Unforgettable coordinates in memory
In the last days of August 2026, Lao Dong Newspaper reporters returned to the family of veteran Nguyen Hong Ha (80 years old, in Tien Lang village, Cam Van commune, Thanh Hoa province), listening to him tell about the years of fighting and the journey to support the search for the remains of comrades from memories more than half a century ago.
In the small house, Mr. Ha carefully spread colored paper with drawings of the marching route, stream, hill, high point, trench... creating special maps. Those are not copies of military documents, but maps recreated from the memories of soldiers who directly fought in the Upper Laos battlefield more than 60 years ago.
On March 26, 1965, when he just turned 19, Mr. Nguyen Hong Ha volunteered to join the army. After a period of training, he was assigned to D923, Đoàn 766 under the 959th Corps of Vietnamese volunteer soldiers, performing international duties in Laos. On the battlefield, he met his older brother Nguyen Van Dao who was working at unit 932. In May 1965, Mr. Ha entered the first battle. More than 60 years have passed, he still remembers a large tree stump in the battlefield, where soldiers dug soil to build fortifications, both to avoid bullets, and to be a combat support and transport ammunition.
In July 1965, in a battle in a steep terrain area, the unit fell into an ambush at a dangerous bend. The squad leader and then the platoon leader died one after another. Food ran out, the survivors had to drink water from bomb craters, starving for 3 days before being ordered to withdraw. Mr. Ha also had his bunker collapsed, buried underground amidst continuous bombs and bullets.
“There were comrades who sacrificed right next to me but could not be brought out. I was also buried. If at that time the brothers thought I had sacrificed, perhaps I would not have had a chance to return alive” - Mr. Ha recounted.
Departure appointment
If Pa Thi is associated with pride, then Na Khang is a painful memory of the old soldier. In the battle at Na Khang airport, his company had 45 soldiers, of which 35 died. Fierce bombs and bullets, making many people no longer intact, some forever lying on the battlefield.
Before the launch, the young soldiers all understood that they might not return. They shared each handful of rice, a potato, telling about their hometown, parents and unfinished plans. "We held hands, promising that whoever was still alive would find and bring the comrades who sacrificed to the motherland of Vietnam" - Mr. Ha recalled.
He himself has also crossed the line of life and death many times. In a battle, he was injured in the arm and abdomen. His brother Nguyen Van Dao and his comrades reinforced him and took him out of the battlefield. Lying on a stretcher, he asked his brother: "I'm so heavy, will I die?". Mr. Dao encouraged: "Remain calm, bringing me to Hospital 951 is okay." Mr. Ha was later rescued, but when his wounds had not healed, he received news that his brother had sacrificed in another battle.
In 1973, he built a family with Mrs. Pham Thi Ly - a female youth volunteer from the same hometown. After the Great Victory of Spring 1975, he returned to his hometown. Life gradually stabilized, 4 children grew up, but the comrades who lay on the other side of the border never left his memory.
The map that brought comrades back
In 2003, during a wedding in the locality, Mr. Ha listened to Lao songs reminiscent of Pa Thi and met Mr. Tran Dai Dinh, who participated in searching for and repatriating martyrs' remains in Laos. Knowing that Mr. Ha had fought in many areas to be searched for, Mr. Dinh requested to provide information. From battlefield memories, Mr. Ha redraws a land area of tens of square kilometers, marking each stream, hill, marching road, battlefield and where comrades sacrificed. Those maps have become an important source of documents to help the Team for Repatriation of Martyrs' Remnants of the Thanh Hoa Provincial Military Command determine the search area, and compare it with relevant dossiers and documents.
Major Tran Dai Dinh - former officer of the Logistics Department, Thanh Hoa Provincial Military Command, who participated in the Repatriation Team in the period 1998-2014 - said that from the information provided by Mr. Ha, the search force has identified many burial locations. In the Pa Thi hill area alone, 10 sets of martyrs' remains were found; in Na Vit and Vieng Xay villages, Hua Phan province, 127 sets of remains were found.
According to his family and documents kept by Mr. Ha, information from his battlefield memories has contributed to helping to repatriate about 140 sets of martyrs' remains through searches. Due to old age, weak health and war sequelae, he could not go directly to Laos, just quietly waiting for news from his hometown. Every time he knew another comrade was found, he felt that the debt of the past was somewhat reduced. "Seeing comrades return with only a handful of bones, tears welled up in my eyes. Very happy, but also very painful. I felt relieved because the soldiers finally returned to their motherland" - Mr. Ha said emotionally.
