Vietnam discovers two leather wallets with photos in Dong Nai mass grave

Team K72 of the Dong Nai city military command uncovered a new mass grave at the site of point 74 in Minh Đức commune, Dong Nai, on 26 July. Six sets of soldiers' remains were recovered together with numerous personal items, including two leather wallets that still contained many portrait photographs of the deceased soldiers and their relatives. The photos are considered crucial evidence for confirming the identities of the fallen and locating surviving family members.

The discovery follows a 15‑day expanded excavation that previously yielded 26 bodies and a total of 55 sets of remains recovered before the current operation, which added another 21 bodies. The area was a major battlefield between 1967 and 1975, witnessing intense fighting among Vietnamese liberation forces, the US military and the South Vietnamese army, and it was also the scene of a US‑led “Search and Block Minh Đức” operation in November 1969. The ongoing “500‑day night campaign” (14–20 July 2026) has accelerated the search and collection of remains and artifacts in the region.