Remembering the navy colonel who planted forests
(Baonghean) -I returned to Con Gang cave in Bac Thanh commune, Yen Thanh to visit Colonel Nguyen Duc Kham and his farm as promised. His wife, Ha Thi Mui, sadly told me that he had just passed away.
Mr. Nguyen Duc Kham enlisted in 1954, and in 1960 he transferred to the navy, under the command of the unnumbered ships, transporting on the Ho Chi Minh trail at sea. His unit 126 operated in the Nha Trang - Khanh Hoa sea area. Due to living adrift at sea, it was not until 1966 that he was allowed to return home on leave to visit his family and start his own family. After his leave, he went to Hai Phong to continue traveling far away on ships. It was not until 1971, before going into the far sea area, to the Phu Quoc island area, entering and exiting the port of Sihanoukville (Cambodia), that he was allowed to return home as a policy. Fortunately, that time he had the opportunity to give birth to his first son, Nguyen Duc Vuong. With the rank of lieutenant colonel, he achieved many feats on the historic Ho Chi Minh trail.
Returning to his hometown with the rank of colonel, he continued to work for a while as an engineer and chief engineer for the transport ship named Song Dinh of Yen Thanh district. It was not until the district sold the ship that he actually went ashore. Right when the government was mobilizing to plant forests to cover the barren hills, he borrowed 40 million VND to renovate the Con Gang hill area to plant timber and fruit trees.
Nearly ten years ago, when I first visited his farm, he was also a member of the Nghe An delegation who had just returned from attending the Congress of Delegates of Good Economic Households in Hanoi. He took me to visit his rocky mountain garden. When asked about his business, he and his wife said that the total number of trees was up to 120,000, of which 4,000 were fruit trees, harvesting nearly 2 tons of fruit each year. Among the timber trees, there were nearly 5,000 flower-shaped trees, which were valuable timber trees. If each tree cost only 10,000 VND, his farm would be worth billions. Thanks to growing fruit trees, raising pigs, and raising cows, he and his wife were able to send their children to school. Moreover, the barren hills of Con Gang, thanks to his efforts, were covered with green trees and shallow streams filled with water. Later, seeing his business success, many households migrated here to gather and form a prosperous and peaceful hamlet.
So, a colonel who spent his whole life at sea was diligently planting forests. Forests and seas are as closely linked as land and water. /.
Hoang Chinh
