One day in February 1990, an old man dressed as a peasant and with a white beard accompanied by his nephew came from Heilongjiang in the northeast to Baoding, Hebei, the garrison of the 38th Army.
As he approached the door, the guards politely asked him why he had come. The old man did not answer, looking a little cramped and uneasy. When the guards saw this, they immediately summoned officer Xie of the troops.
Seeing a person in charge, the old man's heart seemed to let go a little, so he tightly held his hand and looked at him excitedly, as if he saw his relatives and saw an old comrade-in-arms who had not met for a long time. He said in a trembling voice:
"My name is Li Yu'an, and I am Li Yu'an of the 3rd Company of the 335th Regiment."
"3rd Company of the 335th Regiment, Li Yu'an?"
The name "Li Yu'an" made Officer Xie feel very familiar. The 3rd Company of the 335th Regiment was the heroic team in the Second Campaign to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea. "Li Yu'an, who is Li Yu'an?"
Forty years ago, during the second campaign to resist US aggression and aid Korea, Peng Dehuai led hundreds of thousands of "United Nations troops" into the encirclement circle with the tactic of suspecting soldiers. Subsequently, the volunteer army quickly detoured and interspersed from all directions to the rear of the enemy, and the 38th Army was the most courageous.
Under the orders of the commander Liang Xingchu, the 112th Division of the 38th Army slammed into the direction of Fengmingli, and in only two hours it defeated the Turkish brigade stationed there, blocking the way for the American army to retreat. Subsequently, Liang Xingchu ordered Yang Dayi, commander of the 112th Division, to guard a hill called Songku peak and nail it there like a nail. To this end, Yang Dayi sent the heroic regiment leader, Fan Tianen of the 335th Regiment, to firmly control Songkuo Peak.
Songkuo Peak, the commanding height along the Shunchuan Highway from Junyu-ri via Longyuanli, has an altitude of 288.7 meters, and is a small mountain bag with half soil and half stone. Because Songkuo Peak is located in the northeast of Longyuanli, it is in full swing with Sansoli and Longyuanli, which is the only way for the US 2nd Division to retreat.
In the face of enemy aircraft, artillery and endless troops, more than 100 fighters of the 3 companies held out for 8 hours, and except for 7 survivors, the rest of the fighters finally all died heroically.
Reporter Wei Wei went to the battlefield, saw hundreds of AMERICAN corpses left on the Pine Bone Peak and the remains of martyrs who still maintained the state of battle, mixed feelings, tears, and finally wrote a xiongwen - "Who is the most lovely person". And this article, which eventually became famous in the world, made Song Bone Peak's not very large-scale resistance battle become a household name.
In this article, Wei Wei recorded the names of 13 martyrs, namely Wang Jinchuan, Xing Yutang, Hu Chuanjiu, Jing Yuzhuo, Wang Wenying, Xiong Guanquan, Wang Jinhou, Zhao Xijie, Sui Jinshan, Li Yu'an, Ding Zhendai, Zhang Guisheng, Cui Yuliang, and Li Shuguo.
And Li Yu'an's name is also among them!
"I finally remembered, you are that Li Yu'an!"
Officer Xie was surprised and delighted that the old hero who had been "sacrificed" for 40 years was still alive today.
The old man kept saying, "Yes! Then he took out the "Disability Certificate" and a "Primary School Textbook" he was carrying in his arms. The old man opened the textbook, and the article that appeared was Wei Wei's "Who is the Most Lovely Person".
Subsequently, Officer Xie quickly informed the chief of the 38th Army of the matter. Director Li Miaosheng of the Military History Office hurried to the scene and received the old hero. After investigation, confirmation and verification, the old man in front of him, who did not look amazing, was Li Yuan, the deputy squad leader of the 3rd Company of the 335th Regiment of the 112th Division of the 38th Army.
Li Miaosheng tightly held the old hero's hand and asked with concern, "Why did you come?" Why did it take so long to come back to the troops? ”
Li Yu'an sighed and said:
"Originally, I didn't want to trouble the troops, but I wanted to send my young son back to the old troops, so I came to trouble you!"
It turned out that Li Yu'an had a total of 6 children, and he and his wife discussed that he must let his young son join the army, let him inherit his own traditions, and serve the country. So he thought of his old unit, the 38th Army. If you let the younger son Li Guangzhong go to his original "mother group mother company" to serve, he will not be worthless of his own life for so many years. However, the left and the right are waiting, but the younger son's review is unable to pass.
