Viet Expat Returns to Find Lost Graves of Heroic Martyrs

Can you tell us some memories about your five months fighting in Quang Ngai and your fallen comrades?

I was a soldier of Company 2, 107 Artillery Battalion 107, Liberation Army of Quang Ngai. I was injured in combat and also an Agent Orange victim. Anyone who was in the army knew that in April 1975, when the war ended, we hugged each other and cried, "We're alive, we're at peace, we will be home soon!" We have sacrificed our youth to fight for peace and national independence.

Nguyen Huy Thang, Vietnamese in Germany.

Besides those who live, many of our comrades died on the battlefield. That is the reason why on the altar of my house in Germany, I keep 7 portraits of my comrades, people who helped me and my family members who passed away in the war. They are martyrs Nguyen Van Giap, Dong Van Minh, Truong Thanh Lam, Pham Van Trinh, and my foster mother Nguyen Thi Thuy, and comrades Dang Tran Thanh, and Trinh Menh. The life and sacrifice of each of them is an ode that I always keep in my heart.

My foster mother Nguyen Thi Thuy, a gentle but very brave, resilient, intelligent woman saved my life so that I can be where I am today. In 1972, my unit attacked Hai Thuyen Fort. However, our plan was exposed and we were attacked before we could strike. We had to withdraw our position, wait and hide in the sand in Binh village to cross the river to Tinh Ky, Quang Ngai on the following night. I was shot three times in the thigh. Injured and exhausted, I could not make it to the other side of the river. At that moment, a woman appeared and said to my teammates, "You go ahead, leave him to me. He's injured, he can't swim. If I live, he will live. I will take good care of him and send him back to your unit."

Then she took me to her house. During the 22 days I lived there, our enemy came five times, looking for me. She hid me in a secret cellar in her house. The unit came to pick me up as I recovered. Later when she heard that I was wounded again, she sent me three kilograms of sugar and a box of milk."

Photos of 7 people on Thang's home altar.

Another person whose portrait is put on the altar in my house, Truong Thanh Lam, is my comrade. In the battle of Van Tuong in Binh Hai commune, Binh Son district, Quang Ngai province, Truong Thanh Lam died right before the strike, so our superior asked us to bury him right where he fell. We did not have enough time to dig a grave so we put him in an American fortification. But it was a short and shallow fortification. It did not fit him. I held his body and cried: "Please forgive me, comrade!" then we use a hammock to tie him in a sitting posture.

Nguyen Huy Thang reunites with his comrades in the 107th artillery battalion.

What urges you to come back and search for martyrs' graves?

During my 34 years in Germany, I have returned to Quang Ngai 36 times to find graves of martyrs and those who saved my life. There are graves that took me eight years to find, so I could finally engrave their name in Tinh Hiep cemetery.

Because of Truong Thanh Lam's sitting posture, while we buried him, I went back to the old battlefield 15 times to find his grave in the hope of reburying him so that he could finally rest. Not only did I find the grave, I also realized his last wish: "If anyone is alive after the war, please go to the national highway in Yen Bai, find my wife and children." It was not until 2010 that I found them, even though they already moved to Hanoi.

Another story, in 2000, Trinh Menh's younger brother and I came to Quang Ngai, looking for his remains. The landscape has changed a lot. The group passed through the forest, crossed the hill to find the exact location where they treated wounded soldiers, and determined the burial place of martyr Trinh Menh.

Nguyen Huy Thang rests his head on his comrade's grave.

However, around 1977 and 1978, the local government launched a movement to find and collect graves of martyrs who had sacrificed in the war to put them into a cemetery. At first, there was list and map of the graves, but then they built a new cemetery, At first there was also a list, drawing a map of the graves, but due to the rebuilding of the new cemetery, the placement was changed.

From 2001 to 2008, every year I went to Quang Ngai, going from house to house, asking each resident who took part in picking up martyrs' remains. It was not until 2008 that I found witnesses and could finally do the procedures to engrave a stele bearing the name of Trinh Menh, rank: lieutenant, position: political leader of Company 2, 107 Artillery Battalion, Quang Ngai.

During my trips to Vietnam, I also visited my foster mother Nguyen Thi Thuy. Once I went to her house, where I stayed during the war, asking for her. The people there said she moved to Ho Chi Minh City to live with her children. In 2010, when attending a reception in Quang Ngai, I told my story with mother Thuy. One of the guests at the event, who turned out to be her niece, connected us. When we met again, mother Thuy touched my face, said: "I remember you. You're still alive!" Then we hugged and cried. When she passed away, I put her photo on my altar. Her children and I still keep frequent contact. We see each other as close family members.

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