PM Phúc offered flowers and incense at the historic memorial site for the Tây Tiến Regiment 52 on Nà Bó Hill in the province’s Mộc Châu township. — VNA/VNS Photo Thống Nhất

SƠN LA — Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc paid homage yesterday to the heroic soldiers who laid down their lives for the nation’s independence and freedom in the northern mountain province of Sơn La.

The event launched nationwide commemoration activities marking the 70th anniversary of the Day of Invalids and War Martyrs, which falls on July 27.

PM Phúc offered flowers and incense at the historic memorial site for the Tây Tiến Regiment 52 on Nà Bó Hill in the province’s Mộc Châu township.

During the war against the French (1945-1954), Mộc Châu was the gathering place of the Tây Tiến Regiment, from where the soldiers spread out to fight across the northwest and upper Lao fronts, contributing to the victory over the French.

The Tây Tiến historical site inaugurated on August 20 last year has become a centre for historical education and part of a master plan for Mộc Châu tourism development.

PM Phúc said the soldiers of the Tây Tiến Regiment will be remembered forever in the annals of the People’s Army of Việt Nam. 

Their courage was a source of encouragement and an example for today’s young and future generations, said the PM.

 Also yesterday, PM Phúc visited the family of Nguyễn Thanh Lâm, a veteran in Mộc Châu Farm, who is disabled as a result of the toxic “agent orange” sprayed by the Americans during the war.

Top legislator visits Côn Đảo

National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyễn Thị Kim Ngân also paid tribute to martyrs and patriots on Saturday, at the Hàng Dương Cemetery in the southern province of Bà Rịa-Vũng Tàu’s Côn Đảo District. 

She offered incense at the tombs of late Party General Secretary Lê Hồng Phong, patriot Nguyễn An Ninh, and heroes of the people’s armed forces, Lưu Chí Hiếu and Võ Thị Sáu.

Côn Đảo prison accomodated more than 20,000 prisoners throughout its 113 years many of them revolutionaries who fought against the Americans.   

Among the 1,921 graves of martyrs in the Hàng Dương Cemetery, more than 700 have been identified. 
Ngân also called at Phú Hải prison and Côn Đảo relic museum. She also presented gifts to families of war heroes.

The NA leader, meeting with local authorities over the weekend, said she was pleased to see more visitors traveling to Côn Đảo, a special national relic site with vast forest coverage, clean marine environment and 16 islets in the southeast.

Quảng Trị tribute

On Saturday, Deputy Prime Minister Vương Đình Huệ led a delegation of officials to the central province of Quảng Trị to pay tribute to war matyrs who had sacrificed their lives for national liberation.

The Deputy PM and Politburo member laid a wreath and burned incense to express their deep gratitude to the heroes at the the Road No 9 and Trường Sơn National Cemeteries in the province.

They also attended an event to commemorate the dead held at the Quảng Trị Ancient Citadel. Incense and thousands of candles were lit to commemorate the soldiers. Participants at the requiem also prayed for peace and prosperity.

Huệ and other Government officials offered incense and laid wreaths at Quảng Trị Ancient Citadel Monument and dropped flowers into Thạch Hãn River to show gratitude to those who laid down their lives to protect the Citadel in 1972.

On the occasion, Deputy PM Huệ, along with representatives of ministries and agencies, presented gifts to 62 Heroic Mothers in the province.

The Deputy PM affirmed that the Party and State always remember and honour the great contributions of mothers, beneficiary families, martyrs’ families and revolutionary contributors.

Also on Saturday, the President of the Việt Nam Fatherland Front Central Committee, Trần Thanh Mẫn, visited and presented gifts to Heroic Mothers and war invalids in the central city of Đà Nẵng. He asked Đà Nẵng City to do more to support beneficiary families, both materially and spiritually. 

Meanwhile, Defence Minister Gen. Ngô Xuân Lịch visited and presented gifts to war invalids and wounded soldiers who are under treatment at the Thuận Thanh sanatorium in the northern province of Bắc Ninh. On this occasion, the Defence Ministry gave the sanatorium an ambulance, 104 air conditioners, and one desktop cardiograph worth VNĐ1.9 billion (US$83,619). -VNS