Veteran Nguyen Van Thong, 52, from Bo Trach District in Quang Binh Province recalled the battle against the Chinese invaders at Johnson South Reef in the Spratly Archipelago on March 14, 1988.

Nguyen Van Thong showed his leg with injuries from the battle with Chinese invaders on March 14, 1988.

Thong, who still suffers from his war wounds, lives with his wife and two children in a poor fishing village. He still clearly remembers the morning when Vietnamese ship HQ604 was attacked and sunk by a Chinese vessel, leaving 64 of his comrades died. He and eight other Vietnamese marine soldiers were detained by Chinese army.

"It was about 6 am when about 50 Chinese soldiers holding AK machineguns surrounded the Vietnamese flagstaff which was being defending by a circle of Vietnamese soldiers. One of our soldiers, Tran Van Phuong, was killed and some others wounded when trying to protect the Vietnamese flag.”

"After that, the Chinese attacked and sunk HQ 604, killing dozens of other Vietnamese combatants," Thong continued. "The battle ended at around 12pm when the Chinese left the island. I and eight other Vietnamese soldiers were wounded and taken prisoner by the Chinese. We were kept in prison for over three years before being released in 1991."

Over the past years, the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has repeatedly underlined Vietnam’s sovereignty over both the Spratly and Paracel archipelagos in the East Sea.

A memorial park for 64 Vietnamese naval soldiers killed in the 1988 battle against the Chinese has been built on Johnson South Reef.

The Spratly and Paracel islands are administered by Khanh Hoa Province and the central Vietnamese city of Da Nang.