The wish of a 'returning martyr'

Two years of waiting for policies and regimes

One day in early December 2021, to learn about the reflections from the family of a martyr who returned after 42 years of death notice about questions related to the implementation ofregime, policyLocally, we returned to block 14, Quynh Xuan ward (Hoang Mai town), and met Mr. Nguyen Duy Pho again after nearly 2 years. Previously, in February 2020, we also met Mr. Nguyen Duy Pho when he had just returned from Cambodia after 42 years, his family received a death notice, informing him that he had died on the southern battlefield.

Recalling the family's important event, Mr. Nguyen Duy Lu, Mr. Pho's younger brother, recounted: "It was February 13, 2020, when we heard that Mr. Nguyen Duy Pho had returned, relatives and neighbors crowded the house, waiting in front of the door to welcome him."

According to relatives and neighbors as well as confirmation from local authorities, Mr. Pho is a son of his hometown Quynh Luu in the past, now Hoang Mai town. He joined the army at the sacred call of the Fatherland in March 1978. In 1981, Mr. Pho's family received a death notice, informing him that he had died on the Cambodian battlefield. From 1981 until now, for 42 years, Mr. Pho's old mother and his family and relatives thought they would never see their children, brothers, and sisters again.

The moment of reunion of martyr Nguyen Duy Pho (Quynh Xuan ward, Hoang Mai town) and his 89-year-old mother after 42 years of death notice. Photo: Hoai Thu

But thanks to a chance encounter and the sincere help of Mrs. Chau Bich Hue - a woman in An Giang, Mr. Nguyen Duy Pho was able to return to his hometown and reunite with his family after 42 years.

Ms. Chau Bich Hue said that in 1979, when she was only fifteen or sixteen years old, from her hometown Chau Doc (An Giang), her mother let her visit her aunt's house in Kampong Cham province, Cambodia. One time, when she went to the stream near her aunt's house, little Chau Bich Hue saw a man dressed in Vietnamese military uniform lying unconscious on the stream bank, his hair and face covered in blood. She ran home to inform her aunt, then both aunt and niece took the injured person home. That man was Mr. Nguyen Duy Pho.

At that time, Ms. Chau Bich Hue said, her two aunts and nieces were trembling and somewhat scared when treating Mr. Pho's wound because of the excessive bleeding. There were no medical supplies or medicines in the house, so the two aunts and nieces could only use cooled boiled water mixed with a little salt to both wash the wound and disinfect it. "My aunt and I had to use a razor to shave Mr. Pho's hair, then wash the wound, the blood was all over it. When we shaved his hair, we saw that the bullet was still stuck in Mr. Pho's head, one part was stuck in the scalp, the other two parts were sticking out. I pulled the bullet out of his head. The two aunts and nieces took care of and treated him for 7 months before he could recover and walk again," Ms. Hue recalled.

Ms. Hue also said that at that time, although he had recovered after 7 months of treatment and care, Mr. Nguyen Duy Pho had lost his memory, only knew that his name was Pho, his hometown was Ha Tinh, and he could not remember all information about his family and unit. Sympathizing with the situation of the Vietnamese soldier, Ms. Chau Bich Hue's aunt, Ms. Ba Cheet, adopted Mr. Pho, naturalized him as a Cambodian citizen and named him Hung.

Ms. Chau Bich Hue (the one in the floral shirt) helped Mr. Nguyen Duy Pho return to his hometown Hoang Mai. Photo: Hoai Thu

“The day I brought Pho home, there were a lot of people. But Pho didn’t remember anyone. He didn’t even recognize his old mother who was standing in front of him, crying to welcome him,” said Mrs. Hue.

