Present at the event were Lieutenant General Le Huy Vinh, Commander of the Air Defense Air Force Service, former leaders of the service, and representatives of anti-aircraft artillery soldiers, among others.
Over the past 65 years of construction and development, the anti-aircraft artillery force has overcome many difficulties and challenges to fulfill the assigned tasks, contributing to the building of the glorious tradition of the Vietnam People’s Army.
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Lieutenant General Le Huy Vinh speaking at the event |
On April 1, 1953, General Vo Nguyen Giap, the then Defense Minister and Commander-in-Chief of the Vietnam People’s Army, signed Decision No.06 to establish Regiment 367 – the first anti-aircraft artillery regiment of the Vietnam People’s Army. Since then, April 1 has been the foundation day of the anti-aircraft artillery force.
During the Dien Bien Phu Campaign in the resistance war against the French colonialists, the force shot down 55 enemy aircraft.
In the anti-American resistance war, anti-aircraft artillery soldiers downed nearly 3,100 aircraft of the US Air Force, including a large number of modern aircraft of the time.
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An overview of the ceremony |
For these achievements, the anti-aircraft artillery force and many of its individuals were honored with noble orders and certificates of merit from the Party, State, and Ministry of National Defense.
Also at the ceremony, delegates agreed that in order to meet the requirements of revolutionary tasks in the new stage of development, the anti-aircraft artillery force has to focus on promoting training quality, professionalism and combat readiness capability so as to effectively manage and employ the latest weapons and military technologies, making contributions to, along with other relevant forces, successfully safeguarding the country’s airspace.
Translated by Van Hieu