On June 29, 2021, a red flag car was escorted by a police car to the Great Hall of the People, on Chang'an Avenue not far from the Great Hall of the People, the soldiers standing guard saw the red flag car and paid attention to it, the two red flag cars drove to the door of the Great Hall of the People and stopped, an old man in a wheelchair got out of the car and slowly walked towards the intersection of the Great Hall of the People, along the way there were neatly arranged Young Pioneers standing on both sides of the hall and paying tribute to the young pioneers. Before reaching the stairs, four staff members dressed in dresses lifted the elderly man in a wheelchair and walked step by step into the Great Hall of the People. So, what kind of activities did this old man come to participate in and enjoy such a high level of courtesy?
Figure 1 The old man was carried into the Great Hall of the People
Originally, the old man's name was Wang Zhanshan, former deputy division-level adviser of the Anyang Military Subdistrict in Henan, the former people's liberation army, and the recipient of the Highest Honor of our Party and the July 1st Medal. The July 1st Medal represents the Party Central Committee's affirmation and praise for outstanding grass-roots party members, and this July 1st Medal Award ceremony is the first time that our Party has awarded the July 1st Medal, and 29 outstanding and commendable party members have been selected from a total of 95 million party members across the country. For the 29 party members who came to the capital to participate in the July 1st Medal Award ceremony, the Party Central Committee decided to carry out the reception work with the highest standard of interests, and the old man Wang Zhanshan was one of the 29 party members.
From an early age, he set great ambitions
The year 1929 was an extraordinary year in human history. This year, the Great Depression of the world economy broke out in the United States, and various capitalist countries fell into an economic crisis, stimulated by the economic crisis, the antagonism between countries deepened, and the world situation was very tense. Chiang Kai-shek was in a difficult period of internal and external troubles, Chiang Kai-shek monopolized power, excluded dissidents, was opposed by local political factions, and a serious civil war broke out, and the relations between the warlords in the northeast region and the Soviet Russia were tense, friction was constant, and there was a great possibility of war.
Figure 3 The Turbulent Old China
Wang Zhanshan was born in this difficult year of 1929, because his family was not rich, and it was very difficult in the turbulent society at that time, so Wang Zhanshan saw the life of the people at the bottom in the turmoil from an early age. This difficult life made Wang Zhanshan yearn for a peaceful and beautiful life in his heart from an early age, and also sharpened his will, so that he had the ambition to defend peace from an early age.
When Wang Zhanshan was 10 years old, he joined the anti-Japanese children's guerrilla group led by our party, participated in the activities of defending his family and the country, collected materials for the officers and men of the Eighth Route Army, and reconnoitred the enemy's situation. After growing up, Wang Zhanshan joined the militia organization in Hebei and continued the struggle to defend his family and defend the country, and over time, Wang Zhanshan became the leader of the militia. However, after repelling the Japanese invaders, peace was threatened by the Kuomintang reactionaries, and Wang Zhanshan himself was also captured by the Kuomintang army; when the militia was persecuted by the Kuomintang army, the troops led by our party rushed to the rescue and rescued the militia from the clutches of the Kuomintang army.
In order to repay the party's life-saving grace, Wang Zhanshan applied to join the Communist Party of China and joined the army, becoming a soldier of our party and fighting for the establishment of a peaceful new China.
At a young age, he took part in the revolutionary struggle
Wang Zhanshan originally had the lofty ambition of liberating all the people and allowing the people to live a peaceful life, coupled with our party's ideological education of not being afraid of sacrifice and fighting heroically. Wang Zhanshan was therefore very brave in battle and made great achievements in battle.
In the War of Liberation, Wang Zhanshan followed General Ding Sheng in the Liaoshen Campaign, and was promoted to squad leader by virtue of his bravery in combat; Wang Zhanshan, who was the squad leader, took the lead in the battle, and when he saw his comrades-in-arms falling on the road of charging one by one, Wang Zhanshan took up the explosives package without hesitation, rushed to the enemy's machine gun position, and finally successfully blew up the enemy's machine gun fire, opening up the road to victory for the comrades who charged.
