Sau Mung’s pain

His name is Nguyen Van Mung (his neighbors often call him by the intimate name Sau Mung). He is now 60 years old, married with Mrs. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Tham. They have 4 daughters. His family currently lives in Nhon Cau neighborhood, Tan Khanh ward, Tan An city, Long An province. He joined the army and participated in international duty in Cambodia in 1985. In early 1988, he was assigned to Regiment 250, Division 309, a field station in Batttambang province, bordering Thailand. There, in addition to the "harsh terrain conditions", a potential danger came from the remnants of the Khmer Rouge who planted toad mines, leaf mines and sprayed poison into the streams to kill Vietnamese voluntary soldiers. In the dry season, water was nowhere to be found, and water was so scarce that soldiers considered water more precious than gold. There were times when our troops were on the march, the reserved water ran out, our soldiers had to drink water in the hollows of trees or found the trunks of trees to find water. Whether they drank water or washed their face, they were prone to malignant malaria. Many people died because of this dangerous epidemic. Another harsh thing was that no one knew what disease they had, there are times when many people had their balls swollen as big as tennis balls, making it very difficult for them to walk. Mung also suffered from malignant malaria and was almost dead.

Tuyet Hanh son Sau Mung^,s

By the end of 1987, as being promptly transferred to 7A Hospital for treatment, after more than 4 months, he recovered from a severe attack of malaria. When he returned home, he was very thin with pale skin, like a skeleton. At that time, his family was too poor, and he was tormented by malignant fever, so he ignored all and did not contact the old unit to get proofs for benefiting from favorable policies. By 2020, he has not yet received a lump-sum allowance under Decision 62/2011/QĐ-TTg of the Prime Minister. This is his suffering, because he does not have enough proofs to enjoy the regimes and policies as prescribed.

Mung said: 3 out of his four comrades don’t have happy life after returning from Army. In 1988, 1989, and 1990, two other people had their children died prematurely. Mung and his wife have a child named Nguyen Thi Tuyet Hanh, born in 1988 with deformities at birth. At birth, the girl weighed over 3kg, but her body did not develop normally. She had to live a vegetative state for the past 32 years. She now weighs about 15-16 kg, but all her personal activities are depended on family members. She is suspected with sequelae of Agent Orange. Currently, Hanh receives social protection allowance of 540,000 VND/month and her caregiver, Mrs. Tham, receives an allowance of 270,000.00 VND/month. Particularly, their oldest daughter, Nguyen Thi Anh Hong (born in 1985) was killed in the notorious Cau Voi Post Office homicide, Nhi Thanh commune, Thu Thua district, Long An province (aka Ho Duy Hai case, happened in 2008). Anh Hong finished high school, then worked in Long An post office (Cau Voi Post Office) for about 2 years until the tragic murder happened. When alive, Hong was the breadwinner of the family. Since her death, many burdens have followed, making the family even more difficult!

It is noteworthy that Mung was not active in the resistance war during the period from 1961 to 1971, and he was not in the battlefields of South Vietnam either. Rather, his unit was stationed in the remote forests with bombs, mines and toxic chemicals dropped by remnants of the Khmer Rouge into streams to kill Vietnamese voluntary soldiers. It is suggested that the military policy-making authorities need to study cases like Mr. Sau Mung: Vietnamese soldiers being contaminated with toxic chemicals during their international duty in Cambodia. It is necessary to coordinate with Cambodian authorities to grasp the actual situation during the time the Vietnamese voluntary troops were on international duty; uphold responsibility, actively research and propose to the Party and State to promulgate appropriate policies for cases like Mr. Sau Mung.

Pain after pain when Mung himself still has a persistent viral fever, Tuyet Hanh was deformed due to the effect of toxic chemicals, and his first daughter, Anh Hong, was massacred. Perhaps this is the family that suffers the most among the miserable families…

Saying goodbye to Mung, I looked deep into his eyes and saw sadness and hopelessness which may come from the incremental pain of him and his family. Such a long lasting pain!