The Vietnamese General Vo Nguyen Giap, hero of the Indochina campaign against French colonialism and strategist of the war with the United States, today celebrates his 99th birthday with deserved recognition.
Leaders of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV), government and state leaders, and the Vietnam People’s Army visited the heroic general, a fighter for national liberation since the 1920s. CPV General Secretary Nong Duc Manh, wished Giap many more years of life, while highlighting his continuing contribution with his valuable ideas on socialist construction and national renewal.
Born in the central province of Quang Binh, this inseparable comrade of President Ho Chi Minh, in 1929 as a teenager Giap joined the student protests. He founded the Indochina Communist Federation. He suffered imprisonment and the loss of those close to him at the hands of the French colonialists. In the early ’40s beginning with his encounter with the historic leader of Vietnam, Uncle Ho, he traveled a long road that continued until the final liberation in 1975 and , a year later, the reunification of this Asian nation. Just to mention two well-known moments of national history linked to General Giap: Diem Bien Phu 1954, defeat of colonial France in the region, and the 1968 Tet offensive, which soon after triggered the withdrawal and defeat of the powerful U.S. military.
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http://www.granma.cubaweb.cu/2009/08/26/interna/artic11.html
