A story spanning 81 years has come to an end -
In April this year, the remains of the unknown soldier M008 who died in the "Nine Tombs" in Yamenguan, Cili County, Zhangjiajie, Hunan Province, were confirmed to be Shang Mingfu, a native of Qianshangjia Village, Jinqing Town, Luqiao District, Taizhou City.
Yamen Pass was one of the important battlefields of the Cili Resistance Battle in the Battle of Changde in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in 1943. After the war, the villagers collected the bodies of nine unknown soldiers who died here and buried them in a small mountain col, known as the "Tomb of the Nine". Previously, local volunteers started a volunteer activity to find the relatives of the unknown soldiers.
When 73-year-old Shang Xiasheng received a phone call and learned that the remains of the unknown soldier were his third uncle Shang Mingfu, he was shocked and couldn't help but ask the other party, "You're not a scam call, right?" After confirming the identity of the other end of the phone, the old man in his old age couldn't cry.
This is the result of many years of efforts by the "Reunion" Studio of the Road and Bridge Branch of the Taizhou Public Security Bureau. Through the advancement of DNA technology, they recovered Shang Mingfu's "81 years of disappearance". In order to comfort the martyrs and comfort their loved ones, all the efforts are worth it.
In the "Grave of the Nine", a sample of the remains of the unknown soldier. Photo courtesy of the interviewee
Look for a needle in a haystack
If the search for relatives is like looking for a needle in a haystack, then DNA is a thin thread tied to the needle.
Ke Weili is the deputy director of the Criminal Science and Technology Office of the Luqiao Branch of the Taizhou Public Security Bureau and the leader of the "Reunion" studio. In 2021, the Ministry of Public Security launched the "Reunion" operation, and in March of the same year, the Taizhou Public Security Bureau established the "Reunion" Studio led by Ke Weili.
In the studio, the reporter saw a large number of couriers sent from all over the country. The package contains stacks of identity information, family search information and small blood collection cards, "Some people even smeared blood collection cards with blood, and they are eager to provide more DNA information in this way." Ke Weili told reporters that over the years, the volume of express delivery has been increasing, and now it can receive nearly 3,000 pieces a year.
Blood-smeared blood collection cards are sent by the seekers. Photo by reporter Hu Zonghao
In February last year, Ke Weili received a letter asking for help from a public welfare organization in Hunan, saying that the remains of nine unknown soldiers were buried outside the Yamen Pass in Cili County, Zhangjiajie. It is speculated that they were soldiers who died on the outskirts of the Battle of Changde in November 1943, and the burial site is known locally as the "Tomb of the Nine". Since they were not identified at the time of their deaths, their identities have been uncertain for years. The other party hopes that the "Reunion" studio can help the unknown soldier return home through DNA comparison.
This is not the first time that Kwai has helped a fallen soldier find his loved ones. In 2022, he found relatives for the soldiers of the New Fourth Army who died for 77 years.
However, this time, the unknown soldiers of the "Tomb of the Nine" are looking for their relatives, and because of the longer time span, they are facing greater technical challenges. "In 81 years, this is the longest time span I have encountered in criminal investigation or family searching, and the local preservation conditions and geographical dry and wet environment of the remains will affect the accuracy of the DNA comparison results. Ke Weili said.
In the end, among the nine body samples sent from Hunan, only the DNA data of two people, numbered M005 and M008, were relatively complete. In October last year, the investigation of the relatives of the two unknown fighters was launched.
Ke Weili is conducting the investigation of relatives. Photo by reporter Hu Zonghao
DNA data guides the direction, and the rest requires manpower to visit and investigate one by one. "We have to find out whether this family went out to serve as a soldier during the War of Resistance Against Japan, what year they went, and where they went. "Seemingly simple questions are not easy to find answers during visits. As the years passed, most of the old people who remembered the events of that year are no longer alive.
