DIEN BIEN PHU, Vietnam. Vietnam on Tuesday marked the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Dien Bien Phu in which the French colonial army was defeated by Vietnamese troops, marking the end of the French occupation of Indochina.
At Dien Bien Phu, Vietnamese troops led by General Vo Nguyen Giap surprised French forces with intense artillery fire against their mountainous garrison in northwestern Vietnam.
The fall of Dien Bien Phu in 1954 marked the end of almost a century of French colonial rule.
“The historic victory of Dien Bien Phu is a remarkable event, not only for the Vietnamese revolution,” Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said in a speech at the ceremony. “It is also a monumental saga that inspired countries that rose up to fight for independence and freedom, marking the collapse of colonialism around the world.”
On Tuesday morning, the commemoration took place at a stadium in the center of Dien Bien Phu, which was once a valley filled with trenches, barbed wire and bomb craters. Now it is a city of more than 80,000 inhabitants.
Thousands of locals and veterans with chests full of medals, most of them in their 90s, cheered and waved Vietnamese flags as the military parade moved through a brief tropical rain.
One of the veterans, Nguyen Trung Dung, 94, said the event was a good opportunity to reunite with his friends, those with whom he fought in the Battle of Dien Bien Phu.
Also present was French Defense Minister Sebastian Lecornu, the first time such a high-ranking French official had visited the former battlefield and attended the commemorations at Dien Bien Phu.
A day earlier, Lecornu visited several war relics, including the preserved bunker of commander General Christian de Castries.
The bunker, now reinforced with cement and covered with a roof, is where De Castries surrendered, ending the fierce nearly two-month battle.
As time passed, relations between Vietnam and its former colonial power also evolved.
“When we fought, we were enemies. But now we shake their hands,” said another 94-year-old veteran, Pham Duc Cu, who commanded an artillery company during the battle.
“Together we unite to build a world of peace and happiness and without war,” Cu added.