53 years ago (in the rainy season of 1972), the water level of the Ma River rose. Faced with the risk of a broken dike causing flooding, the Thanh Hoa provincial government mobilized emergency forces to reinforce a vulnerable dike section of more than 1km long, from Nam Ngan village to the foot of Ham Rong bridge.
At that time, more than 2,000 people participated in building the dike, mainly teachers, students, and pupils of schools in Dong Son district, Quang Xuong and Thanh Hoa town such as the Medical School, the 7+3 Pedagogical School.
On the morning of June 14, 1972, while the dike construction site was working busily, a US bomb suddenly crashed, killing 64 teachers and students, injuring nearly 300 people and leaving 8 people missing.
To commemorate the teachers and students who sacrificed their lives at the Ma River dike construction site that year, Thanh Hoa province has recently invested in building and completing the Memorial Area, with a total investment of more than 125 billion VND, built on an area of over 2 hectares.
The memorial area includes items such as: a monument to teachers and students about 18m high, sculpted with natural granite; memorial stele; historic boat dock; a space recreating traditional Nam Ngan countryside; arranged art space; lighting system...
After the project was completed, many valuable documents and images about the battle to protect Ham Rong bridge and the fierce bombing of the old dike construction site were displayed at the memorial site.
