Talking with the former commander of the repatriation team in Laos: 'A difficult but sacred mission'

Nghe An Newspaper had a conversation with Colonel Ho Trong Binh, who has 31 years of experience in the collection work and was the former Head of the Collection Group from 1994-2015.

Colonel Ho Trong Binh on duty. Photo: Archive

- Dear Colonel,It is known that the work of collecting the remains of Vietnamese soldiers and volunteer experts who died in Laos in Nghe An province from 1984 to present has been divided into 3 phases and each phase has different characteristics. Can you tell us more?

- On April 18, 1984, the Nghe An Repatriation Group was established to implement the Party and State's policy on searching for and retrieving the remains of Vietnamese volunteer soldiers and experts who died in the resistance wars in the Lao People's Democratic Republic. Nghe An province was assigned the direct task of searching for and retrieving the remains of Vietnamese volunteer soldiers and experts who died in Laos and bringing them back to the country in the two provinces of Xieng Khouang and Vientiane, and later the newly established Xay Xom Bun province.

We can divide the search and collection activities over the past 35 years into 3 stages. The first stage was from 1984 to 1994. In this early stage, the work was still rudimentary and extremely difficult because at that time the security and political situation in the area was very complicated. The two Parties and the two States of Vietnam and Laos had not yet developed a specific unified policy on the relocation of the remains of Vietnamese volunteer soldiers. The units were carrying out combat missions in the South and the North, so they had not yet had the conditions to hand over the grave records. Searching for martyrs' graves during this stage was both a work and a proposal to the Party and the State to develop related policies and guidelines.

The martyrs' remains were gathered and brought to the Nghi Loc District Martyrs' Cemetery for burial. Photo: Tien Hung

The second phase was from 1994 to 2015. At this time, our Party and State and yours had perfected policies and guidelines. Therefore, during this phase, Nghe An concentrated the largest and most elite human and material resources to carry out the task of searching and exhuming. This was also the phase in which we found the most martyrs, in Xieng Khouang province alone, during this period, about 12,000 martyrs were found and brought back to the country.

The third phase is from 2015 to present. Because most of the martyrs' graves have been found and brought back to the country, and the political security situation of your country has stabilized, the scale of the Repatriation Group has been upgraded to a Repatriation Team. At this stage, the search and repatriation work is very difficult because the force has been reduced; the remaining graves are located in remote areas with complex terrain.

Searching and recovering the remains of Vietnamese volunteer soldiers and experts who died in Xieng Khouang province. Photo: Trong Kien

- With 31 years of participating in the gathering work, facing many challenges and difficulties, do you have any unforgettable memories?

- For me, every trip to work is a memory. That means the memories here are hard to measure and describe. Because those of us who do the work of gathering people always determine: Going out to find comrades. Going out means finding comrades and welcoming them back. Very emotional and sacred.
Regarding the difficulty, the biggest thing that the search and gathering force had to face was identifying information about the martyrs' graves. Because the war had been over for a long time, the martyrs died in different stages and in rugged mountainous areas with complex terrain... Time, natural disasters, and enemy attacks gradually erased information about the graves and erased identifying signs. For example, during the war, the Plain of Jars in Laos, with its position as the roof of Indochina, became the fiercest battlefield. The enemy and we focused on fighting at this peak. I don't know how many bombs and bullets had been plowed up. Many locations where we had just buried the martyrs were bombed and buried. Buried again, bombs and bullets covered them again. Or like the 11 martyrs buried in the cemetery on Phu Pha Deng mountain, Muong Khun district, Xieng Khouang province, completely disappeared after a landslide in the rainy season of 1990. The fierce jungle rains in Laos also swept away many graves located next to streams...

The search and collection of martyrs' remains has always been a concern of Nghe An province. Photo: Tien Hung

Another difficulty is that there was a period in the past when your political security situation was not really good when bandits and reactionaries often planted mines, fired on people, sabotaged and distorted the search and regrouping policies of the two Parties and the State. And there are also conditions and means of searching that cannot meet the requirements. There are caves that are "suspected" to have graves, but we cannot excavate them because hundreds of thousands of cubic meters of rock have completely buried the cave entrance.

