Dong Van Cong (1918 - 2005)

Lieutenant-General Dong Van Cong is one of the 12 military generals, and one of the 3 Lieutenant-Generals of Ben Tre province. He was born in February, 1918, in Tan Hao Commune, Giong Trom District, Ben Tre Province, and is now living in Ho Chi Minh City. Born into a farmer family, he joined the Revolution movement as early as 1936, and was admitted into the Communist Party in 1939. In 1945, he was Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, took part in the local government toppling movement.

In February, 1946, as the French colonialists invaded Ben Tre, he was then the Commune's chief military unit, and organized many attacks causing a lot of damages to the enemy. In three months, he developed his unit into a platoon called "Tan Hoa Army". One of the most renowned victories of the "Tan Hoa Army" at the time was the Bau Doi battle, which has been praised in folk poems until now.

After one year fighting in local battles, Dong Van Cong once again developed his army into Company, Battalion, and Brigade. He was the first Brigadier of Ben Tre's first ever Brigade named Brigade 99, established in July, 1947. It was this unit that later became the core of the Dong Thap Brigade, then the key brigade of Sector 8 armed forces.

Early in 1951, he was appointed the Military Chief of Ben Tre Province to lead the fight against the invasion by the French Leon Leroy's Army. At this post, he contributed greatly to reorganizing and developing the Province's armed forces at the time.

After the Geneva Peace Accord, he was appointed to the Central United Committee for Cease-fire, in charge of regrouping the Southern Troops to the North.

In 1955, he was designated Chief Commander of Division 330, and moved up in rank to Colonel (in 1958).

In June, 1960, he was sent to study at the Nanking Military Institute in China, and returned early 1962. Then he passed through several positions such as Deputy Commander of Military Sector 3, Standing Member of the Inter-regional Party Committee III, Vice Chief of the Central Bureau for Military Tactics and Chief of the Special Department for Assisting the South. In 1963, he returned to the South and headed the military command of the Nineth Sector, later became the Command of Nineth Sector. When the Interim Revolutionary Government of the Southern Republic of Viet Nam was established in 1969, he was appointed Deputy Commander of the Southern Central Command. After the Paris Peace Accord (1973), he was Chief Commander of Sector 8. In late 1974, he was Deputy Commander of the Southern Central Command in charge of military supplies in preparation for the historic Ho Chi Minh Operation.

After the Liberation, he was Deputy Commander of the Military Sector 7, and in 1981 Deputy Inspector-General of

With more than 40 years serving in the national liberating army, Dong Van Cong was awarded 18 medals of all kinds, the most noble of which was the Ho Chi Minh Medal.