In 1951, the writer Wei Wei returned from the Korean battlefield, and he wrote down some of his own observations and hearings on the battlefield
"Who's the Cutest Man"
This reportage, published in the People's Daily, was published shortly after
This article was also selected into the primary and secondary school Chinese textbooks, which has inspired generations of Chinese teenagers and has a great impact.
At the end of the 1950s,
Just when this text was popular throughout the country,
A child in Bayan County, Heilongjiang Province, was studying the text, and when he saw the hero in the text, he thoughtfully associated a martyr named Li Yu'an in the text with his neighbor Uncle Li.
There is actually a reason why he thinks like this, because Uncle Li's full name can be called Li Yu'an, and he is indeed a veteran of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, who has fought for the country and been injured.
So at that time, the child ran to him with some suspicion and asked him:
"Uncle Li, is Li Yu'an in the text of "Who is the Cutest Person" you?"
Who knew that as soon as the child finished speaking, Li Yu'an (Uncle Li) shook his head and said:
"It's just a duplicate name."
”
Although he did not admit it verbally, Li Yu'an also had some doubts at this time that the person in the textbook was himself. So later, he asked his daughter to read this text to himself, and found that the deeds in it really matched himself, and the Li Yu'an written in the book was definitely himself.
But when her daughter saw his surprised look, she also asked him with questions:
"Is it you Li Yu'an in the book?"
But he still said:
"There are many people with the same name and surname, so let's inquire about it!"
From the above two dialogues, it is not difficult for us to see that Li Yu'an is obviously still alive, so why did he become a martyr and be selected for the language textbook? And he is actually alive, so why hide his identity? To know the story, we have to start at the beginning.
In 1924, Li Yu'an was born into a peasant family in Taiqian, Henan.
Although the poor family did not allow him to eat a full meal, it cultivated his hard-working and loyal personality from snacks, and this is one of the reasons why he dared to go to the northeast to do hard work with the "big stream" at the age of 16 when he was alone.
In 1946, when the Kuomintang-Communist Civil War had entered, it was at this time that the 22-year-old Li Yu'an gloriously threw himself into the Chinese People's Liberation Army and was approved to join the Communist Party of China the following year.
After joining the army, he successively participated in the Battle of Siping, the Battle of Western Liaoning, the Battle of Pingjin, the Battle of Crossing the River and many other key battles, and in these major battles with a long span from north to south, he was honored with ten battle merits, including two first-class merits.
In October 1950, Li Yu'an, who had not yet recovered from the civil war, crossed the Yalu River with a large army to join the great War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea.
In the second battle, Li Yu'an's 3rd Company, as the vanguard of the 38th Army, received the task of "cutting off the flight of the Ninth Regiment of the US Second Division in Yuli" on November 30.
At dawn that day, the 3rd Company of the rapid marching army ran through the wheels on its legs and rushed to the intended blocking ground one step ahead of the enemy, and the Ninth Regiment of the US Second Division at this time also just retreated here. In order to be able to better block the attack, 3 companies immediately seized the opportunity to occupy a certain nameless highland of SongkuoFeng, the only commanding height in the area.
The soldiers of the 3 companies then fought the enemy on the premise of not building fortifications and relying only on the terrain.
In fact, although our army had a geographical advantage at that time, because there were no fortifications, it still could not eat much cheap in the face of the heavy weapons of the US army, so the task of the 3 companies of soldiers was extremely heavy, not to mention that they only had a hundred or so people.
But if you want to wait for the main force to come and form a joint force to encircle and suppress all the American troops, you must "crucify" this part of the enemy in this place, so the soldiers of the 3 companies have made up their minds to limit them here no matter what the cost.
Of course, the US military also knew the importance of the breakthrough, in order to seize the time to eliminate these "nails" in their retreat, the US army almost reached the point of madness, they dispatched 32 enemy aircraft, 18 tanks, 24 105 howitzers to carry out uninterrupted indiscriminate bombardment of the 3 company positions.
