During the revolutionary war years, due to various reasons such as the rush of the war, some martyrs were buried on the spot, and some did not even leave their names. In the hometown of the martyrs, some of those who joined the army and fought on the battlefield did not know whether they were alive or dead for decades. Although some were definitely sacrificed, their families did not know where their last battlefield was or where they were buried. Searching for the relatives of the unknown martyrs is not only the highest respect for the heroes of the Republic, but also reflects the will and determination to pass on the red gene and revolutionary fire from generation to generation.

　　On the eve of Qingming Festival, Yu Qinpo from Pingdu, Qingdao, walked towards his father's tombstone with the support of his daughter in the tombstone area of ​​the Unknown Soldier in Jinan Revolutionary Martyrs Cemetery. This is his first time visiting his father's grave.

　　In January this year, Yu Qinpo, who had been struggling to find his father's mausoleum, learned that his father was buried in Jinan Revolutionary Martyrs Cemetery. His father, Yu Yongjian, died in the Battle of Jinan. Yu Qinpo had just turned 1 year old when he died. His father left neither a single word nor a photo. He could only piece together his father's appearance from his mother's description.

　　Yu Qinpo, son of martyr Yu Yongjian: My mother said that I look very much like my father. My father went to training, came home to see us, hugged me, then walked back, and died within a month.

　　At that time, the young Yu Qinpo did not know that his father's hug meant farewell forever. On September 16, 1948, the Battle of Jinan officially started. After eight days and eight nights of bloody fighting, the East China Field Army finally won the Battle of Jinan. During the battle, more than 5,000 soldiers died heroically. The names of many soldiers who died cannot be verified and they become unknown martyrs.

　　The Jinan Revolutionary Martyrs Cemetery, located at the foot of Hero Mountain, is the resting place of heroes. According to a 1950 "Martyr List" collected in the cemetery, they moved from various battle points in the Jinan Campaign.

　　It is everyone’s ardent expectation to turn the unknown martyrs back into famous heroes. In 2021, Jinan established a revolutionary martyrs' relative search center and began to use DNA technology to find relatives of unknown martyrs. The family search work has entered a new stage.

　　Students from Shandong First Medical University are sorting and repairing the remains of martyrs and extracting DNA samples. Due to the rush of the war, the names of many martyrs who died only exist in the Jinan Campaign Martyrs' List, but the remains and names of the martyrs have never been matched. In March of this year, staff took advantage of the renovation of the cemetery to extract DNA information from the unknown martyrs one by one. Extracting DNA from the remains of martyrs faces many difficulties. Some remains are so damaged that no effective information can be extracted, and some remains are severely degraded due to environmental factors.

　　After the DNA samples are extracted, they will be sent to the laboratory for testing and analysis, and their DNA typing will be obtained. And this is only the first step in the search for relatives.

　　Obtaining the DNA map of a martyr cannot immediately determine the martyr's identity. The DNA information needs to be imported into the family database for comparison. Based on the family lineage clues of the martyrs obtained through comparison, the staff then went to the villages and households to conduct family visits, and combined with the revolutionary martyrs' directory, martyr certificates and other physical evidence, finally determined the names and identities of the martyrs.

　　On March 28, the team to search for the relatives of the martyrs set out again. This time the staff will go to Yantai, Haiyang, and Qixia to find relatives of the martyrs on the eastern battlefield of the Jinan Campaign.

　　During the search, the staff found that many family members of the martyrs died while waiting year after year, and most of their descendants were elderly people in their 70s and 80s. In order to prevent this regret from continuing, the staff were also racing against time. .

　　Even with the results of DNA identification information and data comparison, it does not mean that the relatives of the martyrs can be found immediately.

　　In January this year, during the process of searching for the relatives of martyr You Yueting, DNA information pointed to three villages in Haiyang City, and staff needed to investigate and screen them one by one.

　　When the staff came to Caobo Village, Xin'an Town, they met a man named You Haibo. His father, You Zhaosong, was the son of martyr You Yueting. He was only a few months old when his father died.

　　You Zhaosong, son of martyr You Yueting: Since my father died, my mother and grandma cried every day and did not eat. My mother passed away when I was 8 years old, and I have been living with my grandma. My father loves to eat dumplings, and my grandma cries every year during the Chinese New Year.

　　For so many years, You Zhaosong has kept his father's martyrdom certificate, but he never dared to open it.

　　You Zhaosong, the son of martyr You Yueting: I have never had a father in my life. When I see it, I think of my father, so I don’t dare to look at it. When my grandma was alive, I kept this martyr certificate hidden away from my grandma. I heard from my grandma that at that time, young people went to join the army. My father was the first to sign up for the army. My father was also an only son.

　　He only knew that his father had died but did not know where he was buried. This became a thorn in his heart. He went to Jinan three times to look for his father's tomb, but returned without success each time.

　　Before Tomb Sweeping Day, at the foot of Heroes Mountain, Zhaosong arrived at the Jinan Revolutionary Martyrs Cemetery with the support of the staff. This was a tribute that was 76 years late.

　　In front of his father's tomb, he was finally able to call daddy to the tombstone, and he was finally able to tell his father that he had missed him for so many years. Before his death, his grandmother told him that he must find his father's tomb. Today, he finally fulfilled his grandma's last wish.

　　You Zhaosong, son of martyr You Yueting: My grandma shed a lot of tears before she passed away, so she told me to go to Jinan to find where your father is buried. I kept my grandma’s words in mind and never forgot them. When I came here yesterday, I went to my grandma’s grave and told her that I would see my father’s grave tomorrow. It wasn’t me who helped you realize your last wish, it was the government that helped you realize your last wish.

　　Jingang Qin, deputy director of the Party Leadership Group of the Shandong Provincial Department of Veterans Affairs: We are racing against time to find relatives for the martyrs. Through releasing information, investigating clues, drawing portraits of martyrs, comparing DNA technology, and craniofacial restoration technology, a total of 1,260 martyrs have been able to find their relatives.

　　Finding relatives for martyrs and letting heroes go home is not only a comfort to the heroes of the martyrs, but also a comfort to the families of the martyrs. Many martyrs did not even leave a single photo after their sacrifice. With the development of technology, Jinan is working with relevant colleges and universities to try to use generative AI technology to restore the appearance of martyrs. They conducted electronic 3D laser scanning of the remains of the martyrs. After obtaining the digital model of the skull, generative AI technology was able to restore the appearance of the martyrs.

　　Today, the mountains and rivers are safe, the country is peaceful and the people are safe, we work together to help, and our loyal souls return to their roots. A promising nation cannot be without heroes, and a promising country cannot be without pioneers. Finding relatives for the martyrs is not only a way to comfort and remember, but also to pay tribute and inherit. Letting the martyrs' fame last forever in the world, and using heroes as examples to draw strength to move forward is our best tribute to them.

　　Editor丨Jiang Weiwei Li Yi

　　Photography丨Zhou Shaojun

　　Planning | Mou Zongyong

　　Editing丨Zhang Wenqing

　　(CCTV News Client)