Since its establishment in 1984, the Martyrs' Remains Collection Team (Nghe An Province Military Command) has brought nearly 13,500 remains of Vietnamese volunteer soldiers and experts who died in Laos back to their homeland for burial. Of these, more than 1,600 have had their names and hometowns identified, and nearly 1,000 have been handed over to 37 provinces and cities across the country. However, in recent years, identifying the identities has become increasingly difficult, as most of the martyrs' graves have been buried underground for more than half a century, and the memorabilia that can help identify them has gradually diminished due to damage over time.
One of the rare cases in recent years where the identity of martyr Nguyen Dinh Quang (from Ninh Binh) has been determined is the grave of martyr Nguyen Dinh Quang (from Ninh Binh). The story of martyr Quang’s remains being found after nearly half a century of being buried underground contains an inexplicable coincidence for his relatives, and also demonstrates the determination of soldiers on a mission to collect them in a foreign land.
In 1970, a 23-year-old man from Ninh Binh province followed the call of his country and joined the army. At that time, his wife Nguyen Dinh Quang was 3 months pregnant with their first daughter. Not long after, the whole family was shocked to receive the news that he had died.
The remains of martyr Quang were originally buried in a small cemetery, including 8 martyrs in Muong Pet, Xieng Khouang. In 1979, the remains of 7 martyrs here were exhumed by Vietnamese soldiers and brought to the Vietnam - Laos International Martyrs Cemetery for burial, after digging up the entire cemetery but still not finding the 8th grave - which was the grave of martyr Quang.
Meanwhile, martyr Quang’s daughter, Nguyen Thi Kim Nhung, said that the death certificate only briefly stated “martyr Quang died on the southern front”. The family was also very vague about the unit because he had just joined the army and fought for a few months before heroically dying. After many years of searching for information, it was not until 2015 that the family knew exactly the unit of martyr Quang. But it took a long time for them to find the tombstone diagram, as well as the notes in the file that were still preserved. At this time, the family knew that martyr Quang’s grave was somewhere in Muong Pet, Xieng Khouang, Laos.
Talking about this case, Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Van Nam - former Captain of the Martyrs' Remains Collection Team said that later, when the unit went to search for martyrs' graves, people living in a village next to the cemetery often came to see them. They believed that there were still remains of Vietnamese soldiers here. Many villagers told the same story. That is, when they slept, they often dreamed of a Vietnamese soldier coming to the village to ask for rice and salt. Therefore, people believed that there were still remains of martyrs in the cemetery.
Although the information was quite vague, the soldiers were still determined to search. After many days of digging, they finally found the grave nestled under the roots of an old eucalyptus tree. “Maybe this martyr died in the past due to a bomb, so his remains were wrapped up by his comrades for burial. We often call these graves “bundled graves”, they are very difficult to find”, added Colonel Nam. In this grave, besides the objects proving that the owner was a Vietnamese soldier, there was only one object to identify the identity: a brick with the name Quang engraved on it.
After the exhumation, the remains of martyr Quang were temporarily worshiped along with more than 80 other martyrs' remains at the headquarters of the collection force, waiting for the day to bring them back to the country for burial. Coincidentally, at the same time, Ms. Nhung and a younger brother of martyr Quang also came here to ask the Collection Team to search. When coming to burn incense for the martyrs who had just been exhumed, Ms. Nhung's uncle could not keep calm and cried loudly when he saw the brick engraved with the word "Quang". With just that much, it seemed that his intuition told him that it was his brother. That was a day at the end of March 2018. After comparing many pieces of information, the remains were exactly those of martyr Quang.
The search for remains becomes more difficult and dangerous when there are hostile forces on your land. During the process of carrying out the collection mission from 1984 to present, the officers and soldiers of the Collection Team of the Nghe An Provincial Military Command have had 9 comrades sacrificed and 14 comrades injured. Of which, in 2004 alone, 4 soldiers sacrificed and 13 soldiers were injured.
They even offered tens of thousands of USD for the capture of officers and soldiers of the collection team. That was the case of Colonel Ho Trong Binh - who has worked in the collection team for 31 years, former Head of the Collection Team from 1994-2015. In a conversation with Nghe An Newspaper reporters not long ago, Colonel Binh said that in the years 1990 - 2000, the political security situation in Xieng Khouang province was very unstable, due to the sabotage of the remnants of Vang Pao. They often organized shootings, attacks, and prevented the common development of Laos as well as the search and collection of our martyrs' remains. At that time, the number of Lao people lured to follow this army was not small, bandits were around, mixed in with the people.
In 2000, the Quy Tap Group of Nghe An province (at that time still called the group level) actively implemented the major policy of our State to build a base for the friendly country of Laos. The group sent cadres to each locality to build and improve the quality and effectiveness of the militia and self-defense forces; carry out enemy agitation, propaganda, and mobilize the subjects that the bandits had planted inside the villages to turn to goodness. After more than 1 year, the Quy Tap Group of Nghe An province, together with the Lao army, built and consolidated a strong local militia force. Many times when the bandits attacked, they were repelled by the militia, without the need for regular troops.
“I really did not know that the bandits had put a price of 50,000 USD on my life. I only heard this information in 2002 when the Secretary and Governor of Xieng Khouang, Comrade Bun Phen, personally called and discussed it with me,” Colonel Binh said, adding that the Governor of Xieng Khouang told him that the brains of the remnants of Vang Pao in the US had thought of a way to terrorize our forces by offering a reward of 50,000 USD to anyone who could capture or shoot him dead. The Governor also asked Colonel Binh to inform him of his whereabouts so that the province could arrange police and military forces to protect his safety. However, he also replied that it was not necessary yet, and that he would be on high alert.
Lieutenant Colonel Che Ngoc Ha - who has just been appointed as the Head of the Martyrs' Remains Collection and Search Team - said that although the security, order and political situation in the neighboring country has basically stabilized, the search and collection of martyrs' remains is facing many other difficulties. The remaining martyrs' graves are scattered in remote areas, high mountains and dense forests, where there are many bombs and mines left over from the war. A long time has passed, rain and floods have eroded and deposited, the terrain has changed, leaving no trace. Meanwhile, the weather is complicated, the roads are difficult to travel. The number of people who know about the information of the graves is gradually getting old or passing away. Determining identities is also facing many difficulties because the records have rotted or there is no information at all... "Although we face countless difficulties and dangers, we will remain determined. To partly compensate for the losses caused by the war", Lieutenant Colonel Ha said.
During the wars to defend the Fatherland and carry out international duties in Laos and Cambodia, many Vietnamese soldiers, experts and volunteers heroically sacrificed or left behind a part of their blood and bones so that our three countries could have the freedom and independence they have today. After the war, the issue of collecting the remains of Vietnamese volunteer soldiers and experts who died in neighboring countries back to the Motherland was extremely urgent. It was both a sentiment, a responsibility, and a fine tradition of “remembering the source of water when drinking” of our nation.