On the morning of July 23, the National Conference of Gratitude to People with Meritorious Services to the Revolution in 2026 took place in Hanoi and launched a movement to promote care for people with meritorious services to the revolution towards the 80th Anniversary of War Invalids and Martyrs' Day (July 27, 1947 - July 27, 2027).
Reporting on the work of caring for people with meritorious services to the revolution, Member of the Party Central Committee, Acting Minister of Home Affairs Nguyen Tien Hai said that when the country entered the renovation period, preferential policies for people with meritorious services to the revolution were given special attention and widespread socialization.
To date, the whole country has confirmed over 9.2 million people with meritorious services, including over 1.2 million martyrs, over 650 thousand wounded soldiers, people enjoying policies like wounded soldiers, over 132 thousand Vietnamese Heroic Mothers, over 320 thousand people who participated in the resistance war and their children were infected with chemical toxins.
In 2026 alone, implementing the direction of the Secretariat in Conclusion No. 57-KL/TW, towards the 80th anniversary of War Invalids and Martyrs' Day, we have been and are synchronously implementing the amendment of many policies in the Ordinance on Preferential Treatment for People with Meritorious Services to the Revolution.
Including the confirmation of beneficiaries, supplementing preferential policies, adjusting to increase the preferential allowance level for people with meritorious services by an additional 8% from July 1, 2026; and at the same time focusing resources on repairing and upgrading martyrs' memorial works and nursing and care centers for people with meritorious services nationwide.
The 310 delegates present today are typical examples selected from the grassroots level: 19 Vietnamese Heroic Mothers, including 10 Vietnamese Heroic Mothers aged 90-101, 2 veteran revolutionaries, 2 delegates who are pre-insurrection cadres, witnesses of the first historical milestones of the Vietnamese revolution, 27 Heroes of the People's Armed Forces, 1 person with meritorious services to the revolution, and 119 wounded soldiers.
Mr. Tran Phien, a veteran revolutionary, a resistance activist who was captured and imprisoned by the enemy, currently residing in Hanoi City, who is 102 years old this year, is the oldest delegate to attend today's Conference; along with 3 Vietnamese Heroic Mothers who are over 100 years old and 3 mothers who are also nearly 100 years old, still full of willpower and exemplary for their children and grandchildren to follow.
The conference also welcomed Vietnamese Heroic Mother Bui Thi Man, Hai Phong city. The mother had 6 children, of which 2 sons successively fell in just 5 days of February 1979, martyr Ngo Van Son sacrificed on February 20, 1979 and martyr Ngo Xuan Thuy sacrificed on February 25, 1979, in the same southwestern border battlefield.
Pain piled upon pain, but for decades, Mother has remained silent, resilient, and a model spiritual support for the whole family and neighbors.
According to the Acting Minister of Home Affairs, there are still many, many examples like that among the 310 delegates present at today's Conference - mothers who have dedicated their husbands and children to the Fatherland; soldiers who have brought blood and bones to embellish the revolutionary flag; staunch prisoners who do not succumb to the yoke.
And ordinary people, despite carrying the wounds of war, still constantly rise up, continuing to contribute to their homeland and country.
They are the most vivid and touching embodiment of the morality of "When drinking water, remember the source", "Gratitude" of the Vietnamese nation," said the Acting Minister of Home Affairs, and expressed his wish that Vietnamese Heroic Mothers, wounded soldiers, sick soldiers, relatives of martyrs and people with meritorious services continue to be role models for the younger generation to learn and follow.
At the conference, delegates were briefly introduced to the results of the main activities of the 500-day and night campaign to promote the search, repatriation and identification of martyrs' remains that the Government and provinces and cities have carried out in the past time.
Even more special, wives and children of martyrs received back documents, diaries, and memorabilia of their husbands and fathers. These were originally records and memorabilia of cadres who volunteered to go to the South to fight (to the South). But many of them permanently lay down on the battlefield.
