Book by Greek hero of Vietnam People’s Armed Forces introduced
The “Su That” (Truth) National Political Publishing House in collaboration with the Vietnamese Embassy in Greece held a seminar on October 17 to introduce the book “Vietnam - My Second Homeland” by Hero of the Vietnam People’s Armed Forces Kostas Sarantidis – Nguyen Van Lap.
The book by Kostas Sarantidis – Nguyen Van Lap (Photo: VNA)
Athens (VNA) – The “Su That” (Truth) National PoliticalPublishing House in collaboration with the Vietnamese Embassy in Greece held aseminar on October 17 to introduce the book “Vietnam - My Second Homeland” by Heroof the Vietnam People’s Armed Forces Kostas Sarantidis – Nguyen Van Lap.
The book was translated from the memoirsand diaries of Kostas Sarantidis – Nguyen Van Lap, a Greek who fought alongsidethe Vietnamese people for many years and was deeply attached to Vietnam as hissecond homeland.
Asso. Prof Vu Trong Lam, Director and Editor-in-Chief of thepublishing house, said the book is a spiritual gift to fraternal Greek peopleand generations of Vietnamese and Greek people who have made significantcontributions to establishing, maintaining and developing the specialsolidarity and friendship between Vietnam and Greece.
Born in 1927, Kostas Sarantidis - Nguyen Van Lap was was sent to Vietnam as a soldier in the French army in February 1946. Witnessing the French colonialists’barbaric crimes against Vietnamese people and realising the just nature of thefight against France, in June 1946, he fled from the French army to a liberatedarea in Binh Thuan province and joined the Viet Minh force in the resistancewar. Since then, he became a friend and a comrade of Vietnamese people whocalled him by the name Kostas Nguyen Van Lap.
He was honoured by the Vietnamese Partyand State several times, including the first-class Feat Order, the Friendship Order, thethird-class Victory Order, and the second-class Resistance Order. Inparticular, he was granted the Vietnamese nationality in 2010 and then the "Hero of the People’s ArmedForces" title in 2013, becoming the first and onlyforeigner to be bestowed with this title so far./.
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The book by Kostas Sarantidis – Nguyen Van Lap (Photo: VNA) 
