Unknown fallen PLA soldier identified thanks to DNA technology

Source
China Military Online
Editor
Li Wei
Time
2021-05-20 10:26:52

Recently, the remains of an unknown martyr who died in the Chinese People's War of Liberation finally returned home after having been buried in Ningyang County, Tai'an City, Shandong Province, for more than seventy years.

Throughout its history, Tai'an City has witnessed multiple revolutionary events such as the Anti-Japanese Armed Uprising in Culai Mountain led by the Communist Party of China, the Lufang Battle in which a regiment of the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army broke out the encirclement by the Japanese invading troops in Lufang area, west of Tai'an in May 1938, and the Tai’an-Mengyin Campaign in which the East-China Field Army of the PLA launched counterattacks against the Kuomintang army in Tai’an and Mengyin areas in April 1947. Countless martyrs laid down their lives and thus has been buried here forever.

As of now, there are still many martyrs with their names and native homes unknown. There is a tombstone of such an unknown soldier erected in Jinma Village, Ningyang County of Tai'an.

The tombstone of an unknown soldier in Jinma Village, Ningyang County of Tai'an

According to the elders in the village, in August 1947, a certain PLA unit was entrusted the task to liberate the Jining City, and three scouts from the spearhead of the unit entered the village under the jurisdiction of Jining City to conduct reconnaissance. Raided by two bandits, one of the three scouts was shot to death. Later, villagers made donation to buy a big coffin cut from cedar wood and buried the young PLA soldier in the village.

Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, teachers and students from nearby schools have come here to visit his grave on Tomb Sweeping Day to cherish the memory of the unknown martyr.

It's not until November 24, 2020, when a citizen of Jining City of Shandong Province reported to the Ningyang County-level Veterans Affairs Bureau that the unknown martyr might be his grandfather Zhang Xueshun, that the local veterans' affairs bureau decided to collect and identify the remains of the martyr through DNA sequencing comparison.

Two professionals from the judicial expertise center are responsible for collecting, cleaning up, and sampling the martyr's remains.

On March 23, the staff of the Jining municipal and Ningyang county-level veterans affairs departments involved, together with those from the local judicial expertise center and local government, sampled and identified the remains of the martyr.

On April 14, the comparison results showed that the unknown martyr was not Zhang Xueshun as claimed by his relative; surprisingly, a martyr of the Cai family in Qufu City was identified according to DNA data.

Cai Yunji, another martyr, was only 20 years old when he sacrificed, with no offspring left. His parents and brothers have died successively, with only his nephew Cai Guoyu still alive now.

Another comparison was carried out with the results showing high consistency between Cai Guoyu and the unknown martyr in Jinma Village according to the DNA information.

On the other hand, the information on Cai Yunji’s sacrifice as recorded in the List of Martyrs in Qufu also served to make the staff conclude that the unknown martyr in Jinma Village is Cai Yunji.

Eventually, the unknown martyr who has been sleeping in Jinma Village for 70 years found his family. The Qufu Municipal Veterans Affairs Bureau, the place where Cai Jiyun was born, stated that a funeral for the relocation of his remains would be held as soon as possible.

 

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