On June 19, the Military Command of Nghe An province organized a conference to summarize the task of searching, repatriating, and identifying martyrs' remains in the 2025-2026 dry season.
Attending the conference were Major General Le Van Trung - Deputy Political Commissar, Head of the Steering Committee for searching, repatriating, and identifying martyrs' remains of Military Region 4; Major General Vu Van Tung - Member of the Provincial Party Committee Standing Committee, Commander of the Military Command of Nghe An province.
The ceremony to welcome the remains of volunteer soldiers and Vietnamese experts who sacrificed in Laos was held in Muong Xen town. Photo: Dao Tho
In the dry season of 2025 - 2026, although the search and repatriation of martyrs' remains faced many difficulties due to increasingly limited information sources, changing terrain, and elderly and weak historical witnesses, the Repatriation Team of the Nghe An Provincial Military Command has searched and exhumed 80 remains of Vietnamese volunteer soldiers and experts who sacrificed in Laos.
In the process of performing tasks, the unit maintains the "four together" motto: "eating together, living together, working together, speaking Lao with the people of friendly countries"; and at the same time promotes mass mobilization work, building solidarity and attachment with local authorities and people.
The unit also organized medical examinations and free medicine distribution for more than 850 people; supported nearly 1,000 working days; presented gifts and food with a total value of about 490 million VND. Through this, effectively received and processed 81 sources of information related to martyrs' graves.
In 2026, Nghe An was selected by the National Steering Committee 515 and the Steering Committee of Military Region 4 as a model unit in biological sample collection, information digitization and handover of martyr remains samples.
Implementing the "500 Days and Nights" Campaign, by June 2026, Nghe An province had taken samples at 4/32 cemeteries, exhumed 223 graves, and collected 163 biological samples. All remains collected from Laos were also sampled for DNA testing. In addition, the first 141 remains samples were handed over to the Military Forensic Institute, ensuring tightness, dossier matching and digitization for management.
Speaking at the conference, Major General Le Van Trung acknowledged and praised the results of Nghe An province in the search, repatriation and identification of martyrs' remains. At the same time, he requested the Nghe An Provincial Steering Committee to continue to focus on implementing the target of searching for and repatriating 260 martyrs' remains assigned by Military Region 4; striving to complete the sampling of 2,333 martyrs' graves at 32 martyrs' cemeteries in the area in 2026.
At the conference, authorized by the President, leaders of Military Region 4 awarded the Third-class Fatherland Protection Medal to the Repatriation Team of the Military Command of Nghe An province.
On this occasion, 11 collectives and 19 individuals with outstanding achievements in the search, repatriation, and identification of martyrs' remains in the 2025-2026 dry season were commended and rewarded.
