500-Day Campaign: Soldiers Scour Forests and Cemeteries to Recover Fallen Heroes

In the dense jungles and solemn cemeteries of Quang Tri province, Vietnamese soldiers are engaged in a painstaking mission to bring home the remains of fallen soldiers. The "500-day and night" campaign, launched in April, is a concerted push to locate, collect, and identify the remains of martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the nation.

Soldiers from the 584th and 589th teams, part of the Quang Tri Provincial Military Command's Political Department, are meticulously surveying areas like Cau Nhi. Historical records indicate that in May-June 1972, the 88th Regiment of the 308th Division fought and many soldiers perished in the Cau Nhi area. The division has provided a list of 83 martyrs with available information.

Metal detectors are crucial tools in the search, helping soldiers probe up to 1.5 meters deep. The 584th team has a history in Cau Nhi, having previously found nine sets of remains there. As of July 20, they had located three more sets of remains and numerous artifacts in the area.

Beyond forest searches, the campaign also involves exhuming graves at national martyrs' cemeteries, including the Road 9 and Truong Son cemeteries. These efforts focus on collecting DNA samples to provide definitive identification for the fallen soldiers. Despite the scorching sun, soldiers are dedicated to this solemn task, using even improvised pulley systems to carefully excavate graves at the Road 9 National Martyrs' Cemetery.

Another team from the 337th Economic-Defense Đoàn ventured into the remote Cha Ly forest, believed to have once been a cemetery. After more than a month of searching, they recovered eight sets of remains, finally bringing them back from the Trường Sơn mountains where they had lain for half a century.