Many people are unaware of the fact that there are Vietnamese people who revere Greeks because of a single soldier: Kostas Sarantidis, the Thessaloniki-born fighter known in Vietnam as Nguyễn Văn Lập.
His service in the Vietnamese independence movement and his official honors are well documented and tell us a fascinating story about this unusual hero.
From Thessaloniki to Indochina
Sarantidis was born in Thessaloniki in 1927. His youth unfolded amid the upheaval of the Second World War, when he was displaced and later encountered difficulties returning to Greece because he lacked identity documents.
He subsequently joined the French Foreign Legion and arrived in Indochina in 1946. It has to be noted that he was not dispatched by the official army in Greece and did not represent Greek government policy. His journey to Southeast Asia resulted from wartime displacement and his enlistment in a French military force when France was seeking to restore colonial control in the region.
That distinction is important to the political meaning of his life. Sarantidis was Greek by birth, but the decision that later brought him official recognition in Vietnam was personal rather than the product of Greece’s state policy.
Why he joined the Viet Minh
Sarantidis left the French side and joined the Viet Minh in 1946. Vietnamese official accounts attribute that decision to violence he witnessed under the colonial system, which made him feel the pain of the locals.
The Viet Minh was fighting for independence from France, placing Sarantidis on the other side of a struggle over colonial authority and Vietnamese sovereignty. France was trying to reassert power in Indochina after the Second World War, while the independence movement sought to end French rule.
His service formed part of the First Indochina War. This should not be confused with the later Vietnam War involving the United States.
Becoming Nguyễn Văn Lập
After joining the Viet Minh, Sarantidis adopted the Vietnamese name Nguyễn Văn Lập and participated in the independence struggle of the Vietnamese people. The name reflected the close relationship with Vietnam that he retained throughout the rest of his life.
He returned to Greece in 1965, nearly two decades after reaching Indochina. His departure did not end his involvement with Vietnam. From Greece, he supported the country and worked to encourage stronger relations between Greece and Vietnam, according to various accounts.
Those efforts gave his personal story a diplomatic dimension. Although he had not acted for Greece when he arrived in Indochina, he later became a public link between his country of birth and the state whose independence movement he had joined.
Vietnam’s official recognition
Vietnam awarded Sarantidis the title Hero of the People’s Armed Forces in 2013. This is the precise state honor behind broader descriptions of him as a Vietnamese “national hero.” The distinction matters because it identifies the formal recognition granted by Vietnamese authorities rather than relying on an informal label given by ordinary people.
Vietnam’s state news agency reported in 2022 that Sarantidis was, at that point, the first and only foreigner to receive that title. The award placed the Greek veteran within Vietnam’s official commemoration of those who took part in its struggle for independence.
Sarantidis died in 2021. An official memorial and burial took place in Da Nang in 2022, providing a further public acknowledgment of his service and enduring ties to the country.
Vietnam’s military honor and official commemorations demonstrate the nation’s recognition at the highest institutional level. His documented legacy is striking as Sarantidis was a young Greek displaced by war, who reached Indochina with a French force, changed sides to support Vietnamese independence and maintained his connection with Vietnam after returning home. His personal decision, later civic work and rare official honor made him a prominent figure in the shared history of Greece and Vietnam.
See all the latest news from Greece and the world at Greekreporter.com. Contact our newsroom to report an update or send your story, photos and videos. Follow GR on Google News and subscribe here to our daily email!
