Tank Regiment 1, Division 9 attacks headquarters of Saigon Special Zone, on April 30, 1975. (File Photo. Source: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – The country had to sacrifice a lot to achieve victory duringthe General Offensive and Uprising in the spring of 1975, culminating with thethe Ho Chi Minh Campaign, said Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Huy Hieu,former Deputy Minister of National Defence.
Hemade the remarks in a recent interview granted to the Vietnam News Agency onthe occasion of the 45th anniversary of the Liberation of South Vietnam andNational Reunification Day (April 30, 1975).
Hieu,who commanded an attack on Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) in April 1975, saidthe victory was the culmination of Vietnamese military knowhow. It demonstratedthe whole nation and people’s will and determination to liberate the South.
Hesaid previous generations had to sacrifice their lives for the country’sindependence, freedom and peace.
Thewar to liberate the South and reunite the country lingered on for more than 20years, he said, adding that during that time, the North played a signifcantrole in supporting human strength, wealth and spiritual encouragement for theSouthern front.
Childrenfrom most families in the North joined the army. Northern soldiers stood sideby side with their southern counterparts on the battlefields with the ultimategoal of liberating the South, he said.
Lookingback, cemeteries, from Dong Truong Son in the central province of Quang Tri tothose in the South have tens of thousands of graves of unidentified fallensoldiers who came from the North and died during the war to liberate the South.
Thereare more than 30,000 people missing on the battlefields in Vietnam. The Party,State and people are sparing no effort to search for the remains of the fallensoldiers, he said.
Headded that more than 3 million Vietnamese people are contaminated with dioxine.Most of those are from northern provinces and cities. In addition, bombs, minesand explosives left over from war have caused hundreds of thousands ofcasualties.
Vietnamhas asked the US and other countries to help it overcome the consequences ofthe war in a humanitarian spirit, Hieu said.
Referringto lessons from the anti-French and American resistance wars, as well as in thenational building and defence, the general emphasised the need to inherit andpromote experience to continue the cause of safeguarding national independenceand sovereignty./.
VNA
