MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
It's been 50 years since the end of the Vietnam War. Hanoi says nearly 200,000 Vietnamese soldiers are still unaccounted for. Some of their families are now calling on the U.S. to help find them. Journalist Nga Pham brings us the story.
THANH NGUYEN: (Speaking Vietnamese, crying).
NGA PHAM: Thanh Nguyen has never met her uncle Nguyen Duy Oanh, an army medic. Oanh was killed in action in Thua Thien Hue in Central Vietnam in 1972, long before Thanh was born. But growing up, Thanh heard so much about him from her family, that he was quiet, kind-hearted, and he looked exactly like her father. Oanh's body has never been recovered.
NGUYEN: (Through interpreter) All we have is a notice about my uncle's death from the military and two handwritten letters from him. After the war, our family began searching for my uncle's remains. But so far, we haven't found anything. My aunts have all given up, but I still hope that one day I will find him. I am looking everywhere.
PHAM: In Vietnam's ancestral worship culture, a person's dead body should be buried in their homeland near the ancestors, otherwise the soul will forever be lost and become a wandering ghost enduring eternal suffering. Thanh's biggest dream is to find her uncle's remains one day and to burn incense to bid a proper farewell to him.
NGUYEN XUAN THANG: (Speaking Vietnamese).
PHAM: Nguyen Xuan Thang, an architect, has been looking for Vietnamese missing war dead for almost 20 years. Thang himself has an uncle who was killed in action in 1968 and is still missing. He receives no money from the government, but he says that funding is not the biggest challenge.
THANG: (Through interpreter) The biggest difficulty is information and witnesses. Until now, we rely a great deal on people who saw the fighting and what they remember. But their memories are dwindling, and they themselves are passing away. Burial sites have also been removed because of economic development.
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PHAM: After battles, the bodies of killed soldiers - often just pieces of burnt flesh and bones - were gathered and buried all together in mass graves. But even after they were excavated, the identification was difficult because, unlike the Americans, Vietnamese soldiers were not issued identification tags. A national committee was only set up two years ago to consolidate and lead the searches, but results have been limited due to the lack of resources, both in locating and identifying the remains. There have also been complaints about red tape and corruption.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Order. Oh (ph).
PHAM: On April 19, the remains of four American soldiers missing in action, or MIAs, were repatriated in a ceremony in the central city of Da Nang. The U.S. government has spent millions of dollars to look for their missing personnel from the war. In Vietnam, families of missing soldiers often wage their own campaigns with the help of their communities. Some, including Thanh, are now calling on the U.S. to step in because of its involvement in the war.
NGUYEN: (Through interpreter) The war ended a long time ago, but the pain remains. I think the U.S. government should look at this issue and help the Vietnamese people find closure of the painful past.
PHAM: Since Vietnam and the U.S. normalized their relations in 1995, many American veterans have returned to hand over artifacts and documents. Nguyen Xuan Thang says it offered a much appreciated, albeit delayed, consolation to some families, but many are still waiting.
For NPR News, I'm Nga Pham in Ho Chi Minh City.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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