Hanoi (VNA) – Late PresidentHo Chi Minh was not only a beloved leader of the Vietnamese people, but hislife and career also left good impressions on many international friends and wontheir hearts.

Indian journalist Sandip Hor,Vice President of the Foreign Correspondents’ Association in Australia, said hecame to know Ho Chi Minh in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when his hometown -Kolkata city in India’s West Bengal state - witnessed demonstrations in supportof the fight against the US and for national reunification in Vietnam. Sincethen, the great leader of Vietnam has been the one he always admires.

Talking to Vietnam News Agency,Hor recounted that in Kolkata, called Calcutta then, people went on manymarches protesting the war and supporting the Government of the DemocraticRepublic of Vietnam (now the Socialist Republic of Vietnam). As protestors advocatedPresident Ho Chi Minh’s revolutionary ideals, many posters featuring images of theVietnamese leader were placed along local streets.

Those posters were the firstimages of Ho Chi Minh that he knew, he said, noting that also at that time, theWest Bengal administration named a central street in Calcutta capital after the leader who was a source of inspiration for thelocal liberation movement from 1945.

It was not until 2006 that SandipHor had a chance to come to Vietnam for the first time. During this trip, likemany other foreign visitors to the country, he paid tribute to Ho Chi Minh atthe mausoleum and the stilt house where the late leader used to live in.

The journalist has re-visitedVietnam many times since then, and through those trips, he has gained evenbetter understanding of the country’s history as well as Ho Chi Minh, he added.

Anjuska Weil, Chairwoman ofthe Switzerland - Vietnam Friendship Association and Honorary President of the SwissParty of Labour, said her youth in the 1960s was marked with anti-waractivities in support of Vietnam, along with the poem collection “Prison Dairy”by Ho Chi Minh that she was given at the age of 17 by her mother.

Those poems greatly impressedher and since then, she invested efforts in learning about Ho Chi Minh and Vietnam,Weil said, noting that the more she learned, the more she was impressed withhis dignity and ideology.

Her decision to become amember of the Swiss Party of Labour was closely linked with Ho Chi Minh’sideology, she added.

She expressed her hope thatthe late President’s dignity, ideology, and brilliant revolutionary career willbecome known more among young people in the West.

Meanwhile, Wang Feng, daughterof late journalist Wang Weizhen - former head of the Xinhua News Agency’sbureau in Hanoi from 1955 to 1960, was the small girl in the photo withPresident Ho Chi Minh taken on May 20, 1957 by Mai Nam.

The picture was taken whenshe, called Wang Xiaohong then, followed her parents who came to the Gia Lamairfield to cover Soviet Union Marshall Kliment Yefremovich Voroshilov’s visitto Vietnam.

The 70-year-old recalled thatshe was eager to meet Vietnamese heroes after hearing stories about them toldby her father and other Xinhua correspondents who interviewed them. She wasvery happy to meet the President of Vietnam, and that moment is still fresh in hermind today.

After Ho Chi Minh passed awayin 1969, she has come back to Vietnam four times. She plans to re-visit thecountry and pay homage to the late leader again after the COVID-19 pandemic isover, Wang said, voicing the wish that Vietnam - her second home - will continue developing.

Vietnam is marking the 132nd birth anniversary of Ho Chi Minh (May 19, 1890 - 2022)./.