Today, in the southeast cemetery of Taichung City, Taiwan, there is such a mausoleum, which covers a large area but is very simple, has no ornate decorations, and looks like an ordinary one.
What is strange is that the general coffin is buried in the soil, but this coffin is placed on the ground, and the surrounding area is only sealed with black marble.
This means temporary placement, also known as cessation, but the coffin has been laid here for 31 years since November 1990.
Mausoleum of Sun Liren
According to the name on the tombstone, it can be known that the owner of this tomb is the famous anti-Japanese general Sun Liren, and the coffin of the anti-Japanese hero has been here for more than thirty years.
Sun Liren, a famous anti-Japanese general
Born in a family of scholars, Sun Liren has received a dual education of traditional Chinese culture and advanced Western culture since he was a child, which allows him to learn from primary school to more high-quality and refined knowledge.
It was for this reason that in 1914, he was admitted to tsinghua university at that time with the first place in Anhui Province, and his major at that time was the department of civil engineering.
Although this major is somewhat contrary to his origin in the Scholarly Family, Sun Liren's studious personality and his modest and intelligent behavior quickly won him the favor of many classmates in the major.
During his time at school, Sun Liren was selected to join the school basketball team because he was good at playing basketball, and soon after, as a member of the Tsinghua school basketball team, he represented China in the third Far East Far East Games.
At the Games, Sun Liren was affectionately known as the "Flying General" by the audience because of his rapid movements and strong hands.
As the main force in the basketball team, Sun Liren led the Chinese basketball team all the way forward, and soon entered the finals, and defeated the Japanese team in the finals to win the championship.
It was also China's first basketball championship in an international competition.
In 1923, because of his excellent grades, Sun Liren had the opportunity to study at public expense, and on August 17 of the same year, Sun Liren, together with Bingxin, Liang Shiqiu and Wu Wenzao, took the cruise ship "Jackson" to the United States.
After arriving in the United States, Sun Liren went directly to the third year of Purdue University in the United States, continued to study civil engineering, and in 1925, obtained a bachelor's degree.
At the same time, after graduating, the students all chose to return to China to work, while Sun Liren chose to temporarily stay in the United States to work for the bridge company, and after only four months of work, Sun Liren changed his mind.
He saw that the Chinese in the United States could only do the lowest, hardest work, but with the least salary, and they only watched the Americans live a free life in this so-called free capital of the United States, and they were still humble.
Seeing such a scene, Sun Liren believed that the reason why the Chinese were treated unequally in the United States was because the country was poor and weak. Only when China becomes stronger can it shelter the chinese people who are far away and make their lives better.
So Sun Liren resolutely resigned from Rong, and then was admitted to the Virginia Military Academy, known as "Southern West Point".
Virginia School, though known as "South West Point," has a louder name called "School of Hitting People."
After entering the school, the new students of this school will be scolded by the old students for various reasons, and sometimes there is no reason. Sun Liren, who was a Chinese, was beaten the most.
At that time, there was only one Chinese in the Virginia school, Sun Liren, and most of the people in that school looked down on the Chinese, and it is conceivable that Sun Liren suffered what kind of mental and physical torture sun Liren suffered in Virginia at that time.
But Sun Lidu endured one by one, and by June 1927, he had graduated from the Virginia School with honors.
Photographs and comments by Sun Liren in the graduation album of the Virginia Military Academy in the United States.
In 1928, Sun Liren joined the National Revolutionary Army after returning to China, became an ordinary soldier, and later with the help of Song Ziwen, gradually showed his military talents and became the leader of the fourth regiment of the Taxation Police Regiment.
On August 13, 1937, in the Battle of Weihu, Sun Liren led his army to defeat the Japanese army's forced crossing of the Suzhou River seven times. In order to regain the lost position, he did not hesitate to risk his life and personally led the stormtroopers to retake the position.
In 1938, this unit under the command of Sun Liren had become one of the most elite units in the Kuomintang army.
In 1941, Chiang Kai-shek decided to send Sun Liren to Burma to fight with the Allied forces. Subsequently, the Tax Police Corps led by Sun Liren was reorganized into the new 38th Division, with Sun Liren as the division commander.
This expedition was an important turning point in Sun Liren's life, and it was also a war that made him famous, and after a short and urgent relevant training, Sun Liren led the new 38th Division to Burma.
On April 19, 1942, when Sun Liren led his troops to the front line according to the plan, he happened to run into British soldiers surrounded by Japanese troops.
Sun Liren looked at the surrounded British troops and thought to himself: Now there is no need to go any further, the Japanese army has sent it to the door by itself. But the battle situation was not something that Sun Liren wanted to think more, because the British army at this time was already in danger. Sun Liren immediately sent the only armored regiment of the new 38th Division to quickly enter the battle.
