Thanks to the Party’s Marxist-Leninist policy and the wholehearted assistance of the people, our army has rapidly grown up, making an important contribution to the seizure of power in the August 1945 Revolution, and then, in the nine-year war of resistance, to the victory over the French professional army in the glorious Dien Bien Phu battle.

Now, our people’s army has a blood-sealed brother, the heroic armed forces which, under the clear-sighted leadership of the National Liberation Front, have been defeating the 1,200,000 troops of the US imperialists and their henchmen. Many heroes and valiant combatants have emerged in the current people’s war against the US aggressors.

Here are some examples:

In the North, the units of old militiamen in Thanh Hoa province shot down many US jet planes. The militia platoons composed entirely of country girls shot down many US aircraft. Nguyen Thi Xuan, a 19-year-old girl in Quang Binh province, in particular, shot down one US jet plane all by herself with a little over 20 rifle cartridges. Some of our young pilots shot down each seven US aircraft in dogfights.

In South Vietnam, the Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Liberation Army is a woman, Mrs. Nguyen Thi Dinh. The 13-year-old boy Ho Van Nen set off mines, killing 75 US and puppet soldiers, Nguyen Thi Hanh, a young woman in Long An province, is a brilliant cadre who formed a strong guerilla unit and led it in more than 300 battles, destroying many enemy troops and seizing many weapons. Kpa Klong, a 13-year-old boy of the Gia Rai ethnicity, laid bamboo traps and used a cross-bow to kill eight enemy soldiers. This young Liberation Army fighter has put out of action more than 100 US and puppet troops.

Examples like these are plenty and have been praised by world public opinion. I think such praises are well deserved and we may be rightly proud of them.

Our line and policy are correct.

Our entire people are united and of one mind, our army is incomparably heroic, we are enjoying wholehearted assistance from fraternal countries in the socialist community and all-out support from friends on all continents. Therefore, we will win and the US aggressors will be defeated.

The US will lose this war, One proof of it is that Robert McNamara, a top warmonger, has had to resign as US Defence Secretary, withstanding the blows on behalf of Johnson and company. However, the dyed-in-the-wool US imperialists have not given up their aggressive schemes. That is why our people and armed forces must united more closely, always uphold vigilance, and march forward on the flush of victory to resolutely smash all the enemy’s schemes.

Our 31 million people in both parts of the country, old and young, men and women, must be 31 million brave fighters in the anti-US struggle for national salvation, determined to win final victory.

On this occasion, on behalf of the people and the Government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, I thanks the peoples and the Governments of fraternal socialist countries, the world people including progressive people in the United States of America, who are opposing US aggression and supporting the Vietnamese people’s just struggle.

I sincerely commend our people and army for enduring hardships and sacrifices, for fighting unremittingly against US imperialists to save the country, and for their achievements in accomplishing the great task of defending the North, liberating the South and reunifying the country.

I wish you, comrades and friends, new efforts and many new success in the new year.

December 25 ^th , 1967

Ho Chi Minh on the Viet Nam People's Armed Forces

The Gioi Publishers