Revive the battlefield

(Baonghean) - Ke May village, Cam Son commune (Anh Son) once had to endure a series of destructive bombs dropped by American planes, especially the bombing in mid-October 1968 that burned down more than 20 houses, killing more than 10 people. Nearly half a century has passed, the fierce battlefield is now changing day by day, new life is reviving with good models, effective ways of doing things, with the creativity, daring to think, daring to do of the people here.

In Vietnam, almost every village has traces of war, if not graves in cemeteries or along hillsides, then bomb craters in home gardens or on alluvial plains, river banks. The same goes for Ke May village, the war has long gone, the sound of bombs and bullets has stopped, but hidden in the sugarcane fields and corn fields are still dense bomb craters, recalling a painful and fierce time. Coming here on a day at the end of the year, when the winds carried a bitter cold, we heard about the tragic story that took place more than 49 years ago, when the American invaders massively dropped bombs on the sky of the North.

A corner of Ke May village, Cam Son commune (Anh Son) today. Photo: Cong Kien

Every time the word “war” is mentioned, the people of Ke May, from old to young, do not forget to mention the devastating bombing of the village by American planes in 1968. At around 10 a.m. one day in mid-October 1968, a group of dozens of American B-52s came from the Vietnam-Laos border and dropped 36 bombs on the village, burning down 22 houses and killing 11 people (including 10 people from 3 families in the village and 1 road worker). The American bombs caused Mrs. Luong Thi Thinh’s family to lose 7 people, Mrs. Luong Thi Binh’s family to lose 2 children, and Mr. Ha Van Ich to lose 1 son. After that devastating bombing, the entire village had to evacuate into the forest...

Mr. Luong Van My (80 years old) - the brother of Mrs. Luong Thi Thinh, was one of the witnesses of the devastating bombing that year, recounted: “That day, around 10 o'clock, I and the village militia were practicing in the forest when we heard the sound of planes rushing in, then a series of explosions, the ground shook. The whole village was covered in black smoke, the fire was raging. Knowing for sure that the village had been bombed, we ran back, all 22 houses had burned down and were buried in rocks and soil, the elderly and children ran everywhere, the miserable cries were incessant...”.

Ke May village is surrounded by mountain ranges, with National Highway 7A passing through, and adjacent to Tuong Son commune - where Dua field airport is being used by the Ministry of National Defense for sorties to intercept US aircraft in the skies of the North. At that time, in Ke May there was an anti-aircraft artillery company stationed to guard the "gateway" to the West of Dua airport, preventing US aircraft from Laos and Thailand from bombing. Therefore, the enemy often searched for artillery positions to bomb, this area often suffered fierce bombings, typically the one mentioned above.

Returning to the fierce bombing in mid-October 1968, when running back to his village, Mr. Luong Van My's first task was to locate his house in the smoke and dust and among the bomb craters scattered with so much anxiety and worry. Luckily, his wife and children had made it down to the bunker in time, the bomb did not hit the house, the thatched roof was burned probably due to sparks from the neighbor's house. Looking at his sister's house, Mr. My was stunned to see that the 4-room stilt house had no trace left, instead there was a deep bomb crater, smoke still rising from the ground.

Rushing over, he saw Ha Van Cuong - the eldest son of Mrs. Luong Thi Thinh (Mr. My's younger sister) standing at the edge of the hole, calling out miserably "Mom and Dad!", then "Siblings!". Hearing that Mrs. Thinh's house had been hit by a bomb, the entire village immediately rushed to the rescue, using all available tools to dig through the scattered soil to search, but only found 3 dead people, the other 4 bodies had dissolved into the soil of their homeland. Mr. My and the villagers gathered the found body parts onto a mat and buried them in a common grave.

Intra-village roads in Ke May village, Cam Son commune (Anh Son) have been concreted. Photo: Cong Kien

Surely no one can imagine the extreme pain of Mr. Ha Van Cuong when the bombing took away all his blood relatives in the family, when his parents and 5 younger siblings were killed by American bombs. When the American planes came to bomb, he and the militia of the village were training, ran back to the village but the house was destroyed, his parents and younger siblings were bombed in the shelter...

His hatred reached its peak, he wrote a petition in blood asking to join the army to fight directly to avenge his family and repay his debt to the country. After a while in the Southern battlefield, Ha Van Cuong actively fought and heroically sacrificed himself, he fell when he was just in his twenties. Thus, all members of his family were killed by bombs and bullets of the American empire...

For nearly 50 years, the care of incense for the family members of Vietnamese Heroic Mother Luong Thi Thinh has been taken care of by her brother. The souls of Mrs. Thinh and her husband, martyr Ha Van Cuong and their five younger siblings were brought back to worship at home by Mr. Luong Van My, but there is no portrait. The garden that Mr. My's family used to cultivate, the bomb crater is still intact, above is a small brick grave, on holidays and Tet, the villagers often come and light a stick of incense and remember a painful and fierce time...

Mr. Luong Van My next to the bomb crater and the common grave of his sister's family (Mrs. Luong Thi Thinh) after the bombing in mid-October 1968. Photo: Cong Kien

Ke May today has been changed to a village, anyone who has the opportunity to travel up and down National Highway 7, passing by will not be able to imagine that this place was once a battlefield, dozens of lives were buried by bombs. Because Ke May village is now covered in green, the green of hills, fields, corn, rice, sugarcane and vegetables. From 22 households in the past, Ke May now has 168 households (77 Thai ethnic households), people always join hands and work together to develop the economy, contributing to building a rich and beautiful homeland.

Mr. Le Van Cuong - Village Chief said: "People here are always united and work hard, so their lives are always improved, becoming a model village of the whole commune. Ke May was recognized as a Cultural Village in 2001, and is the first village in the commune to meet the new rural standards...". Currently, the whole village has only 6 poor households.

Walking through Ke May, we were truly amazed by the revival of a village that had suffered fierce bombardment. The spacious houses, clean concrete roads and straight, neat fences spoke volumes about the value of the revival. Coming here, we heard stories of business, about farmers who stuck to the land and the forest to get rich, some households raised more than 200 cows for sale, earning hundreds of millions of dong each year. The herd of buffalo and cows in the village is always over 1,000, most households receive forest land to grow raw wood, and expand the area of ​​tea trees to increase income. The area of ​​fertile land is regularly rotated, each season has its own food, almost at any time the farmers have a source of income. The poverty rate of the village is currently only 0.35% (6/178 households), most of them are elderly families living alone and suffering from illness and disease.

Mr. Hoang Ba Nhi - Secretary of the Party Committee of Cam Son commune shared: “In recent years, the socio-economic situation of Ke May village has improved a lot, becoming a model village of the whole commune. The face of life has changed a lot, but people still do not forget the fierce war years. On holidays, New Year and the annual Great Unity Day, people always take a moment of silence and mournfully remember those who have passed away because of enemy bombs and bullets...”.

Cong Kien