Vo Quy Huan - An engineer with deep love for his country

(Baonghean) -On November 12, 2011, at the Vietnam Revolution Museum, the Ministry of Industry and Trade - Vietnam Historical Science Association organized a scientific seminar: Vo Quy Huan - "The engineer with a deep love for the country". He is a son of Nghe An, who studied abroad with three university degrees in France, and is one of four Vietnamese intellectuals brought back to the country by Uncle Ho to participate in the resistance war. He is the "father of the Vietnamese casting and metallurgy industry"...

Vo Quy Huan was born in 1912 into a family of teachers in Thanh Tung commune, Thanh Chuong district (Nghe An). From 1935 to 1937, Vo Quy Huan participated in the Popular Movement and was the Editor-in-Chief of the Indochinese Newspaper (L'activité Indochinoise), which published bilingually in Vietnamese and French. This was a progressive newspaper at the time, so it was closed by the French colonialists; Vo Quy Huan had to flee to France to study. He earned three engineering degrees in the fields of electromechanical engineering, casting, and professional engineering. After that, he worked for the Compagnie Translatique shipping company (France) and several large factories. He was also the chief engineer at the Potef ​​aircraft engine research and production factory... He joined the French General Confederation of Labor (CGT), and was a member of the French Communist Party since 1939. He was active in the Overseas Vietnamese Association in France, both as an interpreter and one of two people who took photos and filmed nearly 1,000 pieces of documentary film about Uncle Ho's special working trip in France. In 1946, he was one of four engineers chosen by Uncle Ho to return to the country, along with Pham Quang Le (Tran Dai Nghia), Tran Huu Tuoc and Vo Dinh Quynh. After more than a month of living close to him, they were later called "special students" of the "Special Nguyen Ai Quoc School"!

Returning to the country, engineer Pham Quang Le was immediately assigned important responsibilities - Director of the Military Ordnance Department; engineer Vo Quy Huan - Director of the Central Industrial Minerals Department. Here, he commanded the evacuation of two factories, Trang Thi Railway and Dien Ben Thuy, to the western mountains; and successively established the Economic Factories 1-2-3 and the Central Technical Cadre School. Vo Quy Huan was the Director and "chief engineer" with his colleagues including: foreman Le Tien Van, iron smelter team leader Le Huy Yem, coke smelter team leader Nguyen Thai Dong, and energy manager Le Khanh Cu, who designed the 3KC1 field blast furnace to produce iron to serve the resistance war.

On the afternoon of November 15, 1948, the first batch of cast iron - from Van Tri - Nghi Loc iron ore was heat-treated and melted in a 450-liter blast furnace. The stream of cast iron flowed out amid the cheers of cadres, workers and people of Cau Dat - Con Cuong. They used the first cast iron ingots to cast a statue of Uncle Ho, to show their gratitude to him for bringing patriotic intellectuals from France and building a metallurgical furnace right in the Soviet homeland. They wanted to report to Uncle Ho that the young Casting - Metallurgy industry had products to serve the resistance.

The 3KC2 and 3KC3 blast furnaces with a capacity of 1m3 were successively produced. Thousands of tons of cast iron, a series of mines and grenades - weapons "made in Vietnam" designed by Tran Dai Nghia and mass-produced with cast iron by Vo Quy Huan were brought to the battlefield, effectively serving the resistance war.

Not only was Vo Quy Huan the one who made the first batch of cast iron in the Vietnamese Casting - Metallurgy industry, but he was also the teacher who trained the first "master craftsmen" in the Casting - Metallurgy industry in our country. Students from the resistance war period such as Ha Hoc Trac, Hoang Binh, Thai Duy Tham, Nguyen Dinh Nam, Nguyen Huu, Nguyen Thai Dong, Phan Cau... and after the peace day in 1954: Tran Lum, Le Ba, Tran Bach Dang, Vu Dinh Hoanh... became key officials in the Casting - Metallurgy industry and the Ministry of Heavy Industry.

On September 20, 1947, in a letter to Dr. Tran Huu Tuoc, Uncle Ho wrote: "...Let me tell you, I'm happy: I'm still healthy. The brothers who came back with us at the same time, Uncle Nghia and Uncle Huan worked very enthusiastically and effectively, and made a lot of effort in the resistance work"...

Vo Quy Huan was the first Principal of the School of Practical Technology, the predecessor of Hanoi University of Industry. Generations of teachers and students of the school highly appreciated the creative and determined direction of the school from the early days of the talented Principal from Nghe An. They said: Mr. Huan was gentle but careful and serious. He taught directly and guided practice directly. At that time, we were very proud that our Principal had three university degrees from France, but we did not hear him "show off" anything more.

His contributions to the country were great, but we cannot fail to mention his sacrifice of personal happiness for the nation. When he returned home, he had to leave his wife and daughter. Unexpectedly, that separation lasted for decades. Devoted to work, unable to return to France, he built a new family, but he always worried about his family home in France. That was his wife of Russian origin, his daughter with the two ethnic names Vo Quy Viet Nga (we saw in the documentary photo of Uncle Ho holding the baby in 1946). Even his daughter once "held a grudge against her father who broke his promise". Before closing his eyes (September 1967), he left everything to the organization and his family.

Nearly 50 years after the separation, Vo Quy Hoa Binh's daughter and his granddaughter came to Paris and visited Vo Quy Viet Nga's house. The tearful reunion helped Viet Nga understand more about her father who sacrificed his personal happiness and career to serve the Fatherland. The family reunion also brought him peace in his grave.

Vo Quy Huan, a patriotic intellectual, made great contributions to the nation. During his lifetime, Professor Tran Dai Nghia wrote, "His heart was filled with love for his country." Professor Vu Khieu gave Vo Quy Huan a pair of parallel sentences: "Following Uncle Ho, he forgot himself for the country; left behind a happy love, willingly missed his wife and children, his will shone brightly during those years. Returning to the Fatherland, he cast bronze, smelted steel; created modern weapons, contributed to forging soldiers to kill the enemy, his achievements will live forever in this country." Historian Duong Trung Quoc said: Vo Quy Huan belonged to the "golden generation" of the Vietnamese revolution... The people will never forget him! To celebrate the 100th anniversary of his birth, the Hanoi People's Council decided to name the street in front of Hanoi University of Industry Vo Quy Huan Street.

Mr. Dang