July and the silent flowers

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Binh, Permanent Vice Chairman of Hue City People's Committee and Colonel Ngo Nam Cuong, Deputy Commander of Military Region 4, offered incense to pay tribute to heroic martyrs at the Memorial House for Martyrs of Highway 71. Photo: VAN THANG

Flowers blooming on Highway 71

Road 71 cuts through the forest to Sub-region 67 - where the footsteps of soldiers during the resistance war were once imprinted. In peacetime, that road bears the mark of 13 soldiers who sacrificed their lives during a march in the middle of a rainy and flooded night - the rescue mission at Rao Trang 3 Hydropower Plant (Hue City) in October 2020. In July, the flower petals quietly bloom in the mountains and forests.

On the night of October 12, 2020, in the midst of the flood, a rescue team of 21 people - military officers, soldiers and local authorities - stopped to rest at Ranger Station 67. They were on their way to rescue workers trapped after a landslide at Rao Trang 3 Hydropower Plant. Major General Nguyen Van Man, Deputy Commander of Military Region 4, was the leader. The rain was pouring down on the forest road, so the whole group stopped to rest overnight at Ranger Station 67 to wait for the next morning to continue their journey. Sitting by the fire, General Nguyen Van Man encouraged the whole group: "The work is urgent. For the sake of the mission, for the sake of the people, we must do it." No one expected that those were the last words. In the early morning of October 13, 2020, the mountain suddenly collapsed, burying 13 people in rocks and soil, including the commanding general. Their bodies were only found after many days of digging through each block of soil in the deep forest and floods.

Colonel Ngo Nam Cuong - one of the 8 lucky survivors - still does not forget the last moments with his comrades: "A general had to leave urgently for the people, a district chairman put aside his family affairs to care for the victims, a reporter was eager to record images of the rescue... For the people, they did not hesitate".

In 2023, a Martyrs Memorial House was built in Sub-region 67, silently standing in the middle of the mountains and forests like a stick of incense sent to those who did not return. Road 71 - the road that once bore the footprints of Truong Son soldiers - now has a new page written with the sacrifice and devotion of soldiers in peacetime.

Among those who died that night was journalist Pham Van Huong, Head of the Information and Propaganda Department, Thua Thien Hue Province Electronic Information Portal. He went with the rescue team to report and did not return. When his father died, his daughter, Pham Thien Ha, was a senior student at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi. “My father raised me and my younger sister, Pham Hoang Anh, who was in high school at the time, alone. When we heard the news of my father’s death, my siblings and I felt like we were going to collapse… But I thought about my father’s wishes and told myself to be stronger than ever,” Thien Ha said.

Thien Ha completed her graduation thesis and returned to her hometown. With the support of the Ministry of National Defense , she was accepted as a professional soldier - a Mass Affairs officer of the Hue City Military Command. From the lecture hall to the disciplined environment of the army, Ha both learned to work and to be the pillar of the family. "In the early days, I was confused and under pressure, but thanks to the encouragement and help of my father's comrades and teammates, I overcame it. Now I just hope to complete my mission well, raise my younger sister, take care of my grandparents in place of my father, and live a life worthy of the deceased," Lieutenant Pham Thien Ha was moved.

The sea and islands call the young soldier's name

In peacetime, Truong Sa still has soldiers who have died. Lieutenant Le Van Tinh, a soldier of the Mobile Tank Squadron, Brigade 146, Naval Region 4, is one of them. He was born in 1996, in Xuan My village, Ba Gia commune, Quang Ngai province, and worked in Truong Sa since 2020; he died in 2023 while on duty on Son Ca island. At that time, there were only 2 months left to finish his mission, but Tinh did not return to the mainland.

His father, Mr. Le Van Tu, said: “He came home on leave once and left immediately, not having time to stay home for long. That was also the last time...” Mr. Tu’s family has a revolutionary tradition. A relative sacrificed his life during the resistance war against the French. “Every era needs people to protect the country. Whether it is war or peace, there are still people who silently guard the Fatherland,” Mr. Tu said.

Tinh is the second child of three brothers. The elder sister is married, the youngest brother Le Cong Tuan is studying at the Armored Officer School. Tuan said: “Before going to Son Ca Island, he told me to train well and live up to the soldier's uniform. I will not let him down, and will continue on the path he has chosen.”

Those soldiers - in times of peace - lived and sacrificed like heroes. They left so that peace could remain. Peace on the mountains that had collapsed, peace in each shift in the midst of the raging East Sea. And in the month of gratitude, there were the silent tears of an old father, the resilient eyes of a daughter and the footsteps of a young soldier following his brother towards the Fatherland.

VAN THANG - NGUYEN TRANG

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/thang-7-va-nhung-canh-hoa-lang-tham-post805627.html