The journey of restoring thousands of portraits of martyrs by a young man

Phung Quang Trung (far right) and the Skyline group visited the martyr's family and presented a reconstructed portrait of one of the 64 martyrs who sacrificed their lives on Gac Ma Island to protect the sacred independence and sovereignty of the Fatherland. (Photo: VNA)

From 2021 to present, Phung Quang Trung (Hai Duong) and a group of young people restoring Skyline photos have restored thousands of portraits of martyrs in Hai Duong and many provinces and cities.

This activity is completely non-profit, stemming from gratitude to those who sacrificed their blood for the independence and freedom of the Fatherland.

The journey of restoring more than 6,000 photos

Born in 1996, Trung loves photography and photo editing. In 2021, during the COVID-19 quarantine, he accidentally learned about the situation of a martyr's family in Nghe An who had been anxious for years just to have a photo to commemorate their son.

Trung decided to learn photo restoration techniques to give to his family. This first photo opened a meaningful journey.

When Trung shared his idea, journey of restoring and sharing photos of martyrs with the photo editing community on social networks, the story quickly went viral, attracting the attention of many people.

Messages from martyrs' families everywhere kept coming in. Many young people with the same passion also wanted to join hands and contribute.

Trung founded the Skyline group, gathering like-minded people, guiding them from technique to how to convey the "soul" in each photo.

Skyline group presents reconstructed portraits of martyrs to their families in Ha Tinh. (Photo: VNA)

As the team leader, Trung is very careful in selecting members. “For me, team members must share the same idea and pursue the noble ideal of gratitude to the end, to ensure that the completed photos have the most soul, so that the martyrs' families will feel close and loved when looking at them. There are some who, when they first joined, did not have much knowledge in this field, but thanks to their determination, they overcame difficulties and were equipped with more experience and knowledge."

After receiving information about the martyrs, Skyline gathered them, put them into the data management system, and then assigned tasks to everyone. Trung took on the difficult photos himself.

Over three years, the group has restored about 6,000 photos of martyrs, a number far exceeding their initial expectations. “Each case is a special story and each story is touching,” Trung shared.

Up to this point, the farthest place the group has set foot on the project journey is Con Dao, bringing the portrait of heroine Vo Thi Sau to Hang Duong cemetery.

When the group brought the portrait of Ms. Sau to the grave, many people attended the ceremony and were very moved. Currently, the portrait is hung in the memorial house of the heroine, a special honor for the group.

During that special journey of gratitude, there was a story that Phung Quang Trung could not forget. One night at the end of October 2024, while driving the group back from Lao Cai after implementing a project to support flash flood victims in Nu village, Trung received a special message. It was a message from a representative of a martyr's family in Bac Giang, earnestly asking for help for a critically ill Vietnamese Heroic Mother.

On her deathbed, Mother kept calling out the name of her fallen son. Contacting Trung, the family earnestly hoped to have a photo of mother and son reunited to give to Mother.

Although he was tired after the long trip, Trung could not refuse his family's request. Trung stayed up all night, tried his best to finish the work and sent the photos to his family immediately.

Phung Quang Trung (top row, far right) and the Skyline group visited his family and presented Vietnamese Heroic Mother Nguyen Thi Ngach with a photo simulating a reunion dinner with her two sons. (Photo: VNA)

Not long after, Trung received the news: The photo was like a miracle, helping his mother gradually recover, eat, talk, and walk again. Hearing the news, all of Trung's fatigue disappeared and Trung suddenly realized that what he had just done was not simply a photo anymore but a source of life for his martyr mother. On the recent Tet At Ty, the family held a birthday celebration for his mother.

Witnessing the joy of the martyrs’ relatives when receiving the photos, Trung felt more deeply the meaning of his work. “Many people were moved to say that to their families, the photo was a priceless gift. As for me, being given that gift was a great happiness,” Trung shared.

Fueling the volunteer journey

Besides the cases selected by the Skyline group thanks to "fate," Phung Quang Trung and his colleagues also accompanied agencies and units in many provinces and cities such as Hai Duong, Hanoi, Phu Yen, Nghe An, Ha Tinh... in a number of large-scale projects.

In 2024, Hai Duong Provincial Youth Union coordinated with Skyline to organize the programs "Hai Duong - Day of Return" and "Thanh Mien - Day of Return," restoring 220 photos of martyrs and handing them to the families.

Recalling this project, Trung could not hide his emotion: "The most difficult thing for us was that there were cases where there was no photo documentation. The group could only rely on the age of the martyr when he joined the army, and descriptions from relatives to sketch and edit to make it as close as possible to the family's imagination."

This connection not only helps the group implement the project more quickly and effectively, but also through this, many meaningful gifts are given to the families of martyrs. "This is a great source of encouragement for the group. We are not alone on this journey," Trung confided.

Looking back over the past 3 years, Trung feels lucky to have the support of his family, the love of the community, and the support of people in the profession. However, the biggest concern for Trung and his team right now is still resources.

Currently, in addition to the non-profit photo restoration project, the group still accepts photo restoration requests to generate income to cover expenses. Cooperating with other units is also a way for the group to contribute to larger-scale projects. Trung affirmed: "We always maintain the motto: focus on quality, not quantity. With each photo, we put a lot of effort into it."

Trung shared that after pursuing this job for over 3 years, he and his team have received thousands of messages from families of martyrs all over the country. The country has millions of martyrs, and there are still many families that need help.

Trung and Skyline's journey continues and we are glad that this work is now receiving more and more support from the community and society.

While adding qualified personnel, the team has been actively researching and applying artificial intelligence to improve the quality of photo restoration. "AI helps us improve accuracy and optimize the process, but passion and heart are still the most important factors," Trung shared.

Phung Quang Trung is one of 10 outstanding individuals to receive the National Volunteer Award in 2024. (Photo: VNA)

Phung Quang Trung is one of 10 individuals who won the National Volunteer Award in 2024 and is currently one of 19 nominees for the Outstanding Young Vietnamese Faces Award in 2024 by the Central Committee of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union.

Some of the major projects that Trung and the Skyline group have completed include: Restoring and presenting over 500 photos of martyrs on the occasion of July 27, 2022 and July 27, 2023; Restoring and presenting photos of Heroic Martyr Vo Thi Sau at Hang Duong Cemetery, Con Dao (Ba Ria-Vung Tau); Restoring and presenting photos of 10 female youth volunteers who sacrificed at Dong Loc intersection, Ha Tinh and 13 martyrs at Truong Bon, Nghe An; Coordinating the restoration of 65 photos of heroic martyrs of Saigon Special Forces, currently on display at the Saigon-Gia Dinh Special Forces Museum; Supporting the restoration of photos and finding the prototype of the boy Luom in the work "Luom" by poet To Huu; Coordinating with the Dien Bien Phu Historical Victory Museum to restore 30 portraits of Heroes of the People's Armed Forces to present to the museum...

In particular, the group also completed a major project after 2 years of incubation: Restoring portraits of 64 officers and soldiers who heroically sacrificed at Gac Ma Island, visiting some families and sending all memorial photos to the families of the martyrs.

With the project “Welcoming you back to your homeland,” the group has restored for free and given special priority to nearly 50 martyrs across the country to have their remains returned to their homeland./.

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/hanh-trinh-phuc-dung-hang-nghin-buc-anh-chan-dung-liet-sy-cua-chang-trai-tre-post1019491.vnp