...After offering incense again to pay respect to the 62 comrades of Company 1, Battalion 7, Regiment 271 who died on May 11, 1972, I got on my motorbike and drove straight on Provincial Road 825 (formerly Highway 10) in the opposite direction, to Hau Nghia town to Duc Hoa Martyrs' Cemetery - where my comrades rest. The cemetery is located on a fairly large and open area, but the number of martyrs' graves here has almost filled the campus. Truong Son National Martyrs' Cemetery also has only over 10,000 graves, while Duc Hoa Martyrs' Cemetery ( Long An province) is only a cemetery of 1 district, but has nearly 6,000 martyrs' graves...
I can’t remember how many times I’ve been back here since the end of the war, but every time I’ve been moved to tears. Here, 5,735 graves (not to mention many mass graves), are laid out in rows, as solemn as they were before we went into battle.
Hey guys! Brother Chuong, Brother Thien, Brother Huong, Brother Tam, Brother Hinh! Does your spirit know that I am back here with you? Tai, Nham! I am back with you!
"...We are old...
You are young.
Forever, still twenty years old..."
(Wang Keshan)
Do you remember? That fateful noon of May 18, 1972, during the Nguyen Hue campaign (on the Republic of Vietnam side, it was called the Red Summer) 51 years ago, deadly bombs from American A37s crashed into the garden of Mrs. Tam's house in An Thuan hamlet, An Ninh commune during a sweep by the 25th Division of the Saigon army, killing 8 comrades and seriously injuring 5 others, including me (from Company 4, Battalion 9, Regiment 271).
In the blink of an eye, half a century has passed since you fell and we were seriously injured. Time has passed enough for me - the 19-year-old boy back then - to become an old man who has passed the age of "ancient and modern", but why does the memory still refuse to age? It is still intact, fresh, lingering and haunting in my mind as if it were just yesterday.
At that time, I was seriously injured. I crawled down to the bunker and saw Mr. Chuong (Dinh Bat Chuong, from Thanh Yen commune, Thanh Chuong district, Nghe An province) sitting against the bunker wall, blood flowing profusely. He put his head on my chest, died, without a word of farewell.
In this battle, two comrades who enlisted on the same day as me, Tai (Hoang Xuan Tai, from Thanh Loc commune, Can Loc district, Ha Tinh province) and Nham (Vo Nham, from Song Loc commune, Can Loc district, Ha Tinh province) also sacrificed.
As for me, the pressure of the bomb made me bleed; my chest hurt as if an iron arm was squeezing it; my ears were ringing because my eardrums were ruptured; my back was aching because the tree branch had hit my spine. Luckily, I was lying on the ground. Because I was so tired after digging the bunker, I threw down the shovel and fell asleep, not knowing anything. If I had crawled down and sat under the bunker like Mr. Chuong, I would have shared his fate. The bunker had only one door, when the bomb exploded nearby, the pressure inside the bunker could not escape, causing the heart chamber to rupture, causing Mr. Chuong to die instantly...
So exactly 1 year after joining the army, Tai and Nham sacrificed, and I was injured for the second time (the first time was on May 4, 1972)...
This cemetery has nearly 500 comrades of our 271st Regiment resting here. One thing that I keep wondering about is that every time I come here to visit my comrades, I have tried to find them but have never seen Vo Nham's grave and Huong's grave (from Vinh City, Nghe An Province). Thien (from Nhan Loc Commune, Can Loc District, Ha Tinh Province) was so badly wounded that he was transferred to the back line for surgery that night and died the following day (May 19, 1972). His family and comrades still have not found his grave...
Returning to the old battlefield, memories of those years come back to me. I will always remember the affection of the relatives and aunts who wholeheartedly loved, protected, and raised us!./.
Wang Keshan
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