Figure IV Soldiers who won the War of Liberation
The battle in the north was won, and Wang Zhanshan's body also left many scars, and the military doctor suggested that Wang Zhanshan stay in the rear to recuperate, but when Wang Zhanshan heard that our army was going to cross the Yangtze River and unify the north and the south, he took the initiative to ask for help, regardless of his own injuries, and joined the battle. Bring complete peace to the country.
Fight on the Korean battlefield
Figure 5 The fierce Korean battlefield
After the end of the civil war, our country ushered in a long-lost peace, but this peace was very fragile, still threatened by imperialism and other hostile forces, Wang Zhanshan did not relax and slackened, from a peace fighter to a guardian of peace. Soon after, in order to promote hegemony in East Asia and consolidate its own economic interests, US imperialism brazenly launched the Korean War, retreating the front to the border in northeast China in a short period of time, and even sending bombers to bomb China's territory. In this regard, our leaders made a wise decision to send troops to Korea and were determined to defend the hard-won peace. Wang Zhanshan, who was already a platoon leader, once again took the initiative to ask for help, requesting to enter Korea and fight the enemy.
Considering that Wang Zhanshan's troops frequently engaged in various battles, the leaders had already suffered serious attrition, and the soldiers were also scarred and wanted to preserve their strength, so they avoided putting Wang Zhanshan's troops into the battlefield, but only used them as reserve troops, deployed in the rear to rest, as an emergency reserve force when the battle situation in the front changed.
After crossing the Yalu River and entering the Korean battlefield, our army launched three large-scale offensives, first repelling the enemy troops entrenched on the border line and ensuring that our territory was protected from the direct threat of war, and then recapturing the Korean capital of Pyongyang, stabilizing the position, and obtaining a forward base for our army, and finally advancing the front line to the south of the 38th Line, which greatly dampened the us army's previous successive victories.
Figure VI Volunteers
After this series of battles, both the enemy and us suffered serious attrition, and neither side had absolute superiority in troop strength, so the front line repeatedly sawed south of the 38th Line, and in order to occupy more chips in the peace negotiations, the United States decided to make a desperate bet and continue to increase its strength on the Korean battlefield, and at most one-third of the entire US Army was put into the battlefield, and a large number of elite troops such as the "First Cavalry Division of the Founding Fathers", "The First Division of the American Sword Army" and the "Fourth Aviation Wing of the Ace Flying Team" were thrown into the battlefield. First, the aircraft artillery was used to bombard indiscriminately, and then the ground forces launched an attack, hoping to push the front line north, thus threatening our country to cede interests. In response to U.S. imperialism, our army issued orders to throw all the reserves in the rear into the battlefield and compete with the United Nations forces. Wang Zhanshan's three platoons were ordered to hold on to Heights 408 and 418 to block the enemy forces moving north.
Relying on the superiority of firepower brought by his own aircraft and artillery, the enemy believes that after a bombardment, our army will lose its combat effectiveness, so it has been told to the news through the media that it will not take all the positions on the 38th Line in less than a day. But the facts gave the enemy a blow head-on, Wang Zhanshan and other soldiers as soon as they arrived at the position hastily dug trenches and built air defense fortifications, the enemy's aircraft artillery launched a bombardment of the position, the soldiers hid in the fortifications, and when the enemy ground troops attacked, the fighters entered the trenches and ambushed the enemy, and after several exchanges, the enemy army did not take the position for several months.
The weather became colder and colder, and the Commander-in-Chief of the United Nations Army, MacArthur, realized that winter was coming, and the Practice Department was on his side, so he formulated a new battle plan, using artillery cover, tanks to open the way, and the infantry launched a general attack, mobilizing a large number of tanks and artillery to pounce on our positions. Wang Zhanshan faced the menacing enemy army, knew that the last moment had come, and held this round of offensive, the enemy army was the end of the crossbow, and then our army could counterattack, so he and his comrades-in-arms stubbornly held the position.
Figure 7 Wang Zhanshan wearing the July 1st Medal
However, the enemy's attack was very resolute, and after each charge was repulsed, it would soon be reorganized to launch another charge, and after each repulsion of the enemy's charge, the enemy would continue to bombard the position with artillery until the next charge was launched, without giving Wang Zhanshan and his comrades a chance to rest. After several days and nights of bombardment, nearly 10,000 shells fell on small positions, and the originally steep peaks were cut into flat-topped mountains.
