General Giap: A living legend

He has the grey hair and slow movements of a frail, elderly man. But it became obvious from the moment that veteran Vietnamese general Vo Nguyen Giap uttered his first words that his brain was sharp, his memory prodigious. Words and Photograph by Tom Fawthrop.

At 93 years old, Giap was still defying the odds just as he did a half-century ago at Dien Bien Phu. Age has not blunted his critical edge. Vietnam’s rulers were taken to task. He warned the U.S. of the difficulties ahead in Iraq.

This year marked the 50th anniversary of Dien Bien Phu, the epic battle that so decisively defeated and humiliated the French military. The French surrender on May 7, 1954, brought its empire in Indochina to an abrupt end.

Vietnam marked the occasion with a series of celebrations in April and May during which Giap delivered numerous speeches at seminars, conferences and an international symposium of historians. He also somehow found the energy and stamina to make a four-day pilgrimage to Dien Bien Phu. His hectic schedule kept three secretaries busy.

At a two-hour press conference, Giap lucidly recalled battlefield details and military strategy behind the 56-day siege of the French garrison. "We are very proud that Vietnam was the first country that could stand up and gain independence on its own. It was the first time that a colonial power had been (militarily) defeated."

The general then expounded on the global impact of Dien Bien Phu and how it inspired peoples in Asia, Africa and Latin America to rise up. "It led to the wave of independence wars that freed the colonies of the European empires after World War II."

A “Dien Bien Phu” became a military metaphor with a similar resonance to Waterloo.

Giap, a former journalist and history teacher, eventually became Ho Chi Minh's right-hand man as founder of the Viet Minh and the chief military strategist who masterminded the defeat of first the French and later, the U.S. occupation.

He was never trained as a military leader. As an historian he remarked on the coincidence that the military campaigns leading up to both his major victories – Dien Bien Phu and the Spring Offensive and the capture of Saigon in 1975 – lasted exactly 56 days.

His still alert mind is far from buried in the nostalgic past. He criticised the current performance of the communist party and the government, speaking out against “the prevailing bureaucracy, corruption, waste and red tape that reduce the party’s reputation and threaten its very existence.” Many war veterans wish Giap would say more than he does on the subject of injustice and inequalities in Vietnam today.

The last survivor of the Ho Chi Minh generation, Giap was ousted from the Politburo in 1982. Demoted from the top ranks of leadership, he retained his position as only one deputy prime minister among four, and held the less-than-prestigious Science and Technology portfolio.

Many Vietnamese from both inside and outside the party regret that his many talents were largely ignored by the hardliners in Hanoi from 1975-1986. However the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Hanoi enlisted his services during the 1990s to launch environmental awareness campaigns.

According to his aides, he still rises at 5 am most mornings, does his daily callisthenics, and then tunes into international radio stations, such as Radio France International and the BBC, to follow world news.

Questions on the subject of Iraq he handled with caution, but issued a general warning to the U.S. that "any forces that would impose their will on other nations will certainly face defeat." He added that, "Vietnam proves that if a nation is determined to stand up, it is very strong; the weak can win over the strong if you have justice and humanity on your side."