The Dong Nai City Military Command found the artifacts on 30/6 during the excavation of the grave for DNA sampling.

Portrait of a soldier found in the grave. Photo: Bo Chi Huy Quan Su Thanh Pho Dong Nai.

The album contains photographs of several young women and a portrait of mot young man in military uniform and a soldier's hat. The excavation team believes this is likely the portrait of the martyr in the grave.

In addition to the album, the grave also held a belt and a canteen engraved with the words "Duon Viet 12-72B+S". The Trang Bom Ward Military Command hopes these items will assist relatives and former comrades in identifying the martyr.

This discovery echoes a previous case in Dong Nai, where a family identified a martyr's grave from a photograph found in a mass burial site.

Portrait of a young woman in the grave of the unidentified martyr at Trang Bom Cemetery. Photo: Bo Chi Huy Quan Su Thanh Pho Dong Nai.

This excavation is part of the "500 Days and Nights Campaign to Search, Collect, and Identify the Remains of Martyrs", a significant effort leading up to the 80th anniversary of Invalids and Martyrs' Day. Trang Bom Martyrs' Cemetery currently contains approximately 1,300 graves, with 528 remaining unidentified.

Across Dong Nai City, there are 12 martyrs' cemeteries housing a total of 23,190 graves. A recent review revealed that 7,785 of these graves lack sufficient information for DNA-based identification.

Phuoc Tuan