Full gratitude

In the appeal on the occasion of “National War Invalids Day” (July 27, 1948), President Ho Chi Minh emphasized: “War invalids and martyrs have sacrificed for the Fatherland, sacrificed for the people. To repay that gratitude, the government must find every way to help war invalids and the families of martyrs. I also hope that the people are willing to help them materially and spiritually.”.

Following the wishes of beloved Uncle Ho, over the years, the Party, the State, and the People in general, and Phu Tho province in particular, have wholeheartedly helped war invalids, families of martyrs, and people with meritorious services to the revolution with deep gratitude. From there, it has fostered the pride of today’s generation, becoming a driving force to help them continue to promote the tradition of patriotism and build an increasingly rich and beautiful homeland.

Lieutenant General Hoang Khanh Hung, President of the Vietnam Association of Family and Friends of the Family, awarded Certificates of Merit to individuals who are members of the Association of Family and Friends of the Family, Phu Tho province, who have achieved outstanding achievements in the work of building the association and paying tribute to martyrs heroic Vietnamese mothers.

Proud of the tradition of the heroic homeland

According to statistics from the Department of Labor, Invalids, and Social Affairs, Phu Tho province has more than 256,000 people who have contributed to the revolution, including 1,251 heroic Vietnamese mothers, 121 veteran revolutionary cadres, 462 pre-uprising cadres, more than 11,300 war invalids and sick soldiers, more than 18,300 martyrs, and 7,346 people who directly participated in the resistance war and whose children were infected with toxic chemicals.

Promoting the fine traditions and ethics of “When drinking water, remember its source” and “repaying gratitude” of the nation, over the past 77 years, the Party Committee and People of Phu Tho province have always paid attention to resolving preferential policies for people with meritorious services and relatives and families of martyrs quickly and promptly.

Paying monthly allowances to nearly 23,000 people with a budget of over VND500 billion per year in a full, timely, targeted, and transparent manner. Programs to care for people with meritorious services are implemented promptly. 99.98% of policy families in the province have a standard of living equal to or higher than the average standard of living of the people in their place of residence. 100% of living Vietnamese heroic mothers are supported by organizations and individuals inside and outside the province.

The work of mobilizing the establishment of the “Repaying Gratitude” Fund reaches nearly VND4 billion each year. The programs of building “Houses of Gratitude,“giving “Savings Books of Gratitude,” taking care of the elderly and lonely parents of martyrs, orphaned children of martyrs, supporting Vietnamese Heroic Mothers, etc. have created a widespread influence, contributing to stabilizing and improving the material and spiritual lives of war invalids, sick soldiers, relatives of martyrs, and people with meritorious services.

Organizing visits and giving gifts to families of people with meritorious services on the occasion of War Invalids and Martyrs Day (27/7), annual holidays, and Tet, as well as taking care of graves and cemeteries of martyrs, have received special attention from sectors and localities in the province.

The Provincial Party Committee and the Provincial People’s Committee have directed departments, branches, sectors, unions, agencies, and units to effectively implement preferential policies on housing, education, and training for children of people with meritorious services; health care; prioritizing loans from the national job creation fund to develop production; supporting production and business establishments of war invalids, sick soldiers, and people with meritorious services; creating conditions for people with meritorious services and their relatives to have jobs; increasing income; and stabilizing their lives.

Along with that, the work of resolving post-war policy backlogs, especially the work of searching for and collecting martyrs“remains and building martyrs” cemeteries, has been of interest to all levels and sectors.

Party committees and local authorities always closely coordinate with the Provincial Military Command to seriously carry out the search for and collect martyrs“remains and carefully organize the reception of martyrs” remains who sacrificed all over the country and martyrs on international missions for burial in their homeland.

The Department of Labor, Invalids, and Social Affairs has always actively and proactively coordinated with the Provincial Military Command and relevant agencies in confirming the remaining martyrs and war invalids of different periods, implementing policies for former youth volunteers, and establishing regimes for those who participated in the resistance war and their children exposed to toxic chemicals.

After more than 12 years of establishment and development, up to now, the Association for Supporting Families of Martyrs of Phu Tho province has had more than 1,000 members operating in 9 district-level branches and 15 affiliated branches. The Association has corrected and provided information on martyrs in 7,114 cases, supported the transfer of 158 martyrs“remains to their hometowns, searched for and identified martyrs by empirical methods and DNA testing in 172 cases, presented 16 gratitude houses and 68 savings books, and presented 2,518 gifts to relatives of martyrs” families.

