The Da Nang Military Command is asking veterans and residents for information about the May 1968 battle at Ngok Tavat hill in Phước Năng commune, where a witness says about 200 people were buried, Tuổi Trẻ reported on October 22. The area was formerly part of Phước Sơn district in Quảng Nam.
According to the report, the witness, a former mortar squad leader who helped clear the battlefield, recalls roughly 120 liberation fighters and 80 opposing troops buried after the fighting. The paper stresses that the numbers and locations rest on that account alone: no excavation has confirmed them.
The command said on October 22 that it is still verifying the information. It carried out a field survey at the hill on October 19 using ground-penetrating radar.
It is asking for people who fought at Ngok Tavat and Khâm Đức in May 1968, especially members of Regiment 1, Division 2; anyone who handled transport, medical care, battlefield clearing or burials; local residents from the war years; and families or veterans' associations holding diaries, maps, battle diagrams or casualty lists. The contact is Major Cao Văn Long at the command, 0963 053 252.
The appeal follows a similar call in Tam Kỳ for 360 soldiers killed in the Tet 1968 fighting. Next step: the command has not said when any excavation could begin.
Sources
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