But it was in such an extremely unfavorable environment that the soldiers of the 3rd Company repelled five crazy attacks of the enemy, and fought with the enemy with bayonets and engaged in hand-to-hand combat when all the bullets were gone.
How fierce was the fighting at that time? Some fighters were ignited by artillery fire, but still used the surrounding shell craters to build temporary fortifications; some fighters grabbed the enemy's neck with their bare hands, tore the enemy's ears, and tried their best to contain the enemy; and some fighters even took up grenades.
Pulling the strings and rushing into the enemy group,
Even if you sacrifice yourself, you must die with the enemy.
Li Yu'an was one of them, and he fought as a acting platoon leader until the end - after all the bullets and grenades were gone, he bent down to pick up a rifle without bullets and engaged in a white-knife battle with the American soldiers who had already run to the front.
However, when rushing into the crowd and wrestling with the enemy, Li Yu'an was unfortunately hit by a bullet in the right chest, and the huge inertia of the bullet passed through his lung lobe and broke his two ribs, and Li Yu'an, who was so badly injured, immediately fainted in a pool of blood...
It is with this tenacity that
The 3rd Company successfully completed the task of blocking the battle, annihilating more than 600 enemy troops, and the ratio of losses between the enemy and us was 6:1. The bloody battle of the 3 companies bought time for the large troops to arrive, so they were awarded collective special merit by the leading organs of the Volunteer Army, and they also received the title of "Heroic Unit".
It was just that although this battle was won, Li Yu'an did not return to the team after this vicious battle, and then without finding any trace of him, he was judged to be "sacrificed" by the troops, so Li Yu'an was recorded by the later Wei Wei and became one of the martyrs who died in the text "Who is the Most Lovely Person".
Then he did not die, where did he go after the war? It turned out that after Li Yu'an had passed out on the battlefield, he was fortunate to meet a Korean People's Army commander, who, after finding out that he still had breath, immediately carried him to an abandoned empty room to rest.
Later, friendly comrades of the 334th Regiment found him when they passed by here, and quickly sent him on a stretcher to a divisional health center for emergency treatment, and only after the doctor gave him emergency open surgery did he save his life.
However, his injuries were too serious at that time, and the equipment of the health center was too rudimentary, and he had to go to a better hospital to recover, so in 1950 he was transported back to China for treatment.
After returning to China, he was first treated at the Slope Military Station in Heilongjiang, and then transferred to the Army Hospital of the Central South Military Region. After being transferred to a major hospital, he underwent eight surgeries and recovered after nearly two years of recuperation.
However, because the local government did not know his merits and identity, in 1952 the local organization only arranged for him to go to Heilongjiang Province according to the treatment of ordinary demobilized disabled soldiers
Xinglong Town, Bayan County
The grain depot became an ordinary worker.
When Li Yu'an worked in the grain depot, he worked as a guard, load supervisor, processor, custodian and weigh inspector of the floor scale group, and almost all the posts in the grain depot were repeated until 1980 before retiring (and then engaged in agricultural activities at home).
During this period, like in the army, he has been working hard and complaining, not only has he been rated as an advanced worker of the grain depot 16 times, but also won the honor of outstanding party member and model worker of the grain depot many times.
So even if he didn't rely on his merits on the Korean battlefield, just by the honors he had earned in the grain depot, he could have many opportunities for promotion, but he never came and went.
For example, he once had several opportunities to raise his salary, and he gave up, so when he retired, his monthly salary was only more than fifty yuan; for example, when he got married, he lived in a low grass mud house for decades, and once the grain depot wanted to give him a second house, but he refused, and gave it to new workers who did not live in a house.
All along, "treatment does not open his mouth, good things do not reach out" is the basic principle that Li Yu'an abides by when he works in the grain depot, and he is still the original fighter to resist the United States and aid Korea, and he has always been able to put the interests of the people in the first place.
Personally, I think that in addition to the admirable work principles he adheres to, what is even more valuable is his spirit of not seeking fame and fortune.
