Martyr Le Ngoc Long from Ha Tinh Province is a unique case in Vietnam, as both his birth mother and his adoptive mother were awarded the prestigious title of Vietnamese Heroic Mother by the State. His birth mother passed away many years ago, while his adoptive mother is now 107 years old.

At 107, Vietnamese Heroic Mother Nguyen Thi Minh, who lives in Son Tien Commune, Ha Tinh Province, is no longer fully lucid. She is currently cared for by her grandson-in-law, Nguyen Van Dung.

According to Dung, whenever she is alert, Minh expresses one final wish before she passes away: to find the remains of her adopted son, martyr Le Ngoc Long (born in 1941, killed in action in 1966 during the resistance war against the United States).

Not only Minh, but Long's two younger sisters, Le Thi Dao (born in 1949) and Le Thi Lan (born in 1953), have also spent decades hoping to locate the graves of both their elder brother and their father, who was killed during the resistance war against French colonial rule.

A soldier's extraordinary bond

Inside their modest home in Thinh Xa Village, Son Tien Commune, Dao and Lan carefully preserve the Certificates of National Recognition for Meritorious Sacrifice awarded to their father, martyr Le Quy, and their elder brother, martyr Le Ngoc Long.

The family originally came from Thai Binh Province before settling in Ha Tinh, where they earned a living trading pipe tobacco.

When Le Quy left to join the resistance, the family's financial burden fell entirely on his wife, Nguyen Thi Quy, who was left to raise four young children.

Unable to cope with the hardship, she sent her eldest son, Long, then just 13 years old, to live with Nguyen Van Minh and Nguyen Thi Chau - later known as Nguyen Thi Minh - in Khe Co Village, more than 10 kilometers from home.

The couple had no biological children and, touched by Long's kindness and diligence, adopted him and raised him as their own.

When Long was 15, his biological father was killed in action. The mountainous terrain prevented the boy from returning home to attend his father's funeral.

In 1964, Long followed in his father's footsteps by volunteering for military service in South Vietnam. In early 1966, at one of the fiercest stages of the war, he was killed in action at the age of just 25.

It was not until late 1972 that the official death notification reached his adoptive family. His birth mother learned of his death only later.

"When the news arrived, my mother was working in the garden. She ran inside, collapsed in the yard and cried without making a sound," Lan recalled through tears.

After Long's death, his younger brother, Le Dinh Phuong, continued serving for many years on battlefields in southern Vietnam. After being wounded several times, he returned home, later settled in Thanh Hoa Province and passed away in 2017.

Having lost both her husband and eldest son to war, Nguyen Thi Quy spent the rest of her life searching for their remains. Before her death in 1999, she urged her children to continue the search for their father and brother.

Meanwhile, Long's adoptive mother, Nguyen Thi Minh, never stopped mourning the son she had raised.

Hope rekindled after 60 years

Sixty years after Le Ngoc Long sacrificed, his two younger sisters recently provided blood samples to authorities for DNA analysis to help identify the remains of fallen soldiers.

"This is probably the greatest opportunity - and perhaps our last," Lan said emotionally. "We only hope our father and brother can finally be identified and return home."

According to Tran Binh Than, Secretary of the Son Tien Commune Party Committee and Chairman of the commune People's Council, the local government has consistently implemented policies to honor people who made contributions during wartime and support their families.

Through coordination by the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee of Son Tien Commune, Vietnamese Heroic Mother Nguyen Thi Minh is currently receiving lifelong care from four organizations.

Local authorities are also working with relevant agencies to help the family complete the necessary procedures so DNA testing results can be finalized as soon as possible.

Le Thong