In less than a month, Ke Weili contacted a Kong family in Ruian, and he immediately drove to the local area, "At that time, in the ancestral hall, the whole family gathered around and took the genealogy that had been prepared for reading. ”
Among the dense names, Ke Weili saw that next to one of the names, it was written "Lost on the expedition". "At that time, I felt a 'boom' in my head, and I felt that I had found it. He immediately collected blood samples from Kong's relatives. As long as the DNA data is successfully compared, the identity of the Unknown Soldier M008 will be clear.
The genealogy says "Lost on the expedition". Photo courtesy of the interviewee
However, reality poured cold water on Ke Weili. Of all the DNA collected that day, none of the DNA data matched M008's. Speaking of this, Ke Weili sighed lightly at the reporter, "Finding relatives is scientific, and we need to get rid of empiricism, and we need to be meticulous." ”
A month later, the identity of the unknown soldier numbered M005 was confirmed as Wu Siting, a native of Lanxi, Jinhua. But the news of M008 has been lost.
The matter of the third uncle
The turnaround occurred on the eve of this year's Qingming Festival.
The "Reunion" studio did not give up on M008 until the DNA data pointed to an old man named Shang Zhongqiu in Luqiao, ushering in a peak and turning around. Through the visit, I learned that Shang Zhongqiu's third uncle went out to serve as a soldier in his early years and has not returned since. So, local volunteers contacted Shang Zhongqiu and his cousin Shang Xiasheng.
Shang Xiasheng, who had gray temples, recalled to reporters that his third uncle was Shang Mingfu, the same generation as his father, the third, the youngest, who went out to serve as a soldier at the age of eighteen or nineteen, and has not been heard from since. At that time, the juniors in the family had not yet been born, so the understanding of the third uncle was only based on the words from the mouths of the parents, "The third uncle did not leave any information, this is like looking for a needle in a haystack for us, where to find it?"
For decades, the Shang family has been living in the same place, and they stubbornly believe that as long as the third uncle is alive, he will definitely go home.
Shang family, of which the first from the left is Shang Zhongqiu, and the second from the left is Shang Xiasheng. Photo by reporter Hu Zonghao
The juniors of the Shang family, since they can remember, have heard their parents say that they also have a third uncle, who has been a soldier for many years and has never returned, "Our parents told us that if the third uncle comes back one day, we should treat him like our own parents." ”
"Actually, it was the second uncle's turn to be a soldier at that time, but at that time, as soon as the second aunt got married, the third uncle stood up and said that he went. "The Shang family remembers the third uncle well.
However, after the third uncle left, it was like disappearing, and there was no information.
Shang Xiasheng remembered that in 1966, the family took a group photo. After that, his father told the second brother Shang Xiaodong that he would pass him on to the third uncle, "You can't let the third uncle die." ”
In the ancestral hall of the Shang family, the reporter saw that under the portrait of Shang Xiasheng's father and second uncle, there was a thin tablet of the third uncle, with no image, no birthday, and it was written in black and white "Jixiao nephew Xiaodong worship".
At one time, there was also news of the third uncle, which was a letter sent from Changsha, Hunan that year.
There are two versions of the whereabouts of the letter, in the memory of the Shang family. "Looking at the letter sent from Changsha, the family was very puzzled, the family had never been out of the town, and there were no relatives in Changsha, so the letter was not opened, and it was sent back untouched. Shang Xiasheng said.
In the memory of her sister Shang Chunling, this letter was preserved, and because no one in the family was literate at that time, no one knew the specific content of it, so it was kept on hold. Later, the family's old house was renovated and rebuilt, and it was difficult to find objects related to the third uncle.
The letter, like the third uncle, is missing. But the influence of the third uncle is still vaguely there.
In 1972, 21-year-old Shang Xiasheng entered the barracks and became another soldier in the family after the third uncle. During his three years as a soldier, every two months, Shang Xiasheng would briefly report his safety to his family in the form of letters.