Li Yu'an, who was in a hurry to get on fire, thought of coming to Baoding and coming to the old troops to "help." He said apologetically:
"If there were any other way, I wouldn't have caused any trouble for the old troops."
In response to Li Yu'an's request, the head of the unit made a decision and personally came forward to consult with the local government. They said that Li Yu'an's son should be regarded as a special case, and special affairs should be dealt with to let him join the army. After completing this matter, Li Miaosheng personally wrote a letter to the local government where Li Yu'an was located:
"Comrade Li Yu'an is a veritable combat hero of our 38th Army, and hopes to give proper care in life."
Who knows that there are many good things, but the enlistment procedures cannot be completed for a long time. So Li Yu'an ran again and returned to the old unit. At this time, the 335th Regiment was holding a celebration meeting. Li Miaosheng was overjoyed to hear that Li Yu'an had come again, so he quickly took him to the celebration meeting.
At the scene of the celebration meeting, the regiment leader introduced Li Yuan to more than 50 new and old leaders of the army and division:
This is the old hero of our troops, Comrade Li Yu'an, the "living martyr" of the Battle of Songbone Peak! ”
In an instant, the venue resounded with a long warm applause, and the soldiers were paying tribute to this long-admired old hero. With tears in his eyes, Li Yu'an stood up straight, performed a standard military salute to the soldiers, and an old hero who had been anonymous for 40 years returned to his home today.
At the meeting, many people wondered how Li Yu'an survived such fierce fire from the US military. After the battle of Songbone Peak, where did Li Yu'an go?
Li Yu'an, a former native of Taiqian, Henan, was born into an extremely poor peasant family. At the age of 16, he went into exile in the northeast and did hard labor. In 1946, he was honorably inducted into the People's Army. A year later, the heroic Li Yu'an joined the Communist Party. In the Battle of Siping, he took the lead as a soldier, bravely killed the enemy, and was awarded the first class merit. Since then, he has made many meritorious contributions in the Battle of Western Liaoning and the Battle of Pingjin. In the Battle of the Crossing River, he once again gave a first-class merit, and then followed the troops from the Yangtze River to Guangxi. From the icy northeast, it almost hit the southernmost part of the motherland.
After the outbreak of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, Li Yu'an joined the DPRK with his troops. During the Battle of Songbone Peak, Li Yu'an encountered the fiercest artillery fire in his life.
At about 6:00 a.m. on the same day, the US Second Division used more than 30 aircraft, more than 10 tanks and countless artillery to launch many attacks on the Songkuling Heights in order to escape for its lives, and the rain-like incendiary bombs were eager to melt the granite on the mountain. Li Yu'an and his comrades-in-arms threw out the fire on their bodies while shooting at the enemy with machine guns and rifles. When the bullets were gone, they fought with bayonets and the enemy. When the fifth attack of the American army was repelled, even the bayonet was rolled up, and the warriors had to use stones to confront the enemy.
At about 2 p.m., the U.S. army launched its sixth offensive, and only Li Yu'an, deputy company commander, signal officers, and a few soldiers were left on the position. They used the gap between battles to concentrate bullets and grenades on their positions. At this time, the enemy thought that there were no more living volunteers in the position, so he shouted and climbed up the hill. When the enemy approached, Li Yu'an threw out a grenade, and with a "bang" it blew up several American devils.
However, at this moment, Li Yu'an felt a heat in his armpits, and then quickly lost consciousness and fell to the ground. When Li Yu'an woke up, he found that he had been seriously injured. Surrounded by mountains, the bodies of comrades and enemies were everywhere. He thought to himself that he would say that he would live anyway, so he struggled to climb down the mountain. Crawling and crawling, Li Yu'an encountered several corpses, they were all his comrades-in-arms who lived day and night and were most familiar with him; looking at it, Li Yu'an's tears flowed out of the ground.
Fortunately, a Korean People's Army commander found Lee Yu-an and then carried him to a Korean home under the southern slope of Songkuo Peak. At that time, in order to avoid the war, the Korean compatriots had already moved away, leaving only empty houses. Just then, a comrade-in-arms of the Brothers' Regiment escorted the prisoners of war through here and found Li Yuan, who was seriously injured. So the comrade-in-arms and the Korean commander found a stretcher and carried Li Yu'an to the cave health center of the division headquarters.
