Page 150 - Thorn In The Heart

Thorn In The Heart

“Grandpa...! Grandma...! I connected these beautiful flowers
on the dike and hoped to put them on your graves, but I had no
chance to do what I wished. Grandparent...! I did not have the
way to go back the village. They were fighting and killing out
there...! I must turn back to Hanoi. My mom will get mad of
me. Sorry Grandpa, grandma...! They blocked my way...”

Nguyen ran out to the main road. Quickly, he lost at another
side undergrowth toward the Western of Bai-Vang village. He
separated from the refugee waves, who came in Bai-Vang from
the villages at the South and Eastern to run away from the war.
Again, they were leaving Bai-Vang village, crossing the paddy
field toward the Hoang-Nguyen village with the hope they will
be safe in the large Catholic Monastery.

Nguyen turned around to take a look at all direction and
found the way going back a dike. Also in his knowledge
inexperience, he judged the war is moving direction by looking
at two aircraft observers in the sky.

Nguyen was alone hiding behind the bamboo bushes among
the field to check the direction that he wants to go. He was
scared to watch the canons' shells blowing on the paddy at
North-East direction. Two T-28 fighters were dull in the air and
bombarded on the North side of Hoang-Nguyen village,
chopped the top of bamboos down, then had left the thick flame
and smokes for each exploding. At Nguyen’s front vision had
the tanks and army troops were spreading out on the field. They
moved slowly forward and covered one of other. The tanks’
towers turned around to check at the suspected places and fired
the canons on it.

Nguyen saw few French tanks had blown up by Vietminh’s
bazooka, or anti-tank mine. The armored soldiers jumped out of
the tanks while they were burning and badly wound. Most of
them felt on the top of the tank and die. The army troops moving

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