Nghe An meets to celebrate 60 years since first victory

Attending the meeting were comrades: Nguyen Nam Dinh - Member of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, Permanent Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council; Tran Quoc Khanh - Deputy Head of the Provincial Party Committee's Propaganda Department; war invalids, martyrs' families and more than 200 members of the Nghe An Navy Traditional Liaison Committee.

At the meeting, Nghe An Navy veterans reviewed the history of the first victory of the Vietnamese Navy (August 5, 1964). Accordingly, on the night of July 31 and the early morning of August 1, 1964, the US destroyer USS Ma-doc headed north, violating the territorial waters of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, causing a number of provocations with fishermen's fishing boats.

On August 2, the destroyer Madoc invaded the Hon Me - Lach Truong area. The Forward Command ordered two ships T142 and T146 to head northeast to the sea area where enemy ships were operating. 20 minutes later, the 3rd torpedo squadron was ordered to launch and follow the two patrol ships.

At this time, the Ma-doc ship was 27 nautical miles east of Hon Ne. Detecting the enemy ship, all 3 torpedo boats accelerated to approach the target. The enemy destroyer saw 3 torpedo boats approaching and accelerated away. Squad 3 aimed towards the target, when our ship was 6 nautical miles away, the enemy ship used its large cannon to fire continuously at the torpedo boat formation. Despite the enemy's artillery fire to block, our ships bravely moved forward, maneuvering and quickly shortening the distance.

Ship 333 approached the torpedo attack position. Squad Leader and Captain Nguyen Xuan Bot directed the firing of 14.5mm cannons to sweep the enemy ship's deck and then launch torpedoes. The destroyer was smoking and had to change course to international waters.

Immediately after the Ma-doc ship was driven out of our country's waters, the US government staged the Gulf of Tonkin incident as an excuse to retaliate. On August 5, 1964, they used their maximum force, including dozens of modern fighter and attack aircraft, divided into 3 waves to suddenly attack our navy's bases and warehouses at several locations in the North. The army and people of the North promptly and fiercely fought back, causing many losses to the US air force and navy.

August 2 and 5, 1964 became an important and proud milestone in the history of the Navy and the history of our people's resistance against the US to save the country; became the traditional day of the first victory of the Vietnam People's Navy; at the same time, it was the traditional day of the first victory of the army and people of the North in the destructive war of the invading US imperialist air force and navy.

Speaking at the meeting, Comrade Nguyen Nam Dinh - Member of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, Permanent Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council informed about some features of the province's socio-economic situation. At the same time, he acknowledged the results that the Nghe An Navy Tradition Liaison Committee has achieved in the past time; hoping that Navy veterans will always uphold the tradition and become shining examples for the younger generation to follow.

At the meeting, the Nghe An Navy Traditional Liaison Committee presented support money to build a place of worship for martyrs of the Navy to 5 families of martyrs' relatives (each worth 40 million VND) and presented 8 gifts to 8 wounded soldiers and martyrs' relatives (each worth 5 million VND)./.