From the beginning of the article, we can see that when the text "Who is the Most Lovely Person" was disseminated nationwide in the 1950s and 1960s, Li Yu'an actually knew that what was said in the article was himself, but he did not have the slightest arrogance, but he has been hiding his fame, even if his daughter asked about it, it was only a simple perfunctory past.
And he was "hidden" for 40 years, until the day in February 1990 was "exposed".
On that day, two people from the 38th Army of the Chinese People's Liberation Army stationed in Baoding came to the guard post, one was Li Yu'an, an old man dressed as a peasant with a white stubble, and the other, although also dressed as a farmer, was a very young man, and this was his nephew.
Li Yu'an came up at that time and told the guards: "I am a veteran of the Thirty-eighth Army, and I have something I want to find your leader." As he spoke, he handed over his documents, and the guards immediately reported the situation to them, and soon the two of them were taken to the reception room of the Political Department.
After Officer Xie of the Secretariat appeared in the reception room, Li Yu'an went forward and tightly held the hand of Officer Xie of the Secretariat, and said with a little excitement:
"I can see you!"
Officer Xie, on the other hand, asked in great surprise:
"Are you?"
Li Yu felt that his behavior was too reckless, so he said while pulling something out of his body:
"My name is Li Yu'an, and I am a soldier of the 3rd Company of the 1st Battalion, 335th Regiment of the former 112th Division!"
After saying that, he handed over his disability certificate and the textbook printed with the text "Who is the Most Lovely Person" to Officer Xie, who was first stunned when he saw the three words "Li Yu'an", and then reflected it after a long time, and then said excitedly and incoherently
"Is it the martyr Li Yu'an who has been killed in the Battle of Songkuofeng?" ”
After receiving the old man's affirmative reply, Officer Xie was stunned and could not speak for half a day, because he really could not imagine that the old man in front of him would be an old hero who had sacrificed 40 years. But he was well aware that what he had said was true from the evidence provided by the old man, so he immediately reported this important situation to the head of the unit.
At that time, director Li Miaosheng of the Military History Office received the news and immediately came to personally receive Li Yu'an.
Director Li Miaosheng was a participant in the Second Campaign, and had also worked in Li Yu'an's regiment, and was extremely familiar with the "Fierce Battle of Song Bone Peak" at that time, and after he saw Li Yu'an's wounds and the specific circumstances of the battle he provided, he also confirmed the identity of the old man in front of him, that is:
Li Yu'an, deputy squad leader of the 3rd Company of the 3rd Battalion, 335th Regiment, 112th Division, 38th Army, who had been "announced" and held a memorial service.
Seeing that the former hero is still alive, Director Li Miaosheng was very excited, and when he asked Li Yu'an what difficulties and requirements he had in small talk, Li Yu'an said to him:
"My son Guangzhong loved the army since he was a child, bent on becoming a soldier to protect the country, and after graduating from junior high school, he applied for the conscription for three consecutive years because of the limited number of places, and he could not do it."
From Li Yu'an's words, it is not difficult for us to see that Li Yu'an wants to send his son to the army to continue to serve the country, and this request for help is also the main purpose of Li Yu'an's visit. And after saying this, he said apologetically:
"If there is any other way, it will not add trouble to the troops!"
At that time, for Li Yu'an's only request for so many years, the leader of the army finally allowed his son to join the army as a special situation after communicating and consulting with the local government, and Director Li also wrote a letter to the local government, namely:
Comrade Li Yu'an is the combat hero of our troops and hopes to give corresponding care in life.
But who would have thought that for some reason, The enlistment procedures for Li Yu'an's son had not been completed, so Li Yu'an returned to the old army in April to inquire about the progress of the enlistment procedures. At this time, Li Yu'an's original unit was holding a celebration meeting, and Li Miaosheng, director of the Military History Office, saw him coming and accompanied Li Yu'an back to the regiment to participate in the celebration meeting.
