Volunteers bring martyrs back to their families
Of the nearly 1.2 million martyrs who died for the independence and freedom of the nation, many have not been found and have not returned to their families and homeland. With the wish to contribute to bringing the martyrs back, for many years, two men from Nghe An have considered the joy of reunion of strange families as their happiness and responsibility.
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Good karma on a meaningful journey
These days, the family of Mr. Hoang Manh Cuong (Nghi Thu Ward, Vinh City) is busy because of an important event. On December 19, right before the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Vietnam People's Army, his family welcomed the remains of his uncle - martyr Hoang Anh Tien (1960 - 1979) back to his hometown and family.
“My uncle died in the last battle in 1979 and his grave has been lost ever since. It wasn’t until the summer of 2023 that I, fortunately, happened to meet and get to know Uncle Nguyen Dinh Trung. Thanks to his help, I found his grave in Dong Nai cemetery with incorrect birth year information. My grandparents had 3 children, Uncle Hoang Anh Tien was the eldest son, my father was the second son, and then there was another daughter. By welcoming my uncle back, although my grandparents had both passed away and my father had passed away a long time ago, I had fulfilled the lifelong wish of my grandparents and father…” - Mr. Cuong emotionally shared, while preparing the necessary belongings to go to Dong Nai.
Mr. Cuong also confided that, following everyone's advice, he would pick up his uncle by car to make the trip more cozy, and so that his uncle could enjoy the scenery along the way, to see how peaceful and developed the country is now. Peace was exchanged for the blood and bones of millions of heroes and martyrs like his uncle.
The belated reunion after 44 years of separation, despite the separation of life and death, despite never having met, was filled with tears - tears of joy and happiness. The person who brought the unexpected reunion to the family of martyr Hoang Anh Tien was Mr. Nguyen Dinh Trung (born 1964) - also known as Trung "martyr".
For many years, the Chairman of the Veterans Association of Nghi Hoa Ward (Vinh City) has devoted a lot of time and effort to searching for the graves of lost heroic martyrs of Nghe An. That special journey began after he went to find the graves of his family members.
Sharing about the journey to find the martyr's grave, Mr. Nguyen Dinh Trung said: "In 2015, to find the grave of my uncle's brother, I went to Kon Tum 3 times and I couldn't count the number of times I went to Hanoi. At that time, the procedure to verify the martyr's grave was very difficult, access to information was limited, so it was extremely hard and expensive. Luckily, I received enthusiastic support from Division 968 and Mr. Nguyen Si Ho - famous for the "online martyr information library", thanks to which I successfully brought my brother back to his hometown. Since then, I have wanted to do the job of helping families bring martyrs home."
On that search journey, Mr. Trung met Mr. Le Tien Dung (born in 1973, from Vinh City) - who has also been passionate about finding martyrs' graves for many years. Not only connecting to find graves for hundreds of martyrs' families, Mr. Trung also supported connecting to return many valuable war relics of martyrs to their families.
Most recently, through Mr. Trung's connection, the families of martyr Nguyen Quang So (1944-1969, from Thanh Chuong) and martyr Ho Van Chuong (1939-1969, from Dien Chau) received back the diaries of their relatives from far away America. The emotional feelings of the families when receiving the priceless "gift" cannot be fully expressed, nor can the joy of the reunions of the yin and yang of the martyrs' families be measured...
“In addition to the fiery diary pages sent from the other side of the hemisphere, we also found many other valuable mementos of the Nghe - Tinh soldiers. Among them, there were letters that took 50 years to reach the recipients; there were noble medals that were never awarded. Among the 92 medals we connected and returned, the most heartbreaking case was that of Martyr Truong Thanh Hai (from Huong Nguyen). He was a seriously wounded soldier, before he died from the pain, he did not know that he had the Friendship Medal of Cambodia and the Glorious Soldier Medal awarded by the Party and State in 1986 and 1987. It was not until 2023 that these medals reached his family…” – Mr. Dung confided.
Not stopping at supporting the search, from a common wish, Mr. Trung and Mr. Dung have connected with many other hearts in the volunteer support community.find martyrs' gravesThere are people who diligently collect information and data from cemeteries for people to conveniently search; there are "0 dong" bus companies that fully sponsor the journey to bring martyrs back to their hometowns in the most solemn way, regardless of distance and including food and accommodation costs for relatives along the way; there are volunteers who are willing to brave the wind and rain, travel hundreds of kilometers to verify information on a tombstone... All of these actions come from deep gratitude to the previous generation.
The “principle” of the heart
Although no one told each other, both Mr. Trung and Mr. Dung had common principles in the process of searching for martyrs' graves: Never accept money from martyrs' families, even just one dong; Never accept invitations to eat from local officials, even just one meal.
Sharing about this principle, Mr. Dung said: "Both of us have our own jobs with stable income, are supported by our families and have no need to earn money from this job. Mr. Trung's children even asked to contribute money to support their father in finding the martyr's grave, accompanying his family to the end."
Because there have been people who have taken advantage of their relatives' pain to defraud and profit, many families are wary and wary. Therefore, many times Mr. Trung and Mr. Dung received unfriendly attitudes from their relatives' families. Some blocked their phone numbers, some closed their doors, and some asked for information with a suspicious and critical attitude.
“In particular, when we found information about martyrs and contacted local policy officers, some people showed indifference, ignored the story, and even blocked our phone number without caring whether the information we provided was correct or not. This was a very insensitive and irresponsible attitude towards those who fell for the independence and freedom of the Fatherland. In such situations, although sad and disappointed, we told ourselves not to be discouraged, but to continue the work of searching for martyrs, persistently sharing information, posting on social networks, looking forward to reunions one day…” – Mr. Trung confided.
That expectation is the motivation for Mr. Trung and Mr. Dung to maintain the principle of always answering phone calls from unknown numbers, always calling back missed numbers, even at midnight. In both of their contacts, there are phone numbers of district-level page managers across Vietnam and commune-level policy officers across Nghe An province...
