Martyrs’ remains found in cave with Chinese chess set, wartime artefacts
VOV.VN - The remains of a Vietnamese war martyr have been discovered in a cave in central Quang Tri province, along with several personal belongings including a Chinese chess set and other wartime artifacts, according to a search team.
A search unit from Economic–Defence Unit 337 under Military Region 4 reported on March 13 that the remains were found in Se Pu village, Huong Lap commune, during a mission to locate fallen soldiers.
The remains were located inside a cave on Co Loong Mountain, about three meters below the surface. Many bones were still preserved at the site.
Several personal items believed to belong to the soldier were found alongside the remains, including a rain poncho, parachute fabric, a lighter, flashlight batteries, a toothbrush, a Chinese chess set and a coin with a denomination of two xu issued in 1958.
According to the search team, the area around Co Loong Mountain has previously yielded the remains of 33 martyrs during earlier recovery missions. The unit is continuing to survey and expand search operations around the discovery site.
Earlier, on March 11, the same unit discovered another set of martyrs’ remains in Cu Bai village, also in Huong Lap commune.
The remains were found near the entrance of a cave on Co Chuoi Mountain, buried at a depth of around 0.8 to 1 meter. They were wrapped in a poncho and parachute fabric, with two intact pieces of poncho covering the outside.
Along with the remains, the search team recovered several wartime artifacts, including a vehicle headlight, an injection vial, a penicillin bottle, an oil container, spent K54 pistol cartridges, AK-47 ammunition, heavy machine-gun rounds, three bomb fragments and communication wires.
The discovery is part of ongoing efforts by Vietnamese authorities and military units to locate and repatriate the remains of soldiers who died during the war, many of whom are still missing decades after the conflict ended.