The two men who had lived 40 years in isolation in a central Vietnam’s forest, and who were brought back to civilization Wednesday has a close relative who told Tuoi Tre their story. It turns out that this relative knew their whereabouts all along but failed to persuade them to return to normal life.>> 2 jungle men found after 40 years living in Vietnam forest • The two jungle men were brought back to society August 7 • One jungle man was once a soldier in the Vietnam War • Father took son into forest after Vietnam War bombing killed family members • One child left to be brought up in civilization • The pair refused to return, once fled back to forest •  Slow, dull-eyed, shy of speech, with back bent downThe jungle men are Ho Van Thanh, 82, and his son, Ho Van Lang, 42, who were spotted by some locals in a deep forest in the central province’s Tay Tra District and were brought back to their native land by local authorities on August 7. Now, a relative of theirs has turned up and told Tuoi Tre their story. He is Ho Van Tri, the brother of Lang, and Thanh’s youngest son who luckily survived the bombing 40 years ago and who lived normally in civilization. When Thanh and Sang went to the forest, Tri was just a 3-month boy.Failed to persuade them to return to society When Tri grew up later as a normal child and knew that his father was still alive, he and his uncle went to the forest to look for Thanh and Sang and finally met them but failed to persuade them to return to society. Therefore, Tri had no other choice but to let his father and elder brother stay in the forest. After that, he visited them once every year, supplying them with necessary items, until some residents recently spotted them and reported to authorities, Tri told Tuoi Tre. The old man was in bad health condition when being found by a search team set up by the local government, so he had to be taken out of the forest on a hammock to Tra Kem Hamlet, Tra Xinh Commune. The Tay Tra District Health Center has made medical check-ups and given care for the him, along with his son, but the old man could still not talk much. The father is staying at this health center while his son, Lang, are living with a cousin in Tra Phong Commune. During the first day in normal society, Lang chewed betel and smoked continuously, and glanced at everybody around him with a dull look. As Lang had lived in a remote forest since he was two years old, his appearance is not normal. He walks slowly with his back bent down; his eyes are dull. He often stared outside into the distance. When being found, Lang and his father were staying in a hut about five meters from the ground, and both men were dressed only in loincloths made of tree bark. At the hut, many hand-made tools like knives, axes, mortars, bamboo baskets, were found. Locals also found seed grains and two sets of what appear to be sweaters made of tree bark in the hut.“Missed the forest very much” Many elderly people in Tra Xinh Commune confirmed that the story of the 82-year-old man and his son living in forest began about 40 years ago, when the Vietnam War (1945-1975) was taking place in many localities in Vietnam, including Tay Tra Distrist. According to these elderly people, Thanh joined a guerilla force in 1972. In some time later, a bomb dropped onto his village, hitting many houses including Thanh’s. The bombing killed many people, including Thanh’s mother and the two of his four children. It is widely assumed that, Thanh, overwhelmed by grief and panic, hurriedly held his third child (Lang) in his arms and ran away to the forest nearby, leaving his wife and the youngest child – Tri. Thanh and Lang began to live an isolated life in the forest since then and ten years later, locals first spotted him for the first time. Their daily foods were fruits and manioc they found in the forest. It is assumed that they also planted corn for food.  Dinh Van Hung, secretary of the Tra Xinh Commune Party Committee, said, “Once a long time ago, after knowing that Thanh and Lang were alive, the authorities send staffs to go the forest to meet them and persuade them to return for safety reasons. “But after a short time of return, they went back to the forest because they missed it very much”, Hung said. Currently, both Thanh and his son could speak a little of the language of the Kor ethnic minority group and authorities and locals are trying to help them reintegrate into society.