After examination, the bullet shot in from Li Yu'an's armpit, passed through the spine, broke two ribs, and the vertebrae were also broken. At the health center, doctors performed open surgery on Li Yu'an, removed the bullet, and saved his life. After a month of recuperation, the scars were slow to heal. So in early 1951, Li Yuan was sent to a domestic hospital for treatment, and later transferred to the Army Hospital of the Central and Southern Military Region, where he underwent 8 surgeries before and after, and finally recovered from his injuries. But on the chest, there was still a scar the size of a bowl mouth.
Although Lee Repeatedly requested to return to the Korean front, the head of the unit said:
"Now that you have a disability, why don't you demobilize and go home?"
In this way, Li Yu'an tearfully bid farewell to the troops and was demobilized with the "disability certificate".
After Li Yu'an was demobilized, he was assigned to work as an ordinary worker in the grain depot in Xinglong Town, Bayan County, Heilongjiang Province, for 39 years. For decades, he has been anonymous, hard-working, diligent, and earnest, selflessly dedicated to the people, and maintained the fine style of a veteran soldier and a veteran Communist Party member.
From demobilization to retirement, he was rated as an advanced worker in the grain depot 16 times, an outstanding party member of the grain depot many times, and a model worker in the county financial and trade system.
When he first went to work in the grain depot, the leader saw that Li Yu'an was seriously injured, so he asked him to be a granary guard. Later, local workers often had conflicts with workers in other places, and Li Yu'an was always able to patiently do ideological work for everyone and ultimately resolve the contradictions between the two sides.
Later, Li Yu'an served as a granary inspector. At that time, people often looked for him, hoping to "raise their hands" in terms of weight, so they often gave him gifts such as pork, vermicelli, and cigarettes. But Li Yu'an always had his eyelids glazed over: "If you want to take advantage of the country from me, there is no door!" The granary and grain sellers have always evaluated Lao Li: "Old Li is a fair scale."
As for others, Li Yu'an did not mention his own credit in the past, and even his family did not know his identity. Therefore, he never bothered the government, nor did he ask for a penny from the organization. Li Yu'an's family is very large, with 6 children. A family of 8 people counted on his salary of more than 50 yuan to live a life, living a poor and simple life.
Later, the younger son went to elementary school, learned the article "Who is the cutest person", and saw Li Yu'an's name. So he hurried home and asked his father:
"Dad, is this Li Yu'an you?"
For such a question, Li Yu'an has always waved his hand: "It's not me, just the same name and surname!" ”
The house where Li Yu'an's family lived was dilapidated, but when the unit was divided into houses, he always gave up the new house to other colleagues. Once, the granary was changed to two rows of family rooms, and considering that Li Yu'an was an elderly worker, it was decided to give him a place to live first. However, Li Yu'an said resolutely:
"There are so many new workers in the granary who don't have a house to live in, and our house is a little broken but can still live. In this way, he gave up the house where the unit was divided. ”
Why did Li Yu'an not say that he had merit, and he did not enjoy it if he was blessed? According to him:
"I have never dared to open my mouth, I am a party member, I want treatment from the organization, I can't wipe my face, I'm afraid that people will say that I eat the old book, put on the old qualifications, and pay attention to the impact of everything I do."
At the same time, he also said:
"I never thought of myself as a hero, I just did what I was supposed to do. Besides, your achievements have long been written into the book by the motherland, the people, and the army, and I am satisfied, alive and dead, is it not the same? ”
Li Yu'an is such a simple and admirable old hero. Of course, there is an implicit reason why he does not mention credit. That was the more than 100 of his comrades who died. When someone asked him why he was anonymous and why he didn't ask the government for help. He always replied:
"Can my more than 100 comrades-in-arms be blessed?"
Perhaps in his opinion, if he is too happy, it is a debt to those who have died. Every day in the middle of the night, he would return to his comrades-in-arms, to the battlefield of blood and fire.
Later, Li Yu'an's son Li Guangzhong gloriously joined the army, serving in the 3rd Company of the 335th Regiment of the 112th Division of the 38th Army, and the banner of his father was handed over to him. And only then did he know that his surviving father was really the loveliest person of that year and a well-known "martyr".
