Memorial service held for 731 fallen soldiers in Ho Chi Minh City

Prime Minister Le Minh Hung attended a memorial and reburial ceremony in Ho Chi Minh City on October 14 for the remains of 731 fallen soldiers recovered from Le Thi Rieng Park, paying tribute to those who sacrificed their lives for national peace, independence and freedom.

The ceremony was jointly organised by the municipal Party Committee, People’s Council, People’s Committee and Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee, along with Military Region 7 Command, to honour fallen soldiers and uphold the nation’s traditions of patriotism and gratitude to those who rendered service to the nation.

Attendees included Chairman of the General Department of Politics of the Vietnam People’s Army General Nguyen Trong Nghia; Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee Tran Luu Quang; and Deputy Prime Minister Pham Thi Thanh Tra, who is also head of the National Steering Committee for the Search, Collection and Identification of Martyrs' Remains, along with other officials, representatives of veterans’ and fallen soldiers’ families, religious and ethnic communities, local residents, and representatives of the US and Australian embassies in Vietnam.

Also present were former leaders of the Party, State, Government and National Assembly.

Before the ceremony, PM Hung and other participants laid wreaths and offered incense at the statue of late Party General Secretary Tran Phu and the fallen soldiers’ memorial stele at Le Thi Rieng Park, observing a minute of silence in tribute to those who sacrificed their lives for national independence, freedom and people’s happiness.

Delivering the eulogy, Nguyen Manh Cuong, Vice Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee, expressed deep gratitude to the fallen soldiers, who gave their youth for national liberation. He affirmed that their sacrifices were invaluable and would always be remembered by the nation and its people.

Under the direction of the National Steering Committee, the Steering Committees of Military Region 7 and Ho Chi Minh City have studied historical records, sought witnesses and utilised modern equipment to locate and recover the remains.

From June 23 to October 5, Team K74 and other forces recovered 731 sets of martyrs’ remains from the park. Biological samples and DNA samples collected from relatives of unidentified fallen soldiers are being analysed and stored in the national gene bank to support identification efforts, Cuong noted.

The 500-day campaign to accelerate the search, recovery and identification of fallen soldiers’ remains will continue, following the direction of Party General Secretary and President To Lam to expand searches beyond Le Thi Rieng Park to other sites where fierce battles took place during the resistance wars, he added.

Following the ceremony, hundreds of armed forces personnel transported the remains to the Ho Chi Minh City Martyrs’ Cemetery for reburial. Along the 26-kilometre route through 11 wards, tens of thousands of residents lined the streets with white flowers to pay their respects as the procession passed.

According to the municipal Military Command, 307 of the 731 sets of remains were found with personal effects. Of the total, 698 were recovered individually and 33 from eight mass graves. Search and identification efforts are being carried out under the nationwide 500-day campaign, drawing on field surveys and information from agencies, residents, martyrs' relatives and witnesses, alongside DNA testing and historical record verification to identify fallen soldiers whose names remain unknown./.