President Võ Văn Thưởng and other current and former leaders of the Party and State salute the flag at a grand ceremony held to celebrate the 135th birth anniversary of late President Tôn Đức Thắng. – VNS/VNA Photo

AN GIANG – A grand ceremony was held to mark the 135th birth anniversary of late President Tôn Đức Thắng in his hometown in the Mekong Delta province of An Giang on August 19.

The event at Trưng Nữ Vương Square in Long Xuyên City, An Giang Province was attended by President  Võ Văn Thưởng, his predecessors Nguyễn Minh Triết, Trương Tấn Sang and Nguyễn Xuân Phúc, former Prime Minister Nguyễn Tấn Dũng, and a number of other current and former senior officials from the Party, State and the Việt Nam Fatherland Front.

Lê Hồng Quang, secretary of the An Giang Province Party Committee, said President Thắng was born on August 20, 1888, in An Hoa Village, now Mỹ Hòa Hưng Commune, in Long Xuyên City.

He led and organised many struggles, including the strike in Ba Son, marking a new development in the organisation of the working class.

In Sài Gòn (now HCM City), he joined and became a leader of the Việt Nam Revolutionary Youth Union.

In 1929 the French colonialists arrested and sentenced him to 20 years in Côn Đảo Prison. 

After the August Revolution in 1945 he regained his freedom and joined the resistance war against the French invaders, and was assigned a number of important missions by the Party.

He was the second president of the Democratic Republic of Việt Nam, serving from 1969 to 1976 and the first president of the Socialist Republic of Việt Nam after reunification until his death in 1980.

He gave his life to the Vietnamese revolution, world peace and international friendship.

He received many honours and awards including the first ever Sao Vàng (Gold Star) Order conferred by the Vietnamese Party and State and the Lenin Order and Lenin Peace Prize by the erstwhile Soviet Union. 

Quang said by spending nearly 70 years in the revolution, Uncle Tôn was a bright example of patriotism, devotion to the revolutionary cause, firm will, and revolutionary ethics.

The ceremony was also attended by many local organisations and individuals who came to pay tribute to the leader. – VNS