In a solemn and moving atmosphere, Minh Chinh and the participants in the ceremony, held at Truong Son National Martyrs’ Cemetery, placed flowers, lit incense sticks and observed a minute of silence in remembrance of the great merits of President Ho Chi Minh and those who fell for the independence and freedom of the country.

The head of government, reported the Nhan Dan newspaper, expressed his deep respect and gratitude to the revolutionary veterans, the Heroic Mothers of Vietnam, the Heroes of the People’s Armed Forces, the war invalids, the families of martyrs, and those with revolutionary merits.

The generations of the Ho Chi Minh era “have continued to inherit and promote glorious deeds, writing new golden pages in national history, leading Vietnam to rank among the free, peaceful, and developed nations of the world,” he emphasized.

Minh Chinh highlighted the millennia-long history of national construction and defense and recalled that during the wars of resistance for independence and the fulfillment of its international mission in the 20th century, Vietnam recorded nearly 1.2 million martyrs.

In addition, some 652,000 soldiers were wounded, nearly 200,000 were sickened by war, more than 132,000 women earned the status of Heroic Mothers, and more than 300,000 people were affected by Agent Orange/dioxin.

Similar ceremonies took place later at the Truong Son Martyrs Memorial Temple on the Long Dai ferry, and at the historic site where 16 young volunteers sacrificed their lives on this ferry.

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