Heavy Co Phuong

In April, the golden sunlight falls slowly on the mountains and forests of Phu Le. As we get closer to the cave entrance from National Highway 15A, our pace slows. Without a word, everyone understands that this place is not just a landmark, but also the resting place of 11 civilian laborers who served on the front lines during the resistance against the French.

The memorial stele for martyrs in the Co Phuong Cave Revolutionary Historical Site.

1. In front of the cave, the grass and trees are tranquil, and a gentle breeze blows. On the memorial plaque, the names carved into the stone have faded with time, but are still clear enough for future generations to bow their heads in gratitude.

Just a year ago, amidst the lingering incense smoke of the 71st anniversary commemoration of the martyrs who sacrificed their lives at Co Phuong Cave, I met Mrs. Nguyen Thi Ngọt (born in 1933), with her gray hair and hunched back, slowly climbing the stone steps. Reaching the cave entrance, she suddenly collapsed, embracing the plaque bearing the cave's name, and burst into sobbing tears.

“My three brothers and eight sisters! Brother Hoang, Brother Phuoc, Brother Toan! Sisters Dieu, Hoi, Mut, Thiem, Toan, To, Van, and Vien! Your youngest sister, Ut Ngot, is here to be with you all!” The call was no longer just a tribute or expression of gratitude. It was like the return of a younger sibling, blurring the lines between those who remained and those who had gone forever.

This was the fifth and final time, since the tragic massacre at Co Phuong Cave, that Mrs. Ngọt returned to visit her fallen comrades resting in eternal peace. Each time she returned, she wept. She recounted the story of Co Phuong Cave in detail, truthfully and vividly, with pride.

According to historical documents and Mrs. Ngọt's account, near the Lunar New Year of the Year of the Snake in 1953, more than 130 people from Thiệu Hóa registered to join the civilian labor force, serving in the campaigns of Upper Laos and Northwest Vietnam. After the New Year, on the 21st day of the first lunar month (March 6, 1953), they were organized into three platoots and left their hometown of Thiệu Hóa for Vạn Mai, in the former Hòa Bình province (now Mai Hạ commune, Phú Thọ province) to carry out their duties, with the simple belief: to contribute their strength to the success of the resistance war.

After more than 10 days of trekking through forests and climbing steep slopes, they finally arrived at the Van Mai bridge and road construction site. There, they organized basket weaving, carried stones, dug earth, and opened roads connecting the Thanh Hoa rear area to the Upper Laos region to support our troops in defeating the French. Later, these roads extended all the way to the Northwest battlefield, and contributed to the victory at Dien Bien Phu.

On March 31, 1953, a group of civilian laborers from Thieu Hoa district was mobilized to build the Phu Le bridge, about 10km from the old construction site. To ensure secrecy, the bridge and road construction only took place at night, while during the day they rested in Co Phuong cave (also known as Co Phuong cave) right at the foot of the construction site, now located in Sai village, Phu Le commune.

During the resistance war against the French, Co Phuong Cave was located on the strategic supply line from the rear to Upper Laos and Dien Bien Phu. It served as a military supply depot and station, as well as a shelter for soldiers, youth volunteers, and civilian laborers on the front lines. Right in front of the cave entrance stood a large starfruit tree. Therefore, the cave was named Co Phuong – meaning "starfruit tree" – in the language of the local Thai ethnic group.

Back then, whether in Van Mai or Phu Le, Mrs. Ngot was the youngest and the most diligent and hardworking, so she was assigned to cook and wash clothes for the squad. Every day, in addition to the food rations, she would still go out to gather wild vegetables and catch fish in the streams to improve the squad's meals. In the evenings, she would still go to the construction site to work.

At around 12 noon on April 2nd, the French sent helicopters to fly low over the treetops in the Sai village area. Around 3 pm, they brought in six more planes to bomb and shell the area, right when the entire squad was sheltering in the cave. Only Mrs. Ngọt went outside to wash clothes for her comrades in the stream, not far from Co Phuong cave. After the bombing raids, the entrance to Co Phuong cave collapsed, blocking the only exit for the 11 civilian workers inside. One person, crushed by rocks near the cave entrance, died on the way back to Hoi Xuan commune for emergency treatment. Military engineers and other forces were mobilized, but no machinery could remove the massive rocks weighing tens of tons.

2. On the stone stele in the Co Phuong Cave Revolutionary Historical Site, the names and birth years of 11 civilian workers who sacrificed their lives that year are recorded. They are, in order: Nguyen Thi Dieu (born 1933), Nguyen Chi Hoang (born 1924), Nguyen Thi Hoi (born 1933), Nguyen Thi Mut (born 1932), Nguyen Dung Phuoc (born 1919), Nguyen Thi Thiem (born 1931), Nguyen Chi Toan (born 1926), Nguyen Thi Toan (born 1932), Nguyen Thi To (born 1932), Nguyen Thi Van (born 1935), and Nguyen Thi Vien (born 1932).

This April, I returned to the peaceful old Thieu Nguyen countryside (now Thieu Hoa commune) on the right bank of the Chu River. The storyteller from last year is no longer here. Mrs. Nguyen Thi Ngọt has passed away, just as she once called out: "Little Ngọt has come to be with her brothers and sisters."

Mr. Nguyen Dung Khien is reviewing documents about his father, martyr Nguyen Dung Phuoc, who died in Co Phuong cave.

But the heroic ballad of the civilian laborers who sacrificed themselves in Co Phuong cave all those years ago still flows silently in the veins of their relatives, families, clans, and in every person living in peace today.

Despite his advanced age and the passage of time when emotions of joy and sorrow were strong, deep within Mr. Nguyen Dung Khien (born in 1946) in Nguyen Thinh village remain stories of his father – martyr Nguyen Dung Phuoc, who died in Co Phuong cave. He recounted: “When my father died, I was only 7 years old, too young to understand the pain. I only remember my mother crying for a whole month. The older I got, the more I felt the sadness of losing my father. But it was war…” Later in life, carrying on the spirit of his father's self-sacrifice for the Fatherland, Mr. Khien participated in river and sea transport, delivering food and supplies to the South to support our troops fighting the Americans. After the war, he returned to the province, worked at the Thanh Hoa Irrigation Survey and Design Enterprise, and retired in 1987. He was also the one who carried out the procedures to request and obtain state recognition in 1989 for the 11 civilian workers who died in Co Phuong cave as martyrs. Since then, his family and the relatives of the martyrs have held memorial services for the 11 civilian workers who died that year on the same day, the 19th of February in the lunar calendar.

He recounted that around 2010, the State had a plan to exhume and repatriate the remains of 11 martyrs who died in Co Phuong Cave to their homeland in Thieu Nguyen. However, he and the families of the martyrs discussed and agreed to leave them in Co Phuong Cave, amidst the mountains and forests, so that they would forever remain comrades.

After telling the story, Mr. Khien slowly lit an incense stick, as if once again paying tribute to his father, whom he was so proud of.

3. A gentle breeze swept through the Phu Le mountains and forests, and I returned to the entrance of Co Phuong cave in the last rays of sunlight clinging to the rock face. Eleven civilian workers who served on the front lines that year never returned to their homeland. They remained there, forever twenty years old. And they remain in the silence of those standing before the cave entrance like me, on a sunny April afternoon...

Notes by Do Duc

Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/nang-nang-co-phuong-284269.htm