The house of the Vietnamese Heroic Mother Trinh Thi Vu is nestled in a small, peaceful, rustic alley in Mau Thinh village, Ba Dinh commune. The house in the historic July days always has a faint scent of incense smoke. It is understandable, because in the days when the whole country respectfully pays tribute to those who have contributed, the longing for her husband and son comes flooding back to the intermittent memory of the 103-year-old wife and mother who has spent more than half a century longing to find and welcome her son back!
Officers of the Cultural Department of Ba Dinh Commune talked and encouraged Heroic Vietnamese Mother Trinh Thi Vu.
At over a hundred years old, of course, Vu's mother's health has worn out like her life's memories. Her hearing is no longer clear, her face is sad and she rarely talks or laughs, and she can't remember many things clearly. However, every time she mentions her husband and her only son who sacrificed for the survival of their homeland and country, she remembers very clearly. It seems that those are all the "assets" of life that she saved, collected, and kept for herself in a life of hardship.
Heroic Vietnamese mother Trinh Thi Vu talks about her husband and children through patchwork memories.
Looking up at the altar, there was no portrait, only two certificates of merit from the Fatherland, the mother said: “My husband was a frontline laborer, he died when I had just given birth to my second son, about 7 months old. The pain was compounded when the second child also fell ill and passed away. But because of Hoi - my eldest son, now my only child, I suppressed my pain to work hard in the hope of raising him to be a good person.
Then, at the age of 17, Hoi secretly wrote a volunteer application to join the army. The day he left, I couldn’t bear it, but he said: “I’m joining the army to protect the Fatherland and avenge my father”... I felt like my heart was breaking, I held back my pain to see him off. And from that time on, Hoi left and never came back.”
The day my son left, I couldn't bear it, but he said: 'I'm joining the army to protect the Fatherland and avenge my father'... I felt like my heart was breaking, I held back my pain to see him off. And from that time on, Hoi left and never returned.
The stories Vu's mother told about her husband and son had no beginning or end... Those were fragmented memories that she remembered after her heartbreak.
Vu's mother's husband was martyr Hoang Van Hoi (1922-1952) - a frontline laborer who participated in transporting food for the Dien Bien Phu campaign, and died in the Quan Hoa district (old), Thanh Hoa province. Following his father's footsteps, at the age of 17, his mother's only son, martyr Hoang Van Hoi (1950-1969), volunteered to go to war and heroically died on the southern front.
In 2008, in recognition of her mother's great sacrifices and losses, mother Trinh Thi Vu was awarded the title of Vietnamese Heroic Mother by the State.
After her son died, Vu's mother lived alone in a house stained with time, with memories that never rested. She always kept the certificate of merit from the Fatherland and the death certificate of her husband and son as the most sacred souvenirs of her life. Understanding the pain and great loss of her sister, Vu's mother's younger sister agreed to bring her young son, Hoang Van Binh (then 9 years old), to live with her uncle to have more people and more reputation.
And because of the affection, love, and respect for the woman who silently sacrificed for her homeland and country, that nephew became a son, loving and taking care of Vu's mother with the true sense of duty of a son.
Mr. Hoang Van Binh loves and takes care of Vu's mother with the true sense of duty of a son.
Mr. Binh shared: "I love my mother like my own mother, so I have lived with her since I was a child. My mother is a disadvantaged person, but she has never lacked my care and attention, so I am willing to spend my whole life loving and caring for her. My wife and children also respect and care for my mother like their own mother, grandmother, or great-grandmother."
For Mr. Binh, the first days of living with Vu's mother were difficult days, because in the face of great losses, she was no longer conscious, every day was soaked in tears. Mr. Binh confided: "After Mr. Hoi passed away, Vu's mother went crazy. During the day, she quietly went to work in the fields, but at night she just hugged the mementos of her husband and son and cried. The Lunar New Year days of many years after that, when the whole family gathered together, were the days when she was most painful and depressed. There were years when my mother hugged the mementos of her husband and son and cried, from early morning until New Year's Eve... At that time, I was still young, I could not fully feel this pain, but later I understood, my mother had steadfastly overcome the pain, tried to move forward in life and devoted that affection to loving and taking care of me. So I love my mother even more, she is the motivation, the example for me and my children to follow, to devote our efforts to the Fatherland".
At that time, I was still young and could not fully feel this pain, but later I understood that my mother had steadfastly overcome the pain, tried to move forward in life and devoted that affection to loving and taking care of me. So I love my mother even more, she is the motivation and example for me and my children to follow, to devote ourselves to the Fatherland.
It is known that for many years after the day of peace, mother Trinh Thi Vu and her family and relatives coordinated with agencies, units and localities to search for the grave of martyr Hoang Van Hoi but there was no information.
“For decades, every year on the anniversary of your death and the anniversary of War Invalids and Martyrs Day (July 27), my mother lit incense and called out to you, missing you as if you were present in this family. And there were many nights when my mother cried alone. In her dreams, she still asked, “Hoi, where are you? If you are sacred, please tell me in your dreams so I can bring you back to your homeland, to your family and relatives,” Mr. Binh shared.
Heroic Vietnamese Mother Trinh Thi Vu still yearns to find and bring the grave of her only son - Martyr Hoang Van Hoi back to his hometown Ba Dinh.
In these historic days of July, we learn to slow down, calm our hearts to contemplate gratitude and sacrifice. How much we appreciate the mothers who have distilled their pain into life's essence and here - in the story of Vu's mother, we can see how beautiful this life is when there are people like Binh who have voluntarily replaced his father's generation - have devoted their youth to peace, becoming children with their mothers.
This is also the story that we will return to in the last article of the series, in a peaceful place in the mountains. And next will be another story.
Le Hoa
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Lesson 4: Mother is a village teacher, villagers call her "Mother Thanh"
Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/ky-uc-cua-me-bai-3-17-tuoi-hoi-giau-toi-viet-don-tinh-nguyen-len-duong-nhap-ngu-roi-di-mai-khong-ve-254685.htm
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