Vietnam - Laos coordinate efforts to search for martyrs' remains

(Baonghean) - During the resistance war to drive out the colonialists and imperialists, the Party and people of Vietnam and Laos fought together in the same trench, "biting a grain of rice in half, breaking a piece of vegetable in half", leaving behind many profound memories, imbued with steadfast affection. The war has ended, peace has been restored, that affection has been nurtured more and more closely, overcoming the consequences of the war, developing the socio-economy and searching for and collecting the remains of Vietnamese volunteer soldiers and experts who sacrificed for the noble international duty in the friendly country of Laos. Nghe An Newspaper reporter had an interview with Lieutenant Colonel Phung Ngoc Phuong, Captain of the Martyrs' Grave Collection Team, Nghe An Provincial Military Command to better understand this issue.

Minutes of the second handover and reception of martyrs' remains in 2013-2014 between the Special Working Group of the three provinces of Nghe An - Vientiane - Xieng Khouang. Photo: PV

Reporter:Dear comrade, the process of searching for and repatriating the remains of Vietnamese martyrs in Laos has been carried out for many years. So, can you tell us more about the results of this coordinated work?

Lieutenant Colonel Phung Ngoc Phuong:The search and collection of remains of Vietnamese martyrs in Laos is carried out based on the guidelines and viewpoints of the two parties and the two governments, especially Resolution 1237 of the Prime Minister on the collection of martyrs' graves by 2020. The team for collecting martyrs' graves, the Military Command of Nghe An province is assigned to coordinate with the Special Working Group and the armed forces of the three Lao provinces: Xieng Khouang, Vientiane and Xay Xom Bun to carry out the search. During the rainy season in Laos, the two sides hold talks and coordinate with each other to collect, screen, process information and plan to carry out the search in the dry season. Over the past 30 years, the cooperation between us and our friends has helped to search for and recover the remains of 11,858 Vietnamese volunteer soldiers and experts who died fighting on our country, including the handover of 912 remains of martyrs whose identities and hometowns have been identified and sent back to their homeland, which has warmed the hearts of countless mothers and wives who have silently devoted their immortal children to the Fatherland.

Reporter:Can you tell us about the biggest difficulties in searching for and collecting martyrs' remains in your country?

Lieutenant Colonel Phung Ngoc Phuong:Firstly, it is very difficult to find information now, witnesses who have passed away or are old and weak no longer remember the exact burial location of their comrades. Moreover, the war has also been over, due to the regeneration of humans and nature, the terrain and topography have changed too much. Many graves are located in remote areas, uninhabited, so very few people know about the location of the graves. Another big problem is that when the graves are found, it is also very difficult to identify the martyrs, most of the graves do not have relics left behind or the relics have rotted due to being buried for too long. During the search process, the terrain of the mountains and forests in many places is very difficult, with different customs, habits and languages. Although the comrades in charge of the collection have learned Lao, they cannot fully understand the languages ​​of the ethnic regions. These problems make the search and collection work very difficult. However, thanks to the enthusiastic help of the Lao ethnic people, those difficulties were somewhat reduced.

Reporter:Could you tell us more specifically about the assistance that Laos has provided us in the search and collection of martyrs' graves?

Lieutenant Colonel Phung Ngoc Phuong:During the implementation of the mission, the team always received the attention and enthusiastic support of the Special Task Force of other provinces, the armed forces, the police force and especially the people of Lao ethnic groups. During the rainy season, officers and soldiers go to the villages, perform the 3 together (eat together, live together, work together) to get information through many channels such as Lao veterans who fought with our soldiers, or people who go to the forest, go hunting and discover martyrs' graves, they also inform the collection team. During the search and excavation process, there are always friendly units to go with to guide and show the way, especially to ensure security and safety in areas where the political security situation is not really stable. On the contrary, those who were on duty to collect the martyrs took advantage of their breaks and buffer time to help the Lao people in increasing production, cleaning the environment, building houses, harvesting crops, etc. The feelings between the two sides were very close and strong, which created more trust between the Lao people and the Vietnamese army and received more enthusiastic support in the work of searching for and collecting martyrs' graves.

Reporter:The work of searching and collecting martyrs' graves is very difficult and arduous. Can you share the feelings of the officers and soldiers in the team when searching and collecting the remains of their comrades?

Lieutenant Colonel Phung Ngoc Phuong:Every time we found a martyr’s remains, found the remains of our comrades, all the difficulties and fatigue suddenly disappeared, replaced by an overwhelming feeling of joy, as if we had found our own relatives. Along with the joy was a surge of emotion. After such times, we became even more determined to try to overcome all difficulties to find more comrades, and bring them back to our beloved motherland.

Reporter:Could you please tell us about the key tasks and implementation plans of the unit in searching for and gathering martyrs' graves in the coming time?

Lieutenant Colonel Phung Ngoc Phuong:With the attention and direction of the 1237 Steering Committee of Military Region 4, the Provincial Special Working Committee, especially the smooth coordination of the 4 Provincial Special Working Committees, we must first thoroughly educate the cadres and employees in the team to comply with and implement the directives of superiors; at the same time, strengthen education for the brothers to understand that their work is to demonstrate sacred feelings, responsibility and noble gestures towards the families of the martyrs. The unit will try to coordinate with Laos, contact veterans who participated in the war in Vietnam to know information about the martyrs' graves to search for and gather the martyrs' graves to cemeteries, and soon bring them back to their motherland. The difficulties are just the beginning, to demonstrate the full comradeship with the martyrs, the brothers will overcome the difficulties to successfully complete the assigned tasks.

Reporter:Thank you comrade!

Phuong Thao(Perform)