PANO – The historical stele, the relic symbol of the Office of the Vietnam People’s Army (PAN) and the Military Printing House at the front during the Dien Bien Phu Campaign was placed in Phang 3 village, Muong Phang commune, Dien Bien district, Dien Bien province on May 5th.

The inaugural ceremony was jointly organized by the PAN and the Military Printing One-Member Limited Company 1 under the chair of the PAN’s Editor-in-Chief Lieutenant General Le Phuc Nguyen.

The ceremony to inaugurate the historical stele

Journalist Colonel Pham Phu Bang, a former Dien Bien soldier and former PAN’s war correspondent at the Dien Bien Phu Front said that the Dien Bien Phu Campaign started on March 13, 1954 while the first PAN’s edition on the front was released on December 28th, 1953. The last issue, the 33rd of its kind, was on May 16th, 1954, a week after French General De Castries was arrested.

“In fact, our troops carried out a 55 day-and night- “Determination to Fight and to Win” campaign and the war reporters spent more than 130 days and nights there”, Colonel Pham Phu Bang emphasized.

The organizers present gifts to local households

Lieutenant General Le Phuc Nguyen thanked local people and authorities for their assistance in building this significant stele, and stressed that its placement would be a good foundation for the PAN to make proposals for the official recognition and protection of this relics.

“It will be an address to educate young generations of the tradition of soldiers-journalists”, the PAN’s Editor-in-Chief said.

On the occasion, the organizers presented 40 gifts to Phang 3 village’s households.

Translated by Mai Huong