Trang Nguyen

ESLINTG 100

Cause and Effect History Essay

                                                                        

                                                       Medal of Honor

There were approximately four hundred thousand to two million Northern Vietnamese people that died from 1944 to 1945, due to the horrible famine. The consequence of the Indochina War destroyed all regions of Northern part in Vietnam. French colonialists and Japanese imperialists occupied and reformed the economy in order to serve their evil purpose. They accumulated all the rice and food for the war needs. Besides, disaster, flood, and cholera also deeply affected people’s life. Both my great-grandparents passed away during this famine, and my grandfather became an orphan. A few years later, he was adopted by a patriotic family and they moved to another province. It was his adoptive parents that inspiring my grandfather to join the army. When the war ended, he came back with medals of honor. His grand feats gave my family a life with full of fortune and pride.

Shortly after my grandfather returned home, my grandmother was the first one who received benefits from him. The Vietnamese government presented my family with a Certificate of Merit for serving the country. It’s called The Heroic Family. Since then, people in our village started to change their attitude toward my grandmother. Previously, she was hard of hearing. Due to this unfavorable condition, she often had trouble participating in conversation with others. Sometimes kids and even a few adults made fun of her. They laughed a lot when she misunderstood what people said. Now, after this prestigious award, whenever people saw my grandmother walking on the road, they came to say with excitement “You are a hero’s wife”. In addition, at the meetings or music shows, everyone was willing to offer her a seat at the first row so that she could be able to hear well. Furthermore, when she went to the market, the sellers there also gave her a better price for almost every item. If she refused to take it, they always said “It’s not worth mentioning. Your husband’s contribution is more deserved.”

Years later, my father took my grandfather’s model and became a successful man. After graduating from high school, my father also joined the army for a few years and then attended the political institute. During the time he was studying here, the learning environment was really tough and challenging. The school was less than twenty miles from home, but he couldn’t visit his parents for more than one year and did not contact with anyone, due to the rules and disciplines of his school. Finally, he finished the long term program and became a political lecturer. Nowadays, my father still recalled the hard time he had spent as a short film of his life. However, according to him, it was like a mere piece of cake compared with my grandfather’s feat.

Finally, I am the latest generation that inherited the reward from my family. During my sixteen years of studying in Vietnam, I only paid half of my tuition. All the students have parents or grandparents who served the country as a part of their lives were able to take this benefit. In addition, when I studied in the university, I could also stay in the dorm with fantastic living conditions and the payment was reasonable. It was far different than if I had rented an apartment outside. Many students had to worry about moving to a new place at least one or two times per year, since the rent often increased. Sometimes, the security was also a problem that concerned them. Thus, I could pay attention to my studies for four years, and my parents could count on me.

Sometimes, I saw my grandfather standing in front of the Medals and the Certificate, watching them in silent and smiling with pleasure. Before, whenever I asked him to tell me the war story, I saw enthusiasm and brightness in his eyes. He would spent the whole day to recall it. Now, he is ninety years old. His memory has become less reliable than it was. To the others, he brought my family a life that everyone might desire to live in, but to me, he is simply my beloved one that I admire most. In the past, the war left Vietnam severe suffering and deaths. At the same time, it also gave the country courageous heroes. They fought not only for the homeland but also for their family, for themselves.