The Democratic Republic of Vietnam has never released the official statistics revealing how many men and women went missing in action (mat tich) between 1945 and 1954. In 1962, however, Bac Ninh provincial authorities officially identified 262 families, including 80 “missing in action families”. The total number of “absentees, missing or unreturned” (absents, disparus ou non rentrés) from the military forces of the French Union numbered 20,661 as of 17 October 1954. The number for the armed forces of the Associated States was about 9,000. See also CASUALTIES, INDOCHINA WAR; CEMETERIES; MARTYRS; MEMORIAL DAY, INDOCHINA WAR; MYTH OF WAR.