Deputy Prime Minister Pham Thi Thanh Tra has called on the Sam Johnson Vietnam Archive and the Vietnam War Missing in Action Initiative (VWAI) to accelerate the decoding and transfer of investigative reports and battlefield coordinates to support Vietnam's search, recovery and identification of missing war martyrs.

a1 1781321610298586990850.jpg
Deputy Prime Minister Pham Thi Thanh Tra expressed confidence that with the sincere commitment of the Vietnam Center and Sam Johnson Vietnam Archive, together with support from USAID and other US partners, bilateral cooperation would continue to deepen and deliver practical results. Photo: VGP.

Speaking on Saturday morning while receiving a delegation from Texas Tech University, the Deputy Prime Minister discussed cooperation in historical archiving, digitalization and efforts to locate and identify the remains of soldiers whose identities remain unknown.

As head of the National Steering Committee for the Search, Recovery and Identification of Martyrs' Remains, Pham Thi Thanh Tra praised the long-standing and trusted partnership between Texas Tech University and Vietnamese agencies and organizations, particularly in archival preservation, digitization and professional exchanges.

She expressed appreciation for the contributions of the Vietnam Center and Sam Johnson Vietnam Archive at Texas Tech University, highlighting its role as a key partner in the Vietnam War Missing in Action Initiative.

Valuable wartime records

The archive's holdings include combat records, military files from different sides of the conflict, photographs, historical materials and many other valuable sources of information.

Many of these documents have been declassified, collected and systematically organized, creating an important resource for research and verification efforts related to Vietnamese personnel who remain missing from the war.

According to the Deputy Prime Minister, the records hold not only historical value but also profound humanitarian significance. They have contributed to efforts to locate and recover martyrs' remains and to return wartime memorabilia to the families of fallen soldiers.

Among the most notable examples was the archive's cooperation with Vietnamese authorities in returning the original diary of martyr and physician Dang Thuy Tram, an event widely regarded as a milestone in post-war reconciliation and historical preservation.

The Deputy Prime Minister said such cooperation demonstrates a shared commitment to closing the chapter on the past, healing the wounds of war, strengthening mutual trust and deepening friendship and cooperation between Vietnam and the United States.

Supporting Vietnam's 500-day campaign

a4 17813217422601502271461.jpg
The Sam Johnson Vietnam Archive presents documents and records to Vietnam in support of efforts to locate, recover and identify martyrs' remains. Photo: VGP.

Pham Thi Thanh Tra noted that Vietnam has entered a critical phase of its "500-Day Campaign" aimed at accelerating the search, recovery and identification of martyrs whose remains still lack sufficient information.

One of the campaign's top priorities is access to information sources held by the United States, with the Vietnam Center and Sam Johnson Vietnam Archive serving as an especially important partner.

Documents containing details about wartime dates, locations and military operations can help reconstruct battlefield maps, identify troop positions and pinpoint coordinates potentially linked to the original burial sites of fallen soldiers, thereby accelerating field search efforts.

Referring to a recent workshop examining information related to a mass grave believed to be located near the former Do Thanh Cemetery in Chi Hoa, Saigon - now Le Thi Rieng Park - the Deputy Prime Minister said the combination of declassified US records, eyewitness testimony and field data had provided an important historical, scientific and practical basis for evaluating the site's credibility.

The workshop's findings attracted significant public attention and renewed hopes that the fallen soldiers could one day be found and returned to their families, comrades and hometowns.

Call for faster transfer of battlefield data

The Deputy Prime Minister urged the Sam Johnson Vietnam Archive and the VWAI project to speed up the processing and handover of investigative reports and battlefield coordinates, particularly around 300 investigative reports and nearly 2,000 individual records expected to be transferred during 2026.

"The task before us is extremely urgent. We are no longer measuring progress by weeks or months. We are counting days, even hours and minutes, to achieve the highest possible results in the 500-Day Campaign," she said.

Regarding wartime memorabilia, she called for broader research efforts and information sharing to help identify and return items to the families of fallen soldiers.

Pham Thi Thanh Tra said she would direct the establishment of a dedicated working group under the National Steering Committee to receive information, investigative reports and decoded findings from the Sam Johnson Vietnam Archive. Relevant agencies would also be instructed to strengthen coordination and maximize the use of these valuable resources.

Commitment to long-term cooperation

For his part, Stephen Maxner, Director of the Vietnam Center and Sam Johnson Vietnam Archive, praised Vietnam's efforts to locate and identify missing war dead.

He said cooperation between Texas Tech University and Vietnamese and American partners has continued for many years and will remain a long-term commitment in support of efforts to recover the remains of soldiers who died during the war.

Texas Tech University was founded in 1923 in Lubbock, Texas, and is one of the largest public universities in the United States. The institution is classified by the Carnegie Foundation as an R1 university, the highest category for research activity.

Established in 1989, the Vietnam Center and Sam Johnson Vietnam Archive is the world's largest non-governmental repository of materials related to the Vietnam War. It houses more than 2.7 million pages of battlefield records and military documents, including personnel files, diaries, letters, military maps, aerial photographs and operational reports.

The archive also operates an online Vietnam Archive that provides free public access to more than 10 million pages of digitized materials.

Tran Thuong