According to assessments from historical witnesses and document verification results, this area may still have about 900 martyrs' remains. This is considered one of the largest-scale searches and gathering of martyrs' remains in the inner city of Ho Chi Minh City in recent years.
Units under the Ministry of National Defense, including the Department of Logistics and Technology (Engineering Corps), will mobilize specialized forces and technical vehicles to support Ho Chi Minh City in performing its tasks. Notably, ground-penetrating radar will be put into survey and underground scanning of the entire ground in three areas suspected of being three mass grave ditches in Le Thi Rieng Park.
In necessary cases, units will advise the Ministry of National Defense to invest in supplementing modern technology equipment and training professional personnel to speed up the excavation process and soon find the remains of martyrs.
In parallel with the search, the Department of Operations, the General Department of Politics, the Department of Social Policy and related agencies will review and standardize martyr records, lists of units, nameplates, and combat areas associated with the battles in Saigon - Gia Dinh in the 1968 Tet Offensive.
These data are the basis for comparison, identification, and identification of remains after excavation, thereby searching for relatives of martyrs. In case the identity is identified and there are relatives, the remains will be buried at the martyrs' cemetery or handed over according to family wishes.
For the remains that cannot be identified, the Steering Committee 515 of Military Region 7 proposes to build a cemetery park or memorial area right in the campus of Le Thi Rieng Park.
Major General Tran Chi Tam - Deputy Political Commissar of Military Region 7 - said that the deployment of the repatriation at the end of June and the beginning of July is a suitable time. In the first phase, functional forces will survey the scene, analyze the stratigraphy, use ground-penetrating radar and physical methods to accurately zone the excavation location.
According to Major General Tran Chi Tam, because the location is located in the center of Ho Chi Minh City with complex geological and infrastructure conditions, it takes 1-3 days for initial surveys, then another 7-10 days to analyze data, evaluate results and develop detailed gathering plans.
Another advantage is that at this time, Teams K of Military Region 7 - the force specializing in searching for and repatriating the remains of volunteer soldiers and Vietnamese experts who sacrificed in Cambodia - also completed their tasks and returned home. Military Region 7 plans to mobilize this experienced force to coordinate with units of Ho Chi Minh City to carry out search and repatriation work in the most methodical and effective way.
