Half a century, dreaming of calling 'father' without success!
(Baonghean.vn) - More than 50 years ago, after receiving a death notice, martyr Nguyen Tri Phuoc unexpectedly returned to his village. But that return was never complete and became a source of torment for him until the end of his life...
Love through "Malabar spinach
The 16-page letter has been kept by Mrs. Le Thi Minh's family (Luan Phuong village, Dong Van commune, Thanh Chuong district) for more than 40 years. Many years have passed, each line in the letter, each shared word has been read over and over again by Mrs. Minh and her children and carefully preserved because those are the last memories of their husband, their father. It was not until recently that the family decided to give it back to Nghe An Museum with the hope that when the letter reaches everyone, they will have a different, more realistic view of the war. The letter has also just been introduced at the exhibition "Memories of the Wartime" and is likened to a version of the short story "Ivory Comb" by writer Nguyen Quang Sang. The difference is that this is a true story with real people and real events. And then, even though more than half a decade has passed, both the person who left and the person who stayed behind still have to endure a lingering, painful feeling...
More than 60 years ago, at the age of 16, Ms. Le Thi Minh got married to Mr. Nguyen Tri Phuoc, a young man in the village. At that time, Mr. Phuoc was nearly 30 years old, and had participated in the war against the French and the Americans. Their love at that time did not have sweet words or dates. They became husband and wife because she admired him, her close, kind, talented brother, whose houses were only "a hedge of Malabar spinach" apart. Mr. Phuoc was also her brother's best friend, so when they had their first child, they named her Tuyet Mai, which is also his name...
After getting married and having a one-year-old child, Mr. Phuoc could have changed his career because he had been sent to study and was retained as a lecturer at Hanoi Technical College 1. But because of the war, because the country was still in the shadow of the enemy, he volunteered to go to B again, leaving his wife, young children and elderly parents in his hometown. On the day he was sent off to the battlefield, Mrs. Minh still remembers very clearly: “I carried Tuyet Mai and accompanied his mother to see him off to the village entrance. Afraid that I would be reluctant, he walked very quickly, but I tried to walk slowly because I wanted to be with my husband for a few more minutes. At the moment of parting, he held my hand and said: I love you because you have not experienced much of life, but don't worry, I will go and return on the day of reunification...”.
Since her husband went to the South, Mrs. Minh has only received two letters, one of which was unreadable because it was blurred. There was a letter that took almost a year from the time it was sent to when it reached the recipient. During the 5 years her husband went to war, Mrs. Minh, who had “never been in any conflict”, took her husband’s place to take care of his mother, father, and younger brother. During those years, she also continued to study in high school and then went to a teacher’s college to become a village school teacher, joined the Party, became the Youth Union Secretary, and became the school’s union president.
Since the day he left, she has not stopped hoping for a day of reunification and reunion. However, the death notice sent from the Central Highlands in 1968 took away all her dreams and hopes: “The death notice that he had died was sent when I was still teaching at school. When I received the news, I cried and ran home, but I still hoped that it was not true. When I entered the yard, I saw the house full of people, Tuyet Mai was sobbing, so I knew, he had really abandoned me and my children.”
After the death notice, the memorial service for martyr Nguyen Tri Phuoc was held that night at the commune cultural house. Through friends and family, they also learned that martyr Nguyen Tri Phuoc was buried by his comrades in Pleiku. Since her husband passed away, Mrs. Minh has been taking care of her children alone, living the life of a “widowed mother and orphaned child”. As for Tuyet Mai, the memory of her father from then on only stopped at the photo on the altar, that is the image of a young soldier in uniform, full of youthfulness.
