Kostas Sarantidis, whose Vietnamese name is Nguyen Van Lap, is honored as "Hero of the People's Armed Forces".

Sarantidis was 16 when he was sent to the German army in 1943. After World War II, he could not return home for having no identity documents and later joined the French Foreign Legion and was mobilised to Indochina.   

Since Sarantidis set foot on Sai Gon (now Ho Chi Minh City) in 1946, he decided to follow the Viet Minh (Vietnam Independence League) as he had witnessed invaders’ crime to innocent Vietnamese and realised the aspirations of the Vietnamese revolution.

With the Vietnamese name of Nguyen Van Lap, he had made various accomplishments during his service and was presented with awards from the Vietnamese Party and State. 

He was honoured with the Friendship Order and received Vietnamese citizenship in 2011.

In 2013, he was awarded the title of "Hero of the People's Armed Forces".

He lived with his family in Athens, Greece.