Vietnam will launch a contest on Friday to select the best design for a park to be built in the central region in memory of 64 officers and soldiers of the Vietnam People’s Navy who perished in a battle against Chinese invaders more than two decades ago.  

>> Veteran recalls Truong Sa battle amidst tension in East Vietnam Sea >> Vietnam holds memorial service for 64 Gac Ma heroes >> Gac Ma battle should be included in textbooks: historians A launching ceremony will be organized in Ho Chi Minh City, Nguyen Van Ngang, deputy chairman of the Vietnam Labor General Confederation (VLGC), said at a press conference in Hanoi on Monday.  The park will be constructed in Nha Trang City – the capital of Khanh Hoa Province – to honor the 64 officers and soldiers who fell while battling Chinese forces to protect Gac Ma Island, part of Vietnam’s Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelago, in 1988. The design contest will be jointly organized by the VLGC, the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, and the Central Committee of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union.

Earlier on April 22, a memorial service for the 64 fallen naval officers and soldiers was held in a sea area of Truong Sa, covering three islands: Gac Ma, Co Lin, and Len Dao. The service was attended by naval officials, relatives of the 64 fallen combatants, and a delegation of overseas Vietnamese who returned from more than 20 countries around the world.

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