This year, Vietnam and the United States celebrate 30 years of diplomatic relations, cooperation in searching for missing soldiers and overcoming the consequences of war. This is one of the foundations for building bilateral relations.
Mr. Kelly McKeague, Director of the US Department of Defense Prisoner of War/ MIA Accounting Agency, is visiting Vietnam. This morning, he met with Senior Lieutenant General Hoang Xuan Chien, Deputy Minister of National Defense, and visited the National Archives Center 3.
Visiting National Archives Center 3, Mr. Kelly McKeague shared his impressions because he had previously visited National Archives Center 2 in Ho Chi Minh City.
"2025 is an important year as it marks the 50th anniversary of Vietnam's national reunification, the 30th anniversary of Vietnam-US diplomatic relations, and more particularly, the 40th anniversary of the US first sending a team to search for missing soldiers to Vietnam," said Mr. Kelly McKeague.
He said that right after the Paris Agreement (1973), Vietnam established an agency to search for people missing after the war.
"We are grateful for that, especially for the families of missing soldiers. Vietnam has been active and proactive in supporting the US in searching for missing soldiers. We have become Comprehensive Strategic Partners, and the important foundation of that relationship is Vietnam's efforts in supporting the search for missing soldiers," he affirmed.
To date, with the support of Vietnam, 740 American soldiers have been identified and returned to their families. That also means 740 families have found their loved ones. Mr. Kelly McKeague emphasized that information is extremely important, especially information in the archives center. There are still 1,157 American soldiers missing in Vietnam, these cases are very difficult to find due to lack of information.
Searching for information is the first and important step, sometimes it is the key information for the search team to determine if they are looking at the right scene, the right witness. The director of the US POW/MIA Accounting Agency shared that he has worked in this field for 10 years and witnessed many moments, cooperation, and information exchange between the two countries.
"I am grateful for that. On behalf of the United States, I thank the Vietnamese archives industry for supporting access to information and documents that the United States is interested in," said Mr. Kelly McKeague.
On the US side, Mr. Kelly McKeague said that the archives are "open" to the public. US universities and archives are also very proactive in providing information to the Vietnamese side.
"A few years ago, the US provided specific information about a mass grave of 35 Vietnamese soldiers. I was the one who handed over this document to the then Vietnamese Ambassador to the US, Mr. Ha Kim Ngoc. I will never forget that moment of handover when Ambassador Ngoc burst into tears. Mr. Ngoc said: You will never know how valuable this information is to us, especially to the 35 families of martyrs when they will have information about their children," Mr. Kelly McKeague recalled.
Director of the Department of State Records and Archives (Ministry of Home Affairs) Dang Thanh Tung said that the Vietnamese archives sector not only cooperates with the US but also with France to provide information, search for missing soldiers, and meet the needs of families. Mr. Tung shared that having worked for 14 years in the Vietnam People's Army, he understands the humanity in searching for missing soldiers. The Vietnamese archives sector will continue to proactively cooperate and exchange information with the US side.
Meanwhile, Senior Lieutenant General Hoang Xuan Chien emphasized that with the policy of "putting the past behind and looking towards the future", the cooperation activities between the two countries' Defense Ministries in this field demonstrate a profound humanitarian spirit, contributing to easing the pain of war, building strategic trust, and making the Vietnam-US relationship a model in international relations.
Since 2023, the two sides have coordinated to organize 8 joint searches and conducted 8 returns of remains and artifacts related to US soldiers missing in action during the war.
The Vietnamese Ministry of National Defense pledged to continue to cooperate closely with the US in search operations and requested the US to increase its forces participating in these operations and support Vietnam's unilateral search teams.
Vietnam hopes to continue receiving information and documents related to Vietnamese soldiers who died or went missing during the war, as well as support from the US in improving DNA testing capacity to identify and determine the identities of martyrs.
Also this morning, National Archives Center 3 coordinated with the Vietnam-US Association, the "Soldier's Heart" Organization, the "Forever 20" Club, and the Vietnam Center, Texas Tech University (USA) to organize the return of war relics to families of martyrs and veterans.
The microfilm archive with nearly 3 million pages of handwritten notes, images of relics and memorabilia of the Northern and Southern Liberation Army soldiers during the resistance war before 1975, currently managed at the Vietnam Center - Texas Tech University, is a valuable source of information and data about Vietnamese martyrs who sacrificed or went missing during the war.
Vietnamese and American agencies have made efforts to search archives for information, memorabilia, and war relics to return to the families of both sides.
Today, 22 sets of evidence documents were given to the relatives of 22 martyrs and a number of veterans.
More than 200 sets of documents and war relic data were also donated by representatives of the Vietnam Center - Texas Tech University to the National Archives Center 3. Director of the center Tran Viet Hoa said that he will work with agencies and organizations to search for families to continue returning them.
US Ambassador to Vietnam Marc Knapper presented documents to the martyrs’ relatives. The Ambassador emphasized that from the scars of war, the two countries have overcome the past together, building a future based on trust and mutual respect.
Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/khong-the-quen-khoanh-khac-dai-su-bat-khoc-khi-nhan-tai-lieu-ve-khu-mo-liet-si-2420169.html
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