Sun Liren on the battlefield of India and Burma
In order to wipe out the Japanese army as soon as possible and rescue the besieged handsome man, Sun Liren said directly: "The soldiers of all the armored regiments of the 38th Division have listened to me well, surrounded the Japanese army according to the instructions for a while, listened to my signal after dark, and brought the Japanese devils to the end." ”
Soon, the armored regiment was ambushed not far from the Japanese army, only waiting for darkness to launch an attack, the soldiers were so powerful, Sun Liren naturally did not fall down, just when the moon just climbed the treetops, he directly held a machine gun to the Japanese army to strafe.
As soon as the machine gun sweep signal came out, the others launched an attack one after another, catching the Japanese army off guard, and after two days of bitter fighting, Sun Liren's new Thirty-eighth Division annihilated more than 1,200 people in the main force of the Japanese 33rd Division.
While annihilating the enemy, they also rescued more than 7,000 British troops, including the Anglo-Burmese commander-in-chief Alexander, as well as British soldiers and American journalists who had been captured by the Japanese.
The victory of Ren'an Qiang this time was a great victory for the Yang wei international after the Chinese Expeditionary Force went out on the expedition. Sun Liren, who rescued the British army, was awarded the Imperial Hero Medal by the Emperor. The President of the United States awarded Sun Liren the "Meritorious Service" medal. In this battle, Sun Liren won more with less, and since then he has become famous in one battle.
In the spring of 1943, Sun Liren's New 38th Division and the Fifth Army's New 22nd Division re-formed the New First Army in India and received American training, deciding that they would have to seize Myitkyina, a key area in northern Burma occupied by the Japanese army.
On October 29, the new 38th Division led by Sun Liren took the Japanese stronghold in the Hukang River Valley with great speed, and defeated the main force of the enemy 18th Division and occupied Xinpingyang.
Subsequently, the Chinese troops set up "death squads" and launched an attack on the Japanese army. After 81 days of hard fighting, the Japanese army was completely defeated.
The victory in the Battle of Myitkyina once again allowed the world to see the military ability of Sun Liren, making his prestige more prosperous, and was also praised by international public opinion as "the Rommel of the East".
In January 1945, Sun Liren was accompanied by British officers to inspect the troops in northern India
In May 1945, Sun Liren led the New 1st Army back to China.
At the same time, the commander-in-chief of the Allied forces in Europe invited Chiang Kai-shek to send a three-man delegation to investigate the Battlefield in Europe. However, it was demanded that Chiang Kai-shek must send Sun Liren, and the other two were recommended by Chiang Kai-shek.
It was precisely because of this request that Sun Liren had controversy within the Kuomintang, and even Chiang Kai-shek began to be jealous.
Imprisoned
After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Sun Liren also returned home from the European battlefield.
Subsequently, Sun Liren was ordered to lead the New 1st Army to Guangzhou to accept the surrender of the Japanese army, at the same time, Sun Liren also took the opportunity to reorganize and expand his new 1st Army, not only equipped with American and Japanese weapons, but also collected a large number of military materials.
At this time, the new 1st Army, which had strong combat strength, had become one of the five main forces of the Kuomintang Army, and even the New 1st Army called itself the First Army under the heavens.
In 1946, the New 1st Army was sent to the northeast to engage in an anti-communist and anti-people civil war.
However, due to the fact that Sun Liren was not from the Whampoa Military Academy, he was ostracized by the Huangpu generals who claimed to be "Tianzi's protégés", and the relationship between the two sides was like water and fire.
The photograph of Sun Liren as the commander of the New 1st Army, the words on the photo are his self-title
At that time, Sun Liren had an internationally renowned record, so he became a red man in front of Stilwell's eyes. But the relationship between Chiang Kai-shek and Stilwell at this time can be described as irrespective of water and fire.
Naturally, Sun Liren, who was a red man in front of Stilwell's eyes, began to hinder Chiang Kai-shek's eyes a little.
Later, under the exclusion of those generals, Sun Liren's post as commander of the Changchun garrison was handed over to Liao Yaoxiang, who was six years younger than him.
Even later, Because Sun Liren had not won several victorious battles on the northeast battlefield, Chiang Kai-shek relieved him of his military power on this grounds.
Later, Sun Liren negotiated with Chiang Kai-shek through the Americans and asked the Americans to intercede for him, and Chiang Kai-shek saw the face of the Americans and sent Sun Liren to Taiwan to supervise the training of the new army.
After Chiang Kai-shek's defeat and escape to Taiwan, Sun Liren was again appointed commander of Taiwan's defense.
Subsequently, after Chiang Kai-shek was reinstated as president in Taiwan, in order to curry favor with the United States, he deliberately appointed Sun Liren, who had a pro-American background, as the commander-in-chief of the army, hoping to obtain help from the United States.
Sun Liren, the "commander-in-chief of the army," was with Chiang Kai-shek and Soong Mei-ling
In the following year, Sun Liren was promoted to a second-class army general.
However, at that time, Chiang Kai-shek attached great importance to the navy and the air force, and the treatment of the army was relatively poor in comparison, which caused Sun Liren to be extremely dissatisfied, and even quarreled with Chiang Kai-shek over this, and Chiang Kai-shek also scolded Sun Liren for not understanding politics.
