A special grave in Can Duoc Martyrs' Cemetery

Like other martyrs' cemeteries across the country, the graves in Can Duoc Martyrs' Cemetery are designed with dimensions of approximately 40cm x 80cm. Only one martyr's grave is significantly larger, the same size as a normal grave, embracing the remains of a martyr that have remained intact after half a century...

Martyr Pham Thi Tam's grave

The special tomb

Once, on July 27th, while visiting the graves of relatives at the Can Duoc District Martyrs' Cemetery, I was taken by the cemetery caretaker (Mr. Cao Thanh Lai) to the martyrs' cemetery in the former Tan Lan commune, my hometown. During the war, the poor Tan Lan commune, with less than 10,000 inhabitants, had nearly 500 martyrs! These uncles, aunts, brothers, and sisters are now resting peacefully in the embrace of Mother Earth after bravely fulfilling their "debt to the nation"! After lighting incense at the martyrs' graves, I prepared to leave.

The cemetery caretaker suddenly remembered something, pulled my hand and said, "Ah, I forgot, there's another martyr's grave from Tan Lan, but it's not in the main martyrs' cemetery of Tan Lan commune; it's located separately outside." Then, with a voice filled with both emotion and pride, the caretaker told me the story of that special martyr's grave.

This is the grave of martyr Pham Thi Tam, from Xom Chua hamlet, Tan Lan commune. Ms. Tam died in 1966, at the young age of 25, before she had a family of her own, while serving as a liaison for the revolutionary forces between the commune and the district, when she was ambushed by the enemy. The people of Tan Lan commune buried the female martyr in difficult wartime conditions, in a flooded rice field in her hometown.

Because Can Duoc is a wetland area, it experiences prolonged saltwater intrusion for more than six months each year, causing the remains of the deceased to decompose very quickly. Mr. Nguyen Van Dong, former Secretary of the Can Duoc District Party Committee, had a younger brother who was a martyr, dying in 1978 during the Southwest border war. More than 10 years later, when his remains were exhumed and brought to the Martyrs' Cemetery, only a skull fragment and a few strands of hair remained.

Enduring through time

But the case of martyr Pham Thi Tam is different and very difficult to explain. Ms. Chung Thi Guong - former Secretary of the Party Committee of Tan Lan commune, Tay Ninh province, a veteran revolutionary cadre in the locality - recalled: In the early 1990s, Can Duoc began building a Martyrs' Cemetery right at the Tan Lan intersection (then belonging to Tan Lan commune), a place that marked many heroic events of the locality. The local government and people in the district gathered most of the martyrs' graves buried in various places to bring them to the newly built Martyrs' Cemetery.

The grave of female martyr Pham Thi Tam was also exhumed for reburial in the cemetery during the first phase. But strangely, when the grave was excavated, the female martyr's remains were almost perfectly preserved within the decaying parachute fabric, and her long hair was still smooth and silky.

According to the experience of those involved in exhuming the grave, leaving the body exposed to the sun and wind for just a few hours would cause the flesh to disintegrate, leaving only bones. The reburial team did exactly that and waited. However, even after being left in the open air, sun, and wind for a whole day, the female martyr's body remained intact, without the slightest deformation.

It was impossible to rebury her in the cemetery because the burial plots in the district cemetery were designed to be small enough for a skeleton (approximately 40cm x 80cm), not large enough to accommodate a complete body. Those responsible in Can Duoc district decided to temporarily bury the female martyr's remains at the edge of the cemetery, with the intention of reburying her later or finding a more appropriate solution.

Nearly 10 years later, during a renovation of the district's Martyrs' Cemetery, the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs of Can Duoc District (formerly) decided to exhume the temporary grave of martyr Pham Thi Tam for reburial in the cemetery. And this time, too, the female martyr's remains were still intact when unearthed from the grave. The leaders of Can Duoc District held a meeting and made an unprecedented decision: to bury the female martyr in the cemetery in the usual way with a coffin and build a grave of the standard size for local people.

Among the thousands of small, white graves of fallen soldiers in the cemetery, there was one much larger grave, covered with yellow stone in the traditional way of the local people – that was the grave of female martyr Pham Thi Tam.

Later, when the local Vietnamese Heroic Mothers and former district leaders passed away, their remains were also buried in the district's Martyrs' Cemetery, in the same area as the burial place of martyr Pham Thi Tam, with ordinary graves similar to those of female martyrs, but covered with gray stone.

During holidays and festivals, especially on the War Invalids and Martyrs Day (July 27th), Can Duoc district organizes visits to the cemetery for families of martyrs and local residents to light incense at the martyrs' graves. Usually, after visiting and lighting incense at the graves of their loved ones, local people often go to light incense at the graves of the Heroic Vietnamese Mothers and the grave of martyr Pham Thi Tam. There, they hear the story of the female martyr who bravely sacrificed herself, her remains perfectly preserved over time.

Nguyen Phan Dau

Source: https://baolongan.vn/ngoi-mo-dac-biet-trong-nghia-trang-liet-si-can-duoc-a199447.html