From victory over the enemy to victory over poverty

Veteran Cao Viet Duc was born in 1954 and enlisted in Company 6, Battalion 41, Division 305 (Special Forces) in February 1974. After completing his combat mission in the Ho Chi Minh Campaign, he continued with his unit to carry out international missions in Cambodia. In August 1981, Cao Viet Duc was sent to study political officer and then worked at the Armored Officer School (Armored Corps). After more than 10 years in the army, in December 1986, Cao Viet Duc requested to be demobilized and returned to his hometown. Returning to normal life in the midst of his family's difficult economic situation, but with the courage and will of Uncle Ho's soldiers, Mr. Duc was not discouraged, discussed with his wife and received more than 9 sao of contracted rice fields to solve his immediate food needs.

When he had enough food and clothing, he thought about getting rich. With the motto of defeating the enemy in the past, defeating poverty now, on an area of ​​1.5 hectares of Yen The hill, he dug holes to plant more than 300 lychee and longan trees, and invested in the remaining area to build 3,000 square meters of livestock barns. After many years of hard work, from being a poor household, his family became a sustainably rich household thanks to a stable source of income from farming, raising livestock and doing business. On average, each year the family sells more than 5 tons of live pigs; raises more than 20,000 hill chickens; and provides hundreds of thousands of breeding chickens to households. Thanks to good care and disease prevention techniques, the quality of his family's meat chickens is very delicious, trusted by markets near and far. Each year he introduces and sells 100 tons of commercial chickens. He is the one who built the current "Yen The hill chicken" brand.

Veteran Cao Viet Duc next to the archive of documents about martyrs.

In addition to raising livestock and growing crops, Mr. Duc also opened a feed agency to proactively provide feed for his family farm and supply more than 700 tons of feed to local people. After deducting expenses, each year Mr. Duc's family earns from 600-700 million VND. Veteran Cao Viet Duc has become a typical example of the spirit of overcoming difficulties, daring to think, daring to do, overcoming difficulties, and rising to become rich right in his homeland. He was awarded a certificate of merit by the People's Committee of Bac Giang province (old); Vietnam Poultry Association; Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and honored as one of 63 veteran member families "typical of good economic performance nationwide" in 2018.

Journey to find teammates

Talking to us, veteran Cao Viet Duc recalled: On June 10, 1977, as deputy company commander, he commanded the unit to participate in a fierce battle with the enemy. In this battle, 17 soldiers heroically sacrificed their lives and were buried by him and his comrades on the ground next to Ben Soi (near Xa Mat Border Gate, Tay Ninh ).

In April 2002, he returned to visit the old battlefield. Upon arriving, the first thing he did was to look for his comrades' graves. At the Chau Thanh District Martyrs' Cemetery (Tay Ninh Province), Mr. Duc hugged the graves of each comrade, crying and calling out each person's name. Seeing the common grave of 5 people whose identities were still unidentified, his heart was filled with anguish. After returning from his visit to the old battlefield, he sent a letter to notify 12 families of martyrs whose names were listed and helped the families with the procedures to exhume and bring the 12 remains back to their hometown cemetery for burial.

After that trip, Mr. Duc could not sleep well at night because of the nostalgia for his comrades. In particular, his good reputation spread far and wide, many families contacted him to help them find the graves of their martyrs. As a soldier who had been through life and death, Mr. Duc understood the desire and expectation of families and relatives who always wanted to find and welcome the martyrs back. That urged him to start his journey of "devoting himself" to finding his comrades.

From here, the number of files sent to Mr. Duc increased. To facilitate the reception of information, he set up Zalo and Facebook accounts to communicate with families. On average, each month, 20-30 families sent information about martyrs to help find their graves, so he never stopped working, many nights, some months only staying home 3-4 days. All the family work had to be shouldered by his wife and children. He traveled to all the cemeteries in the country and even to the cemeteries of Laos and Cambodia to search for information, draw grave maps, and look up files. When he returned, he spent time sending notices to the authorities and families of martyrs.

