Writing from Quang Tri…

… Finally, our (me and the Liaison Committee of the veterans of 16^th Company, 27^th Regiment) campaign to raise money to help people in flooded areas in Quang Tri province ended. More than 200 households in Phuong Ngan, Ha My, Bich Khe and Trieu hamlets (including 75 meritorious families and victims of Agent Orange) in Trieu Long, Trieu Phong, Quang Tri communes have received relief money from the kind-hearted individuals.

More than 100 million dong in cash that people received on October 30^th, 2020 at the Temple of 2500 martyrs of the 27^th Regiment is the savings donated by students of class 4G, Quang Trung Primary School, Hoan Kiem District (Hanoi City) to help their peers in the flooded areas. It is also the money extracted from the allowance of many wounded and sick soldiers and 20 victims of Agent Orange who are day and night facing sickness and disease because of war wounds in the post-war period such as: Nguyen Thanh Nhi, Dao Ba Dong, Pham Duc Ngoc, Vu Van Cuong, Vu Phi Dinh, Tran Huy Lieu, Le Van Linh... in Quang Ninh province; the donation of Ta Duc Thang (Ha Long city, Quang Ninh province) who is a veteran, an AO victim – and a level-2-invalid.; the sincere heart of veteran Duong Duc Minh (Thai Thuy district, Thai Binh province) whose 5 dead children were victims of Agent Orange, etc.

Those are the money earned by the hard work of tri-cyclers during the Covid -19 pandemic season of my teammates – the veterans who are struggling in everyday life because they are entitled to no allowance after war.

I feel so sorry for the lives of the veterans who do not have enough food to eat, enough clothes to wear but still accompany me on this volunteer trip for the flood-hit central region in the stormy season. So, don\'t call them \"philanthropists\". Let\'s call them \"kind-hearted persons\" who spared their hard-earned money for the more miserable compatriots.

I cried while writing this in Dong Ha city, Quang Tri on a cold rainy day. The rain was not heavy, but due to the long-lasting tropical depression, my heart sank. Memories of the war 48 years ago recalled intact in my melancholy and sentimental person...

That day, also the time these days, the sky of Quang Tri was gray as lead. The long rainy days made me suddenly miss my homeland, my mother, my father, my loved ones. I felt as sad as doom. We sat down in the rain along the trenches on the \"posts\" of An Long 1, Ha My, Bich La Dong, Bich La Trung, Bich La Nam, Cho Sai, and Bich Khe (Trieu Long commune, Trieu Phong commune) waiting to return the unscheduled attacks of the enemy Marine Division. Life and death are only a few inches apart.

Nguyen van A

In the memory of the past, I suddenly remembered the words of Quy - my teammate, before his death: \"If, unfortunately, I die tomorrow, just inform my parents!\" Quy died three days later together with two other comrades in a US B52 bomb raid on Phuong Ngan village, while I and the 5^th anti-aircraft-gun-team of 3^rd Platoon, 16^th Company, and 27th Regiment were on duty on the field of Phuong Ngan village. This is where I and the 5^th gun team fought hundreds of battles with the US Air Force from June 1972 to January 1973 and shot down 2 aircraft (me, personally, shot down an A7a).

At this battlefield, at 15:00 on January 15, 1973, after shooting down an enemy aircraft to protect the Headquarters and the 27^th Regiment\'s forward surgery station in Bo Lieu village, a bomb fell on the battlefield and exploded, killing 5 cadres and soldiers of 5^th gun team – just 13 days before the Paris Peace Accord came into effect...

Until now, no one knows that among the 5 martyrs of the 5^th gun team who died on the afternoon of January 15, 1973, there was a Hanoi named Nguyen Khac Binh, who had fallen in love with one of his teachers. Before his death, Binh wrote a letter to the teacher that has now become a sacred keepsake of the deceased. Since his death, the teacher has set up an altar at her house to worship for him. Their affection and gratitude for each other are so precious. This is such a typical and legendary behavior of the 20^th-century-generations in war!

We left Quang Tri for Hanoi on a coach. Another sleepless night came to me on the trans-Viet journey along the North Central provinces to return to our families.

Goodbye my beloved Quang Tri! Goodbye the people of Phuong Ngan village which I have long considered my second hometown where 8 of my comrades sacrificed and rested in peace. Goodbye the AO victims with soulless eyes, sudden laugh and scream of pain in Phuong Ngan village.

Storms and floods will pass, a new life will be revived by the hard work of the people in Quang Tri. Only the Agent Orange pain is still bleeding through the years. This pain reminds us not to forget the past. Lest us be \"insensitive\" to the Agent Orange pain that has persisted in this country for nearly 60 years!

I regret that I couldn’t do more to repay for the gratitude that I think I am indebted to. I will definitely return to my beloved Phuong Ngan village. This is my oath of honor – from the heart of a veteran – an Uncle Ho\'s soldier !

My sincere thanks to veteran - war invalid Ha Van Hai, a person who once \"clinically died\" in the hospital due to recurrent injuries, and Ha Quang Real Estate Company; to the veterans of the 16^th Company and the veterans of the 27^th Regiment; to the generous hearts of collectives, individuals and veteran Doan Luyen, General Director of Trading Company No. 1 (Quang Tri), for your contribution and joint effort for people in Quang Tri - a poor land bearing the two ends of the country that has been struggling with the heavy consequences of the floods in October 2020!./.