DongNa​i (VNA) – The southern province of Dong Nai on July 12 held aceremony to commemorate soldiers who died in Bien Hoa airport battle in 1968and re-bury the newly-found remains of the fallen soldiers.

The event was attended by Politburo member and head of the Party CentralCommittee’s Information and Education Commission Vo Van Thuong, Vice PresidentDang Thi Ngoc Thinh, along with many officials of the defence ministry and DongNai province, and relatives of the fallen soldiers from 23 cities andprovinces.

Delivering an eulogy at the event, Secretary of Bien Hoa city Party CommitteeLe Van Danh said Bien Hoa airport, with its location at the northeast gate ofSai Gon (now Ho Chi Minh City), was a key battlefield in the southeast region.

In a surprising attack in the US Bien Hoa air base on January 31, 1968,many revolutionary soldiers lost their lives.

Thanks to information from Vietnamese war veterans and two US war veterans who participatedin the burial of the killed soldiers at that time, the Steering Committee onSearch, Collection and Excavation of Martyrs’ Remains (also known as SteeringCommittee 1237) in Dong Nai province found a mass grave to the east of theairport on April 13.

Remains and belongings of the soldiers were discovered at the site.

Colonel Mai Xuan Chien, an official from the provincial Military Command saidthat identity was verified for 72 war martyrs. -VNA