A State-level requiem, the first of its kind in Vietnam, is scheduled for October 22-24 to pray for soldiers killed on Lao soil during their war-era international mission.

The event, which is to take place at the Vietnam-Laos Martyrs Cemetery in the central border province of Nghe An, is to meet the massive demand from overseas Vietnamese, war veterans and military experts once servicing in Laos as well as the families of fallen soldiers, said organisers.

Deputy Foreign Minister and Chairman of the State Committee on Vietnamese Overseas, Nguyen Thanh Son, said at a press briefing in Hanoi on October 16 that the mass also aims to uphold the Vietnamese tradition of “Drinking water, remember the source” and to promote the traditional friendship between the two neighbour countries.

The event will include a musical performance entitled “Vietnam-Laos: deep attachment, great loyalty” scheduled for the evening of October 24. War veterans, authorities, members of the military and citizens of the two countries are expected to join in.

The event is expected to draw over 300 participants and a large number of monks, nuns and Buddhists.

This event has earned enthusiastic endorsements from the State Committee on Vietnamese Overseas, the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha, the Nghe An provincial administration, the Political General Department under the Defence Ministry, the Vietnam Television, the ITV Communication Joint Stock Company and many others.

The Defence Ministry reported that over 12,000 sets of remains of fallen Vietnamese soldiers have been repatriated from Laos and reburied at the Vietnam-Laos Martyrs Cemetery .

The ministry added that missions are still on-going to locate and recover more remains of Vietnamese soldiers killed on Lao soil for re-interment at the cemetery./.