Hanoi 40 veterans of Station 33 of Lai Chau People's Armed Police, now Ma Lu Thang Border Guard Station, Lai Chau Border Guard, reunited on February 17.
"At this time, on this day 45 years ago, the war was the fiercest in the military career of my comrades sitting here," Lieutenant Colonel Le Anh Nam, former Chief of the Ma Lu Thang Border Guard Station, opened the reunion. This was the second time since 2019 that old soldiers from all over the province gathered. They observed a moment of silence, paying tribute to their comrades who fell in February 1979 across the northern border.
In 1979, Post 33 was stationed in Ma Li Pho commune, Phong Tho district, managing more than 40 km of border with China. According to Lieutenant Colonel Nam, at dawn that day, only he and political commissar Pham Truc, who had participated in the resistance war against the US, had experience holding guns; the rest of the post was fighting hand-to-hand for the first time. However, they still repelled many attacks by two battalions of Chinese troops.
After half a day of holding off the enemy, Post 33 received orders to retreat to the rear, cross the Nam Na River to find a way to Phong Tho district to consolidate its forces. 14 officers and soldiers were killed on February 17, 1979, and 4 others died a month later. After the war, the post was awarded the title of Heroic Unit of the People's Armed Forces.
Veterans of Post 33 Ma Lu Thang (Lai Chau) reunited in Hanoi on the morning of February 17. Photo: Hoang Phuong
That year, Colonel Ha Ngoc Liem, former Director of Logistics, Border Guard Command, lost two relatives. When the war broke out, he belonged to the Finance - Logistics Department of Lai Chau People's Armed Police, and received orders to reinforce weapons and logistics for Post 33. On the way, he met his brothers and comrades with dirty faces resting on the bank of a stream after crossing 40 km of river and forest to retreat after the battle.
"I have kept that image in my mind for the past 45 years, to remind myself not to forget the war. It was the fiercest battle of Lai Chau Border Guards in 45 years, and also a glorious page in the history of Ma Lu Thang Post," he said. Every time he returns to Lai Chau, he goes to Ma Lu Thang and Dao San to burn incense for his comrades and stands silently before the stone steles bearing the words "died in February 1979".
In addition to the veterans, there were also relatives and families of martyrs. Meeting many comrades who fought with her husband for the first time, Mrs. Nguyen Thi Duong was moved to recall old stories. Her husband - People's Armed Forces Hero, martyr Nguyen Van Hien was wounded in the battle on February 17, 1979, but still stuck to the battlefield without retreating and died. His remains have not been found to this day.
Lieutenant Colonel Le Anh Nam (right), former Chief of Station 33 Ma Lu Thang of Lai Chau People's Armed Police, talks with his comrades about the battle on February 17, 1979. Photo: Hoang Phuong
Martyr Hien died without knowing that she would soon have another daughter after her two sons, aged 6 and 4. After 49 days of caring for him, teacher Duong also found out that she was pregnant, and gave birth to her youngest daughter in October of the same year. After her husband died, the 28-year-old widow returned to Dien Bien to teach, supporting her family of four with her teacher's salary. The widow and orphan went through the years of subsidy, struggling to make ends meet, but Mrs. Duong never complained.
In the following years, the border had not completely stopped firing as battles continued to break out across the border of Lang Son and Ha Giang. Martyr Hien's former comrades occasionally stopped by Dien Bien to visit Mrs. Duong and her three children. When her eldest son Nguyen Viet Hung wanted to join the border guards to follow in his father's footsteps, she agreed immediately because she respected her son's wishes and wanted more opportunities to find her husband's remains.
But after 45 years, on the anniversary of martyr Hien's death, the family still burned incense on the wind grave located in the yard of the house in Thieu Long commune, Thieu Hoa district, Thanh Hoa. Two years ago, for the first time, the retired teacher was able to visit the Ma Lu Thang border post, where her husband used to work.
Retired teacher Nguyen Thi Duong, wife of People's Armed Forces Hero and martyr Nguyen Hien, came from Thanh Hoa to Hanoi to attend the meeting. Photo: Hoang Phuong
After the war, most of the station members stayed to continue protecting the border, a few were demobilized and returned to do business. The veterans returned to Ma Lu Thang many times to search for the remains of their comrades and bring them back to their hometowns for burial and to call for donations to build memorial houses for those who died.
According to Lieutenant Colonel Nam, today's reunion was only attended by one-third of the station's troops that year, but everyone cherished it "because we don't know who will be left in five years." The memorial stele for the heroic martyrs of Ma Li Pho has been upgraded and is being cared for by generations of officers and soldiers currently working. What he is most concerned about is that some of his comrades still cannot return to their homeland because their remains have not been found.
On the morning of February 17, 1979, more than 600,000 Chinese troops launched a total attack on six Vietnamese border provinces: Lang Son, Cao Bang, Lao Cai, Lai Chau, Ha Giang, and Quang Ninh. China announced its withdrawal on March 18 of the same year, but for the next 10 years, the northern border has not stopped firing. Tens of thousands of civilians, soldiers, and police have sacrificed their lives in the war to protect the Fatherland.
Hoang Phuong
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