Living through the centuries waiting for the day to meet you...

More than half a century has passed, the search for the remains of martyrs along the two sides of the East and West Truong Son Mountains continues. In the National Cemetery of Martyrs of Road 9, the graves are mostly of martyrs gathered from the battlefield in Laos, many tombstones lack information, no name, no age, only silently bear the words "Martyrs have no information". Therefore, finding and connecting families to find the remains of their relatives is no different than "looking for a needle in a haystack"...

Nguyen Truong An is a friend of mine who works in the department of caring for “meritorious people” at the Department of Home Affairs of Quang Tri . He is not only doing his duty as a civil servant but in another aspect he is like a “chosen one”, always concerned, heavy-hearted and looking for ways to provide maximum support so that the families of martyrs have the opportunity to find their deceased relatives.

Last year, Mr. An informed: “At the National Martyrs' Cemetery on Route 9, a martyr named Nguyen Cong Hoa was just found. On the stele, the information only has his name and the unit code at the division level. Although the information is limited, we really hope that after the family requests a DNA test, they will find the right person.” In early March 2025, An happily announced that the DNA test was indeed martyr Hoa. The Department of Meritorious People, Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs (former) issued a document announcing that the test sample of Ms. Nguyen Thi Dung (residing in Dai Dong commune, Nghe An province) is related by blood through the maternal line to the remains of martyr Nguyen Cong Hoa. What is special is that martyr Hoa's mother, Mrs. Pham Thi Lai, who is 104 years old this year, also wants to go to Quang Tri to see her son. She has lived across the century to wait for this day…

The reunion between a 104-year-old mother and her son, who died as a martyr in 1973 and whose remains were only recently found, is truly a touching story... However, after considering the options, everyone decided to leave Mrs. Lai at home for safety, because at the age of 104, traveling more than 600 km round trip, if anything happened, it would be very difficult.

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The reunion between a 104-year-old mother and her son, a martyr who died in 1973 and whose remains have just been found, is truly a touching story...

Following the story of finding the grave of martyr Nguyen Cong Hoa also has many strange things.

There was a teacher from Ha Tinh, living in Binh Duong (now Ho Chi Minh City) after retirement, created a website and posted information related to the search for martyrs to help relatives of martyrs nationwide find clues to their loved ones. He posted a photo of the grave of martyr Nguyen Cong Hoa on the website, the gravestone of the martyr only has the name and division unit: F968.

At the end of 2022, martyr Hoa's nephew, Nguyen Cong Quynh (40 years old), suddenly saw that image. There was a fact that gave the family a glimmer of hope: the photo of the tombstone was taken at the National Martyrs' Cemetery on Road 9 (Quang Tri) - where many remains of Vietnamese volunteer soldiers from the Laos battlefield were gathered.

With the support of the authorities, the Collection Team of the 337th National Defense Economic Group and the 968th Division - where martyr Hoa fought, the initial records were reviewed. However, because the grave was collected before 1990, most of the original documents were lost or lacked comparison information. Not giving up, the family wrote a request for DNA testing. In December 2023, samples were taken: one from the remains at the grave on Road 9 and one from the martyr's sister, Nguyen Thi Dung. In early February 2025, the DNA Testing Center announced: the results were 100% consistent - the remains were indeed those of martyr Nguyen Cong Hoa as mentioned above.

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For 52 long years, Mrs. Pham Thi Lai - an old mother in Dai Dong commune (Nghe An) has not stopped waiting for her son to return for a single day...

Mrs. Pham Thi Lai had 7 children, including two sons, of whom Hoa was the eldest. In 1969, Hoa joined the army when he was only 18 years old. Four years later, in June 1973, he died on the battlefield in Laos while serving as a platoon leader, belonging to the 968th Division - Vietnamese volunteer soldiers helping Laos.

The day the death notice was received, the family only knew that their son had died – the burial place was unknown. Since then, a silent pain permeated the life of Mrs. Lai, who had already suffered the pain of losing her husband early, raising her children alone in poverty, and now her eldest son had passed away.

Since 1975, the whole family has been wandering around martyrs' cemeteries in Nghe An and Ha Tinh to find their son. But there is not a trace, not a single name. Ms. Pham Thi Vinh, the sister-in-law of martyr Hoa, whose husband also died, still tirelessly cycles to each cemetery in the province to carefully read each name on each tombstone, then burn incense and pray to find him, but to no avail.

Mr. Nguyen Cong Quynh at his uncle's grave.

Then Ms. Vinh also grew old, her son, Mr. Nguyen Cong Quynh, replaced her and her mother to continue searching for his uncle's grave.

In the early morning of April 3, 2025, the family of martyr Nguyen Cong Hoa, along with officials from the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs and the National Cemetery for Martyrs on Road 9, conducted a ceremony to exhume the remains. The national flag was folded solemnly and placed on the coffin, and the car quietly left Dong Ha to return to Nghe An.

In the afternoon, the memorial service took place at her hometown in Dai Dong commune. Mrs. Pham Thi Lai was helped by her relatives to the porch and sat there since morning, her eyes fixed on the road leading to the village. When the convoy stopped, the loudspeaker played the song “Soul of the Dead Soldier”, she trembled, tightly holding her daughter-in-law’s hand.

Mr. Lai met his son again after more than half a century.

The coffin covered with the national flag was brought into the yard. Mrs. Lai leaned forward, put her hand on the red flag, and burst into tears: “Hoa, oh… you’re here! Finally, I’ve waited for you…” Her voice was hoarse, choked, and then burst into tears. Many people in the ceremonial procession could not hold back their tears. It was truly unbelievable that at this age she would be able to see her son again!

“Now I am at peace. You are back. I can close my eyes now, my child…” - the mother’s words seemed to close a journey of more than half a century searching for her child. And mother Lai and the family of martyr Hoa, with their hearts and patience, awakened an entire system to create a miracle.

Source: https://baodaklak.vn/xa-hoi/202507/song-xuyen-the-ky-doi-ngay-gap-con-66b0bf5/