At the meeting, the leader of the regimental headquarters personally took Li Yu'an's hand and introduced him to more than 50 new and old leaders of the army and division, and introduced him to everyone at the meeting:
"He is an old hero of our troops, and comrade Li Yuan, a 'living martyr' who survived the battle of SongkuoFeng!"
In an instant, the scene was thunderous applause, and this hero who had been anonymous for 40 years finally came to the public's eyes again.
And when the old writer Wei Wei learned that the martyr who had written "dead" by himself was still alive, the two met in Beijing on April 21, and when Wei Wei watched the former "martyr" standing in front of him alive, he was ecstatic about his "pen mistake".
On the title page of the collection of essays presented to Li Yu'an, he wrote the following passage: Comrade Li Yu'an, you are a glorious participant in the battle of Songkuofeng, in the past I thought you had become a martyr, and today I know that you were injured and rescued. I am very happy to see you this time. You are the loveliest person. I wish you health and longevity, always remain glorious, and continue to contribute to the people.
Later, when the two were separated, Wei Wei also gave Li Yu'an a "letter of care", but Li Yu'an always carried the letter in his pocket and never handed it over to the county party committee, because in his view he was just an ordinary soldier, had no culture, and did not want to be an official, and his son had already gained some benefits with the help of the government, and he could no longer add chaos to the country.
Someone once asked him why he chose to do this, and he said to those people with some feeling: "If the living people still go to the party and the people, will they still have the face to see those comrades who sacrificed in the future?" ”
From this, we can also see the concept of life and death and the concept of honor and disgrace that the old hero Li Yu'an originally retained for many years in the army.
After Wei Wei met Li Yu'an, and his stories of hiding his name for many years were exposed, the major print media such as the "People's Liberation Army Daily" and "China Youth Daily" at that time reported on Li Yu'an's heroic deeds, and they praised Li Yu'an as a "real hero" and a "banner", and for a while he became a model for the people of the whole country to learn.
On October 25 of the same year, As a specially invited member of the "Chinese-People Friendship Delegation," Lee Yu-an visited the DPRK and participated in the commemorative meeting organized by the DPRK to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Chinese Volunteers' participation in the Korean War, at which He was personally received by THE DPRK Chairman Kim Il Sung, and was later awarded the "National Flag Medal of the First Class", which is also his belated honor.
In October 1994, as a national heroic model, Li Yu'an also participated in the National Day ceremony for the 45th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.
When asked what unfulfilled wishes he had in his later years, he once said that he still had two things in his heart: one was hui
Henan
The old family did filial piety for the graves of the deceased parents; the other thing was to collect some money, build a road for the hometown, and do the duty of being a party member.
As for himself, he never said a word.
In 1997, Li Yu'an died of illness at the age of 74. At the time of his death, thousands of people came from all directions to see him off, and when they saw the three last words he left behind, everyone wept bitterly.
Because in his last words, he wrote: "The three roads in the town have not been completed, and everyone must work together to complete them; the honor belongs to the comrades-in-arms, and the military merit badges and certificates are handed over to the organization; and after I die, I must say hello to Wei Wei and these old comrades-in-arms." ”
In fact, these words he left behind are not gorgeous, very simple, but it is such simple words that have touched countless Chinese people, because in these words, his quality of "outstanding military achievements are not famous, silent dedication is not for profit" is vividly displayed.
Before his death, countless acquaintances asked him after learning about Li Yu'an's situation: "Why did you never admit that you were the "sacrificed" martyr Li Yu'an in "Who is the Most Lovely Person"? ”
And Li Yu'an often replied with a smile: "I can't open that mouth, I'm afraid that others will say that I eat the old book and lie on the merit book." Besides, aren't all the grades written out? It is also written in the text, which proves that the organization and the people have not forgotten us, and I think this is very interesting! ”
From this, we can also see some shining points in Li Yu'an' body, perhaps because he has this "loyalty" to the party, and "stupid energy" in the face of fame and fortune, so that he can get the respect and recognition of the party and the people.