Shooter Tran Oanh: Unable to sell gold medal and unfortunate fate even after death

Few people know that behind the earth-shaking achievements of Tran Oanh - Vietnam's most outstanding athlete of the 20th century, are the tears and heartbreaking pain of her relatives.

Owe wife and children all life

"He married her in 1947, when he was only 20 years old. Then he joined the army and was gone forever. Twelve years later, he returned to give birth to his eldest son in 1959. Then he left again. Every time he returned home, another child was born," said the third child of the legendary sniper.Tran Oanh began the story like that.

"I was born in 1963, the result of a three-day leave awarded after breaking the world record in revolver shooting in 1962 in Czechoslovakia. He named me Tran Quoc Tiep. My eldest brother is Duc, commemorating his competition trip to Germany.

The sixth and youngest sister born after his retirement was the only one not named after the country he had visited - Tran Thi Yen. Before that were Germany, Vietnam, Czechoslovakia, China (China) and Cuba (Tran Cu Ba, later changed to Tran Van Ba).

Mr. Tran Quoc Tiep - third son of the late gunner Tran Oanh.

His reputation was so great that everyone knew and was proud of him, but he was gone all year long, only coming home at the end of the year to celebrate Tet with his family. She stayed home alone to take care of the children, plow the fields for the cooperative, take care of the fields and gardens, and ate potatoes and cassava instead of rice so that he could go and make achievements.

Mr. Tiep's wife, with tears in her eyes, recalled the story of her father-in-law, that at the end of his life, he often repeated that his whole life he had a reputation but no money, not out of resentment or complaint, but as if he was painfully explaining to his wife and children what they had to go through.

In 1974, he retired and returned to his hometown. Every day, he went up the mountain to collect firewood, down to the sea to collect shrimp and clams to exchange for food for his family and... to buy alcohol.

Even after retirement, he still competes in provincial tournaments and coaches. He travels a few times a year, and his 13.5 kilos of rice and small pension are not enough to support his family.

Hundreds of medals and commemorative medals used for playing marbles, now only these remain.

In his final years, the late gunnerTran Oanh still feels pain about his family's poverty and guilt towards his wife who worked hard day and night to raise their children. The only things he left for his children were medals and badges, which his brothers used to play marbles, and then lost most of them.

Those who stay still have to live a life of hardship.

The late gunner Tran Oanh passed away in 1986. After his death, the only property left for the family was a dilapidated five-room wooden house in the countryside. The children gradually grew up, the eldest joined the army, retired, and then moved to Binh Duong to live. The second son worked hard to make a living, currently operating an excavator in Gia Lai.

Three more children followed him to Binh Duong, worked as factory workers, then settled down here. Only the third child - Tran Quoc Tiep stayed in the countryside to take care of the house, the garden, and his old mother - who is 90 years old this year.

Grave of the late gunner Tran Oanh.

In 1991, the Department of Sports and Physical Training and the Department of Sports of Thanh Hoa came to rebuild his tomb, moving it from the coastal sand dunes to Non Choan cemetery near his home.

But only later, according to Mr. Tiep, did the family know that the money to build the tomb came from a friend of Mr. Tran Oanh's who lived in Germany. After asking around, they learned that he had passed away, so they "sponsored" the money to build the tomb.

"They came back, calculated, measured and estimated it would cost more than 20 million VND to build his tomb, but I was the one supervising the workers and directly doing the construction and repairs, all in all it cost less than 4 million VND."

The most precious keepsake Mr. Tran Oanh left for his family were 5 international gold medals. Mr. Tiep kept 2 in his hometown, the remaining 3 went south with his eldest brother "so that we still have mementos to remember him by".

Mr. Tiep still keeps the two 1966 GANEFO medals, one is bright gold, the other is black. "Originally the other one was also yellow, because we were so poor, Mr. Duc thought it was gold, he took it out to test it, it turned out to be gold-plated, only a few decimeters of real gold," Mr. Tiep sadly explained.

