Lesson 2: The journey never stops
With backpacks on their shoulders, hats on their heads, digging tools in their hands, the soldiers gathered left their families and hometowns for months to carry out their mission. Realizing that this was a major policy of the Party and State, the sentiments and earnest wishes of the entire nation, they braved harsh weather, epidemics, ate in the forest and lived in huts to collect information, search for, and exhume the martyrs who had heroically sacrificed for the noble international duty. All of them unanimously wrote a journey that never stopped...
MARTYR SEARCHERS
BECOME A MARTYR AGAIN
Until now, Ms. Nguyen Thi Phuc (born in 1969) still has not forgotten her husband. He is Hoang Van Quang (born in 1964) - a martyr who died while performing a collection mission in Laos in 2004. As a son of Nghi Huong land, Cua Lo town, Mr. Quang has a straightforward personality and resilient spirit typical of the coastal people. Therefore, in the process of being attached to the work of searching for and collecting the remains of martyrs, he has devoted all his heart to overcome all difficulties, with only the wish to complete the assigned task in the best way.
In 2004, while digging through rocks and soil on the high mountains of Xieng Khouang province to find the remains of martyrs, a heavy rain came. He had just moved to a shelter when he was unfortunately struck by lightning and passed away. His comrades brought him back with a pang of pain, because just a moment ago he was still here, still talking, still working enthusiastically, and now he was lying motionless. He went to find martyrs but ended up becoming a martyr in a foreign land.
That was not the only loss that the soldiers of the Retreat Team had to endure, because during the mission, 9 comrades were sacrificed, 13 were injured, 26 comrades suffered from serious illnesses, and had lifelong health problems. On the Lao side, 5 comrades were sacrificed, 9 were injured. However, overcoming all of that with the oath to bring the martyrs back to their homeland, the officers and soldiers of the Retreat Team firmly set out on their journey.
SILENT SACRIFICES
“The collection process does not always produce the planned results. We even face more failures than successes” - Major Duong Duc Nhan (born 1984) - collection staff, Collection Team - Nghe An Provincial Military Command shared.
He continued with the story he had just experienced about the 10-day search from March 31 to April 10, 2024. At that time, the officers and soldiers in the unit received information from a veteran from Duc Tung commune, Duc Tho district, Ha Tinh province, who had fought and buried 3 comrades who died in Laos. He said that the place where he buried his comrades was in Thom Lung commune, Pha Xay district, Xieng Khouang province, neighboring Laos.
With valuable information, the Collection Team sent a group of 9 comrades to take him to the above location to conduct the search steps. However, after 5 days of cutting mountains and rolling rocks to search for his comrade, he still could not be found. Because the search terrain had been eroded and deposited by rain and floods for a long time, it had changed a lot or no trace remained, so it seemed that it was very difficult for witnesses to identify him accurately. And that was just one of many failures that the officers and soldiers of the Collection Team had to go through.
The time has been too long, which means that the already difficult task of collecting martyrs' graves has become even more difficult. Information about the location, place, and terrain has changed day by day due to time, weather, and harsh climate, or because people have been cultivating fields and fields for many years, so the graves have been washed away or flattened without a trace. There are locations where the forest trees have grown large, ancient, and too dense, unlike the provided map, or in caves where bombs have collapsed and buried thousands of tons of earth and rock. Meanwhile, the living witnesses are also old and weak, no longer having enough mental strength to remember exactly where the martyrs are buried. Meanwhile, the places where the martyrs lie on the battlefield are often rugged, complicated mountainous areas, with difficult roads, high passes, and deep ravines. To carry out the work of searching, collecting, and gathering martyrs' remains, we must mainly march on foot, sometimes hundreds of kilometers. In many places, there are still bombs, mines, and toxic chemicals left over from the war, so we face countless dangers.
The “luggage” we brought with us were a few essentials, a hammock, a hoe, a shovel, and most importantly, human strength, and the camaraderie with the fallen. There were many graves that had to be searched for from year to year, sometimes having to dig 2-3 meters deep with hundreds of meters.3Using primitive tools, they found the exact place where the martyrs were buried.
“When we searched and discovered the graves of martyrs, we were moved to tears, moved with sadness, some graves only had a few pieces of bones or pieces of cloth, pieces of Vietnamese army tanks, but no names, addresses or other information. Then each of us did our own work, carefully taking small layers of soil and rocks to excavate the remains, cleaning them with alcohol, measuring, recording each piece of bone and relic in detail to ensure the remains were as intact as possible, because they were the souls, the flesh and blood of the heroic martyrs. Perhaps that was the spiritual strength for us to overcome difficulties together to carry out the sacred tasks we were assigned,” Major Duong Duc Nhan confided.
CONTINUE THE JOURNEY WITHOUT TIREDNESS
Lieutenant Colonel Che Ngoc Ha, Captain of the Collection Team, Nghe An Provincial Military Command, shared that, in parallel with the task of searching for and collecting martyrs' remains, Team K72 always focuses on military diplomacy, people's diplomacy and mass mobilization in the spirit of "each officer and soldier is a cultural ambassador of peace". Officers and soldiers of Team K72 always maintain a solid relationship with the government, specialized departments, armed forces and people of neighboring countries. To strengthen the close relationship with the locality, the Collection Team has divided into small groups, closely followed, and implemented well the 4 together principles of "Eating together, living together, working together, speaking Lao language together" to integrate and understand the customs and practices, and grasp the political security situation of the locality.
At the same time, the Team also coordinated to promote the implementation of the Project to help the armed forces of the neighboring country organize medical examinations and treatment, provide medicine, and give clothes to more than 4,300 people; visit and give gifts, help people harvest hundreds of hectares of fields; clean village roads, repair cultural houses of hamlets and houses for people.
The above specific actions have contributed to the economic and social development, helping the people of neighboring provinces stabilize their lives, maintain political security in the area, and strengthen the special solidarity and friendship between the two peoples of Vietnam and Laos in general and Nghe An province with Xieng Khouang, Vientiane, Xay Som Bun in particular. That is the fulcrum that creates trust for the armed forces and people of neighboring provinces in guiding, protecting, and providing information on martyrs' graves in the most accurate and effective way.
In the 2023 - 2024 dry season alone, the Collection Team of the Nghe An Provincial Military Command surveyed, searched, excavated, and collected 87/80 martyrs' remains, reaching 108.7% of the plan, of which Xieng Khouang province collected 75/71 remains, reaching 105.6%; Vientiane province collected 3/3 remains, reaching 100%; Xay Som Bun province collected 9/6 remains, reaching 150%.
After those efforts, in 2021, the Quy Tap Team was awarded the 3rd Class Military Exploit Medal by the President, and received Certificates of Merit from the Prime Minister, the Ministers of National Defense of Vietnam and Laos, and the People's Committees of 4 provinces (Nghe An, Xieng Khouang, Vientiane, Xay Som Bun) for many consecutive years.
The 40-year journey of the Reunification Team will continue to be extended, because countless families still have a deep sorrow when their loved ones are still lying on the battlefield, not yet able to return to the Motherland. The feet of the officers and soldiers will move forward together, carrying out the orders from the hearts of soldiers in peacetime!