Former Sac Forest commando "battled" skin cancer for more than 20 years

A time through Sac forest

Like most people born in the same era, the youth of Mr. Nguyen Minh Duc (born in 1953) in Thanh Vinh 2 hamlet, Nghi Quang commune (Nghi Loc) was full of excitement and holding a gun firmly in his hand, determined to fight and repel the invading enemy. Entering his teenage years, he followed his father on a boat to go fishing, over the years the son of a fishing village became experienced in the wind and waves.

At the age of 18, Duc joined the army and was assigned to the 126th Group - Naval Special Forces. After completing the training period with many hardships, the young soldier marched across the Truong Son mountain range, headed to the Southeast region and became a soldier of the 10th Group - Sac Forest Special Forces. Here, he and his comrades experienced many hardships, fierceness and sacrifices to build solidarity and achieve victory against the brutal enemy.

For over 20 years, Mr. Nguyen Minh Duc has been persistently fighting skin cancer. Photo: Tuong Anh

Among them, we must mention the battle at Rach Dua port (Ba Ria - Vung Tau) in September 1972, sinking a 17,000-ton transport ship, destroying all enemy weapons. Then, on the night of January 27, 1973, Nguyen Minh Duc used a B-41 to shoot down a warship, killing 16 enemies.

And in mid-October 1973, he and two teammates infiltrated the target, planted mines to sink enemy ships anchored at the port. When they returned, they were discovered by the enemy and fired at them like rain, each person retreated in a different direction to avoid pursuit, Mr. Duc was hit by a bullet, the wound bled profusely. He fainted in the middle of the mangrove forest, woke up and continued walking, and it was 3 days later that he found his way back to his unit to the surprise and joy of his teammates...

Photo taken by enemy aircraft of Sac Forest commandos moving by boat on canals. The person holding the oars behind is soldier Nguyen Minh Duc. Photo archive

The most valuable souvenir of his military life that Mr. Duc is keeping is a photo of 4 Sac Forest Special Forces soldiers traveling together on a small boat in the middle of a canal, the last rower is soldier Nguyen Minh Duc. The photo was taken by an enemy plane during a patrol, published after the liberation day and became a document of Sac Forest Special Forces Group 10 and the Vietnam People's Army.

The fight against serious illness

After the war, Nguyen Minh Duc returned to the coastal village of Nghi Quang and married Nguyen Thi Cat, a soldier of the 559th Regiment. The couple had three children (two boys and one girl). Life was hard and difficult, so Mr. Duc and his brothers and relatives built ships to go out to sea. Mrs. Cat stayed home to take care of the children and carry a shoulder pole to markets near and far to sell each fish and shrimp.

Nearly 25 years ago, Mr. Duc noticed patches of skin on his hands, feet, and then all over his body that kept scaly and peeling off. At first, he thought it was psoriasis, but treatment was not successful. The symptoms got worse and worse, and he went to many hospitals, and finally he was diagnosed with skin cancer.

Recalling his years on the battlefield, Mr. Nguyen Minh Duc thought that it might be due to the consequences of Agent Orange he was exposed to while trekking through the jungle to fight the enemy. No longer strong enough to go to sea to make a living, and having to worry about medical expenses, his family became destitute, as valuables had to be sold one by one. But determined not to surrender to illness, for decades the veteran has persistently fought the pain…

Mr. Nguyen Minh Duc's skin peeled off due to cancer. Photo: Tuong Anh

However, the evil poison that the enemy had spread still did not spare Mr. Nguyen Minh Duc when his first son got married. After three births, two of the children had to leave this life as soon as they were born. The third birth was luckier, but until now the child is still often sick, having to worry about medicine all year round. Then the second son also had trouble having children.

Mr. Nguyen Minh Duc shared: “There were nights when I lay awake because of the continuous pain, having to suppress my groans and coughs, for fear of waking my wife and children. Lying awake, thinking about my grandchildren who had not yet had a chance to cry when they were born and had left this world, my heart ached so much that it was wrenching.”

And after each night like that, Mr. Duc felt like he didn’t have enough strength to get up, his breath seemed to be fading, he no longer had enough strength to lift his body. But then, with the willpower of a man who had experienced the fire and bullets of war, he mustered all his strength to sit up, then staggered out into the yard to watch the sunrise…