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Delegates at the see-off ceremony |
Deputy Defense Minister and Deputy Head of the National Steering Committee 515 Sr. Lt. Gen. Vo Minh Luong attended the event hosted by Long An province’s steering committee on the search, collection, and verification of remains of martyrs (Steering Committee 515 in short).
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Sr. Lt. Gen. Vo Minh Luong speaks at the event. |
In the previous dry season, 2022-2023, Team K73 gathered and repatriated 122 sets of remains of Vietnamese fallen troops in the three Cambodian provinces of Svay Rieng, Battambang, and Pailin.
Since 2001, the team has collected 2,367 sets of remains of martyrs and found six mass graves with some 280 remains. Among them, 168 remains have been identified.
In the first stage of the 2023-2024 dry season, 50 troops of Team K73 will conduct their duties in Battambang and Pailin provinces.
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Gen. Luong hands over gifts of the National Steering Committee 515 to Team K73. |
Assigning tasks to the team, Pham Tan Hoa, Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee and Head of Steering Committee 515 of Long An province, asked its members to well carry out external affairs in the host localities, regularly exchange information and get support from the local authorities, continue to encourage local people to provide information to make the search and collection work the most effective.
In his address, Gen. Luong applauded Team K73 for their achievements and the Steering Committee 515 of Military Region 7 and Long An province for their good leadership and direction.
He laid stress on the significant and humane meaning of the search and collection work and underlined that it is seen as the gratitude to the fallen troops for their sacrifice for independence, freedom of the nation, and happiness of the people.
Given that the work is long-term, hard, and difficult, Gen. Luong requested agencies, units, localities to continue embracing and effectively realize decisions and documents on the work, show determination and overcome all challenges, make full preparation of facilities and equipment and assign specific duties, to conduct the work with absolute safety.
He also reminded troops of observing the State’s law, military discipline, and the host’s regulations, promoting defense and people-to-people diplomacy, mass mobilization work, and effectively search for the remains.
Head of the team Colonel Tran Chi Cong promised to keep internal solidarity, overcome all difficulties to search and collect remains of fallen troops with the highest responsibility, and try their best to complete the assignments.
After the see-off ceremony, Team K73 crossed the border gate to start their tasks in Cambodia.
Earlier, Sr. Lt. Gen. Vo Minh Luong and his entourage offered incense and flowers at the temple which was recognized as a national relic site.
Translated by Mai Huong