Jointly held by the “Trai Tim Nguoi Linh” (Soldier Hearts) organisation in collaboration with the Vietnam Centre and Archive of the US, the Vietnam Environment and Urban magazine, and the “Mai Mai Tuoi 20” (Forever Twenty) Club, the event was a practical activity to celebrate the 76th anniversary of President Ho Chi Minh's appeal for patriotic emulation (June 11, 1948 - 2024).

According to Colonel Dang Vuong Hung, the founder and Chairman of the “Trai tim nguoi linh” organisation, during the resistance war, tens of thousands of diaries, letters, personal belongings which were artifacts of Vietnamese soldiers were collected on the battlefields, and most of the originals have been destroyed.

However, many contents of documents and artifacts have been captured and preserved in the form of microfilm at the Vietnam Centre and Archive at Texas Tech University in the US. These copies can also be considered "original," containing a lot of private, touching, and sacred information because almost all martyrs' families involved have never had the opportunity to see them. They could assist the search for graves and remains of martyrs.

Hung said his agency has collaborated with the Vietnam Centre and Archive to deploy a non-profit and humanitarian project, using documents sifted from the nearly 3 million-page microfilm archives to search for information about Vietnamese martyrs who sacrificed or went missing during the resistance war.

It has also collaborated with numerous organisations and individuals to search for relatives of fallen soldiers, and alive veterans, to provide them with copies of artifacts, contributing to healing wounds, wrapping up the past, and moving towards the future together, he added.

Since early May, based on documents provided by the centre, the organisation has compiled and introduced over 30 records on the social media platform Facebook and the electronic magazine "Van Hoa va Phat Trien” (Culture and Development), which summarise 35 diaries and 10 letters.

Notably, among the recipients of the found documents this time, alongside the relatives of the fallen soldiers, there are also three veterans. Two of them attended the event and directly received their artifacts.

At the event, colour portraits of some martyrs were presented to their families.

The organisers took the occasion to introduce the autobiography "Mai van la nguoi linh” (Still a soldier) by veteran Dang Ngoc Da in the northern province of Hung Yen, which reflects his humble and captivating memories about the life and family of a soldier with many ups and downs in life, and through significant events of the nation./. VNA