Inauguration of the Bang Bien Phu Melaleuca Forest War Remnants Site

Party Central Committee Secretary, Head of the Central Propaganda Department Nguyen Trong Nghia and former Party and State leaders, representatives of Military Region 7, Military Region 9, provinces, cities and Kien Giang province, relatives of heroes, martyrs and people attended.

The Bang Bien Phu Melaleuca Forest War Remnants Area is part of a complex of 31 relic sites belonging to the U Minh Thuong Base National Historical Relic Site, which was ranked as a National Historical Relic by the Ministry of Culture and Information (now the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism) in 1997.

This relic site covers an area of 4 hectares, located in Vinh Phuoc 2 Quarter, Vinh Thuan Town, Vinh Thuan District (Kien Giang). This is a special relic site that preserves the value of a heroic and tragic historical period of the Southwest region and the Kien Giang Provincial Party Committee.

In mid-May 2023, the Bang Bien Phu Melaleuca Forest War Remnants Site and the Temple of Heroes, Martyrs and Meritorious People were started with a total construction cost of nearly 100 billion VND from mobilized and socialized funding sources.

The temple of heroic martyrs and meritorious people is the main structure with two spaces on both sides worshiping martyrs and the middle space worshiping President Ho Chi Minh. The architectural form and scale combine to form a sacred space.

The entire campus of the project is built spaciously and beautifully, with lighting systems, trees, flowers, bonsai, lotus ponds, etc. The tall, tolerant bronze statue of President Ho Chi Minh carries the emotional symbol of "The South in my heart".

Event - Kien Giang: Inauguration of the Bang Bien Phu Melaleuca Forest War Remnants Site and the Temple of Heroic Martyrs — Delegates performed the ribbon-cutting ceremony to inaugurate the Bang Bien Phu Melaleuca Forest War Remnants Site and the Temple of Heroic Martyrs and Meritorious People.

In the heroic land of Vinh Thuan, from February 1955, the Ngo Dinh Diem government established the An Phuoc Special Zone to suppress the people's revolutionary movement.

On the old house of landlord Bang Bien Phu, the Saigon puppet regime established An Phuoc Prison, nicknamed “An Phuoc Slaughterhouse” because it had the privilege of secretly executing and killing prisoners without sentencing. This was the place where people considered “core communists” were secretly imprisoned and killed.

During a period of about 3 years (1955 - 1957), the Saigon puppet government launched many terrorist sweeps, arresting and imprisoning more than 10,000 cadres, revolutionary soldiers and patriots, of which more than 1,500 people were killed in many savage and brutal ways at the Bang Bien Phu prison camp and cajuput forest.

Over the years, the province's K92 Team has found many remains that are no longer intact and whose identities cannot be determined, of cadres, soldiers and patriotic people here.

Kien Giang Provincial Party Secretary Do Thanh Binh expressed that it is more reassuring to have a communal house in the heroic homeland of U Minh Thuong, gathering the sacred souls of ancestors, uncles, aunts, brothers and sisters who have contributed to the country and have fallen. This will be a place where spiritual rituals can be fully and solemnly performed, expressing gratitude to those who have sacrificed their lives for the people and the country.

At the same time, it is also a place to educate future generations about the historical and cultural traditions and glorious revolutionary heroes of the homeland and country. These are the concerns and thoughts of the leaders of Kien Giang province over the past decades.

The temple of heroic martyrs and meritorious people in Vinh Thuan district will be the eternal resting place, the place to warm the souls who have been lying deep underground for many years, the place where life is never lost after death, the solid foundation for the existence and development of our country and our people.

Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, Party Central Committee Secretary, Head of the Central Propaganda Department Nguyen Trong Nghia said that today, when mentioning the place name Bang Bien Phu Melaleuca Forest, each of us relives unforgettable memories of a time of fierce bombs and bullets, the heroic, heroic, and indomitable years of resistance against the US to save the country of the people of U Minh Thuong, Rach Gia - Kien Giang.

War Remnants of Bang Bien Phu Melaleuca Forest remind us of the revolutionary cadres, soldiers and patriotic people who "Lived resiliently, bravely and heroically sacrificed".

That spirit contributed to the glorious victories of our army and people on the battlefields of the Southern region of the Fatherland and the whole country, culminating in the historic Ho Chi Minh Campaign in 1975, liberating the South and unifying the country.

That spirit contributed to creating an immortal U Minh Thuong, a symbol of revolutionary heroism in the great resistance war to save the country in the 20th century.

"The Bang Bien Phu Melaleuca Forest Relic Site will forever be a red address for educating the tradition of patriotism and revolutionary heroism for today's and future generations," emphasized Party Central Committee Secretary and Head of the Central Propaganda Department Nguyen Trong Nghia.

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