"Salute veteran" Zhang Yuhua: I have three mothers

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CCTV News (News Network): Today continue to tell you the story of the Medal. There is such a centenarian, in the war years, he was a steel warrior who experienced hundreds of battles and was born into death; in peacetime, he was a revolutionary veteran who did not forget his original heart and was willing to dedicate, his name was Zhang Yuhua, he was an old Red Army, he was the "salute veteran" who was remembered by hundreds of millions of people during the 2015 "September 3" Victory Day military parade.

This is a second-class Independence Freedom Medal, which was awarded in 1955 to Chinese People's Liberation Army for meritorious service during the War of Resistance Against Japan. His owner is Zhang Yuhua.

On September 3, 2015, Zhang Yuhua, who was nearly 100 years old, was invited to participate in the military parade for the 70th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War.

In February 1938, when the invading Japanese army landed in Yantai, Shandong, Zhang Yuhua, 22, served as an instructor of the first squadron of the newly formed Shandong Anti-Japanese Salvation Army Third Army. 10 days later, at the Temple of Thunder, he and the team encountered the first fierce battle after throwing themselves into the revolution, more than 20 people had to fight against the japanese Marines equivalent to 5 times their own military strength, seven hours of fierce fighting, Zhang Yuhua and his comrades relied on bunkers, repelled the enemy's attack 4 times, many comrades died, Zhang Yuhua was also wounded, but he had to carry seriously injured comrades on his back, leading the team to risk death to break through the siege.

During the War of Resistance, Zhang Yuhua was seriously wounded three times, and a bullet from his right armpit went into his abdomen and remained in his body. Elder Zhang said that every time he was injured, it was the people who saved him, and he had to do his best to repay the country and the people, and he always said that he had three mothers.

Since his retirement, Elder Zhang has insisted on donating money to help students and help the poor, and for more than 30 years, only donated about 200,000 kilograms of rice.

After a lifetime of fighting horses, the old man has long looked down on life and death. On September 10 last year, General Zhang Yuhua died in Nanjing at the age of 101, and his family followed the old man's last wishes and donated their corneas to the Nanjing Red Cross Eye Bank, and all the ashes were scattered on Tianfu Mountain, where he revolted that year. And what the old general left to his children all his life, in addition to the medal of great military achievement, is the bullet that remained in the old man's body for 77 years and was not removed until cremation.