VN honours revolutionary soldiers

HA NOI — The younger generation should be grateful for the contributions of revolutionary soldiers who died for the country’s independence, said President of the Viet Nam Fatherland Front Central Committee Huynh Dam.

Dam made the statement at the departure ceremony, held for more than 400 former revolutionary prisoners, relatives of martyrs, who will arrive on Phu Quoc Island in the southern province of Kien Giang for the requiem, commemoration and burial ceremony for martyrs on the occasion of the Day of Fallen Soldiers and Invalids on Monday.

The remains of more than 300 martyrs have been found by Kien Giang Province’s Military Command.

About 170 members of the delegation are revolutionary soldiers who had been detained in the enemy’s prisons, 190 are relatives of martyrs and beneficiary families on social welfare, and 32 are war invalids.

The trip lasts from July 23 to 29 and will include a series of memorial activities, such as participating in the commemoration and burial ceremony of martyrs in Phu Quoc Martyr Cemetery, laying wreaths at Revolutionay Soldiers Statue, visiting Phu Quoc Prison and visiting the grave of President Ho Chi Minh’s father, Nguyen Sinh Sac, in Dong Thap Province.

Yesterday, authorities from the Central Highlands province of Kon Tum handed out gifts from the State president to 129 families on social welfare, of which 107 are families of Vietnamese Heroic Mothers. Other units and enterprises in the province also gave presents to families who had contributed to the national revolution.

Central Nghe An Province also held activities to mark the Day of Invalids and Fallen Soldiers. In addition to gifts from the State president, provincial authorities spent more than VND5.6 billion (US$311,000) to buy presents and support nearly 97,000 social welfare beneficiaries in the province.

Kien Giang Province authorities also granted gifts worth VND2 billion ($110,000) to the families of invalids, martyrs and those who had contributed to the national revolution.

Some 150 new houses have been built and will be granted to social welfare families on Sunday. The province will build 580 more similar houses this year.

Commemoration

The remains of 172 Vietnamese army volunteers and experts who died in the war in Cambodia were repatriated to Dong Xoai Township in the southern province of Binh Phuoc yesterday

The commemoration and burial ceremony was attended by representatives from the Military Commander of Military Zone No 7, Binh Phuoc Province and heads and vice heads of Cambodia’s Kratie and Kongpongthom provinces and residents of the township.

The remains were found during the 2008-09 dry season in Cambodia’s Kratie and Kongpongthom provinces by searching teams from Military Zone No 7 and the Military Command of Binh Phuoc Province. Six bodies have been identified.

On the same day, authorities from the province’s Loc Ninh District commemorated the dead and buried the remains of 29 war martyrs. Twenty-two of the soldiers were killed in the American war.

Authorities from the southern province of Dong Thap yesterday also held a commemoration and burial ceremony for the remains of 149 volunteer soldiers, who died on the battlefield in Cambodia.

The authorities and people of Cambodia’s Pray Veng and Posat provinces helped uncover the remains during the dry seasons of 2008-09.—VNS