Candles lit to commemorate fallen soldiers in Dien Bien Phu battle

Candles were lit at Martyrs’ Cemetery A1 in Dien Bien province on May 4 evening to pay tribute to fallen soldiers on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of Dien Bien Phu Victory (May 7, 1954 - 2024). (Photo: VNA)

At the ceremony, local youths and representatives from the HCYU Central Committee and the administrations of Dien Bien and the Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang laid a wreath at the monument and offered incense at all tombs in the cemetery.

The activity showed the profound gratitude of Vietnamese people in general and Dien Bien youths in particular for the soldiers who laid down their lives for national independence and freedom.

Martyrs’ Cemetery A1, built in 1958, is the resting place of 664 martyrs, but only four of them were identified - To Vinh Dien, Be Van Dan, Phan Dinh Giot, and Tran Can.

The battle in Dien Bien Phu occurred between March and May 1954 under the command of General Vo Nguyen Giap. The victory led to the signing of the 1954 Geneva Accords in which France agreed to withdraw its forces from its colonies in Indochina.

The Dien Bien Phu Victory on May 7, 1954, is considered a glorious “golden milestone” in the Vietnamese nation’s history of fighting foreign aggressors for national independence. It marked the complete collapse of old colonialism all over the world, paving the way for the movement of rising up to struggle for national liberation in colonial countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America./.