PANO - Brigade 45 of the Artillery Arm held a ceremony on August 22nd in Hanoi to mark the 70th anniversary of its traditional day (August 22nd, 1945) and receive the third-class Military Exploit Order and the "Hero of the Armed Forces" title for its Battalion 1. Lt. Gen. Nguyen Quoc Khanh, Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam People's Army, attended the event.

Lt. Gen. Nguyen Quoc Khanh (3rd from left) hands over the order to the brigade's commanders.

The brigade, set up at the Lac Quan War Zone in Nam Dinh province, is the first artillery unit of the Vietnam People's Army (VPA). It also fired the first shot to open the historical Dien Bien Phu Campaign and joined many other important campaigns during the Vietnam War. It was conferred with the State and the Party's noble titles and orders for its contributions to the national construction and defence cause.

Addressing the ceremony, General Khanh hailed the unit's outstanding achievements and hoped that its troops will continue strictly grasping higher commands' instructions and resolutions to build strong party organizations and a comprehensive strong unit. They should focus on promoting training quality to well perform its assigned task at the 70th anniversary of National Day on September 2nd, he noted.

Translated by Trung Thanh