Despite his busy schedule, undertaking many tasks in preparation for the grand ceremony commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Dien Bien Phu Victory, former soldier Pham Duc Cu still spared time for VNA reporters. For him, sharing stories about his High-Angle Artillery Battalion 367 during the Dien Bien Phu Campaign is a source of pride. Fighting under Battalion 166, part of Regiment 209, Division 312, Nguyen Huu Chap and his comrades opened fire and initiated the battle at the Him Lam stronghold - a place dubbed by the French colonialists as an “impenetrable steel gate”. The elderly veteran still recalls every detail of how his unit fought for every inch of land until completely seizing control of the stronghold. After 56 days and nights of intense combat, the decisive battle at Hill A1 took place on the night of May 6 as Vietnamese troops broke through the final stronghold of the French in Dien Bien Phu. The moment when the Vietnamese flag flew over the enemy’s command bunker was a historic moment for many veterans.

These soldiers never forget how they and their comrades sacrificed their youth t꧃o de𝓀fend the motherland and contributed to a victory that “echoed across continents and shook the world”./.