Vietnam honours Russian embalmers of Ho Chi Minh

[Coventina]

Source: AFP

HANOI (AFP) — Vietnam has presented awards to Russian scientists who have helped preserve the body of founding president Ho Chi Minh for the past 40 years, the foreign ministry said.

Valery Bykov and Yuri Denisov-Nikolsky each received Vietnam's Independence Order, third class, at a ceremony in Moscow on Wednesday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

It said they were honoured for "great services for the past 40 years to the embalmment and preservation of the body of President Ho Chi Minh as well as the construction of mausoleum for him."

The Independence Order is the country's third-highest national honour.

Colonel Nguyen Van Cuong, commander of the Mausoleum Protection Command, said the former Soviet Union, and now Russia, had helped train a team of Vietnamese scientists and bio-medical experts working on the preservation of Ho's body, the foreign ministry said.



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[Captain Hilts]

1. Say what you like about capitalism and monarchies. At least we don't have Theo or Frank Roosevelt

pickled and on display.

[nolabear]

3. Just in bits and pieces, under altars.

At last count I think most of the saints had a dozen legs, an infinite number of fingers and at least one grease-imprint of a full body.

[anonymous171]

18. Wut? nt

[tj2001]

2. All that for a rotten piece of meat

[Joe Chi Minh]

4. I'm very grateful, too.

[AlphaCentauri]

13. LOL

[Joe Chi Minh]

15. I thought the world of my cousin.

[Joe Chi Minh]

20. His poor, sainted mother, my auntie Zhu, never got over the fact that

he didn't make head-waiter during his sojourn in France.

Strange chaps, women. Especially, mothers. I tried to explain, but, well.... she turned on me very venomously, and told me I was the last person she'd turn to for advice on reasonable career expectations for her son. She seemed to think I'd had a bad influence on him, instead of the other way round. Anyway, I had enough trouble coping with my own mother's angry disappointment. Perhaps a tad more understandable, though it might have been.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

5. Them Russkis know their stuff

Their work on Lenin is still pretty amazing.

If you like that kind of stuff - which I do. A friend of mine was the Moscow Bureau Chief for the Chicago Tribune, and on one of my visits there, he took me to the embalming place, where they did all this stuff. What a show! I was creeped out at first, but, gradually, it became artists at work, artists very proud of their work.

There's a great, unforgettable book about these people:

http://www.amazon.com/Lenins-Embalmers-Ilya-Zbarsky/dp/1860465153

[Captain Hilts]

6. I've got that book. I was the only one in the mausoleum and got the chance to really scrutinize

Lenin. His ears have really shrunk.

In The Greatest Battle, there is a chapter describing getting Lenin out of Moscow and how the folks that took care of him, actually spent the war living like kings. The son of the main embalmer - who assisted his father - said it was very strange.

Imagine how it must feel for the living relatives of embalmed and on displayed folks.

Shit, I always thought it must have been weird for Eleanor and the kids to walk around with FDR jingling in their pockets.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

7. Some say the dead never leave us -

in some cases, that would appear to be absolutely true.

I always wanted to see Evita, but no dice.

You were the only one? And you didn't flip out?

I applaud you, Captain.......................

[Captain Hilts]

8. It was '93 and it was no longer mandatory or 'the thing' to do. So, there was NO line.

Just me.

And Lenin.

Yes, it was weird.

But Moscow does 'weird' better than most cities. Like...putting pay phones in elevators. Making you cut open your own newspaper. Weird shit like that.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

9. Toilet paper

as a murder - or suicide - weapon........................

[Captain Hilts]

10. Depends on whether you are using the useless, shiney side or the nubby side! Ugh!

I was widely praised as having "the nicest toilet in Moscow."

It was pretty nice, by Moscow standards.

[Dakota Flint]

11. Boris says

Da, so iz no big secret....use plenty good Russkiya wodka and beet juice.

:rofl:

[Ken Burch]

21. I'm surprised they didn't preserve Elvis and put him on display

He'd clearly have outdrawn Lenin or Ho.

[provis99]

14. great. We can preserve Lenin for decades, but still can't give him hair.

The man's been bald for a hundred years now, for chrissakes. Can't someone loan him a wig?

[Ken Burch]

22. It's probably some embalmer's version of the Prime Directive

n/t.

[David__77]

12. I have mixed feelings about this.

I don't know about Ho, but Mao said he wanted a burial. Lenin wouldn't have liked the mausoleum. This self-congratulatory sort of display of "reverence" is not helpful to anything like socialism. On the other hand, most Vietnamese highly regard Ho, and people certainly visit his tomb every day, so who is anyone to criticize that? We put our presidents on coins and build gigantic monuments to them, so why not Vietnam?

[SpartanDem]

16. Surprised the GOP never tried to do this to Ronnie

nt

[Taverner]

17. HCM never wanted this BTW

He wanted to be cremated

[anonymous171]

19. Ho Chi Minh is my favorite revolutionary.

If only we had sided with him against the French instead of supporting the imperialists. We could have avoided the Vietnam war altogether.

[Adsos Letter]

23. I read a book once by Lenin's/Stalin's embalmers (maintainence)...

very strange bit of writing.