VietNamNet Bridge – Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc paid homage yesterday to the heroic soldiers who laid down their lives for the nation’s independence and freedom in the northern mountain province of Son La.

PM Phuc offered flowers and incense at the historic memorial site for the Tay Tien Regiment 52 on Na Bo Hill in the province’s Moc Chau Township. — Photo: VNA/VNS

The event launched nationwide commemoration activities marking the 70th anniversary of the Day of Invalids and War Martyrs, which falls on July 27.

PM Phuc offered flowers and incense at the historic memorial site for the Tay Tien Regiment 52 on Na Bo Hill in the province’s Moc Chau Township.

During the war against the French (1945-1954), Moc Chau was the gathering place of the Tay Tien Regiment, from where the soldiers spread out to fight across the northwest and upper Lao fronts, contributing to the victory over the French.

The Tay Tien historical site inaugurated on August 20 last year has become a centre for historical education and part of a master plan for Moc Chau tourism development.

PM Phuc said the soldiers of the Tay Tien Regiment will be remembered forever in the annals of the People’s Army of Viet Nam. 

Their courage was a source of encouragement and an example for today’s young and future generations, said the PM.

 Also yesterday, PM Phuc visited the family of Nguyen Thanh Lam, a veteran in Moc Chau Farm, who is disabled as a result of the toxic “agent orange” sprayed by the Americans during the war.

Top legislator visits Con Dao

National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan also paid tribute to martyrs and patriots on Saturday, at the Hang Duong Cemetery in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau’s Con Dao District. 

She offered incense at the tombs of late Party General Secretary Le Hong Phong, patriot Nguyen An Ninh, and heroes of the people’s armed forces, Luu Chi Hieu and Vo Thi Sau.

Con Dao prison accommodated more than 20,000 prisoners throughout its 113 years many of them revolutionaries who fought against the Americans.   

Among the 1,921 graves of martyrs in the Hang Duong Cemetery, more than 700 have been identified. 

Ngan also called at Phu Hai prison and Con Dao relic museum. She also presented gifts to families of war heroes.

The NA leader, meeting with local authorities over the weekend, said she was pleased to see more visitors traveling to Con Dao, a special national relic site with vast forest coverage, clean marine environment and 16 islets in the southeast.

Quang Tri tribute

On Saturday, Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue led a delegation of officials to the central province of Quang Tri to pay tribute to war matyrs who had sacrificed their lives for national liberation.

The Deputy PM and Politburo member laid a wreath and burned incense to express their deep gratitude to the heroes at the Road No 9 and Truong Son National Cemeteries in the province.

They also attended an event to commemorate the dead held at the Quang Tri Ancient Citadel. Incense and thousands of candles were lit to commemorate the soldiers. Participants at the requiem also prayed for peace and prosperity.

Hue and other Government officials offered incense and laid wreaths at Quang Tri Ancient Citadel Monument and dropped flowers into Thach Han River to show gratitude to those who laid down their lives to protect the Citadel in 1972.

On the occasion, Deputy PM Hue, along with representatives of ministries and agencies, presented gifts to 62 Heroic Mothers in the province.

The Deputy PM affirmed that the Party and State always remember and honour the great contributions of mothers, beneficiary families, martyrs’ families and revolutionary contributors.

Also on Saturday, the President of the Viet Nam Fatherland Front Central Committee, Tran Thanh Man, visited and presented gifts to Heroic Mothers and war invalids in the central city of Da Nang. He asked Da Nang City to do more to support beneficiary families, both materially and spiritually. 

Meanwhile, Defence Minister Gen. Ngo Xuan Lich visited and presented gifts to war invalids and wounded soldiers who are under treatment at the Thuan Thanh sanatorium in the northern province of Bac Ninh. On this occasion, the Defence Ministry gave the sanatorium an ambulance, 104 air conditioners, and one desktop cardiograph worth VND1.9 billion (US$83,619). 

Source: VNS