The first Hero of Labor of the Mining Region

After the liberation of the Mining Region, the restoration of coal production became extremely urgent. Although the electricity system at that time was severely damaged, with his excellent memory, the electrician of Ben Cua Enterprise, Mr. Le Van Hien, redrawn the electrical diagram, restored the screening house and the port to production in less than 1 month. With his outstanding achievements, he was awarded the title of Labor Hero by the State in 1958 and was awarded the First, Second and Third Class Labor Medals. He was the first Labor Hero of the Mining Region.

Born in 1890 in a land rich in patriotic traditions - Kim Dong district, Hung Yen province, young man Le Van Hien went to the Mining Area at a very young age, applying to work as a worker at Ben Cua Ong Enterprise, now Cua Ong Coal Selection Company - TKV. In a short time, with his diligence, creativity, and enthusiastic working spirit, Le Van Hien was promoted to Foreman of the Enterprise.

The first Hero of Labor of the Mining Region, Le Van Hien (far right), trains, mentors and improves the skills of young workers.

On April 22, 1955, the Mining Area was completely liberated. Workers of Ben Cua Ong Enterprise urgently began the immediate and extremely necessary work of restoring the operation of the enterprise and of each worker to quickly resume production, the sooner the more precious the day. Because only by restoring production soon can we defeat the enemy's sinister plot when they withdrew from the Mining Area that "it will take at least 20-25 years for the Annamese to be able to dig and produce coal".

But it did not take as long as the enemy expected, the workers at Ben Cua Ong quickly overcame the difficulties. With the confidence of a worker who owns his own land, in a very short time, the workers at Ben Cua Ong used all their heart and soul to restore the steam welding factory, the coal processing plant, the high-voltage power line at Cua Ong port; inspected and repaired the railway transport system, the screening plant, the coal locomotives and the crane system...

Outstanding in this period was the spirit of hard work and creativity with many exemplary cadres and workers representing the emulation movements to seek, overcome and repair machinery and equipment to restore production such as: comrade Huynh Van Nguon, Vu Huu Luyen, Truong Huu My, Tran Sinh Xuong and especially comrade Le Van Hien - a hard-working and creative worker.

When the French colonialists withdrew from the factory, they disrupted the power grid, destroyed and took away important electrical equipment and machinery, and schematics of the electrical systems (especially the high-voltage electrical system serving the cranes at the port), causing many difficulties in repair.

Worker Le Van Hien (second from right), an electrician at Cua Ong Wharf Enterprise, with his excellent memory, redrawn the electrical diagram, restoring the screening house and the wharf to production in less than a month. Photo courtesy

With his excellent memory and spirit of selfless work for the collective, in a very short period of time, worker Le Van Hien accurately redrawn the entire electrical network system of the enterprise and together with a team of experienced workers restored some of the main electrical equipment... Thanks to that, in less than a month, the enterprise's production was restored to normal, contributing to the coal industry's recovery of production, serving the economic recovery of the entire mining area. With his great contributions, on July 7, 1958, worker Le Van Hien was honored to be awarded the title of Labor Hero by the State. That year, he was 65 years old and was holding the position of Foreman of Ben Cua Ong Enterprise.

During his work, comrade Le Van Hien was not only a good foreman but also an elder brother and teacher at work. He made many contributions in training, coaching and improving the skills of hundreds of young workers at the workshop he was in charge of. In 1964, at the age of 74, he retired, but with his love for the profession and enthusiasm for work, the first Hero of Labor of the mining region still volunteered to stay and work at Ben Cua Ong Enterprise until 1968.

The example of Labor Hero Le Van Hien still shines brightly in the hearts of future generations. Towards the 70th anniversary of the Liberation of the Mining Region on April 25 (1955 - 2025), generations of employees of Cua Ong Coal Selection Company in particular and the coal industry in general today are continuing to write brilliant golden pages of history, promoting the tradition of "Discipline and unity"; well implementing Uncle Ho's teachings: " The coal production industry is like the army fighting the enemy. All workers and cadres must have a very high revolutionary enthusiasm and patriotism, a strong will to fight and win. We must be united, have a full sense of being the masters of the country, the masters of the enterprise, overcome difficulties, in order to create a common goal of producing a lot of coal for the Fatherland "; making an important contribution to ensuring national energy security, realizing the aspiration of building a strong and prosperous Vietnam!

Vu Hang (Cua Ong Coal Selection Company Office)

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