Deputy Prime Minister Pham Thi Thanh Tra on June 25 called for extra efforts to speed up the implementation of the nationwide 500-day campaign to search for, recover and identify remains of fallen soldiers, as the country prepares to mark the 80th anniversary of War Invalids and Martyrs Day in 2027 (July 27).

Deputy Prime Minister Pham Thi Thanh Tra has called for closer and more effective cooperation between the Viet Nam Center and Sam Johnson Vietnam Archive (VNCA) at Texas Tech University of the US and the Vietnamese Wartime Accounting Initiative (VWAI) in helping Viet Nam search for and repatriate the remains of fallen soldiers so they can rest in their homeland.

The Ho Chi Minh City Military Command on June 9 announced the establishment of a specialised force tasked with searching for and recovering the remains of fallen soldiers as part of the national “500-day campaign” on martyrs’ remains search, repatriation and identification.

Deputy PM Pham Thi Thanh Tra said the complexity of the work meant relevant agencies need to change their mindset and adopt new methods to achieve better results.

The Ministry of National Defence convened a conference in Ha Noi on April 24 to roll out the peak phase of the 500-day campaign to accelerate the search, recovery and identification of fallen soldiers’ remains.