Full of gratitude

In his appeal on the occasion of “National War Invalids Day” (July 27, 1948), President Ho Chi Minh emphasized: “... War invalids and martyrs have sacrificed for the Fatherland, sacrificed for the people. To repay that gratitude, the Government must find every way to help war invalids and the families of martyrs. I also hope that the people are willing to help them materially and spiritually...”.

Realizing the wishes of beloved Uncle Ho, over the years, our Party, State and People in general, Phu Tho province in particular have wholeheartedly helped war invalids, families of martyrs, and people with meritorious services to the revolution with deep gratitude. From there, it has fostered the pride of today's generation, becoming a driving force to help them continue to promote the tradition of patriotism, building an increasingly beautiful homeland.

Lieutenant General Hoang Khanh Hung - President of the Vietnam Association of Family and War Veterans awarded Certificates of Merit to individuals who are members of the Association of Family and War Veterans of Phu Tho province with outstanding achievements in building the Association and paying tribute to martyrs - Vietnamese Heroic Mothers.

Proud of the tradition of the heroic homeland

According to statistics from the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, Phu Tho province has more than 256,000 people with revolutionary contributions, including 1,251 Vietnamese Heroic Mothers, 121 veteran revolutionary cadres, 462 pre-uprising cadres, more than 11,300 wounded and sick soldiers, more than 18,300 martyrs, 7,346 people who directly participated in the resistance war and their children were infected with toxic chemicals.

Promoting the good traditions and ethics of "When drinking water, remember its source" and "Repaying gratitude" of the nation, over the past 77 years, the Party Committee and People of Phu Tho province have always paid attention to resolving preferential policies for people with meritorious services and relatives and families of martyrs quickly and promptly.

Paying monthly allowances to nearly 23,000 people with a budget of over 500 billion VND per year in a complete, timely, targeted, and transparent manner. Programs to care for people with meritorious services are implemented promptly. 99.98% of policy families in the province have a standard of living equal to or higher than the average standard of living of the people in the place of residence. 100% of living Vietnamese Heroic Mothers are taken care of by organizations and individuals inside and outside the province.

The work of mobilizing the construction of the "Repaying gratitude" Fund reaches nearly 4 billion VND each year. The programs of building "Houses of gratitude", giving "Savings books of gratitude", taking care of the lonely and elderly parents of martyrs, orphaned children of martyrs, supporting Vietnamese Heroic Mothers... have created a widespread influence, contributing to stabilizing and improving the material and spiritual life of war invalids, sick soldiers, relatives of martyrs and people with meritorious services.

Organizing visits and giving gifts to families of workers on the occasion of War Invalids and Martyrs Day, July 27, annual holidays and Tet, as well as taking care of martyrs' graves and cemeteries, are given special attention by sectors and localities in the province.

The Provincial Party Committee and People's Committee have directed departments, branches, sectors, organizations, agencies and units to effectively implement preferential policies on housing, education and training for children of meritorious people; health care; prioritize loans from the national employment fund to develop production; support production and business establishments of war invalids, sick soldiers and meritorious people, creating conditions for meritorious people and their relatives to have jobs, increase income and stabilize their lives.

Along with that, the work of resolving post-war policy backlogs, especially the work of searching for and collecting martyrs' remains and building martyrs' cemeteries, has been given attention by all levels and sectors.

Local Party committees and authorities always closely coordinate with the Provincial Military Command to seriously carry out the search and collection of martyrs' remains; carefully organize the reception of martyrs' remains who sacrificed their lives across the country and martyrs on international missions for burial in their homeland.

The Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs always actively and proactively coordinates with the Provincial Military Command and relevant agencies in confirming the remaining martyrs and wounded soldiers from different periods, implementing policies for former youth volunteers, and regimes for resistance fighters and their children exposed to toxic chemicals.

After more than 12 years of establishment and development, up to now, the Association for Supporting Families of Martyrs (HTGĐLS) of Phu Tho province has had more than 1,000 members operating in 9 district-level branches and 15 affiliated branches. The Association has corrected and provided information on martyrs for 7,114 cases; supported the relocation of 158 martyrs' remains to their hometowns; searched for and identified martyrs by empirical methods and DNA testing for 172 cases; donated 16 gratitude houses, 68 savings books; and donated 2,518 gifts to relatives of martyrs' families.

