At Le Thi Rieng Park, doctor Tran Van Ban (82 years old, residing in Ho Chi Minh City) is meticulously classifying each specimen of martyrs' remains to serve professional expertise. Participating in the 500-day and night campaign to promote the search, repatriation and identification of martyrs' remains, in recent days, he has always been on duty side by side with the Repatriation Team of the Ho Chi Minh City Command to perform this sacred task.
Looking at the bone fragments stained with time, the old veteran's eyes turned red: "On the day of departure, you were all strong young men. Now returning, your bodies are only left like this...".
The sacred debt from the battlefield
At the age of 82, Mr. Tran Van Ban (listed on March 25, 1967, unit Battalion 342, Regiment 42, Command 350, also known as Ta Ngan Military Region) still does not allow himself to rest. Returning after the war, he carries memories of a glorious soldier's time and a sacred promise before the battle with his Hai Phong compatriots.
On November 16, 1967, the battalion deployed in Yen Tu mountains and forests straight to Saigon. After three rounds of reinforcements, the number of troops reached about 1,000 people, but by the day of reunification, the entire unit had only about 100 healthy people left.
They stayed in the "iron triangle" area of Cu Chi - Ben Cat - Trang Bang, where the enemy concentrated the most elite divisions such as "Tropical Lightning" or "Red Brothers". In the "beaver's skin" strategy, during the day it belonged to the enemy, at night it belonged to us, the young soldiers had to live underground. Despite enduring continuous shelling, they still persistently stayed at the battlefield without interruption.
Before each battle, the soldiers often chatted, half-jokingly, half-seriously reminding each other: "Whoever is still alive, remember to bring my body back to mother". That simple legacy became a debt that Mr. Ban himself promised to pay with his whole life.
In March 1979, Mr. Ban began his first search trip. At that time, it was still difficult, he took his salary, pedaled his clumsy bicycle from 3 am, traveling 70-80 km to the old battlefield. In some deep ditches, he had to break leaves and tie them into nylon bags to make bicycle lifting buoys and then swim across. "At that time, I was still poor, I had nothing in my luggage except cans of "bo bo", when I left in the afternoon, I forgot to eat and it was spoiled, and I also forgot about being hungry," he recalled with a smile.
Thanks to that perseverance, he found two close compatriots (both born in 1948, native of Vinh Hoa commune, Hai Phong today). The first was martyr Nguyen Ba Hoa, who enlisted in the same unit with Mr. Ban (later sent to the South to belong to Battalion 2, Regiment 268, Subdivision 1, Saigon - Gia Dinh) who sacrificed in 1969. More than a year later, he continued to gather his friend Phung Ba Kien, who fell in 1968 in a raid with the US.
43 martyrs' remains found under a deep well
For decades, Mr. Ban's footprints have contributed to gathering and mapping locations for more than 2,000 martyrs. To date, he has directly brought more than 50 sets of remains to martyrs' families, and invited families to the South to receive about more than 300 sets of martyrs' remains.
In which, the search in May 1994 in Ward 15, Tan Binh district, previously chaired by him, brought 43 sets of remains of martyrs who sacrificed in the Mau Than 1968 battle from 13 deep wells.
In many excavated graves, penicillin vials were found, inside there were still pieces of paper recording information about martyrs, thanks to which, hundreds of martyrs' remains were identified with their names and hometowns to bring back to their families. During the war, every time martyrs were buried, doctor Tran Van Ban always carefully took a penicillin vial containing a piece of paper recording the martyr's name and hometown, put it in the martyr's mouth before burying, so that later the remains would not be lost.
On June 14, 1997, at 9:30 am, the remains number 17 were recovered. At 10:00 am, the remains number 18 were recovered. At 10:30 am, the remains number 19 were recovered, female, wrapped in a hammock... The remains were wearing a black bà ba shirt, a heart-shaped collar, long hair still intact, in the hair bun there was a three-leaf clamp, a broken skull, and a 24-inch gold ring of about 5 cm, branded My Kim 7", excerpted from Mr. Ban's notebook.
Sharing about his long journey, Dr. Tran Van Ban choked up and shared: "For more than 40 years, I have never forgotten you. I have never allowed myself to rest when my comrades are still lying on the old battlefield, not yet returning to their homeland. Now, I try to connect more with the community and the young generation, hoping the journey to bring you home will be faster, sooner. You are still waiting for us...".
Not only going back and forth searching for the figures of the old people under the cold ground, the old doctor and Hai Phong veterans of the past also joined hands to warm the living. They unite to help each other develop the economy, build gratitude shelters, contribute to building a monument to the martyrs of Cat Bi Battalion in Tay Ninh province and regularly organize medical examinations and free medicine distribution for poor people in the old war zone.
For Mr. Ban and his comrades who were lucky enough to go through bombs and bullets, that is the only way for them to express gratitude to those who fell: "We being able to survive and return is already a great happiness. Therefore, every soldier today tells themselves to live worthy of the comrades who sacrificed, worthy of the luck they are receiving.
Now, when the old soldiers, the youngest of whom is 75 years old, the old captain is 91 years old, Mr. Ban is still worried when the terrain changes, the old trail has become a highway, if they fall, the generation born after peace will not know the way to the old battlefield. But seeing satellite images, digital technology and DNA technology being applied in this campaign, the old doctor shone with a strong belief that science will replace their generation, continuing to fulfill the oath of bringing all the remaining comrades back to their beloved motherland.
