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.

BBC: Vietnam rejects French officer's ashes request

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.

BBC: Vietnam rejects French officer's ashes request

These are some of the code-names from long ago of the defended hill outposts and paratroop drop-zones set in the waving elephant grass of the Indochinese highlands at Dien Bien Phu.

ECONOMIST: The war in Indochina