The above results have clearly affirmed the role and position of the Association and have been recognized by the Party Committee, government and people in the province. The Provincial Association of Martyrs and Martyrs was assigned by the Provincial People's Committee to be a member of the Steering Committee for searching, gathering and identifying the identities of martyrs of the province, the Steering Committee for confirming the meritorious people of the province and a member of the Provincial Fatherland Front Committee...

Youth Union members offered flowers to commemorate and pay tribute to heroic martyrs at the Provincial Heroic Martyrs Monument at Ca Chuoi Hill, Chu Hoa Commune, Viet Tri City.

Efforts to "give him his name back"

During the resistance wars against France, the US, the Northern and Southwestern border wars, our country had more than 4 million civilians killed by bombs and bullets, killed by the enemy; over 127,000 Vietnamese Heroic Mothers whose husbands and children sacrificed in the wars to protect the Fatherland, currently only about 3,000 Mothers are still alive; 1,146,250 martyrs, of which nearly 180,000 martyrs have not yet found their remains, their bodies still lie on the battlefields of Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and the Northern border. More than 300,000 martyrs' remains have been brought back to martyr cemeteries, but their identities, hometowns, and units have not been determined.

The issuance of Directive No. 24, dated March 15, 2013 of the Politburo on "Continuing to promote the search and collection of martyrs' remains from now until 2020 and the following years" has identified the search and collection of martyrs' remains as an important political task, the responsibility of the entire Party, the entire people, the entire army and the help of international friends; deeply demonstrating the morality and tradition of "When drinking water, remember its source", "Repaying gratitude" of our nation.

Looking back on the past 14 years of operation, the Vietnam Association of Family and Friends of Martyrs and its organizations nationwide, including the Association of Family and Friends of Martyrs of Phu Tho province, have become an "extended arm" connecting the Party, the State with the families of martyrs, a trusted address for the relatives of martyrs in providing and connecting information to search for martyrs' remains and implementing the policies of the Party and the Government for martyrs and their relatives.

Accordingly, the Association has received and processed information of more than 200,000 martyrs, collected samples of more than 1,000 martyrs' relatives for DNA testing, of which nearly 500 martyrs have had their identities identified through this method.

The Association has provided advice and support to 33,000 families in their search for remains; over 200 families have identified the remains of martyrs using empirical methods. Activities supporting DNA identification to identify martyrs have brought faith and hope to martyrs' families, contributing to reducing the practice of searching for martyrs' remains in a superstitious manner.

The Association's organizations have coordinated with authorities and localities to support families of martyrs in searching cemeteries, helping to correct information on tombstones, and exhuming and moving over 1,200 martyrs' remains back to their homeland.

Along with activities to support the search for martyrs' remains, the Association has made many written recommendations to the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs and relevant agencies to supplement and amend a number of preferential policies for martyrs' relatives, including recommending that the State should build a martyrs' gene bank to help families who wish to identify martyrs' remains with missing information by DNA testing.

However, in reality, the work of searching, collecting information, and collecting martyrs' remains in the whole country in general and in Phu Tho province in particular is becoming increasingly difficult. Because currently, the whole country still has more than 300,000 martyrs who have been gathered in cemeteries but have not been identified and nearly 180,000 martyrs' remains have not been collected. The original burial places of the martyrs have changed over time, information about the martyrs is increasingly lost because of the decreasing number of witnesses.

The remains of martyrs are decomposed, making it difficult to collect DNA samples... while the desire to bring the remains of loved ones back to their homeland is increasing. Therefore, it is necessary to continue to promote the socialization of the work of paying tribute to martyrs, and the connection of information from members of the Vietnam Association of Martyrs and Martyrs across the country to relatives and families of martyrs in each locality.

Continuing to search for information about martyrs, collecting and receiving martyrs' remains back to their homeland is an extremely heavy task that the Party, the State, all levels and sectors pay special attention to. From the efforts of the Party Committee, the government and the people of all ethnic groups in Phu Tho province, the companionship of the Provincial Association of Martyrs and Families has actively contributed to the overall results of the Vietnam Association of Martyrs and Families on the journey of showing gratitude to the families of martyrs and people with meritorious services to the revolution.

The results that the Vietnam Association of War Veterans in general and the Phu Tho Province Association of War Veterans in particular have achieved have inspired today's generation to continue to show gratitude, contributing with the entire Party, the entire army and the entire people to "return the names" to the heroic martyrs, easing the pain left by war.

Lieutenant General Hoang Khanh Hung

President of Vietnam Association of Family Lawyers

Source: https://baophutho.vn/tron-nghia-tri-an-216159.htm