Life is increasingly reviving in the western land of Thua Thien Hue .

Major General Ho Anh Thang, former Reconnaissance soldier of Regiment 6 (Tri Thien Military Region), said that before being injured (December 1974), he had a month of operations in the Da Den area, next to Mo Tau base. Here, he witnessed his comrades being sacrificed by enemy artillery at least three times. The first time, the Reconnaissance Team penetrated deep into the defensive position but when they retreated, they were shot by enemy artillery. Reconnaissance Tuong was the last person left in the fence and so he sacrificed himself. The second time, after the reconnaissance, on the way back, a series of enemy artillery shells suddenly rained down on the formation, causing Deputy Commander of Regiment 6 Le Van Duoi to sacrifice himself. The third time, while Reconnaissance Ho Anh Thang was returning from Mo Tau, the squad's bunker was hit by artillery, causing Reconnaissance Son (from Dai Tu, Thai Nguyen ) to sacrifice himself.

Until now, Mr. Thang still remembers the two lines written behind the picture of a girl: "The sun only rises in the East/ And you only rise in my heart!". Guessing that the girl in this picture was the wife of their comrade, they sadly put her in their pocket and buried her with Martyr Son's body!

The last time, Scout Ho Anh Thang said, that day I went to the checkpoint with Deputy Battalion Commander Tang Van Pha (later Secretary of Ha Nam ). On the way back to the base, I was thrown into the stream by the pressure of the bomb. My ears were bleeding profusely, and I was deaf. I left Mo Tau from then on.

Nguyen Xuan Ky (from Chieng Ngoai, Duy Tien - Ha Nam). In 1974, he enlisted and became a soldier of Platoon I (Company 2, Battalion 1, Regiment 6, Tri Thien Military Region). Platoon 1 had 20 members with Mr. Toan (from Lang Son) as Platoon Leader and Mr. Trung (from Thai Binh) as Squad Leader. At that time, the rear base of Regiment 6 was located in Khe Rua - along Hai Nhanh River.

On the afternoon of November 6, 1974, Platoon I was assigned to attack "Bao An Hill" located at the eastern foot of Mo Tau Mountain, which was guarded by a unit of the 15th Ranger Group.

Nguyen Xuan Ky said that after capturing, according to the unit's assignment, he handed over "Bao An Hill" to Platoon 2 to guard. At that time, it was about 3:00 p.m., Platoon I had not yet retreated when suddenly artillery fell. Platoon leader Toan sacrificed himself right in front of me. The most painful thing was that when capturing the platoon, no one was sacrificed, but when retreating, I was "hit" by artillery, killing 9 brothers and injuring 7 others. The whole platoon had only 4 healthy people left!

Vu Hoang Long (from Phu Ly - Ha Nam) was a former radio communications soldier of Battalion 6, Regiment 6, Tri Thien Military Region.

Vu Hoang Long said that in the early morning of November 1974, he was the 2W Station Commander, standing side by side with Company I to attack Hill 139 near Cua airport, which was guarded by a unit of Regiment 54, Division 1 of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam. After using preemptive firepower, Company I under the command of Company Commander Tu gave the order to charge.

Although soldier Nguyen Van Son was injured in the right arm, after crawling into the newly breached bunker, he discovered a nearby bunker where the enemy was using a machine gun to shoot back at his teammates. Seeing an enemy corpse still holding an M26 grenade, he took it and used his remaining left arm, combined with his teeth and big toe, to pull the safety pin. The grenade exploded, the resistance was extinguished, creating conditions for his teammates to take over the battlefield. Although they had captured Hill 139, the assault force that Vu Hoang Long participated in, not to mention the wounded, had 8 officers and soldiers sacrificed, including Deputy Company Commander Toan and Platoon Leader Sam!

After the war ended, Regiment 6 organized forces to return to the old battlefield to search for the remains of their comrades. From Quang Tri to Thua Thien Hue, they recovered 1,700 remains out of a total of 2,400 officers and soldiers of the Regiment who had sacrificed their lives.

Thus, Regiment 6 alone still has 700 martyrs (out of a total of 200,000 martyrs nationwide) whose remains have not been found, meaning they still lie somewhere on the lands where they fought.

As for the unit assigned to directly attack Mo Tau on September 27, 1974, according to Major General Le Huy Mai, “Battalion 3 (Regiment 1, Division 324) lost over thirty percent of its force.” That number was equivalent to 150 people.

It is a huge loss that cannot be compensated. The wish of the officers and soldiers who fought here is for the State to survey and compile a dossier to recognize Mo Tau as a revolutionary historical relic and to establish a memorial temple here to commemorate the heroes and martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the cause of national liberation and reunification.

…During the La Son - Mo Tau campaign that took place from August 28 to September 28, 1974, Huong Thuy district was assigned the main task of providing logistics, transporting wounded and fallen soldiers to support units of Regiment 6 and Division 324 to attack strongholds in the southwest of Hue. That morning, Le Huu Tong (Huong Thuy District Team Leader) and I were at the foot of Dich Duong mountain (now in Phu Son commune, Huong Thuy town) when we discovered a group of soldiers from Regiment 54 entering. Tong quickly discussed with me that there were only 5 of them and we should not shoot them but find a way to capture them alive. After agreeing on a plan of action, waiting for the group of soldiers to approach, Tong suddenly appeared from his hiding place and shouted loudly: “Put down your guns. You are surrounded. Surrender alive, resist to the death!”

Because they were passive, the soldiers obediently followed! Thanks to that, they survived.

(Recorded according to the story of Mr. Chu Van Thuan, former Secretary of Hai Thuy)

Pham Huu Thu