23-year-old man from Ninh Binh province followed the call of his country and enlisted in the army. At that time, Quang’s wife was 3 months pregnant with their first daughter. Not long after, the whole family was shocked to receive the news that he had died.

“When my mother was 6 months pregnant with me, my father had already died. When I was little, I saw my friends with fathers, I asked my mother where my father was, but she kept saying, “Dad is on a business trip”. When I grew up and learned that my father had passed away, I was very sad,” Nguyen Thi Kim Nhung (50 years old), the only daughter of martyr Quang, told a reporter from Nghe An Newspaper.

Ms. Nhung said that since learning that her father had sacrificed, she and her family were determined to find his remains and bring them back to their homeland. But the death certificate only briefly stated that “martyr Quang sacrificed on the southern front”. Meanwhile, the family was also very vague about the unit because Quang had just joined the army and fought for a few months before heroically sacrificing.

For nearly 40 years, the Repatriation Team has brought back the remains of more than 12,200 martyrs who died in Laos. Photo: Tien Hung

After many years of searching for information, it was not until 2015 that the family knew exactly where martyr Quang was before he died. However, it took a long time for them to find the tombstone diagram, as well as the notes in the file that were still preserved. At this time, the family knew that martyr Quang's grave was somewhere in Muong Pet, Xieng Khouang, Laos. "In addition to the tombstone diagram, in the notes, my brother's comrades carefully wrote that there was a brick engraved with the word Quang in the grave," said Mr. Nguyen Dinh Doanh.

In March 2018, Mr. Doanh and Ms. Nhung decided to go to Laos. “Although we already had the tomb map in hand, after nearly half a century, the terrain and topography have changed a lot. Along the way, I also determined that this job would be very difficult, not easy to find. But unexpectedly...”, Ms. Nhung said.

Searching for martyrs' remains is considered a "needle in a haystack" job. Photo: Tien Hung

Upon arriving in Laos, Mr. Doanh and his nephew immediately went to the headquarters of the Nghe An Martyrs' Remains Search Team in Xieng Khouang Province, hoping for support. This was also the temporary place to worship the remains of the martyrs who had just been exhumed, waiting for the end of the dry season to be transported back to Vietnam for burial. At that time, there were more than 80 remains of martyrs found in the room, all of whom had not yet been identified. A few had names and ages, but their addresses and units were unknown.

“While holding the incense to light the altar, Mr. Doanh suddenly shouted loudly, “Here is my brother”. Then the two of them hugged each other and cried after seeing the brick with the word Quang engraved on it, placed next to a set of remains”, said Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Van Nam - Head of the team searching for and collecting martyrs’ remains. After that emotional moment, Mr. Doanh and his nephew brought out the tombstone diagram to compare with the location diagram, where the soldiers had just recovered the remains. Everyone present in the room at that time was moved to tears when the locations in these two diagrams completely matched each other.

After decades underground, many memorabilia used to identify the martyrs have decomposed. Photo: Tien Hung

Talking about the journey to find the grave of martyr Nguyen Dinh Quang, Lieutenant Colonel Nam said that, like many other graves, when they were exhumed, the officers and soldiers in the team did not expect to identify the identity. Although a brick with Quang's name engraved on it was found under the grave. "Many graves we dug up and found the full name, but we had to give up, let alone just one name. The story of martyr Quang really has many spiritual details," said the team leader.

The remains of martyr Quang were originally buried in a small cemetery, including 8 martyrs in Muong Pet, Xieng Khouang. In 1979, 7 martyrs' remains were exhumed by Vietnamese soldiers and brought to the Vietnam - Laos International Martyrs' Cemetery for burial after digging up the entire cemetery but still not finding the 8th grave. In the following years, people living in a village next to the cemetery often reported that there were still remains of Vietnamese soldiers here. "We met people there, many people in the village told the same story. That is, when sleeping, they often dreamed of a Vietnamese soldier coming to the village to ask for rice and salt. Therefore, people believed that there were still remains of martyrs in the cemetery," said Lieutenant Colonel Nam.

Take me back to Motherland. Photo: Tien Hung

From this information, many officers and soldiers of the team were immediately sent to the cemetery to search here once again. After many days of digging, they finally found the grave nestled under the roots of an old eucalyptus tree. "Maybe this martyr died in the past due to a bomb, so his remains were wrapped up by his comrades for burial. We often call these graves "dum graves", which are very difficult to find", added Lieutenant Colonel Nam. In this grave, besides the objects proving that the owner was a Vietnamese soldier, there was only one object to identify the identity, a brick with the name Quang engraved on it.

“We are really lucky. After nearly half a century, we were finally able to bring our father back to his hometown,” Nhung told Nghe An Newspaper reporters while on her way to the Martyrs’ Cemetery in Ninh Binh City to offer incense on the occasion of War Invalids and Martyrs Day.

Crossing forests and wading streams to find comrades' graves. Photo: Tien Hung

During the wars to defend the Fatherland and carry out international duties in Laos and Cambodia, many Vietnamese soldiers - experts - volunteers heroically sacrificed or left behind a part of their blood and bones so that our three countries could have the freedom and independence they have today. After the war, the issue of collecting the remains of Vietnamese volunteer soldiers - experts who sacrificed in neighboring countries back to the Motherland was extremely urgent. That was both a sentiment, a responsibility, and a good tradition of "remembering the source of water when drinking" of our nation.

Established in 1984, the Martyrs' Remains Search and Collection Team (Nghe An Military Command) was assigned the task of searching for the remains of Vietnamese experts and volunteer soldiers who died in the three provinces of Xiangkhouang, Vientiane and Xaysomboun. These are provinces with complex terrain, most of the martyrs' burial areas are located in deep forests, to search for and collect the remains, the soldiers on this task often have to trek through forests and wade through streams for many days.

Since 1984, the Collection Team has brought back more than 12,200 remains of Vietnamese volunteer soldiers and experts who died in Laos, including more than 1,600 remains of martyrs whose names and hometowns have been identified, and has handed over 925 remains of martyrs to 37 provinces and cities across the country. However, in recent years, identifying the identities has become increasingly difficult. As most of the martyrs' graves have been buried underground for more than half a century, the memorabilia that can help identify the identities has gradually decreased due to damage over time.

This seems like a “needle in a haystack” job. Especially when most of the martyrs died nearly half a century ago. To determine the exact burial location is not an easy task. While the terrain of Laos used to be mostly bare hills, now trees grow thickly. Roads and place names are also different. Even veterans who directly buried the bodies now find it very difficult to return to find them.

The search for remains becomes more difficult and dangerous when there are hostile forces on your land. They even offer tens of thousands of USD in rewards for the capture of officers and soldiers of the collection team. During the process of carrying out the collection mission from 1984 to the present, officers and soldiers of the Collection Team of the Nghe An Provincial Military Command have had 9 comrades sacrificed and 14 comrades injured. Of which, in 2004 alone, 4 soldiers sacrificed and 13 soldiers were injured.