On the morning of July 23, in Hanoi, Politburo Member, Prime Minister Le Minh Hung attended and spoke at the National Conference of Gratitude to People with Meritorious Services to the Revolution in 2026 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).
Also attending the conference were Politburo members: Secretary of the Party Central Committee, Chairman of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Bui Thi Minh Hoai; General Phan Van Giang - Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of National Defense; General Luong Tam Quang - Minister of Public Security. Secretaries of the Party Central Committee: Vice President Vo Thi Anh Xuan, Deputy Prime Minister Pham Thi Thanh Tra. Also attending were Member of the Party Central Committee, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Nguyen Thi Thanh.
At the conference, Prime Minister Le Minh Hung expressed his gratitude and presented gifts and flowers to Vietnamese Heroic Mothers.
Speaking at the conference, the Prime Minister affirmed that, inheriting the heroic historical tradition of thousands of years of building and defending the country, the entire Party, people and army have overcome countless difficulties to gain independence, freedom, and national reunification.
Millions of outstanding children have dedicated their youth, left blood and bones on the battlefield, and sacrificed for the Fatherland. Millions of relatives of martyrs are still anxiously hoping to find information about their loved ones.
The blood and sacrifice of heroic martyrs, wounded soldiers, and sick soldiers have embellished the flag for the Fatherland, making our country "Flour independently, bearing the fruit of freedom".
According to the head of the Government, in deep emotion, we hand over the sacred keepsakes of the heroic martyrs to their relatives and families. The faded letters, the old, worn-out backpack or the diary stained with time are not only keepsakes of the past but also a sacred connection between history and the present. Each given keepsake contributes to warming the hearts of the martyrs' relatives, bringing them back to their families and homeland.
Besides the positive results, the Prime Minister shared about the lingering concerns after more than 50 years of national reunification.
Among them, there are still about 170,000 remains of fallen soldiers that have not been found and about 230,000 graves of fallen soldiers whose identities have not been identified. This is a lingering pain when time does not stop, the heads of mothers looking for children, wives looking for husbands are now white.
We - those living in peace must always preserve and remember the glorious achievements obtained from the great and noble sacrifices of previous generations," the Prime Minister advised.
Regarding the progress of the 500-day and night campaign to promote the search, repatriation and identification of martyrs' remains, to date, we have searched and repatriated 1,482 martyrs' remains and 7 collective martyrs' graves. In particular, samples of 71,491 martyrs' graves with unclear information have been taken, and about 243,000 biological samples of relatives have been collected for DNA analysis and integration into the population database.
The Prime Minister affirmed that each martyr's remains collected, each artifact returned is a spiritual connection between history and the present, contributing to easing the pain of war, alleviating the longing for families for decades.
Regarding key tasks in the new period, Prime Minister Le Minh Hung emphasized the need to continue to review and improve policies and laws to constantly improve the lives of people with meritorious services and their families.
Resolutely and determinedly deploy the 500-day and night campaign to promote the search, repatriation and identification of martyrs' remains. Accelerate progress and soon complete the construction of houses for the children of resistance activists infected with chemical toxins;
Strengthen the mobilization of social resources. It is necessary to effectively implement the "Gratitude and Repayment" movements, build gratitude houses, gratitude funds, gratitude savings books and support Vietnamese Heroic Mothers.
The sacrifice of previous generations will forever be engraved in the hearts of the nation and will forever last with the country," the Prime Minister emphasized.
