Nghe An steps up search for martyrs' remains

On the morning of October 29, the Steering Committee 515 of Nghe An province held a conference to review the implementation of the project to search for and collect martyrs' remains and the project to identify martyrs' remains with missing information in the period 2016 - 2018. Comrade Le Ngoc Hoa - Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, Head of the Steering Committee 515 of Nghe An chaired the conference.

Comrade Le Ngoc Hoa speaks at the meeting. Photo: Tien Hung

According to Lieutenant Colonel Le Van Trung - Political Commissar (Provincial Military Command), from 2016 to now, the Collection Team of Nghe An province has searched, collected and brought back to the country for burial at Nghi Loc district cemetery 267 remains of martyrs who were Vietnamese volunteer soldiers and experts who died in Laos. However, of these, only 6 remains of martyrs have known names and hometowns, 10 remains have names but unknown hometowns and units.

Awarding certificates of merit to groups and individuals. Photo: Tien Hung

Meanwhile, during this period, 10 martyrs' remains were found in the province, then brought back to Nghi Loc district cemetery for burial. "Due to the large area and the long war, it is very difficult to obtain information about martyrs' graves, while it is also difficult to identify the graves. The provision of martyrs' information by units and localities across the country is still slow, making it difficult to review and complete the dossiers and lists of martyrs," said Lieutenant Colonel Trung.

Speaking at the conference, comrade Le Ngoc Hoa also pointed out some limitations in this work such as information and propaganda work in some places has not been paid attention to, so in some places people do not clearly understand the policy of the investigation and review; the investigation and data entry of information on martyrs and relatives of martyrs have not met requirements; taking biological samples of martyrs' remains for DNA testing encountered many difficulties such as the remains had decomposed, it was impossible to take samples...

In 2018, the Collection Team brought back the remains of 98 martyrs, who were Vietnamese volunteer soldiers and experts, for burial. Photo: Tien Hung

Believing that it is necessary to step up the search and identification activities for martyrs' remains, comrade Le Ngoc Hoa requested departments, branches, sectors and localities to focus on leadership, direction, and drastic and synchronous implementation of tasks, goals and solutions suitable for the search and collection work in the province as well as in Laos.

Regularly strengthen and perfect the Steering Committee, standing agencies and specialized forces to meet the requirements of assigned tasks. Closely coordinate with the Party committees and authorities of 3 provinces of Laos.

Promote the role of military agencies at all levels with the labor, war invalids and social affairs sector, veterans' association... in advising local Party committees and authorities to deploy work.

Also at the conference, comrade Le Ngoc Hoa awarded certificates of merit from the Provincial People's Committee to 2 collectives and 7 individuals with outstanding achievements in searching and collecting martyrs' remains.