A delegation of Ha Noi officials led by Secretary of the municipal Party Committee Hoang Trung Hai laid wreaths at the B52 victory monument at Ha Noi’s Kham Thien street on 26 December to commemorate those who lost their lives during the US airstrike in December 1972.

The delegation commemorates victims in US’s 1972 airstrike in Kham Thien street on 26 December, 2017 (Source: VNA)

The US waged a bombing campaign in the north of Viet Nam in late 1972, and the peak of this campaign was the blitz by B52 aircraft in Ha Noi from 18 – 29 December.

On the night of  26 December, 1972, Ha Noi’s densely-populated residential areas, including Kham Thien street, the workers’ living quarter in An Duong street and even Bach Mai hospital, were relentlessly attacked by many B52s.

As many as 278 people, including 91 women, 40 elderly and 55 children, were killed and 178 children became orphans during the air raid.

In remembrance of the victims, a memorial was erected at house 51 on Kham Thien street.  In the December 26 bombing, House 51 was destroyed and none of the seven people living in it survived.

The same day, representatives from the Ha Noi chapter of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union, local citizens, students and pupils also laid wreaths and offered incense in commemoration of the victims of the airstrike.

(Source: VNA)