In general, there are many difficulties, but with spirit, responsibility, and gratitude to ancestors, the assembled forces always strive, try, overcome hardships and dangers to complete the task well.
- We have heard that the bandits and reactionaries in Laos have offered a price of 50,000 USD for anyone who can take the life of you - the leader of the force that gathered and participated in building forces to help our friends in Xieng Khouang province; so what is the truth of this information?
- During the years 1990 - 2000, the political security situation of Xieng Khouang province was unstable due to the strong and prolonged activities 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 this time, the number of Lao people lured to follow this army was not small, bandits were around, mixed in with the people.
Helping you is helping yourself. In 2000, the Quy Tap Group of Nghe An province actively implemented the major policy of our State, which was to build a base for our friendly country, Laos. The group sent cadres to each locality to build and improve the quality and effectiveness of the militia and self-defense forces; to 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.

Members of the team searching for and recovering the remains of Vietnamese volunteer soldiers and experts who died in Xieng Khouang province are surveying the terrain to find a burial site for the martyrs. Photo: Trong Kien

The process of searching for the remains of fallen soldiers has begun. Photo: Trong Kien

Each location was meticulously marked to move the remains of the martyrs. Photo: Trong Kien

I was not aware of the information 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 talked to me. Comrade Bun Phen said: The brain 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 kill me. She also asked me to inform her wherever I went so that the province could arrange police and military forces to protect my safety. However, I also replied that it was not necessary yet, and that I would be on high alert.

- During the long and arduous resistance wars, the special loyalty and friendship between the people and armies of Vietnam and Laos has always been deep and close. Now that the war is over, how is this solidarity and friendship expressed in the work of searching for and gathering martyrs?
- Since ancient times, the people and armies of Laos and Vietnam have always maintained a special solidarity and friendship, a brotherly love. Lao President Souphanouvong once described "Higher than mountains, longer than rivers, wider than the ocean, more beautiful than the full moon, more fragrant than any flower". Now, Vietnamese cadres and soldiers are always loved and protected by the Lao people. In the search and collection of martyrs' remains, Lao cadres and people have stood shoulder to shoulder, supported us a lot. The Lao government has sent good cadres to join the search. In the villages, when the collection team arrived, the people all welcomed them attentively, creating the best living conditions for the team to work. Anyone who knew information about the graves enthusiastically provided it. They considered Vietnamese martyrs as benefactors, and Vietnamese cadres and soldiers as their closest relatives.
Let me give an example to illustrate this sentiment: Lao people are very taboo about collecting and bringing remains home. The deceased will be cremated and then the ashes will be sent to the pagoda. However, when the remains of Vietnamese volunteer soldiers are found, they are willing to take them into their homes to "stay" while the team continues to search in the area. They tell each other: Without these martyrs, we would not be here today!
During the 31 years of searching in Laos, I always remember a story about comradeship. That was in 1987, when the group gathered and returned to a village in Phu Cut district, Xieng Khouang province. Here, an old man (whose name had been forgotten due to the long time) came to the group and led us to a cemetery with 24 graves of martyrs from the anti-French period. The graves were all very large and beautiful, covered from the sun and rain with plastic and mats. The old man shared that these 24 Vietnamese martyrs were all his comrades. After his comrades sacrificed, he came here to build a hut and farm next to the grave to guard and take care of the graves, and be friends with the martyrs. His wife and children lived in the village, and he only came back occasionally. He was very happy to meet the search and gathering group to bring his comrades back to the country... After completing the work of gathering 24 martyrs back to the country, a while later, when we returned, we could not see the old man anymore. The villagers said that he had moved his wife and children to another place.
- After 31 years of rolling around the mountains and forests of the three provinces of Xieng Khouang, Vientiane, and Xay Xom Bun in Laos, now retired, looking back at what you have done, is there anything that makes you feel troubled?
- We always keep in mind: Searching and gathering martyrs is the sentiment, responsibility and obligation of the younger generation to repay. I am proud of what my comrades and I have done. However, like many other people who work in gathering martyrs and civilians, we have many concerns. We always carry within us the feeling of indebtedness to our fathers and grandfathers.

In the 2018/2019 dry season, Nghe An collected 98 martyrs' remains from Laos and brought them back to their homeland. Photo: Tien Hung

That is, until now, there are still many of our fathers, brothers, and comrades lying somewhere in the wild forests and deep mountains of our country that we have not been able to find or bring back. War, time, and the number of people who know information are gradually erasing the remaining traces. We do not know if we can still bring them back. And because of the war, because of the lack of experience in collecting the remains, even though we have brought them back to our country, we still have not found their names, ages, and hometowns. Meanwhile, the relatives of the martyrs are also old and weak. They are waiting wearily.
However, I still firmly believe that our Party, State and Army are and will try our best, with the highest sense of responsibility, to search for, gather and obtain information about all martyrs who sacrificed their lives in your country!
- Thank you for the chat!