Ho Chi Minh City launches force to locate and identify war martyrs' remains

The Ho Chi Minh City Military Command has created a 37‑member task force to search for, exhume, and collect DNA samples from the remains of unidentified war martyrs across the city. The force includes six officers, ten professional soldiers and 21 enlisted personnel, led by Captain Lê Ngọc Hà as team commander, with Captain Lý Minh Vân as political officer and Lieutenant Dương Hiển Tùng as deputy commander.

The unit will support the city’s "500‑day night" campaign to accelerate the identification of unknown war dead. From May 2026 to July 2027 it aims to sample DNA from 9,869 graves lacking identity information in the city’s 18 cemeteries, with further sampling planned through 2030. The effort is framed as a political, social and humanitarian duty, honouring the families of martyrs and preserving national memory.

Officials stressed the need for scientific, coordinated fieldwork, adequate equipment and logistical support, and pledged to digitise the resulting data for integration into the national database of honoured individuals.