(VOVworld) – Every July, streams of people flock to the Truong Son Martyrs’ Cemetery in the war-torn central province of Quang Tri , where tens of thousands of martyrs are resting in peace. Among them are snowy-haired veterans who visit the tombs of their comrades. Others are the wives, the children of the martyrs and the pilgrims who only want to burn incense and pay floral tributes to fallen combatants who sacrificed their lives for national independence and freedom.

Truong Son Martyrs’ Cemetery is located at Ben Tat Hill in Vinh Truong commune, Gio Linh district of Quang Tri province. This is a major work to show the gratitude and honor of the Vietnamese state, army, and people to those who died in the name of national liberation and reunification.

Although the cemetery was designed to accommodate 33,000 graves of soldiers, to date only about 13,000 remains have been found

Major-general Luong Sy Nhung, former commander of the Truong Son multi-battalion, the forerunner of the 559 Army Corps, said that after the Paris Peace Agreement was signed in January 1973, the Corps, led by Lieutenant - General Dong Sy Nguyen, built a graveyard and carried out the search and gathering of the remains of the martyrs who had laid down their lives along the Truong Son Mountain Range. The construction was begun in October 1975 and completed one and a half years later, according to Major-general Nhung: “The cemetery was initially designed to accommodate 33,000 graves of soldiers who died during the resistance war against American invaders. Since the programming, the cemetery was divided into different zones by provinces. On the left are the graves of heroic martyrs and unspecified martyrs while the graves of soldiers from central provinces like Quang Tri and Quang Binh are laid out on the right. The cemetery is well located in geographical and geomantic terms. It looks like a flying eagle. There is a big lake in front of the cemetery. According to statistics, more than 33,000 personnel of the Truong Son armed forces sacrificed their lives in battle there, and nearly 13,000 remains have been found. The remainder are still missing or lost to bombs, mines, or torrential rains.”

Truong Son Martyrs’ cemetery is home to more than 10,000 martyrs, boys and girls in their 20s. They laid down their lives over 6,000 days to construct and maintain the Truong Son Trail. Covering an area of 140,000 square meters, the graves are divided into 10 major zones in which the memorial area is situated at the center of the hill at 32 meters height from the gate.

One of six embossings featurs typical images of the arms that made up Truong Son armed forces

Six embossings are engraved on monoliths featuring typical images of the arms that made up the Truong Son armed forces who were famous for the motto "Build roads to advance, fight the enemy to travel." The memorial monument is tiled with white stones, behind which a big Bodhi tree casts a shadow all year round. Paved walkways in the cemetery are made with bricks or cement and interspersed with flower-beds. Each of the provinces or cities cemeteries has a memorial with subtle architectural imagery representing the region. Major-general Nhung said:“The design, planning, construction, and management of the cemetery are conducted by Truong Son armed forces personnel. The martyrs’ graves here are interred and taken care of by their comrades, who also fought in the Truong Son battles. To date, we still continue to find the remains of the martyrs in the forests of the Truong Son Mountain Range and Laos and retrieve them to rest in peace in the graveyard.”

Since the programming, the cemetery was divided into different zones by provinces

Every year, the cemetery receives more than 4 million delegations of people who come to pay tribute. Colonel Nguyen Gia Cam, a veteran of the Army Corps 559, said that over the past 20 years he has visited the cemetery to burn incense for his companions. Cam noted that many of the martyrs who are lying in the cemetery had been his close friends since his childhood. He shared his feeling: “We grew up together and together joined the army, so every time I come here, I feel moved. Whenever we arrive in Quang Tri, the first thing we do is to visit and burn incense for our comrades who are resting in peace in the cemetery. We hope that the companions who are buried in either Truong Son or other cemeteries will be assured and believe in us who will follow the tradition of Truong Son’s soldiers to educate the younger generations to resolutely defend the national independence, freedom, and sovereignty.”

The Truong Son martyrs’ cemetery is a symbol of the Vietnamese nation’s will to fight for independence and peace and a place for the relatives, the Party, state, people, and international friends to visit and pay tribute to the martyrs in honor of the tradition: remembering the source of the water we drink.