Many years have passed, yet the journey to find his father’s remains continues for Phạm Bá Trí (a resident of Thuận Hóa District, Huế City), a reporter at Huế Today. Despite his efforts, the search remains unresolved.
Six years ago, Trí visited the Lạng Sơn Provincial Border Guard Command and found his father’s name in an archived record there.
Journalist Phạm Bá Trí with old letters from his father, whom he never met (Photo: Vi Thảo).
Authorities believe the remains of martyr Phạm Bá Hải may be interred at Văn Quan Martyrs’ Cemetery in Lạng Sơn Province, among unidentified graves. Since discovering this lead, Trí’s family has been anxiously awaiting DNA test results from the cemetery to compare genetic records and identify his father’s grave.
According to Nguyễn Thị Lan (71, retired nurse from Huế Central Hospital), wife of martyr Phạm Bá Hải, in November 1977, her husband and many young men volunteered to join the army to defend their homeland. At the time, she had just given birth to their only child, a son, three days prior.
After training in Đồng Hới (Quảng Bình), her husband was assigned to Regiment 12 (Thanh Xuyên Unit) under the Armed Public Security Command (now the Border Guard). By March 1978, Phạm Bá Hải’s platoon was stationed at Đồng Đăng Fortress, tasked with defending the border area from Tam Thanh Pass to marker 25 at Nà Bàn Village and the Hữu Nghị railway line in Lạng Sơn Province.
Widow Nguyễn Thị Lan beside the portrait of her late husband, martyr Phạm Bá Hải (Photo: Vi Thảo).
“My mother told me that when I was four months old, my father came home on leave for a few days. He barely had time to bond with me before returning to duty three days later. From then on, all his love and longing for our family were conveyed through letters sent from the northernmost borderlands.
When I turned 15 months old, we received news of his death. He had died at Đồng Đăng Fortress on the first morning of the conflict. I never got to see my father’s face. The image of him I carry is shaped by my mother’s stories, his portrait, and the heartfelt letters she carefully preserved,” shared journalist Trí.
Journalist Phạm Bá Trí during a trip to locate his father’s remains at martyrs’ cemeteries in Lạng Sơn (Photo: Subject provided).
Trí shared that after his father’s death, his mother worked tirelessly to raise him alone. In addition to her job at Huế Central Hospital, she spent her free time peeling peanuts at home to earn extra income. She also frequently traveled to her hometown to gather sweet potatoes and cassava, which she brought back to the city to feed her son during the challenging post-war subsidy period.
“I remember as a child, whenever I asked about my father, my mother would say he was guarding the border and couldn’t come home. It wasn’t until I grew older that I learned he had died in the 1979 northern border conflict.
To this day, our family’s greatest wish is to find his remains and bring him home,” Trí said solemnly.
Martyr Phạm Bá Hải (born 1953, originally from Phong Bình, Phong Điền, Thừa Thiên Huế) died on February 17, 1979, at Đồng Đăng Fortress during the northern border defense war. Journalist Phạm Bá Trí (born 1977) is the only child of martyr Phạm Bá Hải and his wife Nguyễn Thị Lan. He currently works at Huế Today (formerly Thừa Thiên Huế Newspaper).
