On the afternoon of August 5, Vice Chairman of Can Tho City People's Committee Nguyen Van Khoi and the City Military Command visited and encouraged forces performing the task of excavating and taking samples to identify martyrs' remains at O Mon Martyrs' Cemetery and Phong Dien commune area.
According to the report of Steering Committee 515 of Can Tho City, as of the morning of August 5, functional forces have exhumed and taken samples of 36 more graves. Among them, 34 graves are eligible for sample collection and 2 graves are not eligible because one grave has no remains left, and one grave has withered.
At O Mon Martyrs' Cemetery, the force excavated 1,195 graves. Of which, 757 graves are eligible for sampling, 438 graves are not eligible. 129 graves are still being excavated.
To date, the forces have exhumed 2,002 martyrs' graves. Of which, 1,427 graves are eligible for DNA sampling and 575 graves are not eligible. The remaining graves to be exhumed are 3,090.
Professional forces have collected 1,433 samples of martyrs' remains; of which 670 samples have been handed over for DNA testing, and 763 samples are completing procedures for handover.
At each visit and encouragement point, Vice Chairman of Can Tho City People's Committee Nguyen Van Khoi acknowledged the spirit of responsibility and efforts of the forces directly performing tasks in unfavorable weather conditions and with a large workload.
Mr. Nguyen Van Khoi emphasized that the work of searching, repatriating and identifying martyrs' remains is not only a political task but also a sacred responsibility, expressing the morality of "When drinking water, remember the source" of the nation.
According to Mr. Khoi, the Central Government set a target to complete the campaign in 500 days and nights, but the Secretary of the Can Tho City Party Committee assigned the city to strive to complete it immediately in 2026. "If completed on December 22 - the anniversary of the founding of the Vietnam People's Army, it will be a meaningful milestone, expressing gratitude to the heroic martyrs who sacrificed for the independence and freedom of the Fatherland and the happiness of the people," Mr. Khoi said.
Colonel Pham Ngoc Quang - Political Commissar of the Can Tho City Military Command informed that, implementing the "500 Days and Nights" Campaign to accelerate the progress of searching, repatriating and identifying martyrs' remains, Can Tho City has 17 cemeteries with 5,022 remains samples that need to be sampled for DNA biological products.
After nearly two months of implementation at Can Tho City Martyrs' Cemetery and O Mon Martyrs' Cemetery, the two sampling teams have completed ahead of schedule compared to the initial plan.
We are racing against time to bring the best biological samples to the Army Center, with the desire to soon return the names of the heroic martyrs who sacrificed for the independence and freedom of the Fatherland," Colonel Quang said.
