Members of the Martyrs' Remains Collection Team (Ha Tinh Provincial Military Command) have completed 8 months of effective work in Laos and are preparing for a new journey in the 2023 - 2024 dry season.
Members of the Recovering Team survey the terrain to search for martyrs' graves in Bolikhamxay province.
In the dry season of 2022 - 2023, the Collection Team searched, collected and repatriated the remains of 10 martyrs after many years of them lying in Laos.
With the wholehearted support of the Party, government, armed forces and the Lao ethnic people, after 8 months of tireless searching, the Recovering Team has recovered 9 remains in Pak Xan town and Vieng Thong district (Bolikhamxay province), 1 remains in Xaythany district (capital Vientiane). The remains of the soldiers were brought back to their motherland for a solemn, respectful, sacred and emotional burial nearly a month ago.
The task of searching for, collecting and repatriating martyrs' remains is the "heart's command" of soldiers.
Lieutenant Colonel Pham Huu Tien - Political Commissar of the Gathering Team said: "In the recent dry season, all three search teams in Vientiane and Bolikhamxay encountered many difficulties due to hot weather, bumpy roads, having to march on foot, limited communication, and inaccurate information provided by the locals because the war had been over for so long... However, starting from the "command of the heart", the officers and soldiers in our team did not hesitate to face difficulties and hardships, eating in tents, sleeping in the forest, dedicating themselves to every step with the hope of finding you soon."
Major Le Van Tuan shared: “Every time we receive information, we quickly plan to survey the terrain, build a search plan, prepare our mentality, food, and provisions to march, and stay at the search location in the forest for 5-7 days. As for the martyr’s grave found in Vientiane, we had to dig for 2 weeks on a very large hill because the martyr died during the anti-French period, the information we received was initially incomplete. Only when a village elder informed us that on the day of the martyr’s burial, the villagers planted a bamboo root as a marker and it has now grown very densely, did we dig hard for another week before finding it.”
Relics were found in a deep cave along with five sets of martyrs' remains in Bolikhamxay province.
To improve work efficiency, during the implementation of tasks on the host country, the Quy Tap Team always takes care of cultivating the military-civilian relationship, the Vietnam-Laos solidarity by supporting people with health check-ups, providing free medicine, giving gifts on holidays, helping villages build roads...
Team members also regularly meet and contact with Party committees, authorities, mass organizations and veterans of other countries who fought alongside our troops to get new information.
Memorial service and prayers for martyrs who died in Laos and were found during the 2022-2023 dry season.
Major General Si Phon Chan Xom Vong - Deputy Secretary of the City Party Committee, Head of the Vientiane Capital Special Task Force shared: "Accompanying and supporting the Collection Team to search, collect and repatriate the remains of Vietnamese martyrs is the responsibility of our Party Committee, government and people. This is also a meaningful work, demonstrating the sentiment, morality and solidarity between Laos and Vietnam, so it has done very well so far and will do even better in the future."
With the efforts and responsibility of the Collection Team, and the active support of the neighboring country, over the past quarter of a century (from the dry season of 1998 - 1999 to present), the team has searched for, recovered, and brought back to their homeland 810 remains of Vietnamese experts and volunteer soldiers who died in Laos during the two resistance wars against France and the US. Accordingly, in Bolikhamxay province, 550 remains of martyrs were collected, and in the capital Vientiane, 260 remains of martyrs were collected.
Colonel Mai Ngoc Viet - Deputy Political Commissar of the Provincial Military Command (far left) discussed with Major General Si Phon Chan Xom Vong (second from left) and Lao forces about the plan to search for and recover martyrs' remains in the dry season of 2023 - 2024.
Currently, the members of the Gathering Team are focusing on stabilizing the organization, participating in training (military, political, gathering operations), and developing a plan to carry out the 2023-2024 dry season mission to submit to superiors for approval. In addition, the gathered soldiers also have to take the opportunity to meet and exchange with veterans who fought in Laos to better understand the situation and have more information...
The team members assigned to stay in the host country also overcome difficulties and homesickness day and night to look after and clean the martyrs' shrines and stay close to the area, receiving information provided by the people of the host country. Thereby, they are ready for the new search season (from October 2023 to May 2024) with the hope of achieving better results, searching for and bringing the heroes back to their homeland.
Ten martyrs, Vietnamese experts and volunteer soldiers who died in Laos, were brought back to their homeland on May 23, 2023.
Colonel Mai Ngoc Viet - Deputy Political Commissar of the Provincial Military Command shared: "In the coming time, we will focus on implementing the policies of the Party, State, Army and Province on the search and recovery of the remains of martyrs who are Vietnamese experts and volunteer soldiers who sacrificed their lives for the noble international mission in Laos.
Accordingly, we will work and coordinate with the competent forces of the neighboring country and develop plans for the new search season. In particular, we will focus on directing, urging and motivating the Gathering Team to overcome difficulties to do a good job of mass mobilization, propaganda, information reception, terrain survey, search and retrieval organization to achieve the best results.
Tien Dung - Dinh Thanh
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