Seminar “Vietnam Rising: History”

Kinhtedothi - On the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Vietnam People's Army (December 22, 1944 - December 22, 2024) and the 35th anniversary of the National Defense Day (December 22, 1989 - December 22, 2024), on the afternoon of December 25, Kinh te & Do thi Newspaper organized the Exchange - Discussion "Vietnam Rising: History - Present and Future".

Speakers attending the program included: Mr. Do Trung Ta - former Minister of Information and Communications ; Lieutenant General, Hero of the People's Army of Vietnam Pham Tuan; Mr. Do Hoang Linh - former Deputy Director in charge of the Ho Chi Minh relic site at the Presidential Palace.

Attending the program were Mr. Nguyen Minh Hong - former Deputy Minister of Information and Communications; Prof. Lac Hong Vien - Deputy Director of the Military Technical Institute, Standing member of the Aerospace Association; Mr. Ta Viet Anh - Chairman of the Management Board of the Vietnam Social Security Program and Project Support Fund (AFV); Ms. Hoang Phuong Thao - Executive Director of ActionAid International in Vietnam; Mr. Bui Ba Binh - Vice Chairman of the AFV Management Board.

On the side of the Organizing Committee, there were Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Thanh Loi - Editor-in-Chief of Economic & Urban Newspaper; Mr. Le Hoang Anh - Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Economic & Urban Newspaper; Mr. Nguyen Xuan Khanh - Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Economic & Urban Newspaper.

Hero Pham Tuan: "The greatest asset I bring into space is my faith and Vietnamese pride"

Speaking at the opening of the seminar, Editor-in-Chief of Economic and Urban Newspaper Nguyen Thanh Loi said: After 80 years of building, fighting and growing, the Vietnam People's Army has continuously grown, achieved resounding feats in the resistance wars against colonialism and imperialism, protecting the border and fulfilling its noble international obligations.

Editor-in-Chief of Economic & Urban Newspaper Nguyen Thanh Loi delivered the opening speech at the Seminar.

The Organizing Committee would like to express our deep gratitude to the heroic martyrs who sacrificed to bring eternal peace to the Vietnamese people, to engrave the noble sentiments of the heroic Vietnamese mothers who gave birth to outstanding children for the homeland and country of Vietnam; to express our gratitude to the veterans, officers and soldiers who are day and night protecting the borders and islands of the Fatherland.

Sharing at the Discussion on the “Dien Bien Phu in the Air” battle in the sky of Hanoi at the end of 1972, Hero Pham Tuan said that all victories of the People's Army originated from the leadership and strategic thinking of Uncle Ho and the Central Committee to assess the situation, opportunities, build forces and give specific instructions.

Talking about the challenges and difficulties at that time, Hero Pham Tuan shared that if a group of 2-3 B52 bombers could level an area of 2km; 3-4 groups of B52 bombers in Hanoi could level the entire area. In addition, these planes had interference that could capture all of our radar frequencies. One night, 350 planes entered Hanoi, about 50-70 planes, flying densely in the sky of Hanoi.

Before the Hanoi - Dien Bien Phu air battle took place, the US army had tried other battles such as the battles in Vinh (Nghe An), Thanh Hoa, Hai Phong. On that basis, the US was subjective about the situation when it knew all of our weapons and forces. Therefore, when the negotiations failed, the US was determined to bomb Hanoi with B52s.

Lieutenant General Pham Tuan recounted that on the evening of December 18, 1972, after receiving the order to take off, the MiG-21 he was piloting took off from Noi Bai airport and flew into the night sky. Approaching the escort of the American aircraft, he discovered a strange identification light strip at an altitude of more than 8km but did not know it was from a B-52. Requesting the attack order and receiving approval, pilot Pham Tuan approached the target and turned on the radar. The entire radar screen was bright with interference. At that moment, the B-52 suddenly turned off its identification signal light.

“Unable to see the target at night, I turned on the power to increase the speed of the plane to find the target. The engine fire created by the MiG-21 attracted the attention of the escorting F-4s. After a few rounds of searching without finding the target, I controlled the plane to escape” - Lieutenant General Pham Tuan recalled.

The second sortie on the night of December 27, 1972, pilot Pham Tuan's plane took off from Yen Bai Airport, flying low following a secret ground guidance station to approach the enemy's escort squadron. In the dark of night, the American escort F-4 squadrons did not detect our plane.

