Shining the moral 'When drinking water, remember its source'
(Baonghean.vn) - Our country still has over 200,000 martyrs lying somewhere, over 300,000 martyrs have been gathered in cemeteries but their names and hometowns have not been identified. This lingering concern is posing to today's and future generations about the responsibility to fulfill the morality of "When drinking water, remember its source", to repay gratitude.
Over the past decades, gratitude activities have been carried out by all levels, sectors and people across the country through many actions, expressing gratitude to war invalids, families of martyrs, and those who have contributed to the revolution. In particular, in July, ministries, sectors, localities and individuals have carried out specific and practical activities to visit, give gifts, encourage war invalids, families of martyrs, and take care of Vietnamese Heroic Mothers. Along with that, there are art programs praising the noble sacrifices of the previous generations, widely propagating to all classes of people; those are candles of gratitude lit in martyrs' cemeteries, illuminating the morality and gratitude of generations of children today when thinking about their ancestors. From there, we can appreciate more the value of peace and happiness today, which is exchanged for the blood and bones of many generations.
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| Provincial Party Secretary Nguyen Dac Vinh visited and presented gifts to Vietnamese Heroic Mother Thai Thi Yem in Hamlet 5, Thanh Thinh Commune (Thanh Chuong). Photo: Dao Tuan |
Determining that gratitude is a long-term and continuous task, in recent years, our Party and State have paid special attention to the families of war invalids, martyrs, and people with revolutionary contributions, with many policies and solutions to direct the search and collection of martyrs' remains.
The Ministry of National Defense, the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, localities, social organizations and people nationwide have been actively implementing this task. Every year, thousands of martyrs' remains are searched and collected at cemeteries in the country and abroad; through evidence and genetic testing, we have identified the names of hundreds of martyrs who died at home and abroad.
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| Bringing you back to the Motherland. Photo archive |
The collection of remains of Vietnamese volunteer soldiers and experts who died in Laos and Cambodia is still being carried out continuously by Special Task Forces. At a recent meeting of the Special Task Force of Vietnam and Laos, the two sides determined: "Continue searching for remains of martyrs until there is no more information".
However, the work of searching, collecting, and identifying martyrs' remains is facing many difficulties. These include the lack of information about martyrs and martyrs' remains; complicated and changing records, collection diagrams, terrain, and topography; a large number of remains scattered throughout the country and abroad; a large number of remains and biological samples of martyrs' relatives that need to be analyzed; martyrs' remains were buried and moved many times, and buried for too long (40 - 50 years), so they decomposed a lot, the quality of the remaining DNA genes was poor, making it very difficult to collect samples and analyze DNA.
Meanwhile, most of the martyrs’ relatives are old and weak, so it is difficult to collect biological samples. In some cases, there are martyrs who have no relatives to collect samples from their mother’s lineage. In addition, the preservation and comparison of DNA analysis results of martyrs’ remains and biological samples of martyrs’ relatives; facilities and equipment of the appraisal units have not met the requirements...
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| Health examination, consultation and free medicine distribution for policy beneficiaries in Tan Thanh commune (Yen Thanh). Photo: Anh Tuan |
At the same time, the Ministry directed localities to closely coordinate with agencies and units to carry out the work of identifying martyrs' remains. Thanks to that, some localities have achieved high efficiency in identifying martyrs' identities such as: Thai Nguyen, Da Nang, Nghe An, Quang Tri...
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| In many places deep in the forest, soldiers had to walk through the forest for many hours to bring the martyrs' remains back. Photo: Archive |
The application of scientific and technical achievements in the work of searching, gathering, identifying martyrs as well as taking care of people with meritorious services, relatives and families of martyrs has been actively applied by the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs. The electronic information portal on martyrs, martyrs' graves and martyrs' cemeteries, implemented by the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs in coordination with the Vietnam Post Corporation at the address www.thongtinlietsi.gov.vn, has provided information on nearly 847,000 martyrs' graves in more than 3,000 martyrs' cemeteries; more than 2.6 million photos of martyrs' graves and martyrs' cemeteries have been taken by officers and employees of the Vietnam Post.
Through collecting data from detailed addresses, coordinates, and contacts, Vietnam Post also compiled a list of more than 53,000 graves of unknown martyrs whose tombstones need to be re-engraved; nearly 136,000 graves need to be reviewed and supplemented with information. This is a valuable data warehouse serving people and martyrs' relatives to look up, update, and provide information about martyrs, martyrs' graves, and martyrs' cemeteries nationwide. Along with that, the Department of Labor, Invalids, and Social Affairs is also actively building a gene bank to store and match the DNA of martyrs' remains and biological products of martyrs' relatives.
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| Steering Committee 515 of Military Region 4 inspects the Nghe An Province Collection Team on duty at Xam village, Muong Kham district, Xieng Khouang province, Laos. Photo: document |
For the Vietnamese people, everyone deeply feels the pain of losing loved ones when the whole country went to war. The sacrifices of the previous generations for peace and national unity were immense. Therefore, repaying gratitude, showing the morality of "When drinking water, remember its source" is the responsibility and culture of the whole nation.
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| Giving gifts to Heroic Vietnamese Mother Ho Thi Xich in Quynh Phuong ward, Hoang Mai town. Photo: document |
That is why special task forces continue to trek through forests, wade through streams, and are present throughout the vast forests to search for and collect the remains of martyrs. And the care and support of wounded soldiers, martyrs’ families, and heroic Vietnamese mothers, and the implementation of policies to support families with meritorious services are carried out by generations of descendants with deep gratitude. All are flickering candles, shining with the morality and culture of gratitude of the entire nation.
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