The journey to claim honor of suspended veterans

(Baonghean) - Recently, hundreds of people who were receiving regular benefits were suddenly suspended from all benefits after "fake war invalid" inspections. To clear their names, many veterans had to knock on the doors of a series of agencies for a long time, some only received a decision to reinstate them after their death.

The small house in Tan Son hamlet (Quynh Bang commune, Quynh Luu) of Mrs. Pham Thi Phuong (59 years old) has been without laughter for many months. Her children live far away, and since her husband passed away at the age of 61, the house has become desolate. "He died without even having the chance to hold the decision to clear his name," said Mrs. Phuong.

Decision to restore the regime for Mr. Ho Duc Xuan.

Her husband, Mr. Ho Duc Xuan, enlisted in the army in 1974, belonging to Division 341. At the end of April 1975, Mr. Xuan was seriously injured in a battle in Xuan Loc - the gateway to Saigon. "When he died, he still had two pieces of shrapnel in his body," Ms. Phuong said.

After the war ended, Mr. Xuan returned to his hometown to get married and had four children. In 2001, he applied to be recognized as a war invalid. Mr. Xuan's application was later confirmed based on the list of wounded soldiers still kept at the unit, with a disability rate of 35%. In early September 2016, as usual, Mr. Xuan's family was preparing to go to the commune to receive monthly allowances, when they suddenly received a suspension decision... Before being suspended, Mr. Xuan received a monthly allowance of nearly 1.5 million VND.

Mr. Xuan is one of 90 cases in Nghe An province whose benefits were suspended at the same time after the conclusion of the inspection team of the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs. The inspection team said that the original list of wounded soldiers kept at the unit did not have the names of these people or their names were overwritten. Not only were all benefits suspended, the 90 wounded soldiers were forced to return all the money they had received from the policy over the past decades, amounting to more than 16 billion VND, to be transferred to the Ministry's account.

Since then, Mr. Xuan has been known as a “fake war invalid”. Angry about this decision, although still lying on his hospital bed, Mr. Xuan still forced his family to take him to the 341st Division stationed in Thanh Hoa to find his records. After many times “knocking on the doors” of the authorities, finally his name was on the list of wounded soldiers in the original copy kept at the unit.

On the afternoon of June 29, 2017, while still waiting to be cleared of the name of "fake war invalid", Mr. Xuan passed away. On the same day, Mr. Nguyen Dang Duong - Deputy Director of the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs signed a decision to restore war invalid allowances and preferential policies for Mr. Ho Duc Xuan. According to this decision, Mr. Xuan will receive back the nearly 15 million VND in allowances that had been suspended for 10 months and will start receiving monthly allowances again from July 1, 2017. However, war invalid Ho Duc Xuan will never be able to hold that "decision to clear his name" in his hands...

Also having all his war invalid benefits suspended, Mr. Nguyen Huu Tam (66 years old, Nghi Cong Bac commune, Nghi Loc) said he is still waiting for an apology from the authorities. Two months ago, Mr. Tam also had his war invalid benefits and preferential policies restored. “All of a sudden, they suspended all my policies. Then they restored them without anyone even apologizing for the mistake,” Mr. Tam said indignantly.

Mr. Nguyen Huu Tam wants an apology from the authorities. Photo: Tien Hung

Lifting his shirt and pointing to the scars on his shoulder, Mr. Tam said he joined the army in 1971. That was also the year his brother died while fighting in the southern battlefield. After the country's reunification, Mr. Tam continued to stay in the unit and then went to Cambodia to perform his duties. In April 1979, he was injured and had to stay in the hospital for more than 3 months. After being discharged from the hospital, his health was weak, so he was sent to work in logistics until the day he left the army. In 2005, like many other wounded soldiers, Mr. Tam filed a request to be recognized as a wounded soldier based on the list of wounded soldiers kept at the unit. After the assessment, Mr. Tam was determined to have a 35% disability rate.

Then in September 2016, Mr. Tam was suspended from all war invalid benefits and forced to pay back more than 100 million VND that he had received for many years, because the inspector of the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs could not find his name in the original list of wounded soldiers kept at Division 341. After being suspended, he could not remember how many times he "knocked on the door" of the authorities to reclaim his honor.

Mr. Tam had to personally find the unit stationed in Thanh Hoa to ask someone to check the list. It was not until 10 months later that Mr. Tam was cleared of his name and was no longer considered a fake war invalid. But he said that to get this, he had to go to Thanh Hoa twice, then to the commune level, then to the district level. Then to the province, then to the military zone. The travel expenses also cost tens of millions of dong. "The subsidy regime is not necessarily the problem, the problem here is the honor of soldiers like us," Mr. Tam said indignantly.

Mr. Le Anh Tuan - Deputy Head of Political Department of Nghe An Provincial Military Command said: “In all suspension decisions, the reasons for each person's suspension are stated, but if anyone can supplement them later, they will be submitted for review and reinstated. Many people, although old and weak, knew they were wronged and went to the division to find documents such as hospital discharge papers and lists of injured soldiers' records with their names on them; therefore, after completing all the required procedures, they were cleared. No one wants this to happen, but since it is a policy, it must be strictly implemented.”

After receiving a series of complaints, the Military Region 4 Command also organized a working group to visit a number of divisions to re-inspect. Thereby, dozens of cases were discovered that were on the list of wounded soldiers kept in the original copy at the unit, but for unknown reasons, the previous inspection team could not find them. Through the conclusion of this second inspection, the Nghe An Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs restored all wounded soldier benefits for 59/336 cases that had been suspended since September 2016.

(To be continued)

Hien Tung -Khoi Nguyen