Vietnam's Lam Dong and An Giang Provinces Accelerate DNA Identification of Unidentified War Heroes

Vietnam is scaling up a 500‑day campaign to identify thousands of unidentified war‑hero remains ahead of the 80th anniversary of the War Invalids and Martyrs Day. In Lam Dong province, a pilot project at Đức Linh cemetery sampled 55 remains on 4 June; the effort then expanded on 23 June to ten cemeteries covering 4 721 graves, with a target to complete sampling of all unidentified graves by 15 Nov 2026.

In An Giang province, officials held an online conference on 22 June to launch the same DNA‑sampling drive. The province has 20 war‑hero cemeteries with 35 945 graves, more than 30 000 of which lack identification. A test run at Châu Phú cemetery will collect 37 samples on 30 June–1 July, and teams have also recovered remains in neighboring Cambodia. Both provinces aim to use DNA analysis to confirm identities, honor the fallen and provide closure for families as part of the national commemorative program.