The Ben Tre Province People’s Committee held a ceremony to start construction of the Ho Chi Minh Marine Route cemetery park in Thanh Phu District’s Thanh Phong Commune on October 17.
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| A stone stele carved with the names of martyrs laid on a high platform at a ceremony to start consruction of Ho Chi Minh Marine Route cemetery park in Thanh Phu District’s Thanh Phong Commune, Ben Tre Province on October 17. |
The park, which will cover 635 hectares, has a total investment of VND1.5 trillion (US$75 million), of which 30 percent will be sourced from the State budget and the remaining will come from donations.
The park will have there areas, called A, B1 and B2.
The A area will have tourist facilities, a southern traditional handicraft village, a school and market. The B1 area will have rough models of Vietnam and the country’s coast, with recreation of the country’s history and cultural value.
The B2 area will accommodate monuments, museums and wharfs.
During the ceremony, which was attended by Deputy Prime Minister Truong Vinh Trong, four sacred stones taken from Thanh Phong Commune, the first place to receive weapons from the north during the war, Hai Phong City where “no-number” ships departed, the Truong Son Martyrs’ Cemetery, and the Truong Sa (Spratly) Archipelago, were laid on a high platform over looking the sea.
Speaking at the ceremony, Deputy PM Trong recalled the first “no-number” ship which sailed from the south to the north to ask for weapons and instructions from the Party Central Committee as early as in 1946.
The ship was commanded by a woman, Nguyen Thi Dinh, who later became Vice State President of Vietnam.
During the 1961-1970 period, dozens of “no-number” vessels carrying thousands of tons of weapons from the north sailed along a secret sea route dubbed the Ho Chi Minh Marine Route and anchored at Thanh Phong wharf in Thanh Phong Commune in support for the southern battlefields.
