Comradeship at Military Hospital 7

Located in a small corner of Cau Cuong cemetery (Hai Duong city), there are 45 graves of martyrs and dead soldiers managed by Military Hospital 7. These are all soldiers who came to be treated and died at the hospital. According to Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Duy Loan, Deputy Chief of Political Affairs, Military Hospital 7, previously, the graves of martyrs and dead soldiers managed by the hospital were located in Tu Ky cemetery. In 1995, the hospital requested funds to gather these graves to Cau Cuong cemetery for convenient care and incense offering. By 2017, due to some graves being degraded, the hospital continued to invest nearly 100 million VND to upgrade and renovate them.

On the occasion of July 27 this year, the leaders, officers and soldiers of Military Hospital 7 came to offer fresh wreaths and incense to the martyrs and dead soldiers to show their respect and remember the great contributions they made to the cause of national reunification. The war has ended but they still lie here, a concern that the leaders, officers and soldiers of Military Hospital 7 are deeply concerned about every day. Due to different conditions and circumstances, the relatives of these martyrs and dead soldiers have not been able to bring them back to their hometowns.

In June 2023, Mr. Phan Van Cuoc (born in 1962, from Quang Ngai), living in Ward 15, Phu Nhuan District (Ho Chi Minh City) returned to Cau Cuong Cemetery for the second time to visit the grave of his father, martyr Phan Mau. According to the records kept at Military Hospital 7, martyr Phan Mau died on March 23, 1974 due to a cerebral hemorrhage. This was a relapse of his injury due to his long-term torture by the enemy. When he died, the hospital sent a death notice to the locality and completed the procedures to bury martyr Phan Mau at the cemetery of Hai Duong town (now Hai Duong city).

"About 10 days after my father passed away, the death certificate was sent back to my hometown. I was 12 years old at that time. Although I knew where my father was buried, at that time the country was still at war and the two regions had not yet been unified, so my family had to leave him in Hai Duong. Later, my family moved to Ho Chi Minh City to live, but due to difficult life, it was not until 2013 that I was able to go to Hai Duong to find my father's grave," said Mr. Cuoc.

On both visits to Hai Duong, Mr. Cuoc's family received the attention and enthusiastic support of Military Hospital 7 and the Hai Duong City Military Command. Half a century has passed, and the grave of martyr Phan Mau has been moved many times. The medical records are no longer fully archived, causing inconsistent information about the grave. This is also the reason why Mr. Cuoc's family has not been able to bring martyr Phan Mau back to his hometown in Quang Ngai for burial.

In 1969, the family of Mrs. Ho Thi Hue (born in 1968) in Quang Thai commune, Quang Dien district (Thua Thien Hue) received news that martyr Ho Van Hung had died while being treated in Hai Duong. However, at that time, due to the war, the family could not go to the North to bring martyr Hung back to his hometown. The difficult life has caused specific information about the grave of martyr Ho Van Hung to gradually fade over the years.

"I was only 1 year old when my uncle passed away. When we grew up, my parents still told us to go to Hai Duong to bring him back to his hometown," said Ms. Hue.

At the end of 2023, Ms. Hue went to Hai Duong alone to find the grave of martyr Ho Van Hung. Based on the remaining information about her uncle, she went to Military Hospital 7. After that, the family brought the remains of martyr Ho Van Hung back to their hometown for burial. "Finally, my family's wish for more than 50 years has come true," Ms. Hue said with a choked voice.

Over the years, Military Hospital 7 has supported nearly 10 families in bringing martyrs and dead soldiers back to their hometowns. As for those who remain, the hospital regularly assigns officers and soldiers to visit and carefully clean the graves. Each row of trees and flower bushes are neatly trimmed, making the relatives and comrades of the martyrs and dead soldiers feel secure. "Protecting and caring for the graves of martyrs and dead soldiers is both our sentiment and our responsibility. This is also a practical work that contributes to educating officers and soldiers in the unit about the good morality of drinking water and remembering its source of the nation," said Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Duy Loan.