Silent sacrifices

(Baonghean)“My wife is wonderful,” Major Pham Van Hung (motorcycle assistant, 95th Brigade, Navy) paused for a moment, then said this over the phone to us. Major Hung said that it was currently training season, and everyone was focused on the sea, so he didn't know when he would be able to return. But he was completely at ease because his wife, Le Thi Huong, was taking care of everything at home… Following the address he provided, we visited his home in Hamlet 10, Dien My Commune (Dien Chau District).

Ms. Le Thi Huong and her daughter watch the news from Hoang Sa and Truong Sa on television.

Standing before the spacious house, the lush garden, and the neat, tidy gate, few would imagine that it was a home "without a man's touch." Even more admirable is the fact that, after 20 years of marriage, the longest time Major Pham Van Hung stayed home was less than two months, yet his wife, Le Thi Huong, successfully raised two well-behaved and intelligent children while also being an excellent teacher at Dien My Primary School.

They got married in 1995, when Mr. Hung was working on Tho Chu Island. Afterward, as if by a special connection with the sea and islands, Mr. Hung's subsequent years in the military were always spent in the islands of the Fatherland. From Song Tu Island to Son Ca Island, then Truong Sa Island... To this day, as a motorcycle assistant at Unit 146, Brigade 95, Region 4, Navy, he continues to be involved with ships, making many trips to take officers, soldiers, and civilians to visit the islands, serving on patrol and guard duties. Ms. Huong stays at home alone, literally managing "two children on one arm."

Their eldest daughter, Pham Thu Trang, was born in 1996, and their second son, Pham Le Nam, was born in 2001. Living in a situation where she and her husband are separated, she pours all her love into caring for and raising her two children, finding joy in their academic achievements and their good behavior and progress. Both of her children consistently excel in all subjects. Pham Thu Trang recently graduated from high school. Pham Le Nam has won numerous provincial-level awards in online English competitions. Trang and Nam's academic achievements are also gifts from their mother to Mr. Hung, serving as a crucial source of encouragement and motivation for him to focus on his work on the remote island.

Besides taking care of the children, she also tends to her garden of over 600 square meters.²With plenty of vegetables and fruits to eat, Ms. Huong also takes on many household chores. Besides teaching, she is also a member of the Party Committee and has served as the Chairwoman of the Trade Union at Dien My Primary School for many years. Not only does she manage her household well, but Ms. Huong also cares for and protects the rights of teachers in the school. Therefore, for many years she has been honored as an outstanding worker at the grassroots level and an excellent teacher at the district level. Ms. Huong has become a shining example in the "Excellent in work, excellent in home" movement, loved by teachers and parents alike.

Speaking about the long years of separation, Ms. Huong said that due to their shared duties, they had to accept it; as a woman, who wouldn't want to live apart from their husband for extended periods? However, a special thing Ms. Huong shared with us is that she had become accustomed to this situation since she was a child. Her parents followed the same pattern: husband a soldier – wife a teacher. During her childhood, she and her mother were always separated from her father. Her mother, Ms. Hoang Thi Moi, also a teacher at Dien My Primary School, married her father, Le Ngoc Sanh. After their marriage, her father joined the resistance against the Americans, facing life and death on the battlefield, with communication cut off and countless hardships.

Her maternal grandfather, Mr. Hoang Ngoc Tran, was a veteran revolutionary cadre and a former guerrilla fighter in Ba To. He participated in the resistance against the French at a very young age and died in 1954 while rescuing people from a sinking boat on the Ma River. The family tradition and values ​​passed down from her grandparents and parents serve as both an example and a motivation for her to follow and strive to be worthy of being born into a family with a tradition of patriotism and a willingness to sacrifice for the cause of fighting and defending the country.

Ms. Huong said that despite the distance, the convenient communication allows family members to call each other frequently, thus easing the feeling of separation. Since China deployed the Haiyang 981 oil rig and various types of ships to provoke conflict in the Hoang Sa (Paracel) Islands, which are under Vietnam's sovereignty, she and her children have not missed any news from Hoang Sa and Truong Sa, and their calls to check on her husband have become more frequent. Born into a family that suffered many hardships and losses due to war, she said she always prayed that war would not happen, but the sovereignty of the nation's islands and seas could not be allowed to fall into the hands of invaders. Although she couldn't help but feel worried and anxious before each news report about Hoang Sa and Truong Sa, she still hid her unease to encourage her husband to remain steadfast and successfully complete his mission. It was the stormy season, also the training season, and whenever Hung called to encourage her, she would firmly reassure him: "Well, other people's wives are like that too, you know. There are plenty of other guys out there, it's not just me..."

Ngo Kien