Relentless journeys
Fifty-four years after his sacrifice, and following a long time of his household’s tireless search, martyr Nguyen Trong Cat was lastly recognized via DNA evaluation. It marked the finish of a decades-long journey to fulfil a cherished household want.
Inside a modest home at the foot of a mountain in Minh Thanh Hamlet, Hop Tien Commune, Thanh Hoa Province, Nguyen Trong Bay, 66, rigorously leafs via folders containing paperwork about his elder brother, martyr Nguyen Trong Cat, 74. Their pages, yellowed with age, protect the story of a search that spanned greater than half a century.
The household had six siblings, 5 brothers and one sister. Among them was martyr Nguyen Trong Khanh, who fell in 1972 in the former Le Thuy District, Quang Binh Province (now a part of Quang Tri Province), and whose stays have been beforehand recovered by the household. His older brother, martyr Nguyen Trong Cat, additionally made the final sacrifice in 1972; nevertheless, it was not till 54 years later that his ultimate resting place was recognized.
Speaking to Sai Gon Giai Phong Newspaper, Mr. Bay paused, visibly moved, as he recalled his older brother. Nguyen Trong Cat enlisted in 1971, and on October 20, 1972, the household acquired notification of his dying on the Southern Front. For a long time, the household traveled tirelessly in the hunt for any leads, however to no avail. In 2023, via a veterans’ liaison committee, they realized that Nguyen Trong Cat’s stays have been doubtless situated at the Nga Bay-Phung Hiep Fallen Soldiers’ Cemetery in Can Tho City. However, with out scientific affirmation, the search needed to proceed.
Between 2023 and 2025, Mr. Nguyen Trong Bay offered DNA samples twice. After months of anxious ready, on June 20, 2026, the household formally acquired affirmation that the stays in Grave No. 52 at the Nga Bay – Phung Hiep Cemetery belonged to the fallen soldier Nguyen Trong Cat—bringing a near a heart-wrenching wait that spanned over half a century.
The Road 9 National Fallen Soldiers’ Cemetery in Quang Tri Province is the ultimate resting place of greater than 10,900 heroes who fought, served, and sacrificed their lives on the Road 9 Front, the Quang Tri battlefield, and in neighboring Laos. Among them, over 5,900 graves stay unidentified or lack full data.
Lieutenant Colonel Ngo Thanh Liem, commander of Team 584 underneath the Political Department of the Quang Tri Provincial Military Command, said that the unit is coordinating with related forces to gather samples for DNA testing to establish the unknown stays.
“Every DNA sample rekindles hope, not only for the deceased but also for the living,” Lieutenant Colonel Liem shared. “When a fallen soldier is identified, it is not merely a name carved onto a tombstone—it is a mother, a sibling, a family, a lineage, and an entire hometown finally being able to bring closure to a grueling, decades-long search.”
At the Road 9 National Martyrs’ Cemetery, the scorching mid-July solar alternates with sudden downpours. Yet officers and troopers of Recovery Team 584 proceed their work in quiet dedication.
To attain the stays, the workforce rigorously opens every grave, with each step carried out meticulously and with the utmost reverence. According to Major Nguyen Thang Long, an officer of Team 584, the unit has independently designed and constructed a cellular pulley system outfitted with wheels to assist carry grave buildings. The innovation reduces bodily pressure whereas guaranteeing that excavation is performed safely and effectively.
Once the excavation is accomplished, the stays are transferred to a chosen sampling space, the place appropriate enamel or bone fragments are collected for DNA evaluation. Every stage of the course of—from excavation to the restoration of the grave—is documented with 16 images to create a digital document for every burial web site. The DNA samples are then despatched to the National Institute of Forensic Medicine underneath the Ministry of Health for identification.
Technological breakthroughs in figuring out fallen troopers
At the DNA Identification Center underneath the Institute of Biotechnology at the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, operations have reached an unprecedented tempo. The middle receives DNA samples submitted from eight provinces and cities, although extracting viable genetic materials from each specimen stays a problem. Since the launch of the marketing campaign, the unit has processed over 10,000 samples.
