State funeral to be held for Ho Chi Minh Trail general

Hanoi (VNA) – A state-level funeral will be held on April 10 for Lt. Gen. Dong Sy Nguyen, former Vice Chairman of the Ministers’ Council and former Commander of Truong Son Corps, who passed away on April 4.

The funeral will be organised at the National Funeral Hall at 5 Tran Thanh Tong street in Hanoi, starting from 7:30am. The burial service will take place at 5pm the same day at Vinh Hang Cemetery in the city’s Ba Vi district.

After a period of serious illness, he died at 11:42am of April 4 at the Central Military Hospital 108 in Hanoi.

The Party Central Committee decided that the funeral board will consist of 23 members, led by Politburo member and Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.

Dong Sy Nguyen (birth name Nguyen Huu Vu, alias Nguyen Van Dong) was born on March 1, 1923 in Quang Trung commune of Quang Trach district, the central province of Quang Binh.

He began participating in revolutionary activities in 1938 and was admitted to the Party in December 1939. Nguyen served as a member of the Party Central Committee in the fourth, fifth, and sixth tenures; an alternate member of the Politburo in the fifth tenure; and a member of the Politburo in the sixth tenure.

He was former Commander of High Command 559 which opened and operated the Ho Chi Minh Trail during the war; Political Commissar and Secretary of the High Command 559’s Party Committee; Secretary of the Party Committee of the advisors’ group and Commander of volunteer soldiers in the central and lower Laos; Deputy Minister of National Defence; Minister of Construction; Minister of Transport; Vice Chairman of the Ministers’ Council (a position now titled as Deputy Prime Minister); and a deputy of the National Assembly in the first, sixth, seventh, and eighth tenures.

During the more than 80 years of his revolutionary activities, he rendered numerous contributions to the revolutionary cause of the Party and the nation. He was honoured with the Gold Star Order, the first-class Military Exploit Order, the 80-year Party membership badge, and many other noble orders and medals by the Party and State. –VNA