"In the 80s, he was occasionally invited by the The Cong group to Hanoi for a meeting. When he returned, he told his wife and children: "When I go out, my friends always invite me to eat pho. I sit and look at the bowl of pho, feeling sorry for my wife and children who have to eat cassava and sweet potatoes, and I cry, I can't swallow it" - Mr. Tran Quoc Tiep said about his father - the late shooter Tran Oanh.

Gold for the living, silver for the dead

"After the year 91 when they built his tomb, three years later they still came to visit her, every sports day. After that, they disappeared, until the end of last year, when Ms. Nhung's group (Coach Nguyen Thi Nhung - PV) came to visit, on the occasion of the 55th anniversary of Vietnamese shooting," Mr. Tiep's wife said in tears.

"He's gone. The years of war and hardship are nothing to talk about, but in recent years, they honor the sports industry, honor those who compete and bring achievements to the country, but people like him are forgotten.

We are children so we don't say anything, but she is still alive, they never ask about her. When she needs to come, she comes, otherwise, they don't even remember.

The photo of the late gunner Tran Oanh, honored to sit next to Uncle Ho, is hung solemnly on the wall by his family.

Like Thanh Hoa, they built a shooting house named after him, there's even a memorial house about him in the Sports School, but they didn't even bother to tell my family a word, didn't even bother to invite her or the family to the inauguration.

In 2000, the late shooter Tran Oanh was recognized by the International Olympic Committee as Vietnam's best athlete of the 20th century, but his family asked many times what the certificate looked like, to see it with their own eyes, to be proud of him, but there was still no news.

For sixteen years, every time I asked and requested, I was promised, but then the hope of having a piece of paper honoring him to put on the altar "for him to see" just slipped away, falling into a terrifying indifference and coldness.

Just want to bring him closer to home

The wooden house where the late gunner Tran Oanh once retired and enjoyed time with his children in Hai Yen commune is now nestled in the middle of the towering, immense Nghi Son oil refinery - no trace left.

Luckily, the land acquisition project compensated the family of Ms. Cao Thi Xang - widow of gunner Tran Oanh and her third son with two plots of land in the new Hai Yen resettlement area, nearly twenty kilometers away.

The remaining land compensation money was used to build two houses, which were quite spacious on the outside - in accordance with the general planning regulations of the residential area, but inside there were not many valuable items, except for the altar of the legendary shooter Tran Oanh and his medals and pictures.

Mrs. Cao Thi Xang, wife of the late gunner Tran Oanh, is 90 years old this year, 65 years of Party membership. After nearly 70 years of marriage, raising children, waiting for and worshipping her husband, she is still very healthy. The day we visited her home, Mrs. Xang went to Binh Duong to visit her 5 remaining children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Currently, she has 13 grandchildren and 6 great-grandchildren and is looking forward to holding the certificate in her hand that her late husband was recognized as the best athlete of Vietnam in the 20th century.

Outside the house yard are about ten small cyclos, which Mr. Tiep and his wife use to make a living by renting out to their children and adults every afternoon for 10,000 VND per hour to pedal around the new residential area.

The grave of the late gunner Tran Oanh now lies in the middle of the desolate Non Choan cemetery, with the surrounding land being leveled for a project. Across the road, which is filled with dust every time trucks pass by, is the Nghi Son oil refinery.

These small cyclos are the livelihood of Mr. Tran Quoc Tiep and his wife.

"I also want to bring him here to be closer to his children and grandchildren. The new cemetery has been planned and has a place, but we don't have the money to build a spacious one worthy of his reputation and image," Mr. Tiep said, choking up.

The war has gone far away. The days of hardship and suffering for the country have also passed far away. Practical actions to repay gratitude, to honor those who once raised the pride of the Fatherland, to make up for some of the past disadvantages have also been carried out.

But why are there still such terrible and reprehensible forgetfulness?!

According to Young Knowledge