"I haven't seen you for 10 years, go get married..."

"He said, if I don't come back for 10 years, I should get married. But I've only married once in my life," said Mrs. Nguyen Thi Luong, wife of martyr Nguyen Van Kien, tearfully.

At the age of 76, Mrs. Nguyen Thi Luong (Doi Cung ward, Vinh city, Nghe An ), wife of martyr Nguyen Van Kien, still retains the beauty of her youth. When mentioning her martyr husband, Mrs. Luong burst into tears many times. Her wrinkled hands kept rubbing on the black and white photo that had blurred over the years.

In the photo, she sits leaning on her husband's lap, their faces radiant with happiness: "We fell in love quickly, got married quickly, and lived together as husband and wife only for days, but I spent my whole life remembering him." She always calls her husband "anh", an image that has been engraved in her mind for nearly half a century.

In 1969, Ms. Luong, then Deputy Secretary of the Youth Union of Tran Phu Cooperative (Vinh City), attended a training course for union cadres organized by the Vinh City Party Committee. Here, the sharpness and boldness of the coastal girl from Nghi Loc (Nghe An) captivated the Secretary of the Youth Union of Nghe Tinh Food Company - Nguyen Van Kien (born in 1946, from Nam Cat commune, Nam Dan, Nghe An).

The training course lasted for a month, and ended when Kien boldly proposed to the person he had a secret crush on. In July 1970, a simple, cozy wedding was held with the blessings of both families and friends and colleagues.

"We were married, but we rarely lived as husband and wife. We did not have our own house, each of us lived in a dormitory at the office, so the life that seemed normal for newlyweds was rare for us at that time," said Ms. Luong.

Of those few times they met, their daughter Nguyen Thi Thu Hien was pregnant. Needless to say, Mr. Kien was overjoyed to receive the news that he was about to become a father. They dreamed of a happy home, taking their child to daycare together in the morning, driving each other to work at the factory, and gathering around a simple but happy meal in the evening.

But war prevented that simple dream from becoming a reality.

At the end of 1970, the war to protect the fatherland entered a fierce phase. Mr. Kien and many others who were serving production in the rear received the general mobilization order, ready to support the southern battlefield.

When Mrs. Luong was 4 months pregnant, Mr. Kien joined the army, went to Thanh Hoa for training, then transferred to a special course in Ha Bac to serve his upcoming mission on the battlefield.

In July 1971, Mrs. Luong gave birth to her first daughter without her husband by her side. It was not until three months later, before the unit went to war, that he was allowed to return home to visit. That was the first time he met his child, and held his little girl in his arms, to satisfy the joy of being a father.

"Back then, no one said anything, but I knew my husband's family was looking forward to having a grandson to continue the family line. My husband was different, saying that every child was his child. He loved his child very much, holding him in his arms all the time. The child was only 3 months old, didn't know anything, and smiled at everything his father said. I had an itchy hand, so he went to find leaves to make medicine for fear of infecting the child," Mrs. Luong said, her eyes sparkling as she remembered the few days when the whole family was together.

Those short happy days passed very quickly, when the battlefield in the South beckoned. The 10-day leave ended. Before returning to the unit, Mr. Kien gave his wife a pair of gold earrings, as a promise and compensation for the difficult, long months of waiting ahead.

Mrs. Luong was busy preparing two sets of underwear for her husband, but he only took one set and left the other at home. "You went to the battlefield and were given full military uniforms. Leave this set at home so that your mother and I can smell your father's scent. You can wear it when you come back," the young soldier instructed.

In December 1971, from Ha Bac, Mr. Kien’s unit was ordered to enter the battlefield. Arriving at Nghi Loc district (Nghe An), they stopped to rest. Mr. Kien asked the unit commander to let him visit his wife and children, more than 20 kilometers away from where the unit was temporarily resting.

He had not yet warmed his back, only smelling the sweet scent of his child's chubby cheeks, when he hurriedly got up to return to his unit in time for the march. Mrs. Luong cooked a pot of sticky rice, wrapped it, left it with her child, then borrowed a bike and cycled to Nghi Loc. She went all the way to where the unit was stationed, asked someone to call her husband to give him the cold sticky rice. He had left in a hurry in the morning, and had not had time to eat.

"So many words were stuck in my throat, the two of us just stood there looking at each other. Suddenly he took my hand and said: "If I don't come back in 10 years, don't wait, go get married..." I was shocked and sad, but calmed down immediately. Who knows what will happen during war. He said that because he didn't want to waste his life. I looked straight into his eyes and firmly said: "In my life, I will only get married once!", Mrs. Luong recalled.

The sound of car horns sounded incessantly, Mr. Kien let go of his wife's hand and ran towards the army line. Under the rustling bamboo hedge, she stood watching until the dust settled and the convoy disappeared into the misty winter morning. That was the last time she saw her husband, in person...

She returned to her daily work, with her little daughter and the constant longing for her husband in her mind. It is difficult to describe all the hardships and deprivations of a young wife raising a young child alone, especially when the child is sick. It is her husband's love, the affection of both families, and the sharing of her colleagues that helps her to persevere, complete her work, take care of her parents, raise her child, and wait.

But he did not return...

The young wife was petrified when she held her husband's death certificate in her hand. She collapsed, unsteady, but then picked herself up, because she still had to shoulder the responsibility for her husband's parents and his only child.

Hardship, hardship and suffering cannot fade the beauty of a "single mother". But no matter how many people come, how many proposals, she just shakes her head: "I have to live up to my duty and love for him, with the oath of the past. In my life, I will only marry once", she said.                                    

Content: Hoang Lam

Design: Thuy Tien

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