Steps of gratitude to the sacred land of Quang Tri
In the July days, Quang Tri is scorching hot, but people from all over the country still flock here. Not only is it a journey to revisit the old battlefield of veterans, Quang Tri also welcomes tens of thousands of hearts of mothers and sisters who are looking for relatives, and also young children who want to understand more about the value of peace.
Touching footsteps of pilgrims to the red address
In mid-July, the atmosphere at Quang Tri Citadel is sacred and contemplative. The number of people flocking here is increasing, delegations of veterans with many medals on their chests, relatives of martyrs and a large number of students quietly line up to offer flowers and incense in front of the central memorial.
In that crowd of respectfully bowing people, Nguyen Trang Anh (11 years old, from Hanoi) quietly looked at each bridge bank and corner of the grass.
Ms. Tran Thi Trang - Trang Anh's mother said that she took advantage of her child's summer vacation to take the whole family to Quang Tri, combining sightseeing with a gratitude journey. Ms. Trang believes that this is the most profound visual education about the tradition of "When drinking water, remember the source". The trip is even more emotional when her family also has relatives who are martyrs resting at Trieu Phong Martyrs' Cemetery, only a few kilometers from Quang Tri Citadel.
During the war, Quang Tri became a "low note" in the hearts of tourists from all directions. Ms. Ly Thi Van (tourist from Hanoi City) teared up when standing in front of the Thach Han River: "If you have fallen into this earth, today the country will have peace. Every time I set foot in Quang Tri, my heart throbs with boundless gratitude.
Many families have considered Quang Tri as a place to return to periodically in July. Like Mrs. Bui Ngoc Mai's family (from Hai Phong city) for the past 5 years, every July 27th anniversary, her whole family arranges to offer incense at the National Martyrs' Cemetery of Road 9. Every time, Mrs. Mai comes to the front of the main ceremony area to offer incense, and then admire the flocks of doves, hundreds of them flying from their nests towards the Golden Star statue. That peaceful and sacred scene makes Mrs. Mai choked up, even more respecting today's free life.
Hope under the inches of land of Cau Nhi village
In parallel with the flow of people coming to offer incense, Quang Tri in July also witnessed reunions and searches for comrades full of tears and hope.
More than half a century since her cousin's sacrifice, Mrs. Do Thi Thin (residing in Hanoi) is still passionately pursuing martyr Nguyen Van Toan (born 1950, from Duyen Thai commune, Thuong Tin district, former Ha Tay province, now Hanoi). From walking along the Thach Han River more than 30 years ago until now, Mrs. Thin has never lost hope. On this occasion, when entering Quang Tri, she accidentally learned that the Cau Nhi area (Nam Hai Lang commune) was related to her brother's combat unit, and she immediately returned.
Ms. Thin arrived at Cau Nhi right when the Steering Committee for searching, repatriating and identifying martyrs' remains of Quang Tri province organized a seminar to verify information about martyrs and martyrs' graves here. Sitting in the hall with veterans and local people, Ms. Thin listened silently to the heroic page of history.
According to veteran Bui Duc Loc (former soldier of Company 9, Battalion 6), in the early morning of May 26, 1972, the unit organized to cross the river to attack Cau Nhi village when it was suddenly attacked by the enemy with strong firepower, killing about 93 officers and soldiers. To date, veterans have identified more than 80 people. After the battle, the enemy used bulldozers to dig long ditches to collect and bury the bodies of the soldiers in the rice fields and tea gardens.
From 1992 to now, thanks to information from people, functional forces have collected 29 sets of martyrs' remains in the gardens of Bui Huu Tuan, Pham Huu Nghia and Pham Huu Lam households. Notably, among the artifacts found in the period 2024 - 2025, there is a canteen engraved with the symbol "Tuyen" and the number series "170017", thereby identifying the identity of martyr Tran Minh Tuyen (from Thai Binh). This evidence confirms that there are still about 26 to 54 sets of martyrs' remains lying underground in Cau Nhi.
Mrs. Thin choked up: "For decades, I have been everywhere. Today, accidentally coming to Cau Nhi, knowing that you used to fight here, the flame of hope lit again in me.
Sharing about the efforts in the gratitude month, Mr. Le Van Bao - Vice Chairman of Quang Tri Provincial People's Committee emphasized that the locality is focusing all its efforts on implementing gratitude programs, especially the campaign to promote the search and repatriation and take DNA samples to identify martyrs' graves that lack information.
Quang Tri does this task not only with responsibility, but with all its heart. Because on this land that has endured so much pain, there is still a lot of blood and bones of heroic martyrs lying in the heart of the motherland that have not been named" - Mr. Le Van Bao worried.
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