Thirty five years ago, when Vu Thi Thu married Doan Van Be, everyone in Quyet Tien commune, Tien Lang district, Hai Phong City heard false rumours about how a perfectly healthy person could marry a disabled soldier. At the fourth patriotic emulation congress of Vietnamese war veterans in 2009, after Be presented his report, Vice President Nguyen Thi Doan praised his wife Thu for being a brave woman.

Being the fulcrum of his life

In late 1969, 18-year-old Doan Van Be, joined the army. After 4 years of fighting on the battlefield and 2 years of staying in a convalescent centre for wounded soldiers, he often felt in the dumps. He said he didn’t dare to contact anyone, even his family. Surprisingly, in early 1975, two women, including his mother and Vu Thi Thu (who is now his wife) visited him. They were the ones who had seen him off to the battlefield. A short time later, a wedding party was held for the young couple.

His wife is always beside him

After the wedding, Be had to return to the centre. His wife stayed at home to take care of family. Two years later, they had two children. When his wife brought them to visit him, Be told himself, “I can’t let my wife continue to work so hard and my children live so miserably.” He decided to get out of bed and walk by himself. No matter how many times he felt over on weak legs, he never gave up hope. In late 1985, he could walk without crutches.

“Muddy” Be turned into a billionaire

In 1985, Mr. Be asked for permission to return home so that he could look after the children while his wife went to work. The local co-operative then employed him as an accountant for its fish farm.

Usually he would walk to the co-operative, but when it rained he often slipped in the mud and fell into the irrigation canal. So he was then nicknamed “muddy” Be.  

To earn more money for his family, he spent lunch time riding a bicycle to Kien An commune to buy some dried fish and oil to sell in his commune.

Always as busy as a bee

In 1991, the district gave him 2.5 hectares of fish ponds. To get the initial capital for his business, the couple sold a pair of wedding earrings and borrowed some more money from friends to pay for a training course on raising pigs and fish in a nearby area. After paying off their debts, they began to build a nest egg with regular investment of small amounts of money in their business expansion.     

In 2001, the Wounded Soldiers Co-operative was established with Be in the chair. The co-operative comprised of 56 wounded soldiers and relatives continued to grow and flourish, earning a monthly per capita income of VND800,000-1 million.

In 2005, he founded Binh Trong Co. Ltd with all shareholders being wounded soldiers from Tien Lang district. Apart from raising fish on 45 hectares, the company opened a small port, bought ships and engaged in transporting construction materials. The company now makes an annual turnover of nearly VND10 billion and pays hundreds of millions of VND to the state budget.

His current success is the result of his own efforts coupled with the assistance of his friends and relatives, especially his wife.

He still has a bullet lodged near his spine and his legs ache badly in awful weather. However, it doesn’t bother him as his dream of getting out of poverty and helping his wife bring up their children has come true.