The wedding had enough betel and areca nuts, ceremonies but lacked two main characters. The two families welcomed the bride and groom with portraits of the two martyrs. Witnesses were their relatives and former comrades.
Spring on the border and the promise of a hundred years
Po Hen, which was once a fierce and dangerous battlefield during the war to protect the northern border in 1979. Here, there are people who were not born on the same day but share the same death anniversary in the same spring. That land is where the unfinished love story of two martyrs, female trader Hoang Thi Hong Chiem and border guard sergeant Bui Anh Luong, was witnessed.
According to Mr. Hoang Ngoc Khuong (younger brother of martyr Hoang Thi Hong Chiem), his older sister was born in 1954, in village 4, Binh Ngoc commune, Mong Cai district (now Mong Cai city). Hoang Thi Hong Chiem was a fair-skinned, agile, resourceful, polite girl, so she was loved by many people in the village. She loved her younger brother very much, wherever she went, she would save something to bring back for her younger brother at home.
Mr. Khuong shared that his sister loves reading books, because in the past she could not afford to buy them so she had to borrow them. Many times when she found a good book, Mr. Khuong's sister would copy it down as a souvenir.
"Back then, my sister would read any paper with writing on it, especially poems in books and newspapers. Writing a diary was also her hobby and her handwriting was very beautiful," he said.
Chiem had once increased her age to join the army and was a soldier of Regiment 8, Military Region 3. In 1975, the young girl changed careers to work at the Mong Cai district trading cooperative, then was transferred to work as a trader at the Po Hen commercial cluster, near the 209 Armed Police Station (now the Po Hen Border Guard Station). At that time, Ms. Chiem often traveled 30km of forest roads to deliver goods to the high point of the border.
In Po Hen, she met and fell in love with Sergeant Bui Anh Luong (from Yen Hai commune, Yen Hung district, now Quang Yen town), a mass mobilization officer of the Armed Police station.
They met each other through art performances and volleyball games. Love came to them in the most simple way on the front line, where any day could be the last day they see each other.
And on the morning of February 17, 1979, the border war broke out. Both of them joined forces to protect every inch of their homeland and then heroically sacrificed their lives when Chiem was only 25 years old and Luong was 26 years old.
Wish come true
According to Mr. Hoang Nhu Ly (a comrade of the two martyrs Chiem and Luong), both of them sacrificed themselves but their love still lives on. He recalled that on February 5, 1979, Chiem and Luong asked him to accompany them to meet the station chief Vu Ngoc Mai to ask for permission to return home to take care of their wedding. However, the situation at the border was complicated, so the two of them postponed the wedding to stay with their comrades.
"On the morning of February 17, 1979, Po Hen station was shelled by Chinese troops, war broke out, and both Chiem and Luong died while their wishes were still unfulfilled," Mr. Ly said with a choked voice.
With his heart full of sorrow for his comrades’ unfinished business, Mr. Ly initiated the search for the families of the two martyrs to organize an unprecedented wedding ceremony. Thinking and doing, in August 2017, after connecting, the families of martyrs Chiem and Luong met again.
On August 6, 2017, a special wedding took place in Quang Ninh, with the wedding procession from Ha Long to Mong Cai. It was the wedding of two martyrs Bui Van Luong and Hoang Thi Hong Chiem.
The wedding had enough betel and areca nuts, ceremonies but lacked two main characters. The two families welcomed the bride and groom with portraits of the two martyrs. Witnesses were their relatives and former comrades.
The groom's family brought the portrait of martyr Luong to the bride's family and placed it next to the portrait of martyr Chiem on the altar. At the same time, they also brought the portrait of martyr Chiem back to Ha Long.
Since then, the two families have had new members, and the wishes of the two martyrs have been fulfilled. Mr. Hoang Ngoc Khuong is in charge of worshipping his sister and her husband in Mong Cai, while Mr. Bui Van Huy (martyr Luong's real brother) worships his younger brother and his wife in Ha Long City.
During holidays, the two families still meet each other, and death anniversaries are also celebrated together to add to the affection...
In Mong Cai City, there is a school named after martyr Chiem. In the school yard, a statue of her was erected so that everyone could remember and engrave the proud merit of the girl from the border region who heroically sacrificed herself in the fight to protect the country.
Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/cuoc-chien-dau-bao-ve-bien-gioi-phia-bac-dam-cuoi-khong-co-co-dau-chu-re-2370781.html
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