Cam was born in 1916 in what was then Nam Dinh Province, now part of Ninh Binh Province. He took part in the 1949 Border Campaign, the 1951 Hoang Hoa Tham Campaign and later the Hoa Binh Campaign.

During the Hoang Hoa Tham and Hoa Binh campaigns in 1952, Cam saw fellow soldiers killed or wounded after smoke rising from cooking fires in the forest revealed their positions to enemy aircraft, which then bombed and strafed the area.

His cooking unit tried preparing meals at night and extinguishing fires with water whenever enemy aircraft approached, but they were not always able to react in time.

Determined to find a way to reduce casualties, Cam spent days studying the problem, drawing designs and conducting experiments.

He eventually devised a stove connected to a network of smoke channels. Branches were placed over the channels and covered with a thin layer of soil that was kept moist.

As smoke traveled from the stove through the channels, it cooled and emerged near ground level as a thin mist that quickly dispersed. The design allowed soldiers to cook during the day while reducing the risk of being spotted from the air.

Cam left the military in early 1959 with the rank of second lieutenant. He died in 1996 at the age of 80 at Military Hospital 108 and was posthumously promoted to captain.

According to the People's Army Newspaper, Major General Le Van Phan, deputy commander of the 12th Army Corps, presented the certificate recognizing Cam as a Hero of the People's Armed Forces to his family on behalf of the state president.

At the ceremony, delegates reflected on Cam's life, military service and contributions to Vietnam's struggle for national liberation and the subsequent building and defense of the country.

During the war years, Cam was remembered for his strong sense of responsibility and willingness to endure hardship and danger while carrying out his duties.

From the everyday task of preparing meals for soldiers came his best-known invention, the "Hoang Cam stove," a concealed field cooking system designed to hide its fire and disperse smoke under wartime conditions.

The stove enabled troops to prepare meals during both the day and night while reducing the risk of detection by enemy aircraft.

Tran Thuong