Kostas Sarantidis

Kostas Sarantidis (Κώστας Σαραντίδης; 1927 – 25 June 2021), also known in Vietnamese as Nguyễn Văn Lập, was a Greek captain of the People's Army of Vietnam who fought with the Viet Minh during the First Indochina War, seeking independence for Vietnam from the French colonial empire. He received Vietnamese citizenship in 2010 and in 2013, he was awarded the Hero of the People's Armed Forces order. Kostas Sarantidis was born in 1927 in Thessaloniki, Greece to Asia Minor refugees. In the autumn of 1943 and during the Axis occupation of Greece in World War II, he was arrested selling smuggled tobacco and was sent on foot to Nazi forced labour camps in Germany. He managed to escape near Vienna and stole a military uniform which he used to disguise himself as a German until the end of the war. After the end of the war, Sarantidis went to Rome, and tried to be repatriated to Greece. This, however, proved impossible as he lacked any identity documents. Without any means of supporting himself, Sarantidis was lured into the French Foreign Legion by the prospect of living an adventurous life and meeting beautiful women. After joining the legion, Sarantidis was initially moved to Algeria and landed to Indochina in 1946. While there, he and the other legionnaires were told that the duration of their deployment would be short and that their mission would be to disarm the Japanese and restore order. Sarantidis disliked the oppression of the local population by the French colonial troops. After two months with the Legion, he contacted Viet Minh spies and defected to them, carrying with him his rifle and a machine gun. He was given the name Nguyễn Văn Lập and served in various posts and participated in many battles. Eventually he rose to the rank of captain. In 1949, he was admitted to the Communist Party of Vietnam. After the end of the war in 1954 and the division of Vietnam into northern and southern zones, Sarantidis moved to North Vietnam and retired from the army. At that time, he was married to a nurse who was accused of reactionism and was imprisoned.