Vietnamese veteran recalls the battle of Dien Bien Phu 70 years ago

(6 May 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Dien Bien Phu, Vietnam - 6 May 2024
1. Various of mural depicting the battle of Dien Bien Phu
2. Various of Dien Bien Phu veteran Pham Duc Cu putting on military uniform
3. Various of medals
4. SOUNDBITE (Vietnamese) Pham Duc Cu, Dien Bien Phu veteran:
“We had to pull the artilleries by hand to get here. For months, passing through jungle, high mountains and abysses to get to the positions in the valley. Then we fought the enemies for 56 days under bullets and bombardment. The hardship, the starvation was so extreme that no word could describe it.”
5. Traffic passing Dien Bien Phu victory monument atop a hill
6. Various of people visiting monument
7. SOUNDBITE (Vietnamese) Pham Duc Cu, Dien Bien Phu veteran:
“We, the soldiers who fought the battle, are very proud that we could contribute to the victory even though we had to leave behind our flesh and blood.”
8. People holding Vietnamese flags for photos at the relic of French commander bunker in Dien Bien Phu battle
9. Close of plaque
10. Various of people visiting bunker
11. SOUNDBITE (Vietnamese) Pham Duc Cu, Dien Bien Phu veteran:
“When we were fighting, we were enemies. But now, we shake hands with them. Together we unite to build a world of peace and happiness and no war.”
12. Various of rice paddies in former battle field
STORYLINE:
Veteran Pham Duc Cu put on his Vietnamese military uniform as his several medals clinked against each other.

The 94-year-old veteran was getting ready to attend a rehearsal for a ceremony to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the victory of the battle of Dien Bien Phu.

During the battle, led by General Vo Nguyen Giap and revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh, Vietnamese troops defeated the French colonial army at its stronghold in Vietnam’s northwestern mountains.

Soldiers like Cu made it possible for the Vietnamese troops to surprise the French with its artillery rampage.

Cu says the hardship back then was "so extreme that no word could describe it".

When Dien Bien Phu fell, it was the decisive point that ended French colonial rule after almost a century. It also led to the division of the country into North and South, paving the way to the United States’ involvement in the costly war in Vietnam that lasted over two decades.

Today, the battle fields of 70 years ago are no longer marked with trenches and bomb craters, but covered by stretches of rice fields and the rapidly urbanization in the city of over 80,000 population.

The relations between Vietnam and the erstwhile colonial power France has also evolved. “When we were fighting, we were enemies", says Cu. "But now, we shake hands with them. Together we unite to build a world of peace and happiness and no war", he adds.

While the countryside itself bears little reminders of the battle, a few remnants of the war all those decades ago are preserved in displays of Vietnam’s triumph.

At the bunker where French commander Christian De Castries surrendered, tourists and veterans flocked to visit the relics, waving Vietnamese flags as they reenacted the scene of victory 70 years ago.

AP video shot by Hau Dinh

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