Former Party General Secretary Le Kha Phieu sincerely wished Anh Van, formally addressed as General General Vo Nguyen Giap, Vietnam’s military commander, good health and longevity. He also presented the General with a bouquet of fresh flowers.

General Vo Nguyen Giap among the officers of the Vietnam People's Army

Former General Secretary Phieu stressed, that the whole Party, army and people cherish and remember the General’s merits, his great contributions to the revolutionary cause, the Party, the people and the army.

On the same day, Nguyen Phu Trong, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam and State President Truong Tan Sang also visited Military Hospital 108 in Hanoi where General Vo Nguyen Giap is being treated, to congratulate him on his 102nd birthday.

On the same day, on behalf of Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung,   Minister Vu Duc Dam visited the General and wished him good health.

This morning, August 25, General Phung Quang Thanh, member of the Politburo,  Deputy Secretary of the Central Military Commission, Minister of Defense; Lieutenant General Ngo Xuan Lich,  member of the Central Military Commission Standing Committee, Chairman of the Political Department of the Vietnam People's Army, visited and congratulated General Vo Nguyen Giap on occasion of his 102nd birthday.

Yesterday afternoon, Colonel Nguyen Huyen, Chief of General Vo Nguyen Giap’s Office told SGGP newspaper that the General’s health is stable and that he keeps a close watch on the country’s socio-economic situation, and these days with so many leaders visiting him, the General discusses important news of the country with them.

On August 23, a delegation of leaders from Hanoi, led by Pham Quang Nghi, Politburo member and Secretary of the Municipal Party Committee, visited and presented gifts to revolutionary war veterans in Hanoi.

The delegation also visited General Giap and congratulated him on his birthday.

Meanwhile, 102 photos selected from a collection of 500 featuring General Giap are on display at the Exhibition House on 93 Dinh Tien Hoang Street in Hanoi. The exhibition is titled ‘General Vo Nguyen Giap with War Veterans’.

The 102 photo exhibits were taken by photographer Nguyen Trong Nghi, a wounded war veteran and Agent Orange victim, from 1999 to 2005.

General Giap is the longest-living person in the military history of Vietnam. He is the most outstanding military leader other than late President Ho Chi Minh. He was only 37 when he became a General.

General Giap led and won seminal battles like the one at Dien Bien Phu in 1954, the Tet Offensive in 1968, and the Ho Chi Minh Campaign in 1975.

The book ‘Great Military Leaders and their Campaigns’ by Jeremy Black published in the UK in 2008 lists General Giap among the 59 greatest military leaders of all times along with Mao Zedong and Genghis Khan.

A photography exhibition is currently on at the Cultural Centre in Le Thuy District in Quang Binh Province (General Giap’s hometown) to mark General Vo Nguyen Giap’s 102nd birthday.
 
The exhibition displays 200 photographs of General Vo Nguyen Giap, an outstanding student of late President Ho Chi Minh, since his childhood until the time he became a legendary and admired general and beloved of the Vietnamese people.

The General made tremendous contributions to Vietnam’s revolutionary cause and devoted all his life to the struggle against foreign invaders, to ensure national sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Source SGGP, Translated by Dan