In the memory of the people
Nearly 60 years have passed since the 1968 Tet Offensive and Uprising, but in the memory of Mr. Le Van Luot (born in 1956, Phu Xuan ward, Hue City), the image of soldiers buried next to a bomb crater near Chanh Tay gate (Hue Citadel) is still intact.
He recounted that when he was a boy, he followed his father through this area and witnessed firsthand about 10 to 15 revolutionary soldiers being taken to bomb craters for burial. After that, the area was filled and over time gradually became part of the city. That memory quietly followed him for decades, until the "500 days and nights searching, gathering and identifying martyrs' remains" campaign was launched, he decided to proactively report to the functional forces.
From Mr. Luot's initial information, Team 192 of the Hue City Military Command organized a field survey, comparing with the combat diary of Regiment 6, Tri Thien Military Region and historical documents. The verification results showed that many local people also remembered that there were bomb craters used for mass burial after Tet Mau Than.
Not only stopping at one location, in the process of coordinating with the army forces, Mr. Luot continued to provide more locations suspected of having martyrs' remains in the Hue Citadel area. For him, each shared memory is hope for those who have fallen on the battlefield to have a chance to return.
In recent years, Steering Committee 515 of Hue City has also continuously mobilized people, veterans and witnesses to provide information about suspected martyrs' graves.
To increase accuracy, the city also requested the National Steering Committee to support ground-penetrating radar. This device helps detect disturbed stratigraphy areas underground, thereby creating more scientific basis for verification before excavation. Initial signals in the Chanh Tay estuary area and Xuan 68 road, although it is not possible to confirm the presence of martyrs' remains, have opened up more approaches for the search, which is already very difficult.
Find the name for the anonymous grave
If on the ground is the journey to search for soldiers still lying on the battlefield, then in the cemeteries, another journey is also silently taking place, finding identities for unnamed graves.
According to statistics, Hue City currently has 40 martyrs' cemeteries with more than 7,000 graves that need to be sampled for DNA testing. Hue City Martyrs' Cemetery alone has nearly 1,460 graves that have not been identified.
These days, officers, soldiers and specialized forces are urgently taking samples of remains according to the strict procedures of the Ministry of National Defense. From determining the location of the grave, comparing records, taking samples, encoding, making records to storing data are all carried out carefully to ensure no errors occur.
After taking samples, the graves are restored to their original state, and the DNA sample will be transferred to specialized agencies for analysis and comparison with the DNA database of relatives of martyrs nationwide.
According to the Hue City Military Command, the locality aims to complete the sampling at all 40 cemeteries before this year's rainy season to ensure the progress of the "500 Days and Nights" Campaign.
In the scorching summer sun, those on duty are still diligently by each nameless grave. They understand that behind each DNA sample is a family that has waited for decades, behind each field survey is the hope of finding another soldier still alive.
That journey may be very long, but from awakened memories, historical documents compared to the support of modern science, Hue is gradually moving closer to the sacred goal: Bringing the martyrs back to their names, so that the waits that have lasted through many generations may one day be closed.
