Veteran Nguyen Ngoc Son and his comrades took the opportunity presented by Reunification Day to visit the land that was once a battlefield decades ago.
The US Army dropped nearly 50,000 bombs and fired tens of thousands of missiles at Dong Loc, to cut off the transport link to the southern front.
Twenty-year-old men and women sacrificed their youth fighting the enemy, determined to protect every inch of the road carrying soldiers, food, arms, and munitions to the southern battlefields. Many laid down their lives.
Soldiers, volunteers, and militia totalled some 16,000 at this time. Death was not on their minds, as they were busy focusing on defusing as many bombs as possible to keep the traffic flowing.
Thousands of people laid down their lives to keep the traffic flowing, supporting the southern battlefield and the fight for liberation. Their sacrifice has become a symbol of Vietnamese heroism.
Today, the intersection has become a national relic site. Time can tend to fade the many milestones in the life of a man. But for these old soldiers, the memory of victorious days fighting and protecting the motherland will forever stay in their hearts and minds./.
