The journey to reclaim honor for suspended veterans.

(Baonghean) - Recently, hundreds of people who were receiving regular benefits suddenly had all their entitlements suspended following investigations into "fake war invalids." To clear their names, many veterans had to knock on the doors of numerous agencies for a long time; some only received reinstatement decisions upon their death.

For months, the small house in Tan Son hamlet (Quynh Bang commune, Quynh Luu district) belonging to Mrs. Pham Thi Phuong (59 years old) has been devoid of laughter. Her children live far away, and since her husband passed away at the age of 61, the house has become desolate. "He died before he could even receive the official decision to clear his name," Mrs. Phuong said.

The decision was made to reinstate Mr. Ho Duc Xuan to his previous position.

Her husband, Ho Duc Xuan, enlisted in 1974, serving in the 341st Division. In late April 1975, Mr. Xuan was seriously wounded in a battle at Xuan Loc – the gateway to Saigon. "He died with two shrapnel fragments still lodged in his body," Mrs. Phuong recounted.

After the war ended, Mr. Xuan returned to his hometown, got married, and had four children. In 2001, he applied for recognition as a war invalid. His application was subsequently confirmed based on the list of wounded soldiers still kept at his unit, with a disability rating of 35%. In early September 2016, as usual, Mr. Xuan's family was preparing to go to the commune to receive their monthly allowance when they suddenly received a suspension order… Before the suspension, Mr. Xuan received nearly 1.5 million VND per month in allowances.

Mr. Xuan is one of 90 cases in Nghe An province whose benefits were suspended following a conclusion by an inspection team from the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs. The inspection team stated that the original list of injured soldiers kept at the unit did not contain these individuals' names, or their names were overwritten. Not only were all benefits stopped, but the 90 injured soldiers were also forced to return all the money they had received from the policy over the past decades, totaling more than 16 billion VND, to the Ministry's account.

From then on, Mr. Xuan was labeled a "fake war invalid." Outraged by this decision, even while still in his hospital bed, Mr. Xuan insisted that his relatives take him all the way to the 341st Division stationed in Thanh Hoa to retrieve his records. After numerous attempts to contact various authorities, his name finally appeared on the original list of wounded soldiers kept at the unit.

On the afternoon of June 29, 2017, while still awaiting exoneration from the label of "fake war invalid," Mr. Xuan passed away. That same day, Mr. Nguyen Dang Duong, Deputy Director of the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, signed a decision to reinstate war invalid benefits and other preferential treatment for Mr. Ho Duc Xuan. According to this decision, Mr. Xuan would receive back nearly 15 million VND in benefits that had been suspended for 10 months and would begin receiving monthly benefits again from July 1, 2017. However, the war invalid Ho Duc Xuan would never be able to hold that "decision of exoneration" in his hands...

Similarly, Mr. Nguyen Huu Tam (66 years old, Nghi Cong Bac commune, Nghi Loc district) said that he is still waiting for an apology from the authorities. Two months ago, Mr. Tam had his veteran's allowance and other benefits restored. "Suddenly, they suspended all my benefits. Then they restored them again without anyone offering an apology for the mistake," Mr. Tam said angrily.

Mr. Nguyen Huu Tam is hoping for an apology from the authorities. Photo: Tien Hung

Pulling up his shirt and pointing to the raised scars on his shoulder, Mr. Tam recounted that he enlisted in 1971. That was also the year his older brother died fighting in the South. After the reunification of the country, Mr. Tam remained in his unit before going to Cambodia for duty. In April 1979, he was wounded and hospitalized for over three months. After being discharged, his health was weak, so he was assigned to logistics until he left the army. In 2005, like many other wounded soldiers, Mr. Tam applied for recognition as a war invalid based on the list of wounded soldiers kept at his unit. After assessment, Mr. Tam was determined to have a 35% disability rating.

Then, in September 2016, Mr. Tam had all his war invalid benefits suspended and was forced to return over 100 million VND that he had received over the years, because inspectors from the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs could not find his name in the original list of wounded soldiers kept at the 341st Division. After the suspension, he couldn't remember how many times he went to "knock on the doors" of the authorities to reclaim his honor.

Mr. Tam had to personally find the unit stationed in Thanh Hoa to ask someone to retrieve the list. It wasn't until 10 months later that Mr. Tam was exonerated and no longer considered a fake war invalid. However, he said that to achieve this, he had to travel to Thanh Hoa twice, then to the commune and district levels. After that, he went to the province and then to the military region. The travel expenses amounted to tens of millions of dong. "The allowance system isn't necessarily the issue; the real issue here is the honor of soldiers like us," Mr. Tam said angrily.

Mr. Le Anh Tuan, Deputy Head of Political Affairs of the Nghe An Provincial Military Command, said: “All suspension decisions state the reasons for each individual's suspension, but if anyone can later provide the necessary documents, they are resubmitted for review and reinstated. Many people, despite their advanced age and frail health, knowing they were wrongly accused, went all the way to the division headquarters to find documents such as hospital discharge papers and lists of injured soldiers that included their names; therefore, after completing the required procedures, they were exonerated. No one wants this to happen, but since it is a policy, it must be strictly enforced.”

Following numerous complaints, the 4th Military Region Command also organized a working group to re-inspect several divisions. This revealed dozens of cases where individuals whose names were on the original list of injured soldiers kept at their units were, for reasons unknown, missing from the previous inspection team. Based on the conclusions of this second inspection, the Nghe An Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs reinstated all war invalid benefits for 59 out of 336 cases whose benefits had been suspended since September 2016.

(To be continued)

Hien Tung -Khoi Nguyen