Vi Xuyen - A sacred place on the northern border of the Fatherland

Coming to Vi Xuyen National Martyrs Cemetery - a sacred place in the border region, in the hearts of every Vietnamese people, there is a surge of awareness to protect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country and preserve its borders.

Vi Xuyen National Martyrs Cemetery - the resting place of more than 1,800 martyrs and the mass grave of martyrs who sacrificed their lives in the fight to protect the northern border of the Fatherland - Photo: TL

In February, the land and sky of the northern border are a peaceful green. The majestic rocky mountains endlessly follow the shape of the place where the Fatherland begins. Throughout thousands of years of history, through countless ups and downs, storms, generations of people have lived and fought to protect the unchanging sovereignty of Vietnam's territory.

Silently looking at the martyrs' cemeteries, incense altars, and stone steles engraved with the names of the country's heroic sons who sacrificed and lay down forever, suddenly a strong sense of sovereignty and territorial integrity, protecting the sacred borders of the Fatherland, surges.

These days of February, the Vi Xuyen National Martyrs Cemetery (Vi Xuyen district, Ha Giang province) is filled with the scent of incense. This is the resting place of more than 1,800 martyrs from the war to protect the northern border of the Fatherland, from 1979 to 1989. Among them is a mass grave and hundreds of graves with unknown information.

Coming to the sacred border site, there are veterans visiting their comrades' graves, wives visiting their husbands' graves, children visiting their fathers' graves, and groups of visitors from all over the country wishing to pay tribute to the soldiers who sacrificed for the Fatherland, and remember their compatriots who fell to enemy artillery.

Placing a bouquet of fresh flowers and lighting incense sticks in front of the Monument of the Fatherland, Mr. Vuong Trung Thuc, former soldier of Battalion 5 Vi Xuyen, recalled February 17, 1979. That day, the invaders' artillery shells rained down on the entire northern border of Vietnam, along a 1,200 km stretch from Pa Nam Cum - Lai Chau to Po Hen - Quang Ninh.

Vi Xuyen land also suffered fierce artillery attacks from across the border. Many Vi Xuyen people died from enemy artillery shells. “On the morning of February 17, 1979, I was sleeping in my house when I heard the sound of enemy artillery shells hitting Vi Xuyen. They fired all day and all night, extremely fiercely. In 1984, I joined the army to fight to protect this land,” Mr. Vuong Trung Thuc recalled.

“After suffering heavy casualties due to the high fighting spirit and determination of our army and people along the entire border, on March 5, 1979, the enemy was forced to retreat. But Vi Xuyen was the first to leave and the last to return. This strategically located land became the only hot and fierce battle line along the northern border for nearly 10 years after that,” the veteran held back a sigh.

History forever records that, in the largest-scale invasion of Vietnam from April 1984 to May 1989, hundreds of thousands of troops from 8 of the 10 major military regions from across the northern border launched a comprehensive attack on the Ha Giang border, focusing on Vi Xuyen district.

To protect the sacred sovereignty of the Fatherland, nine main divisions and many regiments and battalions directly participated in the battle at Vi Xuyen front. And “Live clinging to the rocks to fight the enemy, die turning into immortal stone” became the motto of life and fighting of Vi Xuyen soldiers. On the sacred “Motherland”, our army clung to every high point, every rock, every inch of land.

There were hills where dozens of battles were fought back and forth between us and the enemy. Not a single stone, not a single meter of land in Vi Xuyen was not soaked with the blood of Vietnamese soldiers. Dai hill was hit by artillery shells and was carved more than 1 meter deep, white as lime, so it was also called “Lime Kiln of the Century.” Thousands of soldiers fell, many of them left behind a part of their body in the deep forest and mountains.

The heroic yet sorrowful symbol of the indomitable spirit of national defense of the Vietnamese people can be seen from the Memorial House paying tribute to the heroic martyrs of the entire Vi Xuyen - Ha Giang front. The Memorial House is located solemnly and beautifully on the steep cliff in Thanh Thuy commune, and is a temple to the heroic martyrs of the Vi Xuyen Front at the height of 468.

From the temple, one can look to the heights of 772 and 685 and look towards the height of 1,509, the demarcation point of the Vietnam-China border. Coming to that sacred place of the border, in the heart of every Vietnamese person, there rises the consciousness of protecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity, preserving the national border.

45 years have passed since the storm on both sides of the border. The "Death Junction" of the past, soaked with the blood and bones of the heroic Vietnamese people who sacrificed their lives, has now become the peaceful Thanh Thuy Junction, with a pace of life on the road of development. Nearby is the Thanh Thuy Community Cultural Tourism Village - home to the Tay ethnic people with a cultural identity that is preserved and conserved. In the village, there are homestays to serve and welcome domestic and foreign tourists.

Not far from the Cultural Village is the Thanh Thuy - Thien Bao International Border Gate (Tianbao, Yunnan Province) that connects with the People's Republic of China. This is where the Lo River flows into Vietnam, and next to the river is the 261st border marker between Vietnam and China.

Right in front of Thanh Thuy International Border Gate, there is an old bamboo clump that is surprisingly green and lush. The clump has more than 50 bamboo trees with a height of several dozen meters, each tree is large, strong, and full of vitality. Near the old bamboo clump is an ancient kapok tree with an indomitable tall figure and a moldy, sturdy outer bark that bears the image of the homeland. Both the kapok tree and the bamboo clump bear many traces of artillery attacks, with bullet holes crisscrossing and eating deep into the trunk.

According to Senior Lieutenant Nguyen Xuan De, a veteran of the 356th Division, who participated in many fierce battles at the hot Vi Xuyen front, during the years of the Northern border war, the cotton tree and bamboo clump both endured fierce storms from the other side of the border. But strangely enough, the bamboo clump still stood there without moving. And the tall cotton tree, every March, burst into full-blown red bloom. The deep red cotton flower has a simple, intense beauty, evoking memories from long ago.

In February, the border sky is a deep blue. Many stories have become part of history. The blue color has covered the “Lime Kiln of the Century” as well as the hills, forests, and bullet holes in the northern border in the past. But the evidence of the fight to protect the sacred territorial sovereignty of the Fatherland is still present.

Ancient cotton trees, old bamboo clumps in front of Thanh Thuy International Border Gate; Vi Xuyen National Martyrs' Cemetery; Temple of Heroes and Martyrs of Vi Xuyen Front; High Point 468; High Point 1,509 and somewhere in the valleys and mountain slopes along the Ha Giang border, over the past 45 years, there are still over 1,000 martyrs' remains that have not been found or gathered...

Those heroic yet tragic vestiges always remind us of the border sovereignty and territorial boundaries left by our ancestors for thousands of years; remind every Vietnamese citizen of: Peace, Independence, Freedom, and Self-reliance!

Hanh Quynh

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