 During the wars for national independence and construction, some 450 Vietnamese journalists laid down their lives, more than 260 of them working for the VNA.They include Tran Kim Xuyen, the first leader of the VNA and the first journalist-martyr of Vietnam's revolutionary journalism, who died in 1947 in Chuong My, formerly Ha Tay district; and Bui Dinh Tuy, Deputy Director of the Liberation News Agency who died in 1967 in southeastern Trang Dau and later a Ho Chi Minh City street was named after the journalist, the first of such case in Vietnam.Throughout the nearly seven decades of fighting, construction and development closely linked with the country's historic milestones, the VNA is the first press agency awarded the titles “Labour Hero in the renewal period” and “Hero of the People’s Armed Forces”.