Contributing to healing the pain of war
On July 26, the People's Committee of Thanh Hoa province held a peak conference to collect DNA samples from relatives of unidentified martyrs and announced the results of the analysis of martyrs' remains. The conference was attended by Mr. Nguyen Doan Anh - Member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of the Thanh Hoa Provincial Party Committee; representatives of provincial leaders, departments, branches, localities and a large number of martyrs' families.
Thanh Hoa is a locality with a large number of forces participating in fighting through the ages, so the number of martyrs whose identities have not been determined is still large. According to statistics, the whole province has more than 37,000 martyrs with unknown information, of which more than 10,000 martyrs have no relatives to take samples. The rest, there are more than 27,000 martyrs with over 36,000 relatives who can take DNA samples for assessment.
Implementing the direction of the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Public Security, Thanh Hoa province has mobilized forces synchronously, established 25 working groups with 120 collection stations, organized the review and collection of DNA samples of martyrs' relatives across the province.
In the first phase from May 12 to May 16, 2025, Thanh Hoa leads the country with 933 DNA samples collected, including samples from martyrs' mothers and relatives near blood on the outside. From that data, the identities of the two martyrs, Trinh Van Hai (in Dong Thanh commune) and Trinh Quang Lam (in Nga An commune) were identified.
The second peak period from July 3 to July 20, 2025 continues to be implemented with the motto "No model is left out, no relatives are mistaken; act urgently but absolutely accurately". After only 17 days, the authorities collected 36,454 DNA samples, exceeding the target by nearly 1,000 samples. From here, another case of martyr was identified.
Building a genetic bank - a deep sense of gratitude to voters
Speaking at the conference, Mr. Nguyen Doan Anh emphasized: War has passed away, but the pain and loss of martyrs relatives are forever. Determining the identity of a martyr is a humane journey, demonstrating the morality of drinking water and remembering its source".
The Provincial Party Secretary affirmed that Thanh Hoa has always been a great supporter, contributing human and material resources to the resistance wars. Many outstanding children have heroically sacrificed for national independence. Therefore, the work of "Giving thanks and repaying gratitude" has always received special attention from the locality, with many practical activities such as building cemeteries, taking care of martyrs' families, especially the work of identifying through DNA testing.
The construction of a DNA bank is considered an important step forward in accurately identifying martyrs, especially in the context of most of the records and documents being lost after the war. This is not only a scientific solution but also a noble gesture, contributing to soothing the pain of thousands of martyrs' families still struggling to find their loved ones.
At the conference, the Provincial People's Committee awarded Certificates of Merit to 10 individuals and the Director of the Provincial Police awarded Certificates of Merit to 10 individuals who have made positive contributions to the work of collecting DNA samples. Immediately after the conference, DNA samples were taken on-site for relatives of unidentified martyrs.
