Hue City Steering Committee 515 held a memorial service and burial for the martyrs who had just been found.

5 years of searching and collecting dozens of HCLS

The war has ended 50 years ago, the wounds of war have gradually healed, but in front of the endless longing of the relatives of the heroic martyrs, officers and soldiers of the city's armed forces still continue day and night with tireless, silent steps of the journey to search for and gather the fallen heroes, to bring them back to their beloved motherland soon.

In late February 2025, the family and relatives of martyr Bui Duc Vinh (born in 1963, hometown Xuan Truong district, Nam Dinh province (now Ninh Binh province)) were extremely happy to receive information that the martyr's remains had just been found in Phong Thu town, Phong Dien town (now Phong Dien commune). Mr. Bui Duc Hai, the martyr's brother, and some relatives immediately went to Phong Dien to receive them. With the consent of the City's Steering Committee 515, the local government coordinated with the military agency and the martyr's relatives to organize the exhumation and collection of the martyr's grave, and hand it over to the family. The family then agreed to let the martyr be buried at Huong Dien Martyrs' Cemetery.

Mr. Bui Duc Hai was moved: My younger brother Bui Duc Vinh worked at Company 301, Regiment 681 (now Brigade 971, Department of Transport, General Department of Logistics and Engineering). When the family heard that Vinh died while on an escort mission in Phong Dien, for many years, the family always wanted to find his grave, but it was really not easy. Now, martyr Bui Duc Vinh was found by the Party Committee, local authorities and the army and solemnly buried at the martyrs' cemetery, which has helped ease the pain for my family...

Not every family is as lucky as Mr. Bui Duc Hai's family. Currently, the entire city of Hue has more than 3,790 HCLS that have not been found.

Although there are still many difficulties in the search, collection and identification of missing relics in the 2021 - 2025 period, local Party committees, authorities, leaders and commanders of agencies and units throughout the city have focused on implementing the task with the highest sentiment and political responsibility and achieved many important results. In the 2021 - 2025 period, the Steering Committee 515 of Hue City received and processed 300 pieces of information; of which, 175 pieces of information were collected in Laos, 68 missing relics were recovered, and 125 pieces of information were collected in Vietnam, 16 missing relics were recovered.

To date, the city has coordinated to complete the search map and collect HCLS (phase 1), and handed it over to the Office of the National Steering Committee 515. The Department of Home Affairs has coordinated with relevant agencies to excavate the graves of martyrs with unknown information at 5 cemeteries, with 1,692 biological samples for DNA testing. However, identifying HCLS remains difficult, because most of the samples do not meet the conditions for comparison or do not match the samples of relatives.

As long as there is information, there is search.

According to Lieutenant Colonel Truong Viet Hai, Political Commissar of the City Military Command, despite many efforts, there are still thousands of martyrs who have not been found. While the search and collection of martyrs' remains still faces many difficulties, information about martyrs and martyrs' graves is increasingly scarce, and the impact of nature and terrain changes. In the period 2026 - 2030, the Steering Committee 515 of Hue City determined to continue to speed up the search, collection and identification of martyrs whose information is still lacking. The goal by 2030 is to collect about 150 martyrs' remains, conduct DNA testing for 200 cases and verify evidence for 100 cases; from 2031 onwards, the task will continue until there is no more information about the burial place of martyrs.

Speaking at the conference summarizing the implementation of the task of searching, collecting HCLS and identifying HCLS with missing information in the period of 2021 - 2025, Colonel Dinh Xuan Huong, Deputy Chief of Political Affairs, Deputy Head of the Standing Committee of the 515 Steering Committee of Military Region 4 emphasized: In the coming years, the work of searching, collecting HCLS in the area, in Laos and identifying HCLS with missing information is forecasted to have many difficulties. To carry out this sacred task well, the 515 Steering Committee of Hue City continues to thoroughly grasp the guidelines and policies of the Party and State, the decisions of the Prime Minister and the regulations and guidelines of all levels on the work of searching, collecting HCLS, strengthening leadership and direction of the work of searching, collecting HCLS with high political determination, urgency, positivity, comprehensiveness and effectiveness.

“Effectively organize and implement groups of solutions to search, collect and identify missing martyrs’ graves; focus on promoting extensive information and propaganda work, launching a movement to provide information on martyrs’ graves, collect, connect and process information; encourage and promote the role of organizations, individuals and the entire political system, actively participate in providing information and coordinating the search and collection of martyrs’ graves. It is necessary to continue reviewing and supplementing the conclusions of the mapping areas for the search and collection of martyrs’ graves in the next phases. The search and collection of martyrs’ graves is a sacred and noble task, deeply humane, demonstrating the traditional morality of “When drinking water, remember its source”, and must be carried out with the highest sense of responsibility and political determination, with the motto that as long as there is information on martyrs’ graves, there will be forces organized to search and collect them”, Colonel Dinh Xuan Huong emphasized.

Article and photos: THAI BINH

Source: https://huengaynay.vn/chinh-tri-xa-hoi/trach-nhiem-va-menh-lenh-tu-trai-tim-155908.html