Heroic Vietnamese Mother Le Thi Sau: 'I chose loss for myself...'

Mother Le Thi Sau is 100 years old this year. In 2014, she was awarded the title of Vietnamese Heroic Mother by the State because her two children were martyrs. In 2017, President Tran Dai Quang visited and wished her family a happy new year in Block 13, Ben Thuy Ward (Vinh City).

Silent Crying Times

Mother Le Thi Sau was originally from Vinh and grew up in Hung Thuy commune (Ben Thuy today). In the yearsResistance war against AmericaVinh - Ben Thuy was a key bombing area of ​​the American invaders because Ben Thuy port at that time was the place to supply and transport food to the southern battlefield.

Living just a few steps away from Ben Thuy port, during those difficult years, although danger was always near, the life of Sau's mother's family was attached to the port. Every day, she went to work in the fields, the village's fields were located near the riverbank. Her husband was a port worker. Her children, the eldest son, Le Huy Minh, joined the army in 1964. Her second son, Le Van Truong, joined the militia of Hung Thuy commune at the end of that year, following the call of the local government. Their daily task was to work on duty at Ben Thuy port, protect and support units transporting bombs, ammunition, and weapons to the South safely.

The mid-1960s was also the period when the US attacked Vinh city, including Ben Thuy port, to start the war of destruction in the North. One day in early June 1965, the war against the US to save the country by the army and people of Vinh city was taking place fiercely. At noon that day, my mother was at home when she heard the news that "Truong was injured, hit by a bomb and being taken to the city hospital for emergency treatment". At that time, my mother's limbs were weak. Only a few hours after being admitted to the hospital, Truong passed away due to severe injuries. At that time, Truong was only 18 years old and was a militia squad leader. His death certificate clearly stated that he died while "on duty rescuing and transporting medical personnel from the navy when shot down by an American plane".

Martyr Le Huy Truong was the second son of Sau's mother, 2 years younger than his eldest brother Le Huy Minh. On the day he died, Le Huy Minh was fighting in the Quang Tri battlefield. When he received the news of his brother's death, but because the war was in its fiercest stage, Minh could not return home. Letters sent to his parents in the countryside at that time were also very few.

It has been nearly 60 years since the day her son left, but in Sau's mother's memory, Truong was a studious and hard-working son. Before joining the militia, Truong went to school in the morning, herded buffaloes and cut grass in the afternoon, and always carried a book under his arm to study. There were also years when, due to the chaos of bombs and bullets, the school had to be evacuated to Ha Tinh on the other side of the Lam River. Not wanting to miss a class, Truong swam across the river every day with his books and clothes on to get to school. Even when Sau's mother scolded him, "Don't you care about your life? If you don't want to study, then don't study," Truong never skipped school.

The day Truong passed away, 6 months later, Sau's mother could not eat or sleep, the rice field that she usually took care of was also abandoned... The headache had not yet subsided when 7 years later, she received another death notice, her first son sacrificed on the southern front of Military Zone 4.

Before his death, martyr Le Huy Minh was a party member and captain of Regiment 164 and he never had a chance to visit home. He left behind a young wife with whom he had lived for only one day.

For 7 years, with two great pains, mother Le Thi Sau has gone through days of "crying silently" and "missing". She also does not understand why she can endure because before reaching 50 years old, she has lost her children 3 times, "sending off her young hair", in which, in addition to her two sons who sacrificed, there was also her only daughter who passed away when she was not even 1 year old.

Want independence must sacrifice

Mother Le Thi Sau was born in 1923 and this year she just turned 100 years old, an age that is rare in the past. Having lived a full century, looking back on her life, she knows that there is "more sadness than joy" and there are pains that can never be erased. Her brothers have been gone for many years now, but in her dreams, they still often come back: "Minh is the one who comes back to her the most. When he joined the army, he left the Thong Nhat car for his wife to drive. Sometimes he comes back and asks where your car is. Then one time both of them came back to ask her if she was okay, why she didn't put up a mosquito net to sleep. She said, I left it like that to keep cool. Sometimes she missed them so much, she put her arms around them to hug them. Then, when she turned back, she couldn't see any of them. The whole bed was cold..." - Sau's mother sadly recounted.

Missing her son, Sau's mother opened the rare old family photos again. The most valuable photo was probably the one of her and her eldest son and his wife. At that time, the two were preparing to get married, but the wedding was very rushed. Because at that time, her son had joined the army and was training in the North. He was preparing to get married, but his son did not return until the afternoon of the 30th of Tet. On the day of the photo shoot, her mother told her husband and two younger siblings to go with her son and his wife, but everyone refused. Truong went halfway and then returned. At a photo studio in Vinh, the three of them only had time to take one photo together. After the wedding on the 4th of Tet, Minh received orders to leave for the South on the 5th and was gone forever until the day he died.

In the backpack his comrades sent to his mother's family, there was also a photo of Minh when he joined the army. The photo was as small as a matchbox, but over the years, his mother still kept it carefully. Talking about the old photos, his mother felt regretful: Minh, I still remember his appearance and shape. But Truong left so suddenly, without even taking a photo. Until now, there is no memorial photo of him.

More than half a century has passed, but to Sau's mother, her brothers are still her little, hard-working, obedient children. She regrets that Minh was the best student in the past, passed the entrance exam to high school but volunteered to join the army before finishing. She misses Truong because Truong is an emotional person.

Mom also loved her daughter-in-law, they were married but only lived together for 1 day. Later, Minh passed away forever, Mom had to persuade her for a long time before she remarried...

Mother's pain can only be eased when her youngest son gets married, has children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. Mother's daughter-in-law, Nguyen Thi Hue, is like her daughter because in the house, big and small, when mother is healthy, sick or ill, she is the only one who worries and takes care of it. Even now, although life is not yet free of hardship, mother's small house is located in a low-lying area, when it rains heavily, it floods up to the base of the wall, mother's youngest son has had a stroke for the third time and is bedridden, mother is still taken care of wholeheartedly by her sister, not a single day does mother have to suffer, have to work hard...

At the age of 100, although her back was bent, her hair was gray, and her face was covered with freckles, God loved her so much that he still gave her a clear memory. The pain of time had not yet subsided, but she always said that "to be independent, one must sacrifice. I chose loss for myself."

Throughout her life, she was proud that three generations in her family were soldiers, all on a mission to protect the Fatherland: “My husband went to fight the French, my children went to fight the Americans, my grandchildren are now in the army, officers. My mother always told her grandchildren that when they joined the army, they had to be “loyal to the Party, filial to the people, complete every mission, overcome every difficulty and defeat every enemy”…