(VOVworld) – A grand ceremony to mark the 60th anniversary of Dien Bien Phu victory took place on Wednesday in Dien Bien Phu city in the northwestern province of Dien Bien.
From early morning, tens of thousands of people flocked to the city center to await the start of a military parade. Big screens were placed in the Dien Bien Phu city Square and city center to carry a live broadcast of the ceremony. Dien Bien veteran Vu Quang Bao of Tan Thanh ward, Dien Bien Phu city, said: “This was a splendid victory. I am so proud to be a Dien Bien Phu soldier. I am so moved to recall memories of the victory”.
The event attracted crowds of domestic and foreign visitors. Ms. Hoang Thi Nga is from Dien Bien district, Dien Bien province: “I have lived here for 50 years. The province has seen great changes. I have attended such a victory anniversary 6 times, but this is the most impressive one. Thanks to the Party and State, the people’s living standard has been much improved”.
On the same day, thousands of people flocked to Vung Chua-Dao Yen in the central province of Quang Binh to pay tribute to General Vo Nguyen Giap, the Commander-in-Chief of the Dien Bien Phu campaign.
The Vietnamese Embassy in the Ukraine organized a meeting in Odessa City on Tuesday to mark the 60thanniversary of the Dien Bien Phu Victory. Vietnamese Ambassador to the Ukraine Nguyen Minh Tri spoke at the event: “Lessons learned from the great Dien Bien Phu victory will forever serve as a manual for Vietnamese people living and working in Ukraine in dealing with emerging challenges to building a stronger Vietnamese community. I hope this event will encourage us to review our past activities and duplicate positive factors while resolutely eliminating thoughts and acts that undermine our great national unity”.
World media has given wide coverage to the event, with many articles and photos praising Vietnam’s heroic resistance war. The French newspaper France 24 ran the front page headline “Vietnam marks 60th anniversary of Dien Bien Phu victory over French colonialists”. The article ran with photos of Vietnamese war veterans offering incense to the fallen soldiers at Dien Bien Phu. Describing the fighting at Dien Bien Phu, the newspaper called it the French army’s historic mistake, saying that for Vietnamese people, the Dien Bien Phu battle that ended on May 7th, 1954, was not only a heroic struggle against the French colonialists, but also marked a historic moment for Vietnam.
The Thai Bangkok Post e-newspaper ran an article entitled “The French failure in Vietnam 60 years ago, a milestone in the history of colonialism”. The article said the Dien Bien Phu victory was evidence that a colonized country with a poorly equipped army could defeat a western army equipped with modern weapons. The French failure at Dien Bien Phu ended the French domination inIndochina and marked a milestone in national movements around the world.
China’s e-newspaper Xinhua ran an article entitled “Dien Bien Phu victory in the memories of Vietnamese war veterans”.