HCMC's Steering Committee for the Search, Recovery, and Identification of Martyrs' Remains is scheduled to receive wartime artifacts and burial records on July 9 from the research team behind the Vietnam Center and Sam Johnson Vietnam Archive's initiative to locate Vietnamese missing in the war at Texas Tech University in the United States.
The handover includes files related to three martyrs' personal artifacts, burial records, and a cemetery map identifying the graves of 21 martyrs at K76A Hospital, as well as decoded information on Military Unit 926 linked to artifacts discovered at Le Thi Rieng Park.
The documents, records, and artifacts were compiled to support Vietnamese authorities in expanding their database for cross-checking historical records, verifying witness accounts, conducting field surveys, and gradually identifying the burial sites of martyrs whose resting places remain unknown.
Over the years, the Texas Tech research team has collaborated with organizations in Vietnam and abroad to collect, digitize, and share wartime archives. Several of these records have already contributed to verifying information, locating burial sites, and supporting the recovery of martyrs' remains.
After the handover, the city's steering committee will classify, preserve, and analyze the materials while coordinating with relevant agencies to verify records through field investigations and information provided by veterans, historical witnesses, martyrs' families, and local authorities. Personal artifacts will be returned to relatives once their identities are confirmed.
The transfer comes as HCMC intensifies its 500-day campaign to accelerate the search, recovery, and identification of martyrs' remains, including ongoing excavation efforts at Le Thi Rieng Park. The city also continues to call on veterans, witnesses, and families at home and abroad to provide information on soldiers who died during the 1968 Battle of Tan Son Nhat Airport, as authorities combine historical archives, eyewitness testimony, and scientific methods to reunite the fallen with their families.
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