(VOVworld) - A ceremony was held in Hanoi on Thursday to mark the 100th birth anniversary of General Van Tien Dung, former Defense Minister and talented commander of the Vietnam People’s Army.

General Van Tien Dung (front, second, right) visits the Quyet thang (Determined to win) Army corps in 1075 (Photo: VNA)

The event, organised by the Central Military Commission, the Ministry of National Defense and Hanoi authorities, saw the participation of Party General Secretary and Secretary of the Central Military Commission Nguyen Phu Trong, Standing member of the Party Central Committee’s Secretariat Dinh The Huynh, and Vice Secretary of the Central Military Commission and Defense Minister General Ngo Xuan Lich, among others. Addressing the ceremony, General Ngo Xuan Lich said General Van Tien Dung was one of the most excellent commanders of the Vietnamese army, a strategist and a wholehearted leader who contributed greatly to the struggle for national liberation, development and protection. At the event, representatives of young soldiers vowed to follow General Dung’s example.

General Van Tien Dung, alias Le Hoai, was born on May 2, 1917 in Co Nhue commune of Hanoi’s Tu Liem district. During the resistance war against the US, he directly commanded many successful campaigns such as the Road 9 – Southern Laos Campaign in 1971, the campaign to liberate the Central Highlands in 1975, and the historic Ho Chi Minh Campaign that liberated Southern Vietnam and led to reunification in April 1975. After the national reunification, he was appointed as Defence Minister, First Vice Secretary and then Secretary of the Central Military Party Committee.