23 years veteran guarding the "sleep" of martyrs

Veteran Nguyen Huu Tinh has spent 23 years looking after and taking care of graves at the martyrs cemetery in Nam Sach town.

Veteran Nguyen Huu Tinh (in Nam Sach town) has spent 23 years looking after and taking care of martyrs' graves in the local cemetery.

In July, the Nam Sach town martyrs cemetery welcomes many children to burn incense, pay tribute, and remember their relatives who are martyrs who sacrificed for the independence and freedom of the Fatherland. The cemetery is green and peaceful with rows of ornamental trees and shade trees. The 171 martyrs' graves are always carefully taken care of by Mr. Tinh.

Mr. Nguyen Van Tuan took advantage of the weekend to burn incense for his uncle, a martyr who is resting here, and said: "After many years of visiting his resting place, I see that the cemetery is becoming greener, cleaner, and more beautiful. Uncle Tinh takes good care of each grave, so his descendants who live far away like us can rest assured."

After many years of fighting in battlefields from Quang Tri, Route 9 Southern Laos to Da Nang... in 1984, Mr. Tinh returned home to reunite with his family. In 2000, he volunteered to look after the martyrs' cemetery in Nam Sach town. In the early days of volunteering to look after it, Mr. Tinh was discouraged by his children, but he was still determined to carry out his plan. Knowing his father's wishes, gradually his wife and then his children supported him and were willing to help him do his job well.

When he first came to look after the graves, he couldn’t help but worry because the local people had built them neatly, but the front yard was deserted and overgrown with weeds. The people around even raised ducks nearby, so hygiene was not guaranteed. Some people even came here to inject drugs.

The cemetery grounds of Nam Sach town are clean and green.

Faced with these shortcomings, Mr. Tinh discussed with his wife to spend 10 million VND and many days of work to buy and transport soil to renovate the cemetery grounds. The overgrown weeds were gradually replaced by rows of shady trees. The road leading to the cemetery, which was originally only 3 meters wide, has now been leveled and paved with concrete, making it twice as wide, making it much more convenient to travel. Along with placing bins to collect syringes left behind by drug addicts, he persistently persuaded them not to come in to inject drugs, which would affect the solemnity of this place. Thanks to that, the number of drug addicts coming to the cemetery to inject drugs has gradually decreased and in the past few years, it has almost disappeared.

Having experience in planting and caring for ornamental plants, Mr. Tinh spent a lot of time renovating the cemetery grounds.

When asked why he volunteered to look after the cemetery for such a long time, Mr. Tinh said: “Having been through life and death on the battlefield, I witnessed many comrades heroically sacrificing. I still remember a fierce battle, many comrades sacrificed themselves, but to protect the battlefield, we could only pull them near the stream, cover them with forest trees and continue to attack. After repelling the enemy and returning to bury our comrades, the bombs and bullets had melted their bodies into the motherland. Painful, regretful and haunted, I came here to be close to my comrades and take care of their graves.”

Currently, in addition to looking after the martyrs cemetery in Nam Sach town, Mr. Tinh also takes on this job at the Minh Tan commune cemetery in the same district. Although he is paid only 300,000 VND/month and it was not until 2011 that he received this amount, he still devotedly goes around every day to take care of each grave, each tree, and each flower bush in the cemeteries.

HAI MINH