The echoes of past memories, those who did much, had a great influence.

(Baonghean) - At the first National Congress of Heroes and Emulation Fighters in 1952, seven people nationwide were honored as Heroes. Among the three Labor Heroes was Hoang Hanh - a typical Catholic farmer in Nam Linh commune (Nam Dan district), who actively increased cultivation and livestock farming, transforming the barren and infertile highlands into a bountiful harvest of rice, peanuts, beans, cotton, etc.

From 1960 to 1985, a nationwide movement to learn from the example of Hero Hoang Hanh was launched.

Hero of Labor Hoang Hanh: "To have a good life, you must love work."

Mrs. Nguyen Thi Hue, 83 years old, the second daughter-in-law and the only surviving child of Hero Hoang Hanh, recalls that in the early 1950s, her family's reclaimed farmland was always among the largest in the commune and district. When Mr. Hoang Hanh's family opened their granaries to sell rice at low prices to alleviate famine, people lined up in long queues from the village gate to their house to buy rice. When the movement to build the Khe Bo and O O dams for irrigation was underway, Mrs. Hue and her mother-in-law, Mrs. Dinh Thi Ngu, boiled six baskets of potatoes and carried two buckets of water over seven kilometers each day to support the cause. During the "Production for Meritorious Service, Honoring the Soldiers" emulation campaign, the Hoang Hanh family increased rice yield by 57%, soybean yield by 40%, and especially cotton yield by 60%. Mr. Hoang Hanh also mobilized more than 50 families to pay their agricultural taxes promptly and in full.

With tears in her eyes, Mrs. Nguyen Thi Hue recalled: “My father used to tell his children that if they wanted a good life, they had to love labor. Soon, the lives of our people will surely be better. My father visited several countries in the socialist bloc and saw that they were already using milling machines and tractors to replace human and animal labor…”

Hero and educator Nguyen Trung Thiep currently lives in the Thanh Cong residential area, Ba Dinh district (Hanoi). Now 83 years old, the first Hero of the education field in the province is still very sharp-minded.

Hero of Labor Nguyen Trung Thiep. Dedicated his heart and soul to the "popular education movement".

From being the village head of Van Tap village, then the head of the "popular education" committee of Dien Binh commune (Dien Chau district), Mr. Thiep spent 10 years in "popular education," including 6 consecutive years as an Emulation Soldier. In 1958, he was awarded the title of Hero of Labor; he was assigned the task of Principal of the Provincial Adult Education School, teaching adult education to cadres. Afterwards, he continued to hold positions such as: Deputy Head of the Nghe An Provincial Education Department, Deputy Chief Inspector of the Ministry of Education...

Mr. Nguyen Xuan Tham, former Head of the Emulation Committee, then Party Secretary of Dien Binh commune (formerly Minh Chau and Dien Minh communes) from July 1947 to August 1962, recounted the extremely important initiatives that Mr. Nguyen Trung Thiep contributed, such as: suggesting that elderly men go around persuading people to attend classes and regularly visit the classrooms, and that elderly women take turns looking after children so that more people have time to learn to read and write. Mr. Thiep was one of the first to introduce the requirement that one must be literate to enter the market... Many people know that teacher Nguyen Trung Thiep once fainted from hunger while enthusiastically teaching a "popular literacy" class...

The story of Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Lai, twice awarded the title of Hero of Labor, has become famous nationwide. Originally from Thanh Thinh commune (Thanh Chuong district), at the age of 20, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Lai worked as a laborer at the Con Cuong Forestry Farm. In 1965, he was transferred to become the Team Leader of the Trung Chinh Forestry Exploitation Team. With many specific measures, fair rewards and punishments, and flexible management and operation, within just one year of his tenure, the Trung Chinh Team, which was once the weakest in the forest, rose to prominence, with two out of four teams achieving the title of "Socialist Labor Team". When the State implemented the policy of applying science and technology to timber exploitation, Mr. Lai quickly trained a team of workers specializing in using chainsaws for exploitation. The Trung Chinh Team's output increased many times over, and the Trung Chinh Team became a "Socialist Labor Team"; the Con Cuong Forestry Farm was recognized as a leading example in the forestry sector of Nghe An province and the whole country. In 1985, Nguyen Ngoc Lai was awarded the title of Hero of Labor by the State.

Hero of Labor Nguyen Ngoc Lai. He was twice honored as a Hero, both times having a close connection with the forest.

Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Lai was appointed Director of the Con Cuong Forestry Farm at a time when many forests were already depleted. At this point, "closing the forests" and "restoring the green to the forests" were major tasks. With the motto "As long as there are forests, there is the forestry farm," many reforestation plans were proposed, focusing on planting bamboo, reeds, and cane. Mr. Lai and the Forestry Farm's management were determined to build a processing plant to pre-process and import the bamboo, reeds, and cane as raw materials, thus solving the immediate difficulties for workers who were no longer allowed to enter the forest for harvesting. In this way, the hands of the forestry workers gradually covered each forest with new green trees. After many years of hard work, 95% of the barren hillsides, previously deforested by logging, were replanted, and the Con Cuong Forestry Farm, under his management, became a leading example of forest cover... In 2002, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Lai was once again honored with the title of Hero of Labor.

Ngo Kien - Canh Nam - Nhat Minh