Editor's note: On November 13, 2013, at the 6th Session of the 13th National Assembly, Mr. Vu Duc Dam was approved by the National Assembly to hold the position of Deputy Prime Minister. Mr. Vu Duc Dam is the secretary and assistant to Mr. Dang Van Than. VietNamNet would like to introduce the article by author Le Phuong Dong, published in the Tet Giap Ngo issue of the Vietnam Post Newspaper (2014).

On the afternoon of the National Assembly electing two new Deputy Prime Ministers, we visited Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam, "intending" to interview him. As usual, the Deputy Prime Minister was cheerful but still... "please just talk, don't interview, don't write anything about me" and talked to us in a friendly and open manner.

"Today, who do you think about the most?", the Deputy Prime Minister smiled: There was no time to think. Looking up at the photos hanging in front of the Deputy Prime Minister, including the portrait of the late Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet, I continued to ask: So when you took office as Minister, who did you think about the most? Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam's face was slightly moved. After a few seconds of silence, the Deputy Prime Minister's voice dropped: "I think a lot about my parents, Uncle Ba Than and Uncle Sau Dan. My father and Uncle Sau Dan have passed away. Uncle Ba Than has had a serious stroke for many years...".

Looking at the Vice President's eyes, we were silent, no one said anything.

In a flash, the Deputy Prime Minister smiled happily again: "Hey, instead of writing about me, write about Uncle Ba Than. Without Uncle Ba Than, our country's Post Office would not be what it is today and I would not be sitting here with you"...

Family of former General Director Dang Van Than (photo taken in late 2013)

…We visited the family of Mr. Dang Van Than - Former General Director of the General Department of Posts, on a Sunday near the end of the 2013 calendar year. After retirement, he returned to his familiar house in a small alley in District 10, Ho Chi Minh City.

Like many other holidays, his entire "Post Office family" gathered together (Mrs. Nguyen Thi Xuan Ha, his wife, is a retired BD officer, except for the eldest son - Mr. Dang Bac Son, who works in the construction industry, the second daughter - Ms. Dang Thi Nga, currently the Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Post Office and the youngest son - Mr. Dang Van Dung, currently the Deputy Director of Center 6 (VMS 6) of the Mobile Information Company (VMS-Mobifone). Mr. Dung's wife is working at VMS 2; and Ms. Nga's eldest daughter also works at VMS 6.

After suffering a brain hemorrhage, now, the hero of the Postal Service, the person loved and trusted by the whole industry and called "Brother Ba Than" can no longer speak, hear, or perceive anything, just sitting silently in a wheelchair. But his face is very peaceful, as if he clearly knows that he has nothing to regret or feel remorse about...

In the story about the friendship between her husband and his young colleague in the past, Mrs. Nguyen Thi Xuan Ha, the wife of Hero Dang Van Than, still familiarly calls Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam "Dam...".

She said, her voice soft and slightly sad: In the past, when my husband retired, when he was still healthy as well as when he had a stroke, every time he came to work, Dam always stopped by, even though the opportunity to come was so urgent that Dam only had time to run upstairs for a few minutes, hug "Uncle Than" and rub his back and shoulders, then run away... There was a time when my husband almost didn't recognize anyone, but he still seemed to recognize Dam. Yesterday, watching TV, I saw Dam speaking at a conference in his position as Deputy Prime Minister, I felt so sorry for Mr. Than. If only he were still healthy...

Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam sadly said: "Every time I come in, I feel that Uncle Ba still recognizes me. Once, when I sat down to talk about old memories with him, I thought I was only talking for him to listen, but unexpectedly he moved his lips and called "Dam" and burst into tears... Speaking of that, Deputy Prime Minister's eyes were also red and filled with tears...

Former General Director Dang Van Than (third from left) and his colleague Vu Duc Dam (fourth from left) on a business trip. (Photo provided by family)

...Mr. Than took on the responsibility of Acting Director General of the General Department of Posts in 1986. That was the time when Vietnam faced a drastic demand for technological and service innovation. That drastic demand put the commander-in-chief of the industry in front of a vital choice: to continue using analog technology or go straight to Western digital technology. Cooperating with Western capitalist countries, the decision to use fiber optic cables instead of copper cables at that time was unimaginable, fanciful, and there were even many opinions that were stereotypical in terms of viewpoint.

To have new technology, you need money. But at that time, Vietnam was under embargo, and the Postal Service had no money. So the only way was to cooperate with big companies that also saw Vietnam's potential as an attractive market. But at that time, "doing business with capitalists was a sensitive matter, so convincing them to get things right from above, below, inside, and outside was "as difficult as the road to heaven" but the Director General of the Postal Service, Dang Van Than, overcame it and later people recognized him as a hero.

