Bright examples of peacetime

(Baonghean) - Coming out of the war, the brave soldiers of the past "rushed" into the peacetime front, which was no less thorny. They built a prosperous and happy life for their families and spread it throughout society with practical actions, worthy of the title "Uncle Ho's soldiers".

Born in 1947, at the age of 20, young man Le Viet Trung (Nghi Truong, Nghi Loc) followed the sacred call of the Fatherland to join the army, going to the South to fight. From Route 9 in Southern Laos to the 81 fiery days and nights in Quang Tri Citadel, all left their mark. With his heroic feats, he was honored to be admitted to the Party on the battlefield. In 1973, he was wounded and had to be transferred to the North for treatment. His wife, Mrs. Nguyen Thi Minh, was also a war veteran, enlisted in 1970 and worked as a medical officer in Military Region 4, taking care of wounded soldiers transferred from the South. In 1975, the South was liberated, the country was reunited, both of them were discharged from the army and returned to their hometown and became husband and wife. The sound of gunfire had receded, but returning to ordinary life, facing many difficulties and hardships, the 3/4-class wounded soldier and his wife entered a "war" against poverty right on their homeland. Sipping green tea, looking out at the lush green garden, Mrs. Minh recalled: “The family was large, the economy was only a few fields and 8 fields of poor sandy land, so life was extremely difficult. There were times when the whole family had to eat fried sweet potatoes.” In 1987, the couple moved red soil to renovate 8 fields of sandy land and borrowed 500,000 VND from relatives and friends to invest in planting fruit trees such as lemon, guava, custard apple and raising pigs for meat.

Veteran Le Viet Trung takes care of bonsai. Photo: Thanh Duy

The land did not disappoint people, the income from agricultural production gradually increased, bringing a stable life to the family. "In the early 90s of the last century, every year the family sold tons of pork and agricultural products. My husband and I also directly went to find markets in Vinh, Quan Hanh Town, Cua Lo". Not stopping there, in 2005, in addition to growing fruit trees, the family switched to growing ornamental plants such as: sanh, mung, sau and organized small businesses. Now, after deducting investment costs, the total annual income is about 300 million VND. Not only enriching the family, the couple of veteran Le Viet Trung also shared their experiences with many families in the locality. Many families, especially the veterans in the association, learned the model of converting sandy land to growing fruit trees for stable income. CCB Nguyen Anh Xuan, a gardening member of the CCB Association in Hamlet 10, Nghi Truong Commune, shared: “Comrade Trung’s family is a model for starting a garden economy, so he has a lot of experience in varieties and care techniques. Therefore, whenever there are new varieties with high quality and productivity, he disseminates and transfers care techniques to fellow CCB members.” What is admirable about the family of CCB Le Viet Trung is that both husband and wife actively participate in social work in the locality. He has been the Party Secretary of Hamlet 10 since 2006, and she is also the Head of the CCB Association in Hamlet 10. Therefore, the old CCB couple’s day is always busy with housework, village work, and national work. In the role of a Party Secretary, he and his comrades mobilize and deploy for the people of Hamlet 10 to actively develop the economy and reduce poverty. Therefore, in recent years, the poverty rate of the hamlet has decreased, up to now, there are only 5 households out of a total of 83 households. In particular, with his prestige, CCB Le Viet Trung has done a good job of mass mobilization when implementing the construction of roads and building new rural areas in the hamlet.

Members of the Association of War Veterans in Thuan Lap village, Chau Hanh commune (Quy Chau) visited the new sugarcane growing model of the family of War Veterans Association member Vi Van Viet. Photo: Ngoc Lan

Even in the implementation of the new rural traffic route, the family of veteran Le Viet Trung not only contributed according to the general regulations of the hamlet but also supported an additional 5 million VND and donated garden land to build the road. Therefore, the implementation of the construction of the traffic route in hamlet 10 was difficult at first, but the exemplary role of the family of the Party cell secretary and the Party members created a widespread influence among the masses. Walking along the spacious and neat concrete roads, veteran Le Viet Trung shared: “After careful discussion in the Party cell and the Party committee and informing the organizations and people, everyone agreed to support the contribution of 500,000 VND per person to build the road. However, there are still disagreements on which route to implement first and which route later. Therefore, I have to work with the comrades in the Party cell to mobilize and persuade the people to understand and agree with the general plan. Once it is clear, the people are very supportive. Therefore, in phase 1, the hamlet has completed 620m of concrete road. In the coming time, the hamlet will continue to implement the remaining 700m to completely close the internal roads according to the standards of new rural roads”.

