500 days and nights campaign and new hope for thousands of relatives of martyrs

It is not clear which cemetery the martyr is buried in.

Talking to a reporter from Lao Dong Newspaper, Mr. Do Dinh Ninh (85 years old, residing on Hai Ba Trung street, Sam Son ward, Thanh Hoa province) said that his family is very happy when the National Steering Committee launched the "Operation 500 days and nights to promote the search, repatriation and identification of martyrs' remains".

For Mr. Ninh's family, this campaign is not only a major policy with profound humanistic meaning, but also ignites new hope in the journey to find the graves of loved ones who sacrificed more than half a century ago.

According to Mr. Ninh, his younger brother is martyr Do Dinh Binh, born in 1951, from Xuan Truong commune, former Tho Xuan district, now Tho Xuan commune, Thanh Hoa province. Martyr Binh enlisted on September 11, 1969, belonging to unit D1-K9, participating in combat on the Southern front.

In 1973, the family received a death certificate with information that martyr Do Dinh Binh died on February 19, 1972, while on his way to participate in combat.

“The day we received the death certificate, the whole family was very sad. My mother cried for many days because she missed her son. However, at that time the war was still fierce, the family had to suppress their grief and wait for the day of peace to go find the grave” - Mr. Ninh recalled.

After the country's reunification, Mr. Ninh's family began the journey of inquiring and searching for information about the grave of martyr Do Dinh Binh. However, over the years, all clues gradually fell into deadlock. The family could not determine where the martyr was buried and which cemetery he belonged to?

According to Mr. Ninh, his family has a total of 3 martyrs who bravely sacrificed themselves. In addition to martyr Do Dinh Binh, his younger brother, his wife's side, Mrs. Do Thi Oanh, also has 2 younger brothers, martyr Do Viet Hung, born in 1950, and martyr Do Viet Loc, born in 1958. Both are from Xuan Truong commune, former Tho Xuan district, now Tho Xuan commune, Thanh Hoa province.

Currently, the grave of martyr Do Viet Loc has been found, and the grave of martyr Do Viet Hung is still unknown where. Therefore, the pain of searching for a martyr's grave has always been present in Mr. Ninh's family for many years.

Also according to Mr. Ninh, after many search journeys without results, the State and functional agencies' deployment of searching and identifying martyrs' remains using DNA testing methods has opened up more hope for martyrs' families.

As soon as the program was implemented, the couple went to the local headquarters for functional agencies to take samples and put them into the Gene Database of relatives of unidentified martyrs, serving the work of comparing and identifying martyrs' remains later.

I hope that, with the determination and responsibility of functional agencies in the large-scale search, one day the family will receive good news, find the martyr's grave to bring the children back to their motherland, so that relatives can be expressed gratitude and burn incense regularly" - Mr. Ninh said.

Urgently deploy on a large scale to repatriate about 7,000 sets of martyrs' remains

The "Operation of 500 days and nights to promote the search, repatriation and identification of martyrs' remains" was launched at the historical relic Quang Tri Citadel, a sacred and heroic land, towards the 80th anniversary of War Invalids and Martyrs' Day (July 27, 1947 - July 27, 2027). This is the concretization of the direction of Party and State leaders, led by General Secretary and President To Lam on implementing regimes and policies for people with meritorious services to the revolution.

The campaign is not only an important political task, but also an order from the heart, a sacred responsibility of the entire political system, of the entire people to those who sacrificed for the country.

According to the Office of the National Steering Committee 515, the goal of the campaign is to search for and repatriate about 7,000 sets of martyrs' remains; complete the sampling of martyrs' remains for about 230,000 unidentified martyrs' graves in martyrs' cemeteries and sets of remains searched for and repatriated; DNA testing of about 18,000 sets of martyrs' remains.

Along with that, the campaign aims to build, complete, and put into operation a gene database of relatives of martyrs whose information has not been identified to serve the work of comparing and identifying martyrs' remains; promote and complete the work of clearing bombs and mines, explosives to serve the search and repatriation of martyrs' remains, focusing on key areas and core areas such as Tuyen Quang province (Vi Xuyen), Lao Cai province, Lang Son province and areas with information about martyrs' graves.

To complete the campaign objectives, the Ministry of National Defense has assigned targets for searching for and repatriating martyrs' remains in the 2026-2027 period to units. The Ministry of National Defense also directed to continue to maintain the operation of 24 teams searching for and repatriating martyrs' remains, including 5 domestic teams, 8 teams in Laos and 11 teams in Cambodia; and at the same time review and propose the establishment of temporary search and repatriation teams to ensure the completion of tasks.

To date, the forces have searched and collected 1,109 sets of martyrs' remains, including 242 sets of remains in the country, 173 sets of remains in Laos, 694 sets of remains in Cambodia and 2 mass graves of martyrs in Tuyen Quang.