"I don't know how to describe it, I can only say that it was EXTREMELY DIFFICULT, sometimes even dangerous to political life. Even my mother knew, there was a time when someone came to my house and said to my father: 'Do you know you're taking a big risk? Why are you so reckless?'" shared Mr. Son, Mr. Than's eldest son.

"To do great things, first of all, the head of the agency must have a heart, have virtue, and not think about personal gain. My father is a passionate person, devoted to his work, and whatever he believes is right, he will do to the end... I don't know what fate is, but my father met Mr. Dam and trusted a young cadre who had studied abroad in the West so much. But it was people like Mr. Dam who helped him realize his idea of ​​reforming the postal industry," Ms. Nga, Mr. Than's eldest daughter, added.

The first time Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam met General Director Dang Van Than was in early 1989, when he first worked at the Post and Telecommunications Import-Export Company after returning from studying abroad.

The Deputy Prime Minister recalled: One afternoon, I was taken to meet the General Director. It turned out that he had called to ask for instructions on how to use an electronic device to store phone contacts. (In the 80s, such electronic devices did not exist in Vietnam, so no one knew how to use them.) I was carefully instructed that I would meet the highest leader of the industry, who was also a member of the Party's highest leadership.

It's hard to imagine that on that first meeting, I called Uncle Than "Sir". He smiled very kindly, handed me the machine, told me to sit there and see how to use it and said: Call me Uncle, Uncle Than, my dear. Then he added that people in the North often call adults Uncle and people in the South often call them Uncle. I quietly sat down, buried my head in the small machine. It was really not difficult for me, so after only ten minutes I looked up and saw the General Director squatting... picking water spinach, so I stammered, "It's very easy to use... sir". He smiled very happily: "Oh really? But you keep asking me" and then said: "I've cooked your whole meal, stay and eat and then show me. We both pick vegetables to make it faster...".

Since then, Uncle Ba often called me, sometimes just to ask about a specific issue in a project, about a foreign partner, sometimes just to hear about an idea... I didn't notice that it was very "unusual" for a new employee to be trusted by the General Director and directly discuss work. Later, through many events, sometimes with many ups and downs, I understood that Uncle Ba had given me special trust and love. It was Uncle Ba's special affection and trust, it was his simple example, devoted to his work that made me stick with it, work with all my enthusiasm. I am an extremely lucky person, later Uncle Sau Dan was the same to me.

Three years later, Uncle transferred me from the Department of Science and Technology and the Department of International Cooperation to the General Department as a private secretary, but still asked me to do my old job of negotiating contracts and projects with foreign partners. One year later, I was admitted to the Party and then transferred back to the old Department as Deputy Director. Later, Nguyen Dinh Cat (writer Nguyen Dinh Thi's younger brother) said that on the night I was admitted to the Party, Uncle Ba cycled more than 10km from Nguyen Du to the Mai Dich cultural collective area to brag: "Today, I have admitted the "little guy" to the Party. Cat also said that Uncle Than did that (requested me to the General Department) to bring Dam into the Party. (Telling this point, the Deputy Prime Minister could not hold back his tears...).

Perhaps, the success of the hero of the Postal industry, Dang Van Than, is not only in seeing correctly and choosing the right technology, but also in the HEART and TALENT in seeing people, trusting people and using people....

...Leaving the house of former General Director Dang Van Than, recalling the time when the Deputy Prime Minister told the story, the words of Mrs. Ha, his 50-year life partner, echoed in my mind: "The meeting and attachment between my husband Than and Dam was a heaven-sent fate...", tears kept flowing. I admired and loved Uncle Ba Than - I also called him that.

Mr. Dang Van Than was born in 1932 in Phuoc Long commune, Giong Trom district, Ben Tre province. In 1950, he joined the army and worked as a journalist at an information unit in Military Region 9. After the Geneva Agreement (July 1954), he gathered in the North, then transferred to work at the Sin Ho Post Office, Lai Chau province; then he worked at the Institute of Science and Technology, under the General Department of Posts. On April 28, 1975, he and a group of Postal officials took over the entire Postal system of the Saigon government.

In 1986, he was transferred to Hanoi, as Acting Director, then General Director of the General Department of Posts. He was elected as a member of the 7th National Assembly, a member of the 6th Party Central Committee. He was awarded the First Class Labor Medal by the State.

In 1997, he retired under the regime. On August 9, 2000, he was awarded the title of Hero of Labor by the State. In 2012, he was awarded the Independence Medal by the State.

On May 24, 2023, Mr. Dang Van Than passed away at his home at the age of 92.

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