In a family building in Huaibei City, Anhui Province, an old man has forgotten many things that happened in the past due to cerebellar atrophy, but his mouth has been muttering three numbers.
“27，81，241”
Even the children of the elderly did not know the meaning of this string of numbers, until 2018, when the Huaibei Veterans Service Center came to collect information, the answer was revealed for everyone.
It turned out to be the old man's nickname, the 241st Regiment of the 81st Division of the 27th Army.
Who is this old man? What is the story behind this trumpet? Why does the old man only remember this string of numbers?
He used to be the future of this country
The old man's name was Song Liangyou.
In 1946, at the age of 18, Song Liangyou joined the People's Liberation Army, and because he dared to fight and at the same time had a clever mind, he soon became a machine gunner and a sharp knife squad leader in the company.
Machine gunners have always been the focus of enemy fire, and the sharp knife squad leader is equivalent to the "death squad leader", responsible for the most difficult and dangerous offensive tasks.
But people with faith are fearless, Song Liangyou has made great achievements with his hot blood and iron bones, and after this he has not rested, he has not stopped, marching south and fighting in the north, following the troops to suppress bandits, and fighting in the front line of the battle at all times.
Cross the Yalu River
After the outbreak of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea in 1950, Song Liangyou's unit was requisitioned, and the combat task was changed from the original suppression of bandits to rushing to the Korean battlefield to fight with the Korean army and the AMERICAN army.
During that period, Song Liangyou's unit number was the 241st Regiment of the 81st Division of the 27th Army, and he served as a squad leader in the regiment, which was subordinate to the Ninth Army under Song Shilun.
After Song Liangyou arrived on the Korean Peninsula with his troops, his first feeling was cold.
The northern part of North Korea was originally an alpine zone, and at that time there was a winter cold current, there was no cold equipment, and the soldiers of the Ninth Corps wearing only a thin cotton coat could not carry it, and frostbite and frostbite broke out in a large area.
In addition to the harsh natural environment, Song Liangyou and other fighters also had to face the threat of the enemy at all times, and the northern part of the Korean Peninsula was already devastated by the enemy's fighters, and after the arrival of the volunteers, the US fighters came to bomb and strafe at any time.
Bloody battle at Chosin Lake
However, the volunteer soldiers did not back down in the slightest.
Because MacArthur still had the dream of "winning the war before Christmas" in his heart, and vainly tried to encircle and suppress the main force of our army on the Western Front with the 1st, 3rd and 7th Divisions of the Marine War, our army launched the second campaign on November 25, 1950.
Because they had anticipated the intentions and routes of the US troops in advance, Mr. Peng and others made arrangements for our army in advance, and Song Liangyou's Ninth Corps was appointed to carry out an ambush in the Chosin Lake area.
The altitude of the Chosin Lake area is between 1 km and 2 km, and because of the suitable height, the forest is quite dense and sparsely populated, which is very suitable for ambushes.
Of course, the U.S. military knew this, but they did not expect that our army would ambush the Chosin Lake area, because that place is called an extremely cold place on the Northern Peninsula of Korea, and the minimum temperature at night can reach minus 40 degrees.
However, it turned out that the will of man could sometimes really become the most powerful weapon, and in the absence of perfect cold equipment and insufficient food supplies, Song Liangyou and others were forced to ambush in the Chosin Lake area for six days.
When the enemy finally came closer, the charge horn was sounded, and some of the warriors dragged their stiff and tired bodies and launched the most courageous charge at the enemy, while the other small number of fighters had turned into ice sculptures and stood permanently on the snow.
Just when the US troops were preparing to rest that night, they suddenly heard a shout of killing outside, so that the US troops were caught off guard by these volunteer soldiers who "fell from the sky" and suffered heavy losses.
But after all, this was the most elite unit of the US military, equipped with the most advanced US weapons, and after they reacted and organized a counterattack, the Ninth Corps also suffered huge losses.
However, the volunteers eventually won the Battle of Chosin Lake and recovered a vast area of the east north of the 38th Parallel.
Battle xinxingli
The victory at the Battle of Chosin Lake also greatly encouraged the soldiers of the Volunteer Army, and made the soldiers of the Ninth Corps realize the weakness of the American Army, although it was well equipped, but the will to fight was weak.
So they took advantage of the victory to pursue, and soon another battle began- the Battle of Xinxingli.
At that time, the U.S. army was already besieged by regiments, and Xinxingli was an important defensive support point for them, which was their last hope.
To this end, the U.S. army even deliberately stationed a reinforced infantry regiment there, the "Polar Bear Corps", which is an ace legion that claims to have never suffered during World War II, and it is Song Liangyou's 81st Division that is responsible for fighting this corps.
At the beginning of the war, Song Liangyou and others still followed the principle of "fighting at night and attrition of the enemy", but as time gradually passed, the losses gradually increased, and Song Liangyou and others realized that they could not drag on any longer.
So they began to charge the enemy during the day, and after three days and three nights of fighting, although they successfully captured the position and blocked the enemy's counterattack, the troops also suffered heavy losses, not only the company commander's instructor and platoon commander were all sacrificed, but even Song Liangyou was thrown by the enemy's shells when he and his comrades launched a final charge toward the enemy, and their intestines came out, and Song Liangyou was unconscious on the spot.
When the roar and pain of the shells lifted Song Liangyou out of his coma, he had no time to rest, so he had to endure the severe pain to put his intestines back into his stomach, briefly bandage the wound with a belt, and then climb up the cliff along the grass vines with difficulty, and finally return to the army.
Fortunately, Song Liangyou was finally treated in time, and after being stitched on his stomach for ten stitches and comatose for three days, he was out of danger, and because of his outstanding performance in this battle, he was finally awarded the title of combat hero and also received first-class merit.
In the second battle between the Sino-DPRK coalition forces and the United Nations Army, although our army won the victory, the Ninth Corps, which was the main attacker, suffered heavy losses and fell into a long period of rest.
It was not until the 5th campaign that he re-completed the formation and returned to the Korean battlefield, although he was seriously wounded in the previous battle, But Song Liangyou still performed extremely heroically in this battle, because he still led the soldiers to complete the tasks assigned to him by the organization in the case of the dispersion of the troops, so he was awarded the first class merit again.
Deeply hidden in the name and fame
In 1953, the victory of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea ended, and Song Liangyou also returned to the motherland with a large army, and the following year he took off his military uniform and returned to his hometown.
In fact, according to his merits, he could have achieved better development in the army, but he thought that the most heroic warriors had been sacrificed on the Korean battlefield, and as a survivor, he should not seek honor and promotion, so he took the initiative to give up.
After returning to his hometown, Song Liangyou worked as a janitor, digging miner, boiler worker, no matter where he was, he worked hard and complained, and never complained.
As for his past merits, he did not mention it at all, so that his family did not know that this scarred veteran had actually made two first-class merits.
When the veteran's past experience was found, the people in the veterans service center were silent, and the old man's family unconsciously shed tears of pride and heartache.
In the memory of Song Liangyou's old children, Song Liangyou will only sing one song, that is, "majestic and exuberant, stepping across the Yalu River."
However, the old man still did not care about all this, but every day he kept repeating the number of his former unit on the battlefield of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, "27, 81, 241."
Although the heroes are old, there are still traces of history, they dedicate their lives to the country, but they are willing to pay ordinary and silently after they have achieved fame, they are the real heroes!