(Written by: Chen Changguo, revised: Chen Guangde, former secretary of the Political and Legal Committee of Anlu City)
My father, Chen Jialin, was born on September 16, 1928. A few months before he was born, my grandfather died of illness. I grew up under the care of my grandmother and wife. My father's childhood was a miserable situation in which Western powers invaded China and the mountains and rivers were broken and the people were not happy, suffering from hunger, cold and bullying.
As a teenager, my father hated the crimes of the Japanese invaders, when the Nationalist government called on young students to enlist in the army and fight against the Japanese invaders. In December 1944, when his father was only 16 years old, he resolutely decided to give up his studies, and took the initiative to sign up for conscription at Yingshan Normal School in Yingshan Pulxidian, and after a physical examination in Suixian County, he traveled a long distance to Wanxian County, Sichuan Province, and was incorporated into the Mountain Artillery Battalion of the 204th Division of the Chinese Youth Expeditionary Force, ready to go to the front line at any time for the second class
The Chinese Expeditionary Force was the armed force of China's anti-Japanese resistance into Burma during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. The main task was to prevent the Japanese army from invading and ensure the smooth passage of the Burma Road for military supplies to china. Commanded by General Stilwell and General Luo Zhuoying.
From 1943 to 1945, the company reorganized its forces, organized a counter-offensive, recovered more than 50 towns in northern Burma, and recovered more than 80,000 square kilometers of lost land in western Yunnan, while the Chinese army also paid heavy sacrifices, with 67,000 casualties. At this time, it is urgent to replenish combat effectiveness, otherwise the previous achievements will be abandoned.
It was at this critical juncture that my father joined the army and went to Burma.
In March 1945, my father was ordered to be airlifted to Myitkyina to supplement the 5th Company of the 30th Division of the New First Army of the Chinese Expeditionary Force, led by Sun Liren, as deputy squad leader, stationed on the banks of the Irrawaddy River in Myitkyina, to defend the pipeline from Burma to Yunnan. In May of the same year, he returned to China and was wounded by a bullet during a battle against Japan in Nanning, Guangxi. After the surrender of Japan in October 1946, he retired from the Army in Changchun and attended Changchun Youth High School. In 1947, he was sent to Jiaxing Middle School in Zhejiang Province. In December 1948, Jia Yibin, acting director of the Preparatory Cadre Bureau of the Ministry of National Defense (then chairman Officiant Chiang Ching-kuo resigned), went to Jiaxing Middle School and asked the students to either go to Taiwan or be incorporated into the army on the spot. At that time, the principal Hu Changqi tried to make students volunteer. My father resolutely left Jiaxing to return to his hometown to farm, but he was repeatedly blocked on the way, and after several twists and turns, he tossed and turned many times, and thousands of relatives suffered, and rushed back to his hometown Of Yingshan through many obstacles.
After returning home, he worked as a farmer and taught at the Chen Family Shop Ancestral Hall. In 1952, when I was recruited by the Mountain Normal School, my father signed up for the exam, because of the lack of education at that time, the top ten people in the exam directly divided the work to teach, and after the ten read the teacher training, my father was directly divided into six places after the exam. He has taught elementary school, junior high school, and high school. He has made major contributions in his work, cultivated a large number of outstanding talents, and some students have held important leading positions in the party and government.
During the Cultural Revolution, my father was beaten into a counter-revolutionary, and after being criticized for being sent to work as a farmer, he returned to work.
History always has to return to justice, and with the name of the Chinese Expeditionary Force, my father's grievances have been revealed.
In 2015, on the eve of commemorating the 70th anniversary of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Party Central Committee, the State Affairs Commission and the Central Military Commission awarded his father the "Commemorative Medal for the 70th Anniversary of the Victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression". Recognize their historical merits and highlight their glorious status. During this period, leaders at all levels came to pay condolences and visits, and media departments such as television stations and newspapers repeatedly interviewed and reported.
His father died in September 2016 at the age of 90. Throughout his life, my father was honest, kind, timid, and afraid of things, and was bullied a lot. When my generation grew up, it was useless and filial, and my father did not enjoy the blessings of my generation, and he worked hard for my generation for a lifetime of grievances, and I felt uneasy and ashamed.