Russia honours Vietnamese soldiers fighting in Great Patriotic War

Moscow (VNA) – Seven Vietnamese soldiers who once fought alongside Russian comrades in the Great Patriotic War now have their profiles included in the database of the ‘memorial road’ museum complex soon to be inaugurated in the suburb of Moscow.

They are Le Phan Chan, Dinh Truong Long, Vuong Thuc Thoai, Vuong Thuc Lien, Hoang The Tu, Nguyen Sinh Than, and Ngo Chi Thong.

Among them, Chan, Thoai, Lien, Tu and Than were conferred the Order of the Patriotic War, first class, by the Supreme Soviet Presidium on December 12, 1986. They were also awarded posthumously the “Forty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945” medal.

The soldiers were among a group of Vietnamese youths sent to Russia to study in 1926 under an initiative of President Ho Chi Minh. When the Second World War began, they decided to join the Red Army and most of them died in battle protecting Moscow in 1941.

Vietnamese Ambassador to Russia Ngo Duc Manh and representatives of the Vietnamese defence attaché office in Russia were invited to visit the Main Cathedral of the Russian Armed Forces and the museum complex on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the victory of the Great Patriotic War (1945-2020).

Talking to the press on the event, Vietnamese Ambassador to Russia Ngo Duc Manh said the embassy has collaborated with Vietnamese and Russian agencies and the Russian Defence Ministry to collect information on the soldiers.

“We are proud of the bravery of the Vietnamese soldiers in protecting Moscow and fighting the Nazi Germany,” he said, describing their comradeship with Russian soldiers a demonstration of the two countries’ communist solidarity and friendship in the Great Patriotic War of Russia./.