In the peaceful countryside with spacious and neat concrete village roads, we met veteran Tran Duc Dai (Hung Tien, Hung Nguyen). Born in 1960, veteran Tran Duc Dai joined the army in 1978 and joined the team collecting martyrs' graves in Laos from 1983 until his discharge in 1988. Returning to his hometown with a disability rate of 61%, but with the spirit of Uncle Ho's soldier and the spirit of a party member, he was always enthusiastic and exemplary in both family and national affairs. On a small area of ​​land, he built a comprehensive livestock model including pigs, fish ponds, ducks... to increase his family's income. In particular, when he was entrusted to manage the Credit Fund of Hung Tien commune from 1998 to present, Mr. Dai, together with the board of directors and staff, has built a fund that has grown more and more, with annual credit growth always at a fairly high level. Up to now, the fund's activities have not only stopped in Hung Tien commune but also expanded its transaction points in Hung Thang and Hung Xuan communes. The fund's capital has helped many families escape poverty. In particular, the fund has become a reliable address for workers to borrow capital to go abroad, as evidenced by the outstanding loan balance of the fund for labor export up to 3.5 billion VND. Commenting on CCB Tran Duc Dai, Mr. Tran Duc Danh - Chairman of the Association of CCB in Hung Tien commune said: "CCB Tran Duc Dai is an exemplary member in many movements. Not only does he manage the commune credit fund well, but he is also an active individual in many activities of the hamlet and commune, especially in the process of building roads to build new rural areas and social security work, supporting the poor. Therefore, he has continuously received certificates of merit from the Commune Party Committee for implementing Directive 03 in the preliminary reviews".

Leaving his homeland at the age of 18, Mr. Nguyen Trong Phuc in Hamlet 1, Phuc Thanh Commune, Yen Thanh District, joined the battle in the Southern battlefield and then went to the Cambodian battlefield. Returning from the war with a 1/4 disability, the wounded soldier was still full of enthusiasm and started a new war, the war against poverty. With the strong will of a soldier, Mr. Phuc always struggled to find ways to get rich. He traveled everywhere to visit, absorb, and learn effective economic models in the area, then brought them back to apply to his family. He borrowed capital from the bank to invest in livestock; bid for 2.6 square kilometers of water surface at Quan Hai Dam to raise fish in cages. However, there were times when business was "tricky", fish could not be sold, then encountered storms and floods, losing hundreds of millions of dong. When recounting his difficulties, he could not help but feel sad: "After months of hard work, just one storm swept away dozens of fish cages, causing hundreds of millions of dong in damage."

But then, with the strong, resilient spirit of a soldier, he continued to stand up and overcome difficulties. Now, he has successfully raised 4 fish cages at Quan Hai dam worth about 60 - 70 million VND. Therefore, when referring to him, people often call him "Phuc Quan Hai". After earning profits, he continued to boldly invest in building barns and buying machinery to increase production. On average, his family earns about 250 million VND per year, after deducting other expenses.

In addition to focusing on economic activities, he is also very interested in the activities of the commune. He is currently the hamlet chief and Deputy Secretary of the Party Cell. Thanks to his enthusiasm and responsibility, he has helped improve the lives of the people here significantly. He is always the pioneer in implementing programs and projects to introduce new plant and animal varieties into production; leading campaigns and movements for the poor, supporting economic development... Not only that, the people in Phuc Thanh commune also know him as a compassionate person, always helping families in difficult circumstances.

Promoting the qualities of Uncle Ho's soldiers, veterans have made significant contributions to building the Party, government and developing the local economy with specific, practical and meaningful actions. In particular, in recent years, implementing Directive 03 on continuing to promote the study and following of Ho Chi Minh's moral example, war veterans' association members across the province have been exemplary, becoming shining examples in "following". War veterans have actively responded, "joined hands and hearts to build new rural areas". Many war veterans have volunteered to donate land, assets on land, labor, money to build rural roads, build irrigation works, schools... From 2012 to 2013, the whole province had 40,948 war veterans' association members donating more than 715 thousand square meters of land, contributing more than 122 thousand working days, and supporting assets on land with a total value of 23.4 billion VND to build new rural areas. In the economic field, cadres and members of the Veterans Association have promoted the spirit of self-reliance, self-improvement, creativity in production, business, poverty reduction, and legitimate enrichment. Therefore, the rate of poor households among Veterans Association members in the whole province by the end of 2013 was only 5.41%. Many places had a high rate of well-off and wealthy Veterans Associations such as the Veterans Association of Nam Dan District (84%), Yen Thanh (78%), especially by the end of 2013, the Veterans Association of Vinh City, Cua Lo Town and Thai Hoa basically had no poor Veterans Associations.

Talking to us, comrade Nguyen Phong Phu - Chairman of the Provincial Association of War Veterans said: "In addition to regular activities, in the coming time, the Association of War Veterans will continue to promote the implementation of Directive 03 in all levels of the association and its members to improve the quality of activities and responsibilities of members. In addition, the Association will continue to promote the goal of helping members reduce poverty and get rich to improve the living standards of war veteran families, thereby creating conditions to contribute more to building the homeland".

Thanh Duy - Kieu Anh