Mr. Nguyen Van Lap (Photo: baogiaothong.vn)

Mr. Nguyen Van Lap is considered a historical witness, a white skin soldier of Uncle Ho's army, the only foreigner to be conferred the title Hero of the People's Armed Forces of Vietnam.

He was born in 1927 in a worker’s family in Northern Greece. In 1943, at the age of 16, he was forced to join the army to be sent to Germany to serve Hitler's fascist regime. Arriving in Yugoslavia, he escaped, living on the trains up and down along the Yugoslavia-Greece border.

After World War II, he was unable to return to Greece because he had no identification. After that, he joined the French legionnaires and was sent to Indochina to participate in the war against the Japanese fascists.

However, right after he arrived in Saigon in 1946, he witnessed with his own eyes the devastating and killing actions of the invading army against the innocent Vietnamese people. Well aware of the just nature of the resistance of the Vietnamese people, Nguyen Van Lap decided to follow the Viet Minh Front and was honored to stand in the ranks of Viet Minh soldiers and became Uncle Ho's soldier.

During his time participating in the Viet Minh Front, Mr. Nguyen Van Lap was always trusted by his units and superiors, assigned many important tasks, and always successfully completed his tasks and achieved many victories.

He was granted many noble awards by the Party and State. In January 2011, he was awarded the Friendship Medal and Vietnamese Nationality by State President Nguyen Minh Triet.

The first Vietnamese passport was issued by the Vietnamese Embassy in Greece bearing the name of citizen Nguyen Van Lap.

In 2013, he was conferred the title of Hero of the People's Armed Forces by State President Truong Tan Sang.

He lived with his family in Athens, Greece./.

BTA