In the house of Mr. Pho's younger brother, Mrs. Le Thi Thoi, his motherNguyen Duy Pho, 89 years old, her eyes are dim, her legs are slow, but she will never forget the face of her eldest son Nguyen Duy Pho. For more than 40 years, she has cried countless times because she missed her son, and now once again, her old mother's tears fell. Sitting listening to everyone tell stories, Mrs. Thoi's wrinkled hands trembled as she held her son's hand, then she put her arm around her shoulder and hugged her son in her arms. Mrs. Thoi just kept silent and lovingly looked at Mr. Pho, the eldest son whose death notice she had painfully received 42 years ago. As for Mr. Pho's younger sister - Mrs. Nguyen Thi Quyen, she sobbed from time to time because of emotion. Returning after so much separation, but due to memory loss, during the first week of reunion, Mr. Pho could not speak Vietnamese clearly, because it had been so long since he had used his mother tongue, and had to rely on Mrs. Bich Hue to translate.

The joy of reunion made many people unable to hold back their tears of joy and emotion. However, behind those tears of reunion were also the feelings of those who returned. And there were also tears of sorrow and sympathy for the extremely poor life that Mr. Nguyen Duy Pho had to endure for more than forty years. Mrs. Nguyen Thi Quyen said in tears: "My mother and siblings love Mr. Pho very much. We want him to stay in Vietnam to live with everyone to reduce his suffering." We asked Mr. Pho what his wishes were after finding his family, he said "he wants to stay in Vietnam".

Mr. Nguyen Duy Pho is currently homeless, in poor health, often sick and is living on the support of his brothers and relatives. Photo: Hoai Thu

But Mr. Nguyen Duy Pho also confided that he wanted to ask each of his siblings for some money to go to Cambodia to treat his wife's illness and bring her back with him. He was also worried because he did not know if he could stay in his homeland or not, when he had no papers, no house, and no means of livelihood to support himself. The wound on his head had been aching for decades, and the wind and weather had tormented him, causing his health to decline, making him unable to do heavy work.

Upon Mr. Nguyen Duy Pho's return, according to the provisions of law, the Hoang Mai Town Military Command and the local government revoked the Certificate of Merit and the Martyr's Certificate of Mr. Nguyen Duy Pho on February 23, 2020. At this time, Mr. Pho only had one Cambodian citizen identification card. To implement the policies and regimes for Mr. Pho, the Hoang Mai Town People's Committee and the Town Military Command guided Mr. Nguyen Duy Pho's family to carry out the procedures for issuing an identity card and naturalizing his relatives.

Some documents related to the request for benefits and policies of "returned martyr" Nguyen Duy Pho. Photo: Hoai Thu

According to Mr. Nguyen Duy Sinh - Mr. Pho's younger brother, translating from Cambodian to Vietnamese to make an ID card for Mr. Pho was difficult because the documents had to be sent to Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City to be able to do it. In addition, from March to May 2020, the Covid-19 epidemic broke out, Nghe An almost locked down many localities, so the progress of making documents and procedures for his brother was delayed for a long time. It was not until September 2020 that the procedures for granting an ID card for Mr. Nguyen Duy Pho were completed.

However, from September 2020 until now, after nearly 2 years, the implementationproceduresThe recognition of Mr. Nguyen Duy Pho as a war invalid has not yet had results.

Finding the cause

According to the documents in the application for approval of recognition of war invalids for Mr. Nguyen Duy Pho, in February 2020, after Mr. Pho returned from Cambodia, his family submitted a report to the authorities at all levels in February 2020. On March 23, 2020, the People's Committee of Quynh Xuan Ward received from Mr. Nguyen Duy Pho's family the Certificate of Merit from the Fatherland (signed by the Prime Minister on December 22, 2010 according to Decision No. 135/TTg dated May 14, 1986) and Martyr Certificate No. 105-BT/CL. That means that the authorities and competent agencies have revoked the documents related to martyr Nguyen Duy Pho after confirming that Mr. Pho is still alive and has returned. Then, in July 2021, the Quynh Xuan commune government held a meeting to confirm meritorious people and consider the request to confirm Mr. Nguyen Duy Pho as a war invalid and a person enjoying policies like war invalids. By August 2021, the records and information about Mr. Nguyen Duy Pho were publicly posted at the People's Committee of Quynh Xuan ward.

