Command from the heart

(Baonghean) - In each officer and soldier of the Martyrs' Remains Collection Team, the Provincial Military Command always upholds the determination and will to forever imbue the noble friendship between Vietnam and Laos, to foster the eternal steadfast brotherhood, to make every effort to search for and bring the fallen brothers to rest in peace in their motherland... For them, that is a responsibility, an order from the heart.

Searching for martyrs' remains on PungXay mountain top, Muong Kham district, Xieng Khouang province, Laos.

The work of collecting and searching for the remains of Vietnamese volunteer soldiers and experts who died in Laos has been organized and implemented by Nghe An province for more than 20 years. The main area for searching according to the assignment is in Xieng Khouang province, Laos - sharing a 198 km border with Nghe An province. Xieng Khouang has an area of ​​16,850 km2, a population of nearly 300 thousand people, besides Xam Thong - Long Cheng (formerly belonging to Vientiane province, now belonging to the new Xay Xam Bun province). During the resistance war against France and the US, Xieng Khouang plateau (with an altitude of 1,500 - 2,000m above sea level and the Xam Thong - Long Cheng area) was an area with a particularly important strategic position. In Xieng Khouang plateau alone, more than 13,000 Vietnamese volunteer soldiers heroically sacrificed their lives. The martyrs mainly belonged to divisions 316, 312 and the Engineering Command...

During the 2013-2014 dry season, the team for collecting martyrs' remains in Nghe An province actively searched for the soldiers in the assigned area. The team divided its forces into 10 directions to localities such as Long Cheng, Xam Thong, Pha Xay, Muong Pec, Muong Khun, Muong Moc, Tha Thom, Noong Het, Phu Cut, Muong Kham to search and collect. With the wish of "trying to search beyond expectations because many relatives of the martyrs do not have much time to wait", during the 2013-2014 dry season, the team searched for 88 graves out of the 91 graves set out. Of these, 9 graves had names and hometowns (4 graves with known names and hometowns; 2 graves with names but no hometown; 2 graves with names but no hometown, 1 grave with name and hometown). This is a commendable effort by the officers and soldiers of the collection team when the search work is becoming more and more difficult and arduous. With the achieved results, the number of martyrs' graves found has increased to nearly 12,000 graves. Compared with the handover list from the units and the grave map, there are still over 1,000 graves of Vietnamese volunteer soldiers and experts that have not been found or cannot be exhumed.

To achieve the above results, the support and facilitation of Military Region 4, the Special Working Group of Nghe An province and Lao provinces are very great. Lieutenant Colonel Tran Van Phuong, Political Commissar of the Martyrs' Remains Collection Team, Provincial Military Command said: After receiving the plan from the superiors, the Party Committee, leaders, officers and soldiers in the team were determined to complete it; at the same time, proposed plans and measures for implementation. It must be said that the collection work has been receiving practical attention and support from the Party committees and authorities of the neighboring country. Localities regularly hold working group meetings to assign tasks to units to help collect Vietnamese soldiers. Many districts and villages have assigned militia forces to go along, help dig the land, clear forests, and search. During the implementation of the task, Laos also ensures security work, participates in verifying sources of information for the collection survey. On the part of the collection team, a large focus is placed on collecting information. After receiving the information, the soldier and his guide went down to the village to meet with the local authorities to discuss and confirm information about the grave (time, discoverer, reason for discovery as well as identifying features) to organize the collection. During the organization process, the unit asked people who knew where the martyrs were buried to go with them.

In addition to the gathering work, the team also carries out the task of building bases, helping friends in developing the economy, culture and society at each military station. From building economic models to organizing training for militia forces. Sick people are examined, given medicine, instructed on hygiene; oriented to develop livestock, farming, and vegetable growing productively and effectively;... This help not only comes from the tasks assigned by superiors but also from the hearts of the Vietnamese people towards their Lao brothers. In the gestures, actions and words of our soldiers towards each Lao citizen, there is respect, politeness and standards but no less affection, harmony and openness. The soldiers consider the Lao people as their family members to share joys and sorrows, eat, live and work together. From there, the Lao people understand the nature of Uncle Ho's soldiers and are ready to help and create conditions for the Team to complete the mission. In the dry season of 2013-2014, the Team built 2 economic models of livestock and crop farming for students in Noong Het district and the Xieng Khouang Military Command base in Phon Sa Van town. Specifically: supporting 8 cows, 2 pigs, 40 ducks and building a system of barns, ponds and model gardens. The total value of labor days, livestock and crops was over 100 million VND.

Lieutenant Colonel Phung Ngoc Phuong, Head of the Martyrs' Remains Search and Collection Team, said: The search and collection work can only start from October this year and last until April next year. The remaining months are the rainy season, so digging cannot be carried out. During the rainy season, a part of the team's forces in Laos will focus on the task of gathering information from the base, searching for people who know information about the grave - a task that is no less difficult and dangerous when the roads in the neighboring country are still very poor, the mountainous terrain is often prone to landslides and slippery conditions; and to mobilize those who were or are still participating in the rebel forces fighting against the neighboring country's revolution...

The current difficulty is that most of the martyrs' graves in favorable terrain have been gathered, the remaining graves are located in high mountains, deep forests, and many extremely dangerous rivers and streams. Villages with cemeteries nearby do not have much information. Meanwhile, the harsh weather, time, and the process of farming by the people have caused many graves to sink, wash away, flatten, or lose their identifying signs. In many places, guides, Vietnamese veterans, and village elders cannot even imagine the old location. Because of that, people are not sure of the information and are reluctant to provide it to the gathering team. This requires the team to regularly coordinate with friends to do ideological work and encourage the people. Many locations reported by the people are sometimes up to 1,000m2 wide, requiring a lot of effort to survey, while the team's forces are quite thin. Besides, in many areas, there are still bandits active, ready to shoot at the search team.

Despite the difficulties, when asked, none of the officers and soldiers of the Retreat Team were bothered by the hardship. Each officer and soldier of the Retreat Team in the past and today are the same, with a sincere heart, full of gratitude towards the uncles and brothers - those who have fallen for the eternal existence of the two nations. Lieutenant Nguyen Van Nam, a soldier of the Retreat Team, confided: "The uncles and brothers have fallen for the independence and freedom of the nation, for the eternal friendship between the two brotherly nations. As the descendants, we must be responsible and raise our determination to bring our ancestors back to the Motherland. That is our responsibility, our duty and our morality"... Having had the opportunity to follow them in previous seasons of retreat and search, we have clearly seen and understood more about the sacred work they are doing. Their hands are reluctant to dig hard, their shovels are reluctant to push deep, the soldiers in the team gently push away each layer of rock, picking up each handful of loose soil. They searched based on their experience in collecting and gathering, and based on scientific information such as the direction of attack and the hiding places of our troops. In addition, they actively carried out mass mobilization work to get information about the graves from the surrendering bandits.

The 2014-2015 dry season is coming, the officers and soldiers of the Martyrs' Remains Collection Team are currently trying their best to find information about the collection and carry out the tasks assigned by their superiors, carrying out the tasks from their hearts. On their faces, we saw drops of sweat, even tears of "self-blame" when they knew their ancestors were lying there and there was still no way to bring them back, powerless... The calls of their ancestors from Na Xay cave (Muang Kham district), Noong Thang cave (Phou Kout district), Vietnam cave in Pu Bia mountain range, the flooded Nam Ngum area still constantly urged the officers and soldiers of the Martyrs' Remains Collection Team to firmly set out on their journey.

Thanh Son - Do Thang