Longing to bring comrades home

Painfully searching

For many days now, in a small room on the second floor of Nhi Chau Ward (Hai Duong City), Mr. Tran Dai Duong, Head of the Association for Supporting Families of Vietnamese Martyrs in Hai Duong Province, has been diligently typing up a list of information about martyrs in Hai Duong Province. At the age of 80, his eyesight is no longer sharp and his hands are weak, but he still works diligently with an old computer. He said: “Up to now, the association has corrected and provided information about 5,048 martyrs in the province. Now that I am old, I want to filter out a specific list of each locality for the martyrs’ families to compare and learn, because this is mostly information about martyrs who are left in cemeteries outside the province.”

To obtain information about those martyrs, Mr. Duong and the members of the Association for Supporting Families of Vietnamese Martyrs in Hai Duong province have put in a lot of effort and worked with all their heart because the association did not receive financial support for its operations. Currently, the association has two core members, Mr. Duong and Mr. Nguyen Manh Diem (born in 1946, currently living in Tu Ky town), the deputy association head. During the war, they were soldiers of the 324th Division. Witnessing the enemy's bombs and bullets killing and having to bury their comrades with their own hands, they always had a burning desire to find information about the martyrs. Previously, when Hai Duong had not yet established the Association for Supporting Families of Martyrs, they connected and participated in activities at the Association of Hai Ba Trung district (Hanoi).

The search was quite difficult and meticulous because the martyrs had died a long time ago and their graves were scattered across the battlefields. They had to rely on accurate sources of information about the martyrs’ identities that had been gathered in cemeteries, combat units, data from the Policy Department (General Department of Politics, Ministry of National Defense), and lists of martyrs from localities in Hai Duong…

To get information about martyrs, Mr. Diem used to travel on his Cub 50 motorbike to many martyrs’ cemeteries in the Central region. Not only the graves of martyrs from Hai Duong but also in neighboring localities such as Hai Phong, Thai Binh, Nam Dinh… where no relatives had claimed them, he also tried to inform the localities and families.

Bringing martyrs home

Talking about her brother, martyr Vuong Dinh Chiem, Mrs. Vuong Thi Ngát in Hung Dao commune (Tu Ky) was moved to tears. Feeling sorry for her brother who passed away at such a young age, everyone in Mrs. Ngát's family wanted to bring martyr Chiem's ​​remains back to his homeland. However, due to a mistake, at a cemetery in My Hoa commune, Phu My district (Binh Dinh province), martyr Chiem's ​​name was written as Thiem. Because of this mistake, even though many years have passed, no one has any information to inform martyr Chiem's ​​family and homeland.

While reviewing and searching for information, members of the Association for Supporting Families of Vietnamese Martyrs in Hai Duong province discovered this detail. After matching information from official sources, the association confirmed that the martyr's grave in Binh Dinh was the grave of martyr Vuong Dinh Chiem in Hung Dao commune. The association worked with the authorities and informed the family.

Earlier this year, the family officially welcomed martyr Chiem back. “Over time, with the care, help and guidance of the association, on January 20, 2024, the family had all the documents to move martyr Vuong Dinh Chiem from My Hoa commune cemetery to be buried at Hung Dao commune martyr cemetery, Tu Ky district. The family is very touched and grateful for the enthusiasm and dedication of the brothers and sisters in the association,” Ms. Ngát wrote in a thank you letter to the association when she was able to bring her martyr brother back to his hometown.

Not only providing information about martyrs, in recent times, the association has also regularly organized charitable activities, taking care of martyrs' families such as connecting to give gifts, savings books, building charity houses...

Although voluntarily undertaking this noble work, the activities of the Association for Supporting Families of Vietnamese Martyrs in Hai Duong Province, especially the association's leaders, are facing many difficulties due to old age and lack of funds. Mr. Duong worries: "Because there is no place to work, I can only work at home, making it difficult to guide or share work with other members. When our generation passes away, it will be very difficult to find people who are passionate about this work, and there are still many martyrs left on the battlefield and in martyr cemeteries outside the province."

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The Association for Supporting Families of Vietnamese Martyrs in Hai Duong Province was established on December 28, 2017 and currently has 76 members. As of June 2024, the association has searched for, corrected information, and announced the graves of 5,048 martyrs in 252 communes, wards, and towns in the province. Supported the relocation of 19 martyrs' remains, supported DNA identification of 2 martyrs' remains. Gave 225 gifts to relatives of martyrs and people with meritorious services. Connected to support the construction of 3 gratitude houses with a total cost of 200 million VND, donated 6 savings books (worth 5 million VND/book), donated 62 wheelchairs and 20 electric fans to relatives of martyrs, etc.