The Military Command of Dong Thap Province has recovered the remains of 66 fallen soldiers from a 2,500-square-metre coconut grove in Tan Thanh Commune after three weeks of excavation.
Team K91 searches for martyrs' remains at the former Ca Cai cemetery site (Photo: Team K91).
According to authorities, information provided by witnesses indicated that the soldiers belonged to Regiment 207 and were killed in 1973.
The search was carried out in a coconut grove owned by 63-year-old Do Van Cam. Cam said the land had once been used as a temporary military cemetery. Around 1992, the remains of fallen soldiers were relocated to Dong Thap Province Martyrs Cemetery, after which the state provided him with replacement land for agricultural production.
In early August, Le Thi Ngan Ha, 56, from Ca Cai Hamlet, contacted the Dong Thap Military Command with information suggesting that additional remains could still be buried beneath Cam's coconut grove.
Ha said she had learned about the possible burial site from her mother-in-law, a war invalid who had once helped manage the former Ca Cai Cemetery and had buried numerous fallen soldiers.
"My mother-in-law often said that, while troops were moving in haste, soldiers buried the bodies of their comrades in the cemetery without placing grave markers," Ha said.
According to Ha, the former Ca Cai Cemetery was originally the home of a wealthy landowner before being occupied and turned into a military outpost by enemy forces during the war.
After the enemy withdrew, troops took advantage of the elevated ground and, while moving at night, secretly dug deep into the earth to bury the bodies of their comrades.
"When the southwestern border war broke out, more soldiers who died were buried here, but they were placed closer to the surface," Ha recalled, recounting stories her mother-in-law frequently told while she was alive.
Authorities recover martyrs' remains at the site of a temporary martyrs' cemetery in Trung Hamlet, Thuong Phuoc Commune (Photo: Team K91).
In 1992, the remains at the cemetery were relocated to Dong Thap Province Martyrs Cemetery. However, Ha said her mother-in-law believed some remains had not been recovered because many bodies had been buried deep underground.