Hoang Mai Town Military Command discussed with Mr. Nguyen Duy Pho (middle) and his family about carrying out procedures to request benefits and policies. Photo: PV

On December 3, we had a talk with Lieutenant Colonel Ho Xuan Tien - Deputy Political Commissar of Hoang Mai Town Military Command about the progress of implementing policies and regimes for Mr. Nguyen Duy Pho.

Lieutenant Colonel Ho Xuan Tien said that on May 14, 2021, the Military Command of Hoang Mai town issued Official Dispatch No. 498/CV-BCH on synthesizing and reporting the number of established records of martyrs, wounded soldiers, and sick soldiers to the Military Commands of 10 communes and wards in the town. The dispatch requested the commune military commands to "synthesize the list of martyrs, wounded soldiers, and sick soldiers reported to the town... Speed ​​up the progress of reviewing and appraising records of martyrs, wounded soldiers, sick soldiers, and people with meritorious services to the revolution in accordance with Decree 31/ND-CP dated April 9, 2013 of the Government; Joint Circular No. 28/2013/TTLT-BLDTBXH-BQP". The Town Military Command requested to report and send qualified documents to the Political Committee before May 17, 2021. However, as of May 2021, Mr. Nguyen Duy Pho's procedures and documents have not been completed, mainly due to social distancing to prevent and combat the Covid-19 epidemic.

Hoang Mai Town Military Command visited and encouraged Mr. Nguyen Duy Pho (middle) and his family. Photo: Hoai Thu

Therefore, it will be August 2021 before all paperwork procedures according to current regulations are completed. However, there are still two points that cannot be completed. Firstly, the information declared about Mr. Nguyen Duy Pho's "unit when injured" is inconsistent with the information about "unit when sacrificed" in the "Martyr's file" kept at the provincial Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs. The information about the unit when fighting was provided by Mr. Pho's comrades in the same unit, and Mr. Nguyen Duy Pho himself, due to memory loss, could not provide information about his unit. Secondly, "information about Mr. Nguyen Duy Pho's combat unit needs to be verified and decoded at the military region level. However, currently, the Provincial Military Command and relevant levels have temporarily stopped receiving dossiers to resolve regimes and policies because they are waiting for the Government's new Decree", Lieutenant Colonel Ho Xuan Tien said.

Discussing with specialized officers of the Department of Labor - Invalids and Social Affairs and the Provincial Military Command about the temporary suspension of receiving dossiers to resolve regimes and policies for people with meritorious services to the revolution, we learned that from July 1, 2021 onwards, regimes and policies for people with meritorious services to the revolution were implemented according to the instructions in Circular 28/2013/TTLT-BLDTBXH-BQP, which is a circular guiding the confirmation of martyrs, war invalids, and beneficiaries of policies like war invalids for those who sacrificed or were injured in combat, directly served in combat from December 31, 1991 onwards and no longer have documents" in which Mr. Nguyen Duy Pho is one of the cases subject to resolution of this Circular. However, the Government is currently suspending the implementation of Joint Circular No. 28/2013/TTLT-BLDTBXH-BQP to wait for the issuance of a new Decree and Circular on instructions. The Ordinance on preferential treatment for people with revolutionary contributions took effect from July 1, 2021. This means that all records and procedures on implementing regimes and policies for people with revolutionary contributions in the province are also being temporarily suspended pending new instructions.

The Quynh Xuan Commune Military Command handed over the file to Mr. Pho's family to wait for instructions on implementing the regime and policies according to the new decree. Photo: Hoai Thu

According to the representative of the local government of Quynh Xuan ward, Mr. Pho is currently being cared for and assisted by his family and relatives with food, accommodation and daily activities.

“While waiting for the implementation of the new regime and policies of the Government, we will also continue to direct relevant levels and sectors to pay attention, encourage and actively support Mr. Nguyen Duy Pho so that he can soon achieve his legitimate wishes and live peacefully with his relatives in his hometown,” affirmed Mr. Dam Huu Hong, Standing Deputy Secretary of the Hoang Mai City Party Committee./.