Martyred Kachin Free Burma Ranger Honored in Rojava, Syria

Antonio Graceffo

In the city of Til-Talmer, Rojava, Syria, the premier medical facility is the Zau Sang Hospital.

The front of the building displays a billboard-sized photo of Zau Sang, a Kachin Free Burma Ranger (FBR) who was killed by a Turkish drone strike on November 4, 2019, while distributing aid and documenting attacks against civilians on the frontlines.

In Burma’s Karenni State, near Pasaung, a bomb crater marks the place where Ranger Oo Reh was killed in an airstrike while driving an ambulance to evacuate the wounded. In Mobye, Shan State, a 19-year-old Karenni Ranger named Benedictu was killed. During the ceremony before his burial, his casket was draped with the Free Burma Rangers flag and adorned with medals he had earned for bravery and selflessness under fire.

In Karen State, a charred crater remains where three female medics were incinerated by a Burma Army bomb. Ranger Naw Say Moo Paw and a KNU medic were killed. Naw Gay survived but faces years of reconstructive surgeries and rehabilitation.

They, and many others, including resistance fighters of all ethnicities and combat medics serving across ethnic armed organizations, dedicated themselves to treating the wounded and evacuating civilians to safety. They served their country, their people, and God faithfully.

And while it is noble to give one’s life for one’s people or country, it is truly extraordinary for someone to board a plane, fly thousands of miles, and risk his life for people he had never met, in a country he had likely never heard of.