At 5 a.m. on October 14, along the streets surrounding Le Thi Rieng Park in Hoa Hung Ward, Ho Chi Minh City, local residents walked and began their new day. Inside the park, task forces urgently completed preparations for the visitation, memorial, and burial ceremonies for the martyrs' remains.
At the ceremony area, forces inspected and arranged each item to ensure a solemn atmosphere. Youth volunteers in green shirts arrived early, ready to assist delegates and citizens coming to pay tribute.
Traveling long distances to send heroes back to the motherland
Present at Le Thi Rieng Park since 2:30 a.m., Phan Thi Chau Loan (born in 1995, residing in Tan My Ward) together with her family and friends prepared fresh flower bouquets to gift to visitors. For Loan, each bouquet represented words of gratitude to those who sacrificed for the independence and freedom of the Fatherland.
Before daylight, Pham Thi Diem (born in 1993) was also present at the park, holding a bouquet of white chrysanthemums bought at Binh Chanh Market. To arrive at 5 a.m., she rode a motorbike alone from Dong Thap Province to Ho Chi Minh City, departing after 2 a.m.
Although her family has no relatives who are martyrs, Diem has always held deep gratitude for those who fell. Following the "500 Days and Nights Campaign" to search for and gather martyrs' remains from the early days, she longed for the day the martyrs were found and brought home to rest. Having not registered in time and not knowing whether she could enter to attend the ceremony, she still set off. "If I cannot enter inside, I will stand outside on the street looking in, as long as I am present here and accompany the memorial ceremony to the end," she said.
White flower branches of an old soldier
Among the crowd gathering at the park were 84 year old veteran Trieu Lay and his wife, Pham Thi Minh Nguyet. Unable to sleep, the couple woke up at 3 a.m. and took an early bus from Phu Tho Hoa Ward to pay tribute to his comrades-in-arms before the memorial hour.
Advanced in age and suffering from a herniated disc that makes walking difficult, the elderly veteran still went with his wife to the park, each holding a branch of white flowers. Unable to go inside, he sat on a stone bench in front of the gate, looking toward the area where the ceremony was about to take place.
Having participated in combat during the 1968 Tet Offensive, veteran Trieu Lay has always grieved deeply for his fallen comrades. His wife emotionally shared that her husband remains tormented that many of his comrades still lie in the deep forest, their remains not yet recovered to return to their families.
As crowds of people continued to arrive, around 70 members of the "Saigon Volunteers" group spent a nearly sleepless night preparing for the ceremony. The group consists of students and young working people who have participated in spontaneous volunteer activities for many years.
Present since 10 p.m. the previous evening, members divided tasks to clean the ceremony area, arrange flowers, prepare fruit trays, set up the altar, and inspect ritual equipment. Each task was carried out carefully before the time to welcome delegates and citizens.
Truong Thanh Tri (born in 1997), a long-time member of the group, shared: "We feel very proud to contribute our small effort."
On the roads around the park, many citizens held white flowers, waiting for the convoy carrying the martyrs' remains to their final resting place. Some came with their families, while others took the opportunity to arrive before daylight, hoping to see off the martyrs.
At the Ho Chi Minh City Martyrs' Cemetery, preparations for the burial ceremony of the 731 martyrs' remains searched for and gathered at Le Thi Rieng Park were also underway.
According to the schedule, at 7:30 a.m. on the same day, delegates will lay flowers and offer incense at the monument to General Secretary Tran Phu, the memorial stele for heroic martyrs, and the memorial sites dedicated to Heroic Martyrs Le Thi Rieng and Tran Van Kieu. The tribute and memorial ceremony will commence at 8:00 a.m. Subsequently, the remains of the martyrs will be transported to the Ho Chi Minh City Martyrs' Cemetery for burial.
