On June 18, Major General Nguyen Thanh Trung, Political Commissar of the Ho Chi Minh City High Command and Deputy Head of the Standing Committee of the Steering Committee for the Search, Collection, and Identification of Martyrs’ Remains in Ho Chi Minh City (Ho Chi Minh City Steering Committee 515) received a delegation from Texas Tech University, the United States, to discuss and share data in support of efforts to search for and recover martyrs’ remains.
The delegation included Dr. Stephen Maxner, Director of the Vietnam Center and Sam Johnson Vietnam Archive (VNCA) at Texas Tech University; Associate Professor Dr. Alex-Thai Dinh Vo; and attorney Ta Thu Phong, legal representative of the VNCA.
At the working session, Major General Nguyen Thanh Trung stated that Ho Chi Minh City is urgently implementing the 500-Day Campaign to accelerate the search, recovery, and identification of martyrs’ remains. This is a task of profound political and humanitarian significance entrusted by the Party and the State, attracting strong attention and support from local authorities and the public.
On behalf of the Ho Chi Minh City Steering Committee 515, Major General Nguyen Thanh Trung expressed his sincere appreciation for the valuable contributions made by the Vietnam Center and Sam Johnson Vietnam Archive at Texas Tech University, as well as the research team behind the project, “An Initiative to Search for Vietnamese Missing in War.”
According to Major General Nguyen Thanh Trung, the search, recovery, and identification of martyrs’ remains currently face numerous challenges, as many decades have passed since the war. Many witnesses are now elderly and experiencing memory decline, while others have passed away.
Given these realities, the Ho Chi Minh City Steering Committee 515 hopes that Texas Tech University will assist in retrieving and cross-referencing archival materials, particularly documents from the United States, Australia, and other sources, to help narrow down search areas, generate additional leads, and accelerate the search and recovery of martyrs’ remains.
At the meeting, Dr. Stephen Maxner expressed his appreciation for the efforts made by Vietnam in general and Ho Chi Minh City in particular in the search and recovery of martyrs’ remains. He noted that the research project seeks to promote concrete cooperation with Ho Chi Minh City in locating Vietnamese individuals who went missing during the war.
The research team is currently focusing on analyzing specific geographic areas and integrating multiple sources of information—including archival records, military reports, aerial imagery, and witness accounts—to produce reports with a higher degree of reliability.
Both sides are expected to establish a specific cooperation mechanism, designate focal points for research activities and information exchange, and strengthen links with archival institutions, research organizations, historians, and local authorities. The Ho Chi Minh City Steering Committee 515 will also report to the National Steering Committee 515 to facilitate access to, exploitation of, and cross-referencing of documentary sources serving this shared mission.
Under the initial agreement, the two sides will hold a specialized workshop in July to exchange research methodologies, share documentary resources, define cooperation mechanisms, and provide direct support to Ho Chi Minh City’s teams responsible for the search and recovery of martyrs’ remains.
Following the working session, the delegates paid floral and incense tributes at the monument dedicated to the late Party General Secretary Tran Phu; the memorial stele honoring the martyrs who sacrificed their lives during the 1968 Spring Mau Than General Offensive and Uprising; and the martyrs’ commemorative stele located within Le Thi Rieng Park.