When the battle was fierce, the company commander was seriously wounded, was transported to the rear for treatment, and before leaving, he handed over the command to the deputy company commander, the deputy company commander fell, and the company instructor took up the responsibility of commanding, until the instructor also fell, and the burden of commanding the operation fell on the shoulders of Wang Zhanshan, the three-platoon platoon leader, and the instructor told Wang Zhanshan with pain: "You will take over the command and defend this position." "When the enemy army saw that the position could not be attacked, it switched to the method of defending, cut off the supply line of our army, and tried to trap the volunteer soldiers, Wang Zhanshan led the soldiers to collect wild vegetables to fill their hunger when the grain ran out, and took advantage of the night to secretly go to the corpses of the dead enemy troops to collect emergency military food, and brought back black bread, turnips, and canned goods, etc., and stubbornly guarded the position.
Figure 8 Received by Chairman Mao
In the end, Wang Zhanshan's troops successfully defended their positions, and throughout the Battle of Jincheng, Wang Zhanshan and his comrades repelled a total of 38 enemy charges, annihilated a large number of enemies, and bought time for the large troops. When the enemy gave up the attack and began to retreat, there were only twenty soldiers in the whole company, and Wang Zhanshan, who had been seriously wounded and fell into a coma, was sent to the military medical department for rescue, and our army also launched a counterattack against the enemy, and finally drove the enemy back, and the United States was forced to sit at the negotiating table and agree to withdraw. After the end of the war, Wang Zhanshan's body has accumulated dozens of scars, and there are bullet casings on Wang Zhanshan's head that cannot be removed, and remain in Wang Zhanshan's body forever; Wang Zhanshan himself awarded the honor of first-class merit and second-class combat hero, and was personally received by Chairman Mao, and even the Dprk government awarded him the National Flag Medal to thank him for his contribution to the Korean War.
Veterans of the war continue to struggle
After the end of the Korean War, Wang Zhanshan set off from the north to the southern border. Vietnam has repeatedly provoked our country, in order to maintain peace and justice, our leaders decided to launch a counterattack, Wang Zhanshan once again took the lead in fighting on the Vietnamese battlefield, and finally eliminated the Vietnamese aggressors. After that, Wang Zhanshan's body no longer supported him to continue to fight in the front line, and the organization decided to transfer Wang Zhanshan to the military sub-district in Anyang, Henan, and Wang Zhanshan was successively promoted to company commander, battalion commander, etc., and was appointed deputy commander of the Anyang Military Subdistrict in Henan, responsible for militia training and reserve force building.
In 1987, Wang Zhanshan retired from the army and began a life after retirement, but Wang Zhanshan did not forget the hard-won peaceful life today, and is still making contributions to the cause of national defense; he actively devoted himself to the cause of propaganda and education, carried out national defense education in many schools, brought military knowledge to students, and reminded the next generation of successors of the motherland that today's peace is bought with the blood of countless revolutionary ancestors, and must cherish the peaceful and happy life now, and often use his pension to support students with difficult family conditions. Wang Zhanshan hopes that through his own efforts, more children can contribute to the country, so that today's happy and beautiful peaceful life can continue forever.
Figure 9 Wang Zhanshan and the children
The martyrs have not been forgotten
In today's China, which has not been threatened by war for a long time, people have become accustomed to a peaceful life, and it seems that the deeds of the revolutionary martyrs are disappearing from people's memories, under such circumstances, the Party Central Committee decided to commend outstanding Communist Party members, awarded the July 1st Medal, and held a grand award ceremony, so that the revolutionary martyrs who contributed to the country were re-remembered by the people and caused great repercussions in society.
Figure 10 Full of honors
Wang Zhanshan still did not forget his own heart after getting the medal, and modestly said that this medal belongs to the soldiers who have passed away, and today we must not lie on the merit book, and we must make new merits!
Wang Zhanshan still maintains a simple style of work, and today, in addition to remembering the heroic deeds of the revolutionary martyrs, we must cherish today's hard-won peaceful life, do things in a down-to-earth manner, and strive to make our own contributions to the eternal peace of the motherland.