Starting early in the morning, dozens of residents, who are relatives of martyrs whose identities have not been determined, gathered at 159 Pasteur Street (Vo Thi Sau Ward, District 3) to provide DNA samples, hoping to finally locate the graves of their fallen loved ones after decades of searching. Among the attendees were mothers of martyrs, war veterans, and other relatives.
Pham Anh Hong, 55, along with her son, brought her mother, Le Thi Loc, 80, residing in Tan Binh District, to provide a DNA sample. Mrs. Loc, paralyzed in both legs since 2023, could not walk on her own and had to be assisted by her family and police officers to reach the area for the procedure.
Throughout the sampling process, she was kindly guided and encouraged by the authorities. Mrs. Loc currently lives with Mrs. Hong and two grandchildren. The family harbors a deep hope—finding the remains of her son, her brother.
“I hope to find my brother, martyr Pham Thanh Son, (born in 1962), who died in the Cambodia battlefield. He went to the front in early 1982, and passed away at the end of the year. For decades, my family has been searching in vain. We even asked for help when we were in Phu Nhuan, but had no results. Over time, we had to accept it, but deep down, I’ve always held on to that hope. Now, knowing that this program exists, I brought my mother here with the hope of finding my brother’s remains. My mother has asked me many times to search, but it was all in vain, and it has made her very sad. Now, I just hope that before she passes, she can find her son's remains," Mrs. Hong shared emotionally.
According to Senior Lieutenant Colonel Ho Thi Lanh, Deputy Head of the Police Department for Administrative Management of Social Order (PC06) of the HCMC Police, this program is filled with deep meaning and embodies the humanitarian values of the Vietnamese people—expressing the national ethics of “When drinking water, remember its source” and “Repaying the debt of gratitude” through efforts to locate, gather, and identify the remains of fallen heroes.
According to the HCMC Police, in this phase of the program, DNA samples were collected from 64 relatives (on the maternal side) of 33 martyrs whose identities remain unknown. The priority was given to cases where the martyr's mother is still alive and there are living maternal relatives in HCMC. Among the cases, one was a Vietnamese Heroic Mother, 31 were the biological mothers of martyrs, and 32 were maternal relatives.
