Vietnam to digitise 72,000 war‑era “đi B” records and artifacts

The State Archive Department of the Ministry of Home Affairs is preserving more than 72,000 files and artifacts belonging to the "cán bộ đi B" – civilian personnel who travelled to South Vietnam during the war. An exhibition on the collection ran from 17 July to 2 September to mark the 79th anniversary of Vietnam’s Veterans’ Day, and the agency announced a plan to digitise the entire archive and make the material searchable online for former participants and their families.

Director Dang Thanh Tung explained that the original documents will remain as national assets while copies will be provided to relatives. He stressed that the digitisation effort is intended to safeguard the records before the remaining generation, most now over 80 years old, passes away. "The most valuable thing left by the previous generation is not only the records and artifacts, but also the spirit of Vietnam, the will to sacrifice for the Motherland," he said.