When asked why he wanted to become a soldier, Shang Xiasheng said, "Our Shang family ancestors have been farming for generations, and being a soldier is not only a way out, but also to protect the family and defend the country. ”
His destination
There were no surprises this time.
With the successful comparison of DNA results, M008 was confirmed to be Shang Xiasheng's third uncle, Shang Mingfu.
Years of mystery solved, the Shang family burst into tears.
Knowing that the third uncle died on the anti-Japanese battlefield in Hunan, the Shang family specially searched for that period of history: the Battle of Changde, also known as the Battle of Northern Xiang, was a battle between the invading Japanese army and the Chinese army in the Changde area from November to December 1943. During the battle, the invading Japanese army used aircraft and artillery to carry out fierce bombardment of the defenders of Changde, and fired poison gas bombs and incendiary bombs. In the face of the frenzied attack of the Japanese army, the defenders of Changde fought hard with the enemy for 16 days and nights, delaying the strategic offensive of the Japanese army and winning the initiative for the Chinese main force to complete the counter-encirclement of the enemy.
"The third uncle was born in 1914, and he was just 30 years old when he died in the Battle of Changde. Shang Xiasheng calculated.
Shang Xiasheng stood in front of his father's grave and informed him that the third uncle's remains had been found. Photo by reporter Hu Zonghao
The horrors of war still echo today. Tang Yili, a volunteer from Hunan, remembers that at the excavation site of the "Nine People's Grave", the remains of the unknown soldiers were incomplete, and some of them had skulls and leg bones together, speculating that they should have been severely injured at that time. Tang Yili cried on the spot and made up her mind, "They are also the sons of their parents, their families are still waiting, we have to help them go home." ”
Shang Xiasheng had never been to Hunan, and he had no knowledge of Cili County before. The junior who is proficient in the Internet at home quickly searched for the video of "Nine People's Grave" in the browser. Through the screen, he couldn't cry, "I was very moved to see so many people in the video helping the third uncle go home." ”
In this regard, Ke Weili also has deep feelings, "In the process of our visit, there are many unknown soldiers of the older generation who have 'gone out to fight', waiting for us to find them, they have no heirs, or their children are old, and finding their identity as soon as possible can also help their descendants leave a memory." ”
For the fate of the third uncle, the Shang family has a plan. At present, the local construction of the Yamenguan Anti-Japanese War Memorial Cemetery in Cili County, Hunan Province is expected to be completed in the middle of next month, when the family will be invited to the scene, and the wishes of the family will be consulted, the unknown soldiers in the "Nine Graves" will be moved into the cemetery, "Let the third uncle and his comrades-in-arms rest together in the place where they once fought, perhaps his home." ”
The reporter learned that Shang Xiaodong, who passed on to the third uncle, has also passed away, and his son Shang Lingcong and his wife are now in Shangjia Village near the ancestral hall, opening a convenience supermarket.
Life goes on, and the stories of loved ones will remain on that land. The war is far away, and the road of the unknown soldier to find his relatives, even if it is difficult, will not be relentless.
At night, the "reunion" studio in the Luqiao Branch of the Taizhou Public Security Bureau is still lit. Photo by reporter Hu Zonghao
In the "Looking for relatives" tab on Ke Weili's WeChat, it shows that there are 1,179 people. Sometimes he would receive a call from a family searcher in the middle of the night, and when he listened to the other party's inquiry about the progress of the family search, Ke Weili always talked patiently, "because the other end of the phone was a heartbroken family search." ”
So far, the "Reunion" Studio of Taizhou Public Security Bureau has helped more than 400 families across the country to "reunite".
Shang Mingfu's identity was confirmed, and from a certain point of view, he was the lucky two-ninths - because DNA technology is currently unable to break through, there are still seven unknown soldiers in the "Tomb of the Nine" who are still difficult to identify and are silently buried in Qingshan.
Source: CCTV