In 1955, in addition to the military ranks, three medals were also awarded, namely the August 1st Medal, the Independence Freedom Medal, and the Liberation Medal, which were also compared with the three stages of our army, the period of the agrarian revolution, the period of the War of Resistance Against Japan, and the period of the War of Liberation.
Of the thousands of generals, only 144 were awarded three first-class medals, including ten marshals, ten generals, little known, and one of the founding colonels received three first-class medals.
It is precisely because this person won three first-class medals as a colonel, and he also made history, and this person is General Luo Houfu.
Luo Houfu was a native of Huang'an, Hubei Province, born in 1909, like all the oppressed people of that era, Luo Houfu was born in a peasant family, from snacks to bitterness, and later, when the national peasant movement rose vigorously, Luo Houfu joined the local peasant association and formed the Peasant Red Guard to eliminate violence and liang.
In 1930, Luo Houfu's Red Guards were incorporated into the Red Army, and soon after, he also joined the Communist Party of China, after which he successively served as a company commander and battalion political commissar in the Red Army.
In 1935, the Red Twenty-eighth Army was rebuilt, and Luo Houfu served as the battalion commander.
At that time, in the army, the purge was very serious, Luo Houfu was very angry about this, he found the director of the security bureau, severely reprimanded him, saying that he was seeking justice for those who had been wronged, and the director of the security bureau was ashamed and angry, and reprimanded Luo Houfu: "What do you understand? If you continue to make such nonsense, be careful that I arrest you too. ”
Luo Houfu was then the secretary of the Guangshan County CPC Committee, and when he returned to the county, Luo Houfu held a meeting, talked about his views, and said that he was going to write a letter to the central authorities to reflect the situation.
Dai Keming and Luo Houfu are fellow countrymen, and at the same time they know his personality very well, and now he sends Luo Houfu to the Security Bureau, which is nine deaths, and Dai Keming privately finds Luo Houfu: "Dude, I tell you the truth, the superior said to send him to the Security Bureau." ”
Luo Houfu's eyes widened as he listened, "Are you leaving now?" ”
Deaki: "What are you talking about?" If you go, I'm afraid you won't even have a life..."
Luo Houfu: "I ran away, what do you do?" ”
The two men were silent.
After a while, Luo Houfu said: "I can't run, I ran away from the revolution." ”
Dai Keming was a little anxious: "Then you can't wait for death in vain."
Luo Houfu was later sent to the Security Bureau, where Luo Houfu was tortured a lot, but he always insisted that he was not guilty, and later, the Security Bureau sent someone to execute him, and on the way to the execution ground, he encountered an enemy raid, Luo Houfu said that he would take the lead in the charge, and it was not too late to kill him after this hurdle.
His escort agreed that after the war, he was spared death because of his merits, but he became a porter.
After that, although Luo Houfu suffered many hardships, he was always unyielding and always insisted on not leaving the revolutionary ranks, and during the agrarian revolution, he successively served as the commander of the Third Road Guerrilla Division of the Northeast Hubei Provincial Committee.
During the Long March of the Central Red Army, Luo Houfu followed the 28th Army and persisted in guerrilla warfare in the south for three years.
After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, all the southern guerrillas were reorganized into the New Fourth Army, and Luo Houfu served as the commander of the Sixth Independent Guerrilla Brigade of the New Fourth Army.
Luo Houfu successively served as the commander of the first regiment of the Yu'e Advance Column and the brigade commander of the 14th Brigade of the Fifth Division of the New Fourth Army, and one day in 1942, Luo Houfu led dozens of people and ambushed him around the new house of Huang'an Ercheng in Hubei Province.
Here, Luo Houfu led his troops to fight an ambush of the Japanese puppet army, and in this battle, our army blew up an enemy military vehicle, killed 16 enemy people, captured dozens of firearms, and 10,000 rounds of ammunition, while in this battle, our army only sacrificed one person, seriously wounded one person, and slightly wounded two people.
At the beginning of the Liberation War, Chiang Kai-shek mobilized more than 200,000 people to encircle and suppress the Liberated Areas of the Central Plains, and Luo Houfu, then deputy commander of the Jianghan Military Region, was ordered to lead the troops of the Jianghan Military Region to attract the enemy in situ and cover the breakthrough of the main force.
In July, Luo Houfu and his troops were about to break through successfully, but they were ordered by their superiors to return to meet the breakthrough troops on the South Road, and many soldiers could not figure it out, so Luo Houfu did their ideological work.
At his insistence, the troops successfully completed the task, and in August, he led the troops and the South Road Breakthrough Force to form the Northwest Hubei Military Region in Fang County, Hubei Province, and he was appointed deputy commander.
At the end of the year, the main force left, Luo Houfu led a small army to fight behind the enemy's back, at that time, the days were very difficult, whether it was weather reasons, or weapons and equipment, Luo Houfu's department was at a disadvantage compared with the enemy.
In this regard, Luo Houfu insisted on guerrilla warfare with the enemy, saying: "Insisting on northwest Hubei is a strategic task entrusted to us by the party, and without the party's instructions, we absolutely cannot withdraw, let alone endure hardships, even if I die here, I will also complete the task." ”
In 1947, Luo Houfu became a brigade commander under Liu Deng's army, and in August, he met Liu Deng's chief.
They praised Luo Houfu: "The red flag of Dabie Mountain does not fall, the gunshots continue to sound, and you Luo Houfu have great merit." ”
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Luo Houfu successively served as deputy chief of staff of the Hubei Provincial Military Region, director of the Cadre Department of the Military Region, deputy director of the Political Department, etc. In 1955, he was awarded the rank of colonel, and in 1961, he was promoted to major general, so he was also one of the founding major generals.
There are three theories about the reason why Luo Houfu was awarded the title of colonel, one is that when he was the commander of the military sub-district, he operated in the military sub-district's own factory, which violated the regulations.
Second, Luo Houfu once came forward to protect a chief who had made meritorious contributions to the revolution during the war years.
Third, Luo Houfu once helped his father-in-law sell tobacco soil.
These three statements are still inconsistent today, but what we can fully determine is that General Luo Houfu has made great contributions to the Chinese revolution and to the red flag in the Dabie Mountain area, so he is called the founding father of the republic, which is also worthy of the name.