Vietnamese General Vo Nguyen Giap, who lead the offensives against both France and the United States, passed away at age 102, a government official confirmed to the media. Giap, who is regarded as a national war hero, died on Friday of natural causes.
“I can confirm that General Giap died at 6:08 p.m. today,” an anonymous source told Agence France-Presse.
According to AFP, Giap was a self-taught soldier and the founding leader of the Vietnam People’s Army. The general lead the defeat of the French at Dien Bien Phu in 1954, ending French colonial rule in the region, the BBC reported. Giap later masterminded the Tet Offensive against the U.S. in 1968.
Giap, who is known for his guerrilla tactics, is Vietnam’s second-most revered figure after revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh, Voice of America reported. According to the BBC, he joined a clandestine resistance movement at the age of 14 and was a member of Ho Chi Minh’s Indochinese Communist party by 1938.
Following the war, Gen. Giap remained a defense minister. In 1976, he was appointed deputy prime minister. He retired six years later, the BBC reported.
According to Voice of America, Giap had spent the last three years of his life in a hospital in Hanoi, where his health steadily declined. AFP reported that Vietnamese have taken to the Internet to honor the fallen general.
“Rest In Peace the hero of the people,” one user wrote, “You will always be our greatest general.”