Pilot Pham Tuan skillfully controlled the plane to avoid and advance deep into the enemy formation. When he discovered the B-52 target at a favorable distance, pilot Pham Tuan requested an attack order to launch two point-explosive missiles that hit the target. Seeing that the B-52 was shot down by our aircraft, the enemy's escorting F-4 squadrons determined to pursue it, but after breaking away, pilot Pham Tuan quickly controlled the MiG-21 to lose the enemy's pursuing aircraft, returned to Yen Bai airport and landed safely. That was the first time our air force had defeated the B-52.

Lieutenant General, Hero of the People's Army of Vietnam Pham Tuan shared at the Seminar.

“After landing and receiving a congratulatory message from General Vo Nguyen Giap, I felt extremely excited because our air force had shot down the B-52. I had represented the air force to complete the mission. I felt lucky but also knew that I had to be brave to seize the opportunity to shoot down the B52” - Lieutenant General Pham Tuan was emotional.

Hero Pham Tuan said that Uncle Ho once said that no matter what weapons they have, we must fight. If we fight, we must win. We mobilized our combined strength and our determination to defeat the enemy. Besides, because we understood the American fighting tactics, along with the creativity of the Vietnamese people... all of the above reasons contributed to the victory of "Dien Bien Phu in the air".

Hero Pham Tuan was the first Vietnamese and Asian person to fly into space in 1980. Before that, in 1977, Pham Tuan was sent to the Soviet Union to study at the Gagarin Air Force Academy. In 1979, when selecting astronauts, the Soviet side tested all Vietnamese pilots and engineers but could only choose 3 people because they had to pass difficult physical tests.

"Uncle Ho said that Soviet youth flew into space and at some point Vietnamese youth will also fly into space and I am very lucky to be the first Vietnamese to fly into space" - Lieutenant General Pham Tuan expressed.

Mr. Do Trung Ta - former Minister of Posts and Telecommunications (now the Ministry of Information and Communications) shared at the Seminar.

" Communication between the military and the army in our war in the air was very important. At that time, in addition to the civilian side, the Ministry of National Defense had its own Department of Communications. Uncle Ho once said that communications were the most important, including postal and telecommunications. In the wars against sabotage in the North, communications were necessary to ensure that orders, weapons and logistics were all connected. In that year's battle, our People's Army sacrificed their blood and bones. B-52s attacked so hard that the two ends of the wire were broken and there was no communication. There were stations that were completely destroyed, and many liaison soldiers were buried there. It must be said that the sacrifices in this resistance war were extremely cruel" - Mr. Do Trung Ta - former Minister of Postal and Telecommunications (now the Ministry of Information and Communications).

Uncle Ho's affection for the Vietnam People's Army

At the seminar, Mr. Do Hoang Linh - former Deputy Director in charge of the Ho Chi Minh relic site at the Presidential Palace shared about Uncle Ho's feelings and care for the Vietnam People's Army, including the air defense - air force. As the highest leader of the country, both a leader of the Party and President, Uncle Ho always cared about the smallest things for the cadres and soldiers.

Mr. Do Hoang Linh - former Deputy Director in charge of Ho Chi Minh relic site at the Presidential Palace shared at the seminar.

In July 1967, when passing Ba Dinh Square, Uncle Ho told his secretary to go up to the roof of the hall with the gun emplacement to see if the soldiers had enough drinking water. After knowing that there was no fresh water, Uncle Ho asked to take the remaining money from his savings book and transfer it all to the air defense - air force to buy fresh water for the soldiers. The total savings at that time was 25,000 VND (at that time, it was a large sum of money, equivalent to 60 taels of gold). Uncle Ho told his secretary: "Immediately transfer that amount of money to the General Staff and say that it is a gift from Uncle Ho to buy fresh water for the soldiers on duty on air defense duty to drink, not only for the soldiers in Ba Dinh, but for all the soldiers on duty on artillery positions throughout the North. If that amount of money is not enough, then ask any locality with air defense troops on duty to contribute to the effort!" Uncle Ho's money was enough to buy drinking water for the Air Defense - Air Force soldiers for a week.

The stories shared by the participants at the Seminar have further deepened the pride in the tradition of patriotism, national spirit, and the constant efforts to overcome all difficulties and challenges of the previous generation. From there, the next generation will promote their capacity and creativity in the development process, with the aspirations of youth to bring the country into a new era - the era of national growth.

Source: https://kinhtedothi.vn/toa-dam-viet-nam-vuon-minh-lich-su-hien-tai-va-tuong-lai.html