Being grateful to heroic martyrs

Responding to the appeal of the Fatherland, young persons enlisted to defend the homeland. The fierce war took away body parts, some have stayed forever at battlefields. After the liberation, to take martyrs home, many veterans, army force in the province have made every effort to search and collect martyr’ remains. Expressing gratitude to deceased martyrs, Binh Duong province constructed martyrs cemeteries, have taken good care of every grave.

Camaraderie

Veteran Nguyen Van Chanh (born 1949) living in Xom Lam hamlet, Thanh Tuyen commune, Dau Tieng district, has spent more than 30 years on find the remains of his comrades. He was former deputy head of Ben Cat district Party Committee Office and in charge of internal affairs. In 1946, he joined the war at battlefields from Binh Duong to Tay Ninh, Dong Nai. Living together and fighting together, it broke his heart as seeing his comrades falling. Many comrades were buried and marked carefully by him. The camaraderie has been his motivation for finding more than 300 martyrs’ remains.

Veterans found many remains buried in a same grave at Block 82.

Recalling the past, Mr. Duong Van Bac (born 1957) was immersed in memories of a glorious time with his comrades. After wars, some continued to devote their best to the country construction, someone rested forever under the ground. In 2003, as vice chairman of Dinh An commune Veterans’ Association, Mr. Duong Van Bac called veterans to find remains of comrades. A specialized team was established to do this mission. The team found 55 remains including 8 remains with name were returned home, and 47 anonymous remains were brought to Tan Uyen district Cemetery.

Due to camaraderie, Tan Phuoc Khanh ward Veterans’ Association in Tan Uyen town searched and collected nearly 30 remains. The association also found 30 remains of martyrs falling in Tan Phuoc Khanh, and brought these remains to provincial and Tan Uyen Martyrs Cemetery. Mr. Do Minh Nghia (born 1956), chairman of Tan Phuoc Khanh ward Veterans’ Association, said: “I was so lucky to be able to come home, but every night I hear voices of deceased comrades. Therefore, we are so happy every time fining remains, because we can keep our promise to “find each other if alive”.

Silent works

The work of finding deceased comrades of Dinh An and Tan Phuoc Khanh commune Veterans’ Association is a silent but very meaningful work. They returned remains for mothers to meet sons or daughters, wives to meet husbands. But this is not an easy work. According to Mr. Duong Van Bac, changes in scenery, terrain obstructed the search. Thanks to camaraderie, they attempted to take comrades home as soon as possible, despite of bad weather, long geographic distances.

Due to silent works to find deceased comrades as well as the gratitude of future generations to previous generations, Binh Duong province collected 1,726 martyrs’ remains including many ones without name and personal information. Therefore, implementing Circular No. 13/2014/TTLT BLĐTBXH-BTC dated June 3^rd 2014 on procedures for visiting graves and transferring martyrs’ remains to their hometown. Thereby, family of martyrs can try AND test with remains to find name for deceased martyrs. This is the greatest consolation for family of martyrs.

Reported by T.Ly – Translated by Ngoc Huynh