The above results have clearly affirmed the role and position of the association and have been recognized by the party committee, government, and people in the province. The Provincial Association of Martyrs and Martyrs was assigned by the Provincial People’s Committee to be a member of the Steering Committee for searching, gathering, and identifying martyrs of the province, the Steering Committee for identifying meritorious people of the province, and a member of the Provincial Fatherland Front Committee.

Youth Union members offer flowers to commemorate and pay tribute to the heroic martyrs at the Provincial Heroic Martyrs Monument in Ca Chuoi Hill, Chu Hoa Commune, Viet Tri City.

Efforts to "return your name"

Through the resistance wars against France, the US, and the Northern and Southwestern border wars, our country had more than 4 million civilians killed by bombs and bullets, killed by the enemy; over 127,000 Vietnamese heroic mothers whose husbands and children sacrificed in the wars to protect the Fatherland; currently, only about 3,000 mothers are still alive; and 1,146,250 martyrs, of whom nearly 180,000 have not found their remains; their bodies still lie on the battlefields of Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and the Northern border. More than 300,000 martyrs“remains have been brought back to martyrs” cemeteries, but their identities, names, hometowns, and units have not been determined.

The issuance of Directive No. 24, dated March 15, 2013, of the Politburo on “Continuing to promote the search and collection of martyrs’ remains from now until 2020 and the following years” has identified the search and collection of martyrs’ remains as an important political task, the responsibility of the entire party, the entire people, the entire army, and the help of international friends, deeply demonstrating the morality and tradition of “When drinking water, remember its source” and “repaying gratitude” of our nation. Looking back on the nearly 14 years of operation, the Vietnam Association of Family and Friends of Martyrs and its organizations nationwide, including the Phu Tho Provincial Association of Family and Friends of Martyrs, have become an “extended arm” connecting the Party and the State with the families of martyrs, a trusted address for the relatives of martyrs in providing and connecting information to search for martyrs' remains, and implementing the policies of the Party and the Government for martyrs and their relatives.

Accordingly, the Association has received and processed information from more than 200,000 martyrs and collected samples from more than 1,000 relatives of martyrs for DNA identification, of which nearly 500 have been identified through this method.

The Association has provided advice and support to 33,000 families to search for remains; over 200 families have identified martyrs' remains using empirical methods. Activities supporting DNA identification to identify martyrs have brought faith and hope to martyrs“families, contributing to reducing the practice of searching for martyrs” remains in the form of superstition.

The Association’s organizations have coordinated with functional agencies and localities to support martyrs“families in searching in cemeteries, helping to correct information on tombstones, and exhuming and moving over 1,200 martyrs” remains back to their homeland.

Along with activities supporting the search for martyrs“remains, the association has made many recommendations to the Ministry of Labor, Invalids, and Social Affairs and functional agencies to supplement and amend a number of preferential policies for martyrs” relatives, including recommending that the state should build a martyrs“gene bank to help families who wish to identify martyrs” remains that lack information by DNA identification.

However, in reality, the work of searching, collecting information, and collecting martyrs' remains nationwide in general and in Phu Tho province in particular and is becoming increasingly difficult. Because currently, the whole country still has more than 300,000 martyrs who have been gathered in cemeteries, but their identities have not been determined, and nearly 180,000 martyrs' remains have not been collected. The original burial places of the martyrs have changed over time, and information about the martyrs is increasingly lost because there are fewer witnesses.

The remains of the martyrs are decomposed, making it difficult to collect DNA samples, while the desire to bring the remains of loved ones back to their homeland is increasing. Therefore, it is necessary to continue to promote the socialization of the work of honoring martyrs and the connection of information from members of the Vietnam Association of Martyrs and Martyrs across the country to relatives and families of martyrs in each locality.

Continuing to search for information about martyrs and collecting and receiving martyrs' remains back to their homeland is an extremely heavy task that the party, the state, and all levels and sectors are paying special attention to. Through the efforts of the Party Committee, the government, and the people of all ethnic groups in Phu Tho province, the support of the Provincial Association of Martyrs and Families has actively contributed to the overall results of the Vietnam Association of Martyrs and Families' journey of showing gratitude to the families of martyrs and those who have contributed to the revolution.

From the results that the Vietnam Association of Martyrs and Families in general and the Phu Tho Provincial Association of Martyrs and Families in particular have achieved, it has inspired today’s generation to continue to show gratitude, contributing with the entire party, the entire army, and the entire people to “return the names” to the heroic martyrs to ease the pain left by war.

Lieutenant General Hoang Khanh Hung

President of the Vietnam Association of Martyrs and Families