Rocket Cave – Where 20-year-olds become immortal

(Baonghean) -Exactly 45 years ago, at this place, hundreds of soldiers, frontline laborers, and youth volunteers (TNXP)... under the rain of bombs and bullets devoted all their youthful enthusiasm, sacrificing themselves to clear the road and traffic to the front line. Among them, 33 Youth Volunteers fell at a very young age.

Rocket Cave - A sacred place, containing tragic war stories, located in Hoang Mai Town, Quynh Luu District - Nghe An Province (about 800m from National Highway 1A) worshiping 33 Youth Volunteers whose sacrifices are like an immortal song. The Rocket Cave relic and the Railway Martyrs Cemetery have just been ranked as a National Historical Relic by the Ministry of Culture, Sports & Tourism in Decision No. 1410/QD - BVHTTDL dated April 27, 2011.

Returning to history, after the failure of the "Special War" strategy in the Southern battlefield, the US imperialists created the Vinh Bac Bo incident (August 5, 1964) as an excuse to carry out a destructive war in the North. They focused on attacking the rear and attempted to cut off the transportation routes supplying the Southern battlefield.

In order to promptly support the Southern battlefield to fight the enemy, in addition to road, sea and river transport, our Party and State have had a policy of fully exploiting the strengths of the railway transport route in the conditions of fierce enemy attacks. Therefore, after receiving the number of Youth Volunteers to support the Transport sector of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Labor Youth Union, on April 27, 1965, the Ministry of Transport established Unit C271, Team 27, consisting of 150 comrades, transferred to the General Department of Railways, to meet the needs of protecting the vital railway line and producing stone materials to promptly meet the traffic assurance work in the Thanh Hoa - Vinh area, focusing on strengthening the Hoang Mai front in Quynh Luu district, Nghe An province.

Unit C217 was divided into many groups and teams, each group was responsible for a different task such as: dredging the Le canal; loading and unloading goods at Hoang Mai station; protecting the safety of the railway and road from Khe Nuoc Lanh to Hoang Mai bridge... In which, Group 4 had 38 comrades with the task of quarrying stone to promptly fix incidents on the railway when American bombs were dropped. They were enthusiastic young men in their late teens and early twenties, coming from poor rural areas in the provinces of Thua Thien Hue, Nghe An, Thanh Hoa, Ha Nam, Ninh Binh, Thai Binh...

In 1965, with the achievements, the Thanh Hoa - Nghe An railway Youth Volunteer Force received a letter of praise from Uncle Ho and was awarded an emulation flag. The letter reads: “Sincerely send to the Youth Union members of the Thanh Hoa - Nghe An railway project. In the 5-year plan, the Party and the Government have decided to rebuild the Thanh Hoa - Nghe An railway. The Central Committee of the Labor Youth Union has received the project on your behalf and asked to name it: Youth Railway Project. You have volunteered to do that work, so you have fulfilled the slogan "wherever you need youth, whatever is difficult, there will be youth". Uncle warmly praised you and told you the following: You must be closely united, you must help your fellow countrymen where you work; You must be enthusiastic in emulation, you must maintain good labor discipline, you must be enthusiastic in innovating techniques to do more, faster, better, and cheaper; you must study more culture while working... Uncle presents you with the rotating award flag for the Thanh Hoa - Nghe An youth... Uncle wishes you happiness, good health, and enthusiasm in emulation to achieve many achievements".

On April 28, 1966, Team 4, Unit C271 was enthusiastically working on the construction site, the working atmosphere was urgent and exciting, around 9am, when Team 4 was transporting the last blocks of stone to complete the remaining railway section, suddenly the alarm bell rang, immediately team leader Tham ordered his teammates to retreat to the shelter. Just like the previous times, the whole team ran into a familiar cave 30m away from the construction site to avoid the bombs. When most of the brothers had entered the cave, the enemy plane swooped in and launched a series of bombs that shook the whole area, followed by a series of rockets hitting the cave entrance. The cave entrance was completely destroyed, rocks fell everywhere, blocking the entrance. Ms. Doanh was on her way into the cave to take shelter when she was pushed into the bomb crater next to it by the force of the group.

As soon as the American bombs stopped, the teams of workers around rushed to the scene to search but only saw the entire cave area submerged in thick smoke, dust flying everywhere, fallen trees, and the cave entrance sealed. The support force and the quarry workers tried their best to search and dig, but while the search was still unfinished, the American planes continued to drop bombs, forcing the search force to retreat to a safe place. That evening, when the Americans stopped bombing, the Youth Volunteer Force units, soldiers, and quarry workers gathered at the cave entrance, using hoes, shovels, and crowbars to dig with determination to search for any surviving comrades. The next morning, a part of the cave entrance was opened, entering the cave, everyone burst into tears as if stunned when they saw a heartbreaking scene: 32 bodies lying around, none of them intact - the men and women in their late teens and early twenties had heroically sacrificed themselves (Only Ms. Tran Thi Loan[1]survived after being taken to Hanoi for treatment, but due to severe injuries she died in August 1966). The deaths of these men and women at the age of twenty have become sacred in the heroic land, they passed away at a very young age.

In 2001, Hoang Mai Stone Enterprise planned and built the Railway Martyrs Cemetery, the resting place of 32 Youth Volunteers, and the stone cave was restored, with a memorial stele built in front of the cave. In 2003, the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs recognized 33 Youth Volunteers of Group 4, C217 as Martyrs and granted them a Certificate of National Recognition. In 2011, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism ranked the memorial site of the Youth Volunteers of Unit C271 in Hoang Mai on April 28, 1966, including: Rocket Cave and Railway Martyrs Cemetery as National Historical Relics.

In the echoes of the 33 Youth Volunteer Soldiers together underground, I looked down at the foot of Eo Kim mountain range, saw the thick green of the eucalyptus forest, the bomb craters were now green again, where young men and women in their twenties had dedicated their beautiful youth to the beloved Fatherland of Vietnam.

Nguyen Trong Cuong