Journalist Trần Mai Hạnh (right) and his younger brother, journalist Trần Mai Hưởng, during their trip to Xuân Lộc Victory Monument in Đồng Nai Province on Tuesday. — Photos courtesy of Trần Mai Hưởng

HÀ NỘI — Vietnam News Agency (VNA)’s veteran journalist Trần Mai Hạnh died on Tuesday afternoon in HCM City while on a trip to visit his old battlefields and colleagues from the resistance war against the US.

He suffered from severe respiratory failure upon arriving in the city during a long-day trip with his younger brother, journalist Trần Mai Hưởng, to the central and southern localities, his family said.

Earlier they travelled to Đà Nẵng City, Khánh Hòa, Bình Thuận, Bình Định, Phú Yên and Đồng Nai provinces.

Journalist Trần Mai Hạnh (left) visits his old colleague in Phan Thiết.

Trần Mai Hạnh was born on January 1, 1943 in the northern province of Hải Dương. He graduated from the Faculty of Literature, Hanoi University (now the Faculty of Literature, Hà Nội University of Social Sciences and Humanities).

In September 1965, he became a war correspondent for VNA’s Special Mission.

During the 1965-75 period, he was present on the fronts and battlefields in the south and the north.

Hạnh recorded historical images on April 30, 1975 at the Independence Palace.

In 1996, he was appointed general director of Radio Voice of Vietnam and elected as a member of the Party Central Committee (8th and 9th tenures).

He was also a member of the 10th National Assembly, permanent vice president and general secretary of the Vietnam Journalists Association (6th and 7th terms), and member of the board of directors of the Press Federation of ASEAN countries.

Hạnh’s novel "A war account 1-2-3-4.75" won the 2014 Literature Award of the Vietnam Writers Association, the 2015 ASEAN Literature Award.

It was translated into English and Lao. — VNS