At the Hill A1 site, one of the key sites of the battle between the Vietnamese and French, Lecornu (2nd, R) met three French veterans who had fought there.
In the 1950s the French turned the hill and the entire valley next to it into their main stronghold in Indochina from where to control northern Vietnam and Laos.
During a meeting with Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on Tuesday, Lecornu emphasized the importance of post-war cooperation between the two countries.
He expressed gratitude to Vietnam for supporting the repatriation of French soldiers' remains and said they could strengthen cooperation in future based on mutual respect.
On the morning of May 5 he held talks with his counterpart Phan Van Giang and signed a letter of intent to strengthen defense cooperation.
Under flamboyant flowers on A1 hill, Lecornu and French Secretary of State for Veterans and Remembrance Patricia Miralles, standing next to the minister, listened to a speech by William Schilardi, president of the Dien Bien Phu Veterans Association.
"Seventy years ago the final cannon fell silent at Dien Bien Phu. For the Vietnamese, that moment was an unimaginable victory. For the French, it was an unimaginable defeat... 1954 marked a deep rift between our two nations. For us, the Dien Bien Phu veterans, although each memory remains a bullet scar, we have a responsibility to the younger generation to fully heal this wound and alleviate the past pain."
In 1954 it took the Vietnamese 39 days and lots of soldiers’ lives to finally conquer the hill on May 7.
The Vietnamese climbed the mountain and dug a 200-kilometer network of trenches to store weapons and medical tents. The soldiers lived in the trenches, and came out in coordinated fashion when ordered to sow panic among the French soldiers, who did not know when or where they would be attacked.
After Schilardi's speech, Ngo Tuong Minh, a seventh grade student in Dien Bien Province, home to Dien Bien Phu City, sang "Bonjour Vietnam" in French.
Lecornu is the first French defense minister to visit Dien Bien Phu, and follows in the footsteps of President Francois Mitterr and and Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, who visited it in 1993 and 2018.
After leaving the hill, the minister visited De Castries’s bunker at the heart of the Dien Bien Phu stronghold.
The defensive fortifications, weaponry and bunkers at the site have been kept fairly intact.
De Castries and his commanders took refuge in the bunker until being captured by the Vietnamese army.
He also saw a 105 mm gun in the central stronghold of the Dien Bien Phu fortification, which was destroyed by the Vietnamese troops on April 23, 1954.
The minister carefully observed each detail of the 105 mm French artillery piece preserved at the site.
On Tuesday Lecornu and Mirallès will attend the 70th anniversary celebration of the Dien Bien Phu victory and speak with veterans from both countries.
Lecornu said one of the purposes of his visit to Vietnam is to help prepare for the upcoming visit by French President Macron. "The president is very eager to visit Vietnam to substantively advance relations between the two countries," he said.
He said he would discuss with French authorities how to promote cooperation projects between the two countries, and expressed the hope the two sides would continue their efforts to promote deeper and more effective defense cooperation in line with their strategic partnership.
