After the founding of New China, our army first implemented the rank system in 1955, and in order to commemorate this great moment, the central authorities also specially held a rather solemn ceremony for awarding titles, and thousands of founding generals were awarded corresponding titles. However, at the awarding ceremony, there were many very interesting things that happened, such as the founding lieutenant general Huang Mars did not come to the stage to award the title because he heard the wrong name, which was also talked about later. But what happened at the PLA conferment ceremony in 1955? It made Ye Shuai almost get angry on the spot!
It turned out that when Ye Shuai conferred titles for the major general winners, he found two identical names on the list of awards, that is, Fang Guonan. This greatly annoyed Ye Shuai, because such a flaw at such an important moment was a serious dereliction of duty on the part of the staff. Ye Shuai was almost angry at this on the spot, but after the explanation of the staff, he calmed down, and after fixing his eyes, he found that although the two had the same name and surname, they were not alone. Because the positions held by the two are different, one of them serves as the second political commissar of the Guangxi Military Region, and the other is the political commissar of the Platon Sports School.
Ye Shuai looked at the two generals with the same name and surname with great interest, not only did they have the same name, but even the rank they were awarded was the same, which was undoubtedly a very coincidental thing. But what's even more surprising is that the similarities between the two generals go far beyond that. Both generals were also from Pingjiang, Hunan, and were born in the same township, separated by just five kilometers. And the two joined the Red Army in the same year, and after retiring in their later years, the two lived in the same dry rest house. What is even more interesting is that both served as regimental political commissars during the agrarian revolution and as directors of the political department during the War of Resistance Against Japan, but one was in Shanxi and the other in Hebei.
This similarity is undoubtedly amazing, and in order to distinguish the two generals, Ye Shuai renamed the slightly older general Fang Guonan to Fang Guoan. General Fang Guoan was born in 1913, and General Fang Guoan was born in 1915, but although the age difference was two years, the two joined the revolutionary ranks together and became the founding major general together.