Sun Liren, who did not understand politics, later resisted chiang kai-shek's son Chiang Ching-kuo's political work in the army, so in this way, after offending Chiang Kai-shek, Sun Liren offended Chiang Ching-kuo again.
At this time, the Americans no longer looked down on the Jiang family and had the heart to support Sun Liren and Wu Guozhen.
Of course, americans prefer Sun Liren, because he was an excellent graduate of the Virginia Military Academy in the United States and an internationally renowned general.
To this end, the Americans have repeatedly proposed the idea of supporting Sun Liren to rule Taiwan, but Sun Liren has rejected it.
Although Sun Liren refused, the matter still spread out, which made the father and son of the Jiang family, who were already disgusted and jealous of Sun Liren, even more noisy, afraid that Sun Liren would accept the support of the United States that day and drive them out of power.
So in order to prevent Sun Liren from further contact with the Americans, in June 1954, they dismissed Sun Liren from the post of commander-in-chief of the army.
Even so, the father and son of the Jiang family were still not at ease, and they first framed Sun Liren's subordinate Guo Tingliang, saying that he had launched a mutiny. Guo Tingliang, who was confused, was arrested, and then Sun Liren was put under custody on the charge of connivance.
Last words: Do not bury the mainland, the coffin will not enter the ground
In this way, Sun Liren's 33-year long life of seclusion began, as a Kuomintang general who was under house arrest by Chiang Kai-shek at that time, Sun Liren's confinement was once comparable to Zhang Xueliang, and even had a second title of "Zhang Xueliang".
And in order to prevent others from saying that they abused the heroes, Chiang Kai-shek did enough superficial work, he arranged a house covering an area of 495 square meters for Sun Liren, located in Taichung City, and also arranged 6 plainclothes "by the way" on the pretext of taking care of him, and seemed to really not care about Sun Liren's "defection".
But in fact, these people were only Chiang Kai-shek's use of the bright and upright excuse to spy on him.
During this period, Sun Liren could not enter and leave his residence at will, even if he wanted to participate in an activity or contact anyone, he had to report to Chiang Kai-shek's side first, and after getting permission, he could not go out.
In the days of seclusion, Sun Liren rarely had the opportunity to talk to or even contact with outsiders, and during the New Year's Festival, Sun Liren would go to the shrine to burn incense and paper for the dead subordinates, and perhaps make two of his own wishes at the same time.
First, I want to return to my hometown in Anhui to visit my parents' graves.
Second, I hope that after his death, he can be buried in the cemetery of the indo-Burmese fallen soldiers of the New First Army in Matougang, Guangzhou, so that he can sleep with his comrades-in-arms.
In the end, however, neither of his wishes came true.
Later, on March 20, 1988, after Chiang Ching-kuo's death, Sun Liren finally gained his freedom.
After being freed, he desperately hoped that the government would return justice and innocence to him and his subordinates, but the government only said that it was investigating, but it never proved his innocence.
In addition, Sun Liren had two things to worry about, one was to look for the descendants of his comrades-in-arms.
At that time, during the Battle of Ren'anqiang, one of his subordinates, Zhang Qi, died and received the Silver Star Medal from the British Royal Family, which he wanted to give to his descendants.
And the other is to go home, he wants to go back to his hometown in Anhui.
He once wrote in his memoirs: I am a native of Anhui, from a place called Jinniu Mountain in the countryside of Anhui, but in the end, because of my health, I have never been able to get what I wanted.
Later, when his old department Liu Wenmei returned to the mainland to visit his relatives, he knew Sun Liren's wishes, and according to the place Sun Liren said, he found the house in his hometown and took a photo of him.
Seeing Sun Liren in the old mansion of his hometown, he couldn't help but think of his parents' graves.
In 1989, when Mr. Pan Dehui, the former head of Sun Liren, returned to the mainland to visit his relatives, Sun Liren entrusted him to worship his ancestors on his behalf. After Pan Dehui arrived at the locality, the local authorities took him to the cemetery of Sun Liren's parents for worship.
On November 19, 1990, the famous anti-Japanese general Sun Liren died of illness in Taichung, and before his death, he left a last word: Do not bury the mainland, the coffin will not be buried.
Sun Liren's drinking and pain before his death, his descendants could not help but shed tears, and then temporarily placed his coffin in the southeast cemetery in Taichung City, and specially stated that this coffin should not only be sealed, but also could not be buried.
But with the passage of time, to this day, the coffins of Sun Liren's predecessors still lie quietly in the cemetery, not half entangled with the soil below.
Fast forward to 2015, when Sun Liping, son of Sun Liren, was invited to participate in the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.
After the celebration, in an interview with reporters, he said: "I must move my father's grave back when I have the opportunity, which may take a long time." But this is my father's wish, and I think that as long as I continue to work hard, one day my father's wish will be fulfilled. ”
The return of the soul to the homeland is the wish of many warriors. They long to return to their homeland, to the land they love. It is hoped that General Sun Liren's last wish will be fulfilled as soon as possible.