Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam directed to step up the search for martyrs' remains.

On the morning of December 21, the National Steering Committee for Searching, Collecting and Identifying Martyrs' Remains (Steering Committee 515) held an online conference to review the implementation of the project to search for and collect martyrs' remains in the 2016-2018 period; the project to identify martyrs' remains with missing information in the 2017-2018 period and directions, goals, tasks and solutions for the 2019-2020 period.

Attending the conference were Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam - Head of the National Steering Committee 515; Senior Lieutenant General Le Chiem - Deputy Minister of National Defense.

Comrade Le Ngoc Hoa - Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, chaired the bridge point in Nghe An.

Scene at Nghe An bridge. Photo: Tien Hung

According to the National Steering Committee 515, in the period of 2016 - 2018, the country's socio-economic situation continued to be stable and developed; the work of searching for, collecting martyrs' remains and identifying martyrs' remains continued to receive special attention from the Party and the State. The wishes of martyrs' relatives and families have urged this work to be carried out more and more effectively.

However, the implementation process also encountered many difficulties because information about martyrs, martyrs' relatives, and martyrs' graves is gradually decreasing. Meanwhile, the number of martyrs' remains that need to be searched for and collected and the number of martyrs' graves that lack information and need to be identified are still large; records, lists of martyrs, grave maps, records of collecting martyrs' remains, management and storage still have many errors and inadequacies. Some local Party committees and authorities have not really paid attention to this work.

Nghe An's collection team collects the remains of martyrs in Laos. Photo: Tien Hung

From 2016 to 2018, the whole country searched and collected 5,886 martyrs' remains, of which 2,670 were found in Vietnam, 854 were found in Laos, and 2,362 were found in Cambodia.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs coordinated with the Ministry of National Defense and the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology to complete the investment in upgrading the genetic identification facility. Actively directed the collection of samples of remains with missing information at martyrs' cemeteries and biological samples of martyrs' relatives for analysis and comparison. From 2017 to 2018, by the authentication method, the identities of 284 martyrs' remains were identified; by the DNA identification method, 475 cases were analyzed, of which 54 cases were related by blood and 421 cases were unrelated.

Meanwhile, in Nghe An, from 2016 to present, the provincial Collection Team has searched, exhumed and brought back to Vietnam for burial the remains of 267 martyrs who were Vietnamese volunteer soldiers and experts who died in Laos. However, of these, only 6 martyrs have known names and hometowns, 10 have names but unknown hometowns and units.

The remains of Vietnamese volunteer soldiers and experts who died in Laos were gathered at Nghi Loc Martyrs' Cemetery in 2018. Photo: Tien Hung

Also during this period, 10 martyrs’ remains were found in the province. Due to the large area and the long war, it is very difficult to obtain information about the martyrs’ graves, while identifying the graves is also difficult.

Speaking at the conference, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam said that although the search and collection of martyrs' remains have achieved positive results, many martyrs' remains have not been collected yet, and many martyrs' graves still lack information. Meanwhile, the long-awaited desire of martyrs' relatives to know information about martyrs' graves has been too long, which requires further promotion of the search and collection of martyrs' remains in the current situation, with practical policies and solutions.

“The 515 Steering Committee at all levels must soon improve the capacity and effectiveness of the search, collection and identification of martyrs’ remains. All levels and sectors need to continue to expand and strengthen international cooperation to seek support and assistance from governments, non-governmental organizations, foreign organizations and individuals in providing information about Vietnamese soldiers who died, were missing or missing in action during the war,” the Deputy Prime Minister said, directing that from now until 2020, it is necessary to step up the search and collection of martyrs’ remains domestically, and continue to coordinate with friendly countries to search and collect martyrs’ remains until there is no more information about martyrs’ graves.