General Ngo Xuan Lich presenting gift to a Vietnamese heroic mother
The meeting was to recognize their outstanding achievements in all working aspects, contributing to promoting the Vietnamese revolutionary tradition and carrying out the national traditions of “When drinking water, remember its source”, and “Gratitude” as well as raising awareness of and high sense of responsibility for caring national contributors.
Present at the meeting were former Party General Secretary Le Kha Phieu; former State President Le Duc Anh; former Defense Ministers, General Pham Van Tra and General Phung Quang Thanh; Senior Lieutenant General Luong Cuong, Director of the General Department of Politics of the Vietnam People’s Army; President of the Vietnam Fatherland Front’s Central Committee Tran Thanh Man; Lieutenant General Phan Van Giang, Chief of the General Staff and Deputy Defense Minister; Senior Lieutenant General Le Chiem, Deputy Defense Minister; representatives from ministries, centrally-governed sectors and departments; Vietnamese heroic mothers; national contributors; and martyrs’ relatives.
General Ngo Xuan Lich, Politburo member, Deputy Secretary of the CMC and Defense Minister, chaired the meeting.
Addressing the meeting, Gen. Lich expressed deep gratitude to Vietnamese heroic mothers, former Party, State, CMC, MND leaders, veteran revolutionaries, national contributors, and martyrs’ relatives.
He also thanked the Party, State, ministries, centrally-governed agencies, Party committees and authorities at all levels and people across the country for their care and support for the army so that the army have always accomplished its missions, well implemented the policies for troops and troops’ families, as well as for national contributors.
On behalf of the CMC and MND, Gen. Chiem hailed related agencies, units and individuals for well implementing policies for sick and wounded soldiers, martyrs’ families, national contributors and for troops’ families.
Gen. Chiem highly valued outstanding national contributors’ and martyrs’ relatives’ active contributions, saying that they have brought into full play good traditions of the nation, the army and their families while surmounting difficulties to fulfill their assigned tasks.
He also highlighted close cooperation between relevant military agencies and ministries and centrally-governed departments to give suggestions to higher authorities to better policies for national contributors and troops’ families. He also revealed that the whole army has intensively carried out numerous gratitude activities with practical results and in diverse forms.
Delegates in a joint photo
At the meeting, participants heard stories related to wounded soldiers and martyrs including that about soldier Nghiem Xuan Phao of Regiment 1, Division 2, Military Region 5, who went across the Truong Son trail to join battles in the South in 1968. In late 1970, on the way to transport supplies in preparation for the Lunar New Year festival, he was ambushed and killed by the enemy. With great admiration for his father’s courage, the martyr’s son, named after him, wrote a petition to join the army in 1982. That junior Nghiem Xuan Phao is now Senior Colonel working at the Department of Politics of Military Region 3. The officer has always tried his best to fulfill all assigned missions.
Attending the meeting, Senior Colonel Phan Dinh An, Secretary of the Party Committee, Political Commissar of the Technical Department of Military Region 2 expressed his hope that the remains of his father and others would be repatriated soon so as to help ease their relatives’ pains.
On the sidelines of the meeting, recalling his days doing international service in Cambodia, Senior Colonel Nguyen Van Thien, a wounded soldier and former Commissar of the Military Command of Dong Nai province’s Xuan Loc district, said that he was luckier than his comrades who laid down their lives in the war and he always holds a high sense of responsibility for his comrades’ families.
At the meeting, Gen. Lich presented gifts to five participating Vietnamese heroic mothers and certificates of merit to 160 national contributors and martyrs’ relatives with outstanding achievements at work, contributing to the army building, defense reinforcement and national construction and protection.
Before the meeting, the participants paid homage to President Ho Chi Minh at his mausoleum.
Translated by Mai Huong