Kostas Sarantidis (Nguyen Van Lap) used to live and fight in the battlefield of Inter-region 5 during the resistance war against the French colonialists. At that time, he also received the love and sharing of many mothers in Quang Nam and Da Nang.
For Da Nang City, he is not only a historical witness and one of Uncle Ho's soldiers, but he is also a wholehearted friend of Da Nang, especially for children who are victims of agent orange/dioxin.
In 2005, after a visit from Greece to Da Nang City to visit his old comrades and old battlefields, he returned to Da Nang many times to mobilise and make donations, as well as spent a lot of savings and money from sales of his own published books on donations to children who are victims of agent orange/dioxin in Da Nang.
In his letter of condolence, on behalf of the Government and people of Da Nang City, Chairman of the Da Nang People's Committee Le Trung Chinh expressed his infinite condolences and sent his deepest condolences to the family of Greek Hero of the Vietnam People's Armed Forces Kostas Sarantidis, aka Nguyen Van Lap.
The letter wrote: "Kostas Sarantidis Nguyen Van Lap is a Communist, an Uncle Ho's soldier spent his whole life for the independence and freedom of the Vietnamese people and a bridge to develop friendly relations between Vietnam and Greece. During the years of participating in activities in the battlefields of Quang Nam - Da Nang, he was assigned many responsibilities and achieved many resounding victories.”.
He expressed his respect and admiration for the great contributions and affection of the soldier for Da Nang. With those achievements, he has been awarded many noble awards and titles by the Party and State of Vietnam, especially the title of Hero of the People's Armed Forces of Vietnam and is the only foreigner to be awarded the title so far.
The passing of Greek Hero of the Vietnam People's Armed Forces Kostas Sarantidis (Nguyen Van Lap) is a great loss to the Party Committee, government and people of Da Nang City and leaves an irreparable pain with his family.
