UNSW Canberra representatives hand over the project to the Vietnamese delegation (Photo: VNA) Sydney (VNA) – A visiting Vietnamese delegation, led by Deputy Minister of NationalDefence Sen. Lieut. Gen. Le Chiem, had a working session with Australia’sUniversity of New South Wales (UNSW) Canberra on September 10 to receive adigitalised project on battlefields and burial sites of fallen Vietnamesesoldiers during the war in Vietnam.
The project,entitled “Operation Wandering Souls – Bring Them Home”, is an extensiveinvestigation carried out by experts, researchers and veterans on the war atthe UNSW Canberra’s Australian Centre for the Study of Armed Conflict andSociety (ACSACS).
At the meeting,Chiem, who is also deputy head of the National Steering Committee for Searchand Repatriation of Remains of Fallen Soldiers, spoke about war consequences inVietnam like the issues of unexploded ordnance, Agent Orange/dioxin and missingbodies of soldiers.
According to theofficer, the bodies of nearly 200,000 Vietnamese soldiers need to be verifiedand located.
He said theVietnamese Government has deployed several measures to find martyrs’ remains,including cooperating with other countries, organisations and individuals.
Chiem said the ACSACS’sproject shows the goodwill of the Australian government.
Welcoming thedelegation, Harvinder Sidhu, Associate Dean at the UNSW Canberra, said theproject has been carried out for years with voluntary efforts from manyexperts, researchers and Australian army personnel.
He said the ACSACSbuilt the database with records and information from the Australian WarMemorial, Australian army units, American army, and armies of other nationsinvolved in the American War in Vietnam.
Sidhu told hisguests the database currently offers the location of about 6,500 battlefields andthe specific identities and burial sites of some 460 Vietnamese soldiers.
The same day, thedelegation had another meeting with Elizabeth Cosson, Secretary of theDepartment of Veterans' Affairs (DVA) of Australia.
Chiem took theoccasion to ask the DVA to inform all Australian veterans on the VietnameseGovernment and people’s desire to locate and repatriate soldiers’ remains.Vietnam is willing to host any organisations and individuals that come toprovide such information, he added.
Cosson pledged totry her best to work with Vietnam to alleviate the war pain in the country.
She thanked theVietnamese authorities for facilitating Australian veterans to come back to theirformer battlefields./.
VNA
