Nowhere like in the search for missing American soldiers in Vietnam, people from two sides that were once enemies eat, sleep, and work together for a common goal, creating a connection between former enemies, shared Colonel Dao Xuan Kinh, who has been involved in this work for nearly 10 years.

Colonel Kinh, former commander of the Vietnam Missing in Action (MIA) Agency and deputy director of the Vietnam Office for Seeking Missing Persons (VNOSMP), said that since the Paris Agreement in 1973, Vietnam has sent teams of experts to search for and excavate the remains of American soldiers.

In the following 14 years, despite the tense aftermath of the war, more than 300 sets of remains were unilaterally returned by Vietnam to the US. It was this humanitarian spirit of Vietnam that gradually erased the distance, helped the two countries gradually get closer and raised the search for MIA to a joint activity between the two countries' forces.

In 1988, the Vietnam-US cooperation agreement on MIA was signed. In 1991, the two sides agreed to open a US government office in Hanoi to resolve MIA issues. Since then, the search for US soldiers has been expanded, strengthened and achieved high efficiency with the participation of thousands of people from both countries.

Colonel Kinh (second from right) with American and Vietnamese experts during a site excavation trip. Photo: NVCC

Every year, American expert delegations come to Vietnam about 4 times, each time consisting of several hundred people, lasting from one to two months. During that time, based on the personal information and missing coordinates provided by the US side, the mixed team led by Mr. Kinh will organize to go to the scene to survey, investigate, search, excavate, appraise the remains and finally return them to the US side.

"When traveling in a group, Americans are like Vietnamese. I don't remember how many times we climbed mountains, waded through streams, crossed forests, and crossed steep mountainsides with American experts," Mr. Kinh said. "There were times when we had to climb mountains for 12-15 hours to reach the top, then set up a tent to sleep overnight, survey the scene the next morning, and then return."

Not only experts, Mr. Kinh also led many delegations of high-ranking officials from the US Congress and military to visit the scene. They traveled together, talked, ate, and rested together like brothers, despite the language barrier.

Wherever he went, Mr. Kinh and his American colleagues received support and help from local people because they understood the noble humanitarian meaning of this activity.

The excavation was done entirely by hand, without the help of any machinery. 30-40 local workers, along with Vietnamese and American experts, dug, hoed, and transported the soil. After decades, most of the remains had decomposed naturally. They had to painstakingly sift through every millimeter of soil to find the remaining bones or belongings of American soldiers under the scorching sun.

Not only on land, they also search together under the sea. The joint team uses Vietnamese boats and US support equipment to detect suspicious objects underwater, then deploy divers to excavate. Since most of the soldiers went missing in plane crashes far out at sea, recovering remains is not easy.

Vietnamese, American experts and local people sift soil to find the remains of American soldiers in Quang Nam. Photo: NVCC

There were cases where they had to search for years before they found a result, like the one in Dong Nai. A helicopter carrying Australian soldiers fighting for the US military crashed in a deep forest, flooded with high water and dense vegetation. However, when the team arrived, the scene had become a cornfield.

"The first day, we searched according to the coordinates provided but found nothing. On the second day, we accidentally discovered a piece of shin bone in the eroded ditch," Mr. Kinh said. "The next day, the search team found the correct dog tag with the name and code of the missing soldier using a metal detector. Excavating the surrounding area, we discovered part of the remains of this person. The case, which seemed to be deadlocked after many years, was quickly resolved in a moment."

The invisible bridge

After 27 years of implementing the Vietnam-US cooperation agreement on MIA search, the two countries have successfully carried out 119 joint operations. On average, each year, Mr. Kinh's team excavates about 25-35 cases and investigates information on hundreds of other cases.

"The MIA cooperation program, more specifically the activities of experts from both countries over the years, has connected the feelings of thousands of Americans with the country and people of Vietnam," Mr. Kinh shared. "When they returned to the US, with documents, films, and images recorded from their actual activities, they contributed to promoting to the American people the humanitarian spirit of Vietnam."

A repatriation ceremony for the remains of US soldiers took place in Da Nang in 2012. Photo: BBC

In 2012, he took then-US Ambassador David Shear to visit an excavation site in Son La. After hours of climbing and working together, Mr. Shear expressed his admiration for the efforts of Vietnamese experts and appreciated the hard work they were doing.

"Indeed, through this trip, I have fully realized the difficulty and complexity of searching for MIAs and learned more about Vietnam's humanitarian activities. I thank you very much," Mr. Kinh quoted the ambassador as saying.

The recognition from comrades and relatives of missing soldiers is always a great source of motivation for Mr. Kinh and his colleagues to continue the search. After each trip, he receives thank-you letters from American families whose members have been missing for decades in Vietnam.

"I will always remember a woman who wrote to me and said that her father was 85 years old this year, but when he heard the news that his son's remains were found, he felt like a young man again," Mr. Kinh said.

Some even traveled to Vietnam to receive the remains of their loved ones and hugged Mr. Kinh, crying with emotion. Thanks to silent people like him and his colleagues at the MIA agency, the pain and hatred that had lasted for decades in them was resolved.

After 44 years of military service and nearly 10 years of MIA as a commander, Mr. Kinh retired with many concerns about unsolved cases. However, he is proud that the search for missing soldiers in Vietnam has always been evaluated by the US as the most active and exemplary.

Since 1973, Vietnam has returned more than 950 boxes of remains to the US. The US has examined, identified and concluded more than 700 cases. There are currently more than 1,200 US soldiers missing in Vietnam whose remains have not been found. The US is also searching for MIAs in many places where it fought, but no place has achieved as high results as in Vietnam.

"The role of the MIA search in normalizing relations between the two countries is undeniable. This is the bridge and glue that connects Vietnam and the US," Mr. Kinh said.

"In this world, there is hardly any relationship like that between Vietnam and the US. From former enemies to friends and then to comprehensive partners. I believe that the future of bilateral cooperation is still very open in many areas, including the MIA issue," he added. "The work of finding MIAs has developed, I hope the Vietnam - US relationship will develop like that too."

(According to VNEpress)