At a working session with the Australian Army's Unrecovered War Casualties Unit in Canberra on November 24, Minh, member of the national steering committee for the search, repatriation and identification of martyrs’ remains (Steering Committee 515), said Vietnam still has around 175,000 cases of fallen soldiers whose remains have yet to be located or verified. He stressed that this remains a pressing humanitarian issue for Vietnam, though the work has become increasingly difficult over time.

He proposed that Australia share its experience and apply advanced technologies in research, data aggregation, investigation, classification, extraction of information, and the preservation of records to support Vietnam’s efforts to search for and repatriate the remains of its fallen soldiers.

Dr. Aaron Pegram, manager of the Australian Army's Unrecovered War Casualties Unit, affirmed the country’s commitment to working more effectively with Vietnam in this effort, contributing to the further development of bilateral ties.

The same day, the Vietnamese delegation visited and worked with the Australian War Memorial. Minh requested the memorial to extract information from its archives related to Vietnamese soldiers who died, went missing or remain unaccounted for, and provide it to the Office of Vietnam’s Steering Committee 515.

He also asked the memorial to promote communication and encourage Australian organisations and individuals to gather and share information, documents and wartime memorabilia related to Vietnamese martyrs and their burial sites, in support of Vietnam’s ongoing search and identification efforts.

29th Vietnam-Laos meeting on martyrs’ repatriation held in HCM City

Vietnam's search teams located and collected the remains of 184 martyrs in Laos in the 2023-2024 dry season, with nine identified by name and hometown, heard a meeting between special task forces of the Vietnamese and Lao governments held in Ho Chi Minh City on June 24.