Nine years after an earlier search, Ho Chi Minh City has relaunched efforts to recover soldiers missing since the 1968 Tet Offensive, this time using advanced technology including ground-penetrating radar, resistivity surveys and DNA analysis.
Speaking with VietNamNet, Major General Nguyen Thanh Trung said the command is gathering information from witnesses and relatives of soldiers sacrificed during the battle at Tan Son Nhat Airport on the night of January 30 and the early hours of January 31, 1968.
Within just one day of launching the public appeal, the command received more than 50 phone calls and messages containing potentially valuable information.
"As long as even one fallen soldier from Ho Chi Minh City has not been brought home, this journey will continue until every one of them is reunited with their families and comrades," Major General Trung said.
Soldiers conduct searches for missing soldiers' remains within a four-hectare area of Tan Son Nhat Airport in 2017. Photo: Archive
According to Major General Trung, in 2017 the former Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, together with the Ho Chi Minh City High Command and other agencies, carried out excavation work in the area based on information provided by architect Nguyen Xuan Thang.
At that time, however, scientific applications in the search remained limited. Technologies such as ground-penetrating radar, electrical resistivity surveys and DNA analysis were not yet available.
He said these newly available technologies are among the key factors making it possible to resume the search for soldiers who died during the battle at Tan Son Nhat Airport.
In the coming period, information collected from the public will be classified and cross-checked. Leads sharing common details will be verified through field surveys before being reported to military and city authorities as preparation for a national-level scientific workshop.
Major General Nguyen Thanh Trung, Political Commissar of the Ho Chi Minh City High Command. Photo: Nguyen Hue
Regarding the number of remains that may eventually be recovered, Major General Trung said estimates still vary considerably.
A dedicated research team has been established, bringing together scientists, historians and liaison groups representing military units that fought at Tan Son Nhat Airport to assess available evidence and establish the most reliable estimates.
Search operations currently involve military recovery teams K70, K71, K72 and K73 under the military region, working closely with the Ho Chi Minh City High Command.
Major General Trung emphasized that the search has been identified by the Standing Committee of the Party Committee of the Ho Chi Minh City High Command as "a mission from the heart" and a political responsibility that must be carried out urgently alongside ongoing recovery efforts at Le Thi Rieng Park.
At least four mass graves identified
A site believed to have been used to bury soldiers who sacrificed during the second day of the 1968 Tet Offensive. Photo: Ho Chi Minh City High Command
Architect Nguyen Xuan Thang, who participated in the 2017 search at Tan Son Nhat Airport, told VietNamNet that at least four collective burial sites have now been identified in and around the airport area, although only part of them has been located.
He said the 2017 operation relied largely on broad excavation rather than more advanced investigative methods. The search uncovered mainly personal belongings and several bone fragments believed to have been left behind after an earlier recovery operation in 1995, falling short of initial expectations.
According to Thang, at least two burial sites are believed to lie inside the airport perimeter.
One is thought to have been located during the 1995 recovery operation.
The second, according to testimony from a witness who had been assigned to burial work after the battle as punishment, was located about 25 to 30 metres away from the first site. It has never been found and may have been disturbed by decades of airport construction and redevelopment.
Across the road, near the Tan Binh Martyrs' Memorial and the former Tay Ninh Bus Station, two other witnesses said they saw US forces bury two mass graves.
Based on current information, one of those graves is believed to have been located, while the other has yet to be identified.
Another witness, formerly an aircraft maintenance trainee, recalled seeing a marker bearing the words "Viet Cong Grave" near the western side of the former Davis Camp, close to the present-day Terminal T3 area.
Technology seen as the key to advancing the search
A location believed to have been used to bury soldiers sacrificed on the first night of the 1968 Tet Offensive at Tan Son Nhat. Photo: Ho Chi Minh City High Command
Thang said the current period presents favorable conditions for expanding the search, as satellite imagery and digital data processing have advanced significantly since 2017.
One of the research team's most valuable resources is a collection of more than 10,000 Vietnam War photographs that he personally photographed and compiled over many years.
Both Thang and Major General Trung confirmed that using ground-penetrating radar to identify underground anomalies before excavation represents a major improvement over previous methods.
However, Thang cautioned that radar alone is not a decisive solution.
In areas where the ground has undergone repeated disturbance over many decades, radar signals can become difficult to interpret, requiring experienced specialists and advanced analytical software.
Ho Chi Minh City is now working to consolidate all existing records relating to the recovery of missing soldiers around Tan Son Nhat Airport and neighboring areas, while continuing to collect witness testimony and narrow potential search zones.
Areas that remain undeveloped will be surveyed first, while locations occupied by newer construction will require additional investigation before excavation.
One of the greatest challenges, Thang noted, is the rapidly declining number of surviving witnesses.
He recalled a former veteran who had driven vehicles for an air force unit stationed at Bien Hoa Air Base and had witnessed the burial of numerous bodies near the area opposite Hanh Thong Tay Church. The veteran died before researchers were able to fully document his testimony.
More recently, researchers involved in the Vietnam Center and Sam Johnson Vietnam Archive's initiative to locate Vietnamese missing from the war at Texas Tech University provided 10 military photographs, a wartime airport layout and four documentary films recorded by the US military during the fifth day of the 1968 Tet Offensive.
The materials show numerous soldiers' bodies gathered at one location within the airport area.
Thang said these newly obtained records represent valuable evidence for verifying witness accounts, conducting field surveys and gradually determining the locations of burial sites that remain undocumented.
Why excavation at Le Thi Rieng Park only began now
Architect Nguyen Xuan Thang (left) and Major General Nguyen Thanh Trung inspect the search area at Le Thi Rieng Park. Photo: Nguyen Hue
Thang, who has spent years studying historical documents to identify burial trenches at Le Thi Rieng Park, said the project should not be viewed as something that has only recently begun.
Instead, it reflects a long process constrained by limited documentation, technological capabilities, changing landscapes and the gradual loss of eyewitnesses.
He said Ho Chi Minh City first began paying attention to the issue in 1995 after authorities received witness reports describing collective burial trenches at the former Chi Hoa–Cho Quan Cemetery, the site now occupied by Le Thi Rieng Park.
However, translating witness recollections into precise locations on the ground proved extremely difficult.
Following 1975, the cemetery underwent repeated clearance and redevelopment.
Graves, pathways, the former mortuary and original site boundaries had largely disappeared beneath new roads, trees and public infrastructure.
While witnesses could still recall the general locations of burial trenches, identifying exact positions decades later became nearly impossible without reliable reference points.
"Witnesses may remember that burial trenches existed, but once you stand at the actual site, it becomes an entirely different story. Without documents or historical maps, it is extremely difficult to determine the exact location," Thang said.
For that reason, the search cannot rely solely on memory.
Excavating a public site - particularly a former cemetery - requires a strong scientific basis. If the search area is inaccurately defined, excavation can become lengthy, costly and disruptive to urban life while still failing to locate the burial sites.
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