Found the grave of a martyr father thanks to a bottle of... penicillin

August 1, 2024 is a special day for Vuong Dinh Tuyen and Vuong Dinh Huan (the eldest and youngest sons of martyr Vuong Dinh Xuyen). That was the day when for the first time they stood in front of their father's grave at the martyrs' cemetery in Nam Phuoc town, Duy Xuyen district (Quang Nam) to light incense sticks to express their gratitude to their parents after decades of searching.

In September 1967, following the sacred call of the Fatherland, Mr. Vuong Dinh Xuyen (born in 1943) said goodbye to his wife and three sons and joined the army to fight the enemy. He was assigned to Battalion 2 (codename V25) - a "special forces" unit at the Quang Da front (present-day Quang Nam province and Da Nang city), and later became Deputy Company Commander.

In 1972, Mr. Xuyen died, but two years later his family received a death notice.

In 2007, before passing away, Mrs. Tran Thi Lam (wife of martyr Vuong Dinh Xuyen) wanted her children to find her father's grave and bring his remains back to their homeland. But this was a task that the whole family determined had a very low success rate. Because the death certificate only stated that martyr Vuong Dinh Xuyen died at the Quang Da front, and there was no other information.

Mr. Tuyen and his second younger brother are farmers and rarely have the opportunity to go to other provinces. Only the youngest son, Mr. Vuong Dinh Huan, is a professional soldier. During the period 1993-2008, Mr. Huan worked at Brigade 680 (Da Nang), so the whole family assigned him the above task. Whenever he had time, Mr. Huan took the opportunity to look for his father's grave. He went to many cemeteries but to no avail.

"In Quang Nam and Da Nang, there are hundreds of martyrs' cemeteries. Each cemetery has thousands of graves. I searched for my father's grave like looking for a needle in a haystack and even though I asked many comrades from here for help, the result was still... zero. Who would have thought that the place where my father lies is only about 30 km from Brigade 680," Mr. Huan said.

The Nam Phuoc town martyrs' cemetery, where the family found the grave of martyr Vuong Dinh Xuyen, has about 4,000 graves, many of which are anonymous. Mr. Nguyen Duc Cuu, who is in charge of the cemetery, said: "A few years ago, during the process of digging the foundation for the construction of the Duy Xuyen district State Treasury headquarters, the construction unit discovered many martyrs' remains. However, only martyr Vuong Dinh Xuyen had information about his unit, hometown, and the names of his wife and children written on a piece of paper contained in a penicillin bottle. It is possible that when Mr. Huan came to find his father's grave, the remains of martyr Vuong Dinh Xuyen had not yet been gathered here."

In 2021, Mr. Tuyen's family was extremely happy when the Hai Duong Provincial Military Command announced the above information. However, due to the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic and some other reasons, he and his brothers were only recently able to go to Da Nang to find their father's grave.