Memorial service held for 731 fallen soldiers in Ho Chi Minh City

Ho Chi Minh City witnessed a funeral ceremony for over 700 war dead on Wednesday, as part of a major effort to identify those missing since conflicts with France and the United States. Tens of thousands gathered in the streets, laying white flowers and praying as buses, adorned with the national flag, carried terracotta caskets to a cemetery for fallen soldiers.

The 731 sets of remains unearthed from a park named after Le Thi Rieng, a revolutionary fighter, were exhumed from individual and mass graves of fighters killed in 1968 during an uprising crushed by US-backed forces. Le Ngoc Mai Uyen, a frequent visitor to the park, expressed her faith in finding her grandmother's remains. The park's excavation is part of a 500-day national drive, Vietnam's largest push, to locate missing soldiers.

Despite challenges, authorities pledged continued efforts. While the government identified one soldier, Huynh Van Quen, others remain unidentified, with an estimated 1.2 million Vietnamese soldiers killed between 1945 and 1975. The government aims to recover 7,000 sets of remains by July 2027, involving over 1,500 people in searches across neighboring countries and DNA analysis of 18,000 samples.

As relatives age and pass, the urgency to identify loved ones grows, with scientists developing a world-first DNA extraction process from degraded remains.