Vietnam to France: "NON!"

The commander of French forces at Dien Bien Phu recently passed, and had requested his askes be spread on the battlefield there, to which the Vietnamese said "no", according to the BBC.

Vietnam has turned down a request to scatter the ashes of a French war veteran at the site of a battle which helped end colonial rule by France.

General Marcel Bigeard, one of France's most decorated soldiers, who died last month, reportedly asked to rejoin his fallen comrades.

But a Vietnamese official is quoted as saying this would "create a precedent".

The refusal is thought to be a reference to American soldiers who might request similar treatment.

Gen Bigeard was a commanding officer during the battle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954, where French troops were surrounded and defeated by the forces of the Vietnamese Communists, the Viet Minh.

Before he died in France last month, aged 94, Gen Bigeard had asked for his ashes to be taken to the battlefield, where they would "rejoin his comrades who fell in battle", an aide said.

But as Herve Morin this week becomes the first French defence minister to visit Vietnam since Dien Bien Phu, the country's foreign and defence ministries have rejected Gen Bigeard's last request.

By: Brant