Over the past 20 years, Mr. Duc has written more than 10,000 letters to connect information about martyrs' graves and provided 10,000 pieces of information about martyrs for the program "Information about children who sacrificed for the Fatherland" broadcast on VOV2 channel, Voice of Vietnam. Mr. Duc shared: "My search for the remains of my comrades is completely voluntary, based on emotions, by inner urge and based on science, not searching for graves by psychic or fortune telling...". According to him, first, we must base on the martyrs' death certificate to decode the codes, symbols, and signs. This is a highly accurate method because when looking at the death certificate, we will know which unit the martyr belonged to, where he was stationed, and which battlefield he died on. To know exactly the types of symbols, codes, and numbers of units in the Army, Mr. Duc had to spend nearly 3 years going to the units to find out.

Every time he receives a dossier, the first thing he does is analyze the codes and symbols to determine the martyr's place of sacrifice and original burial; then he creates a dossier, connects with the authorities to verify, review, and check. When he receives accurate feedback, he coordinates with the local martyrs' family support association, the grassroots war veterans' association, and the martyr's relatives to start searching. "There are trips that are full of scorching Lao winds, and there are trips that are full of bone-chilling northeast monsoon winds. In some cases, it only takes 2-3 days to find the grave, but in other cases, it takes up to 3 years because of incomplete information, but I never give up," Mr. Duc shared.

He recounted the memory of the case of martyr Duong Xuan Hy, from Thieu Duong, Thieu Hoa, Thanh Hoa (now Ham Rong ward, Thanh Hoa province). The family searched for the grave for many years and the result was 3 graves in 3 different locations. The family was very confused and when they knew about Mr. Duc, they continued to seek his help. Holding the death certificate in hand, Mr. Duc judged that martyr Duong Van Hy sacrificed in Son Lap commune, Son Tay district, Quang Ngai province (old). It was true, after finding the grave, exhuming and collecting samples for DNA testing of the martyr's remains with accurate results, the family was extremely happy and from then on considered Mr. Duc as a relative in the family.

Mr. Duc also searched for martyrs' remains by DNA identification of large groups of graves and overall identification of some cemeteries. He affirmed: "This is a scientific method, searching for martyrs' graves by genetic sources requires extreme accuracy in terms of information sources, martyrs' genetic sources and relatives' genetic sources. Therefore, when I have accurate information, I will send a sample file and request the local Veterans Association of the martyrs' deceased to come to the martyrs' families to guide the martyrs' relatives in making a request for DNA samples." Veteran Cao Viet Duc also, on behalf of the martyrs' relatives, petitioned the Department of Meritorious People (Ministry of Home Affairs) to develop a plan to collect DNA samples of martyrs' remains in 5 martyrs' cemeteries: Viet-Lao, A Luoi, Phong Dien, Huong Thuy, Loc Ha (former Thua Thien Hue province). Of about 7,000 graves, nearly 500 cases have been analyzed and compared to date, giving accurate results. This initiative of his has contributed to helping many families find martyrs' remains in recent times.

Veteran Cao Viet Duc is not a person with extraordinary abilities, and certainly not for economic benefits. Everything he does is done voluntarily from a pure heart with his deceased comrades. He does not receive any remuneration, and all travel expenses are personal. He said: "I do it to show gratitude to my comrades, not to receive favors." Over the past 23 years, this veteran has quietly crossed mountains and forests, coordinated the search for thousands of martyrs' graves in cemeteries and 24 martyrs' remains on the battlefield. Among them, 1,684 graves have been helped by him with procedures, expenses for exhumation, and safe, thoughtful, and solemn transportation back to their homeland, helping to comfort many martyrs' families.

With his outstanding achievements in charity work, veteran Cao Viet Duc was awarded a Certificate of Merit by the Prime Minister for his achievements in the field of social security and active participation in community activities in 2020; Certificate of Merit for outstanding achievements in studying and following Ho Chi Minh's ideology, morality and style in 2024. Currently, veteran Cao Viet Duc is a volunteer searching for information and graves of martyrs of the entire army. His journey to find his comrades has not stopped because there are still many families of martyrs waiting for his help. I was very moved when he shared: "As long as I am alive, I will continue to look for my comrades. For me, the greatest happiness is to bring my comrades back, when I see the relatives of martyrs welcome them back after many years of separation"./.

    Source: https://www.qdnd.vn/phong-su-dieu-tra/cuoc-thi-nhung-tam-guong-binh-di-ma-cao-quy-lan-thu-17/hanh-trinh-lang-le-1013860