Subsequently, the news of Li Yu'an's "resurrection from the dead" spread throughout China, and reporters who wanted to interview him lined up. Subsequently, news about Li Yu'an also exploded: Li Yu'an's application to join the party that year was discovered; Li Yu'an's hospitalization checklists and report sheets were discovered; and tv specials and TV dramas reflecting Li Yu'an were also appeared.
And the people who wrote to him were even more numerous. Among them, Ji Ruizhi, the daughter of the patriotic general Ji Hongchang, wrote in a letter to Li Yu'an:
"To the party and the people, you have never stretched out your hand to the organization with the spirit of self-retreat through meritorious achievements, lived a relatively poor life for many years, worked silently for the party, and demonstrated the lofty qualities of a communist party member who does not pretend to be high in merit and does not show his moral integrity, and you are a brilliant example in my heart."
Later, Li Yu'an worked tirelessly and went to schools and enterprises to give speeches many times. But every time the old hero went to a place, he paid special attention to the impact, except for the arranged activities, he did not go anywhere, and never mentioned that he was Li Yu'an. I don't pay any attention to eating and living, staying in the cheapest guest house and eating the cheapest meals. Every day's food is often served by a meal of flapjacks and a glass of cold water. When it came time for the old troops to retake the footage, the seats in the van that picked up the station were not enough to sit, and he said that he would let the comrades of the film crew sit, he said:
"You're taking pictures with the machine, it's a lot harder than me."
On October 25, 1990, as a special representative of the delegation of friendship between the Chinese and the people, Li Yu'an crossed the Yalu River again and went to Korea to participate in the commemorative meeting of the 40th anniversary of the Chinese Volunteer Army's combat in Korea. At the meeting, Lee Yu-an was warmly received by Kim Il-sung and awarded him the "National Flag Medal of the First Class." Choe Tae-pok, secretary of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, shook his hand and said:
"I want to express my highest respect to you, your deeds have been published in our Korean newspapers, and our people know you!"
Obviously, the deeds of the old heroes have spread abroad.
For Li Yu'an, there was another thing that made him worry about his stomach, that is, he always wanted to meet Wei Wei. Later, when Wei Wei heard about this, he was surprised and delighted. Once, Li Yu'an and his son-in-law came to Beijing together and finally met Wei Wei.
After the two veteran soldiers met, they hugged each other excitedly, both burst into tears, and talked all night long. Before leaving, Wei Wei was still unsatisfied, and gave his novel "Orient" and a collection of essays to Li Yu'an. At the same time, he wrote on the title pages of two books:
"In the past, I thought you had become a martyr, but today I learned that you were rescued after you were injured, but this time I am very happy to see you, and I wish you health and longevity and continue to contribute to the people."
Before leaving Beijing, the old commanders of the 38th Army who were still alive practiced for him. The old chiefs exhorted:
"You must guard against arrogance and impetuosity, maintain your style, and strive for greater glory!"
In response to the instructions of the chiefs, Li Yu'an gave a military salute and then firmly said:
"Please rest assured that without the cultivation of the party and the troops, there would be no Li Yu'an, and whether he is famous or not, his merits and honors belong to the party!"
In the last years of his life, Li Yu'an also fulfilled his promise with his own actions. He selflessly forgot himself, and as long as the people needed it, they would do it even if they went to the soup and the fire.
In the 1990s, the road conditions in Xinglong Town were extremely poor, and after the rain, it was often muddy, and the people were miserable. Li Yuan, who has not asked for anyone in his life, can't sit still, he ignores his former gunshot wounds, walks to the factory on crutches, enters the business, raises money everywhere, and finally raises millions of yuan of road construction funds. However, before the road could be repaired, Li Yu'an died of illness in 1997 at the age of 73.
While counting Li Yu'an's belongings, the sons found a letter from Wei Wei. The letter said that Li Yu'an was a combat hero and hoped that the local government would give him more care. However, Li Yu'an did not present the letter to the organization in the end, and even the envelope was not opened. Not until the end of life. Li Yu'an is still the veteran of the volunteer army who never reaches out to the organization and never bothers the country.
Veterans never die, just fade away. Although Li Yu'an has passed away, he will always be the most lovely person, a model for us to emulate and an object of learning, and his spirit and family style will lead us and future generations to continue to move forward.