May this body be long to serve the country, why should he be born into the Jade Gate Pass. In the era of turmoil, the hero holds up a piece of heaven and earth, and there is peace on the side. In that war-torn era, modern China suffered from aggression, and under the struggle of countless heroes, the People's Republic of China was born, and the people lived a peaceful and happy life.
Countless heroes have returned home, hidden their exploits, and only been a low-key and simple person. Xiao Wanshi was like this, who had made countless achievements in the War of Resistance Against Japan, but was willing to return to the ordinary, no longer said much, and lived until the age of 104 and died, and his children knew his true identity.
The third oldest of the Xiao family
Xiao Wanshi was born in January 1905 to an ordinary peasant family in Xingtai, Hebei Province, who lived a simple life facing the loess and facing the sky. However, due to the turmoil of the situation at that time, Xiao Wanshi and his two brothers were patriotic and enthusiastic, and successively joined the local guerrillas.
In 1937, the Xiaowan family suffered great changes. Due to the betrayal of the traitors, the Japanese army bloodied his village, and his parents, sisters, and the whole village did not survive, and they were all brutally burned by the Japanese army. In order to resist the Japanese army, Xiao Wanshi's eldest brother died honorably, and the second brother's whereabouts are unknown.
One moment it was a warm and comfortable family, the next moment it was life and death forever, and Xiao Wanshi's heart was like a knife. For this bloody vendetta, Xiao Wanshi joined the 772nd Regiment of the 386th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army in July 1937 and became a glorious Eighth Route Army. In October of the following year, he joined our party.
At that time, Xiao Wanshi was well-known in the army as "not afraid of death", and in the face of the Japanese army, he always rushed to the front and was extremely brave.
In a certain battle, Xiao Wanshi was originally responsible for loading ammunition, and the company documents on the side were responsible for shooting, but due to lack of battlefield experience, the instrument strafing was not accurate, and a lot of ammunition was wasted. Xiao Wanshi immediately made a decision, changed the documents to the rear, and fired a machine gun with great accuracy, killing many Japanese and forcing them to retreat from their offensive pace.
At the beginning of joining the Eighth Route Army, Xiao Wanshi had no guns, and his only weapon was a large knife. However, the clever Xiao Wanshi felt that the large knife was too short and the attack range was limited, so he made a spear by hand. He then sneaked into a Japanese artillery tower and stabbed nineteen Japanese soldiers to death with his homemade spear, securing 19 rifles for the troops. At that time, this was a very precious combat material.
Later, in the mission of sneaking into the Japanese airfield, Xiao Wanshi led a squad to blow up seven or eight Japanese aircraft, making great contributions to the victory of the battle.
Such a brave and "not afraid of death" Xiao Wanshi has repeatedly accomplished miraculous feats, but at the battle hero deeds report meeting, he is always a simple sentence: there is no way to avenge the dead relatives and fathers and fellow countrymen, he has to kill more devils. It is also such a simple sentence that makes everyone remember this fighting hero who has a feud with the Japanese army.
Xiao Wanshi, the third elder of the Xiao family, fought bravely and strategically, and was a hero of the War of Resistance, who had made 10 first-class merits, 12 second-class merits, and countless third-class merits, and his various medals, large and small, had 50 to 60 pieces. And whether such a brilliant anti-war hero has always been so smooth, the fact is obviously negative.
Those years
Xiao Wanshi, who escaped from danger in countless battles, almost died in the Battle of Changle Village. At that time, he led a team to attack the garrison of a Japanese detachment, and originally everyone thought that the team was just a squad, but unexpectedly miscalculated, the other side was a Japanese brigade.
Because of the wrong calculation, Xiao Wanshifang only had a few hundred people, and the strength of the two sides was very different, and they could only fight backwaters. In the end, only a few dozen people survived a team, and Xiao Wanshi was shot in the left chest and his life was in danger. By the time he was taken to the point of care, his life was on the line.
Due to the shortage of medical supplies at that time, the doctor was forced to tie Xiao Wanshi's hands to the pillar, and then used a metal wire to pass through the wound and remove the bullet fragments, but the medical conditions were limited, and two fragments were left in his chest forever, and he was left with a lifelong disability.
Xiao Wanshi, who crawled out of the pile of dead people, was in pain because of the countless deaths and injuries of his comrades around him, and this battle became the pain of his life.
Although Xiao Wanshi had made countless meritorious contributions in his life, he had also been punished.
Wounded, Xiao Wanshi was unable to participate in the battle to support Korea and was instead transferred to Yunnan to suppress bandits. According to the instructions of their superiors, many ordinary people in Zhaotong, Yunnan Province, relied on the cultivation of opium for their livelihood, and this behavior seriously affected the safety of society, so the superiors demanded that all opium be collected.
In the process of carrying out his mission, Xiao Wanshi was begged by the people. Several old people tearfully hoped that he would be able to leave some opium, because if all the opium was handed over, the old people would lose their source of livelihood.
Looking at the yellow-skinned old people, Xiao Wanshi couldn't bear it, but he couldn't disobey the orders of his superiors, and he knew the harm of opium and definitely couldn't leave it for the old people. But once the opium was taken away, the old people cut off their livelihood, and this two-year situation made Xiao Wanshi very entangled.
Eventually, soft-hearted, he thought of a compromise, and he took a gun and forced the local rich to give several elderly people a sum of money to settle down. The rich man, on the other hand, harbored a grudge, and although he temporarily succumbed to Xiao Wanshi's force, he later reported his behavior to his troops, so Xiao Wanshi was punished.
This punishment is naturally wrong with Xiao Wanshi, but it is not difficult to see its intentions. Worried about the livelihood of the people, he did not want to see that they could not survive, so he had to do so as a last resort. The starting point is excellent, just a little reckless. This punishment does not deny his achievements, but at the same time lamenting his soft heart and kindness, I have to sigh that he is not thoughtful.
So, what about Xiao Wanshi after the end of the war?
Life after the war
After the end of the war and the founding of New China, Xiao Wanshi also waved goodbye to the troops, retired to the local area, and became an ordinary staff member of the grain station in Leibo County, DaliangShan. He never mentioned his achievements, had lived a low-key life, and the years had passed without alarm, and if it were not for the old man's death, everyone, including his children, would not know his former glory.
Xiao Wanshi lived a quiet life, having children with his beloved wife, and he loved his children very much, but he never mentioned anything about the war. According to his children's recollections, they still played with Xiao Wanshi's medals as children, and they did not know the meaning of them.
Only later, after experiencing some changes, these medals that Xiao Wanshi's wife packed in the cloth bag were lost. And Xiao Wanshi did not have too much sadness, he has always behaved very calmly, content with the existing life, not to argue or grab, and never to add trouble to the country.
The early years of war made Xiao Wanshi's health not ideal, and he began to be hospitalized in October 1998, during which he spent 11 years in the hospital until August 2005, when Xiao Wanshi died at the age of 104. When his children were collecting their belongings, they found that his father, who was usually not exposed to the mountains and water, was not an ordinary person, but an uncompromising hero of the War of Resistance, who had won many meritorious deeds in his life.
As a hero, the elderly Xiao Wanshi stepped forward at a time of national crisis, and after the country was stable, he "disarmed and returned to the field" and lived a quiet life. This state of mind and character is worth learning from everyone.