Dr. Tran Trung Thanh, Director of the DNA Identification Center, famous that scientists face immense challenges when stays are recovered because of extreme pattern degradation. A breakthrough occurred in 2022 when the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Defense despatched 100 stays samples of Vietnamese fallen troopers to the United States for examine by worldwide specialists. The program aimed to establish the finest, most complete technological options tailor-made to the distinctive situations of Vietnamese stays. International specialists evaluated greater than 12 totally different methodologies earlier than deciding on the two simplest protocols for pattern preservation, storage, and DNA evaluation optimized for Vietnam’s particular context.
Serving as the focal company receiving the U.S. authorities’s ODA challenge, the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, alongside specialists from the DNA Identification Center, collaborated with the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) to optimize the extraction course of for each nuclear and mitochondrial DNA. Applying these two approaches concurrently—focusing on each nuclear and mitochondrial genes—has yielded most effectivity. This partnership has raised the profitable DNA extraction fee from severely degraded stays from roughly 22 p.c to over 80 p.c.
Dr. Tran Trung Thanh defined that human cells comprise two distinct genomes: mitochondrial DNA and nuclear DNA. The mitochondrial genome is small, round, and current in a number of copies per cell, enabling it to endure harsh environmental situations far longer. However, as a result of mitochondrial DNA is strictly maternally inherited, the probability of matching non-unique profiles is extraordinarily excessive. Conversely, the nuclear genome is vastly bigger however extremely vulnerable to degradation. After resting underground for 40 to 50 years, nuclear DNA fragments into extraordinarily quick strands—making typical amplification applied sciences (which depend on quick tandem repeats, or STRs) just about not possible.
Faced with what as soon as appeared to be insurmountable limitations of mitochondrial DNA expertise, next-generation sequencing mixed with single nucleotide polymorphism (NGS-SNP) evaluation has emerged as a groundbreaking development, marking a historic breakthrough in the identification of martyrs’ stays.
According to Dr. Tran Trung Thanh, in contrast to mitochondrial DNA—which is inherited via the maternal lineage and has a excessive probability of manufacturing equivalent profiles when utilized to large-scale comparisons—NGS-SNP expertise focuses on detecting particular person genetic variations, enabling the exact identification of every particular person.
This breakthrough permits scientists to concurrently analyze 1000’s of genetic markers, even from skeletal stays which have undergone extraordinarily extreme decomposition, considerably enhancing the accuracy and success fee of DNA identification.
In Ho Chi Minh City, the Steering Committee for the Search, Repatriation, and Identification of Fallen Soldiers’ Remains for Ho Chi Minh City and Military Region 7 has comprehensively deployed search and identification operations throughout numerous localities, integrating conventional strategies with trendy scientific developments. Between now and May 2027, the metropolis goals to finish pattern assortment from unidentified graves throughout 18 fallen troopers’ cemeteries for DNA testing and information digitization. The Ho Chi Minh City High Command has assigned a 37-member process drive of officers and troopers to guide the search and restoration efforts. Simultaneously, the metropolis has established 12 groups comprising over 400 officers, troopers, and specialists devoted to sampling and digitizing information at the cemeteries.
To date, with the help of ICMP specialists, the DNA Identification Center and Vietnamese scientists have totally mastered next-generation DNA identification applied sciences. Despite these technological breakthroughs, scientists are going through immense stress relating to equipment capability and funding prices. At the DNA Identification Center, the mitochondrial DNA testing pipeline operates at a capability of roughly 4,000 samples per 12 months, whereas the nuclear DNA challenge handles between 1,000 and a pair of,000 samples yearly. Even when working gear at peak capability, these figures stay modest in comparison with the huge backlog of tons of of 1000’s of stays samples awaiting evaluation. Dr. Tran Trung Thanh emphasised that substantial funding is important, noting that new applied sciences should be backed by a completely synchronized infrastructure and gear system.
By employees writers – Translated by Kim Khanh