On September 20, 1985, my father died of illness at the Hankou Air Force Hospital. I clearly remember that when my brother-in-law came to the house to mourn, when he was already the deputy leader of the Grand Military Region, he said: Your father is a dedicated generation.
My father, Guo Zongwen, was born on December 22, 1919, to a middle-class peasant family in Linfenhuo County, Shanxi. Because the family conditions at that time were quite OK, at the beginning of 1937, after graduating from primary school (primary school) in the village, I heard that the county national militia officer teaching group was recruiting, and my father and two young people from the same village went to the county to apply for the examination, and before applying for the examination, they must first join the "Shanxi Sacrifice And Salvation Alliance Association" and become a member of the "Shanxi Sacrifice Alliance Association". As a result, when they went to the county seat to take the examination, they were both admitted, and the two young people in the same village said that they could be admitted so easily, and they must have recruited soldiers, so they decided not to go and prepared to go to the county town to continue to study in high school (junior high school), and because their family conditions were better, they were the children of the landlord's rich peasant family. My father's family conditions did not allow him to continue his studies, but my grandfather did not agree to my father's going to the army, and my father insisted on going. It was a day in June 1937, it was the day of the town's market, my father was going to join the National Soldier Officers' Teaching Corps, and my grandfather ignored my father and went to the town to listen to the play himself. My father's uncles and brothers, driving a donkey cart and riding a bag of grain, sent my father to the county town, sold the grain, sold the grain to my father for money, and sent my father to the army.
According to my father, training in the National Militia Officers' Training Corps is very arduous, starting with the basic military training of being a soldier, the instructors are very strict with the recruits, and there are a few instructors who specifically try to embarrass these recruits. On July 7, 1937, the July 7 Incident occurred, the National Soldier Officers' Teaching Regiment was changed to the Shanxi Youth Anti-Enemy Death Squad (referred to as the Death Squad), preparing to go north to resist the Japanese, the situation suddenly became very severe, there were many people deserting at that time, my father's instructor was his hometown, he said to my father, "You must not desert, that is to catch back and behead, you really want to go, you tell me... ＂。 In fact, my father did not think so, and one of the reasons was that my father joined the army by gambling with my grandfather. My father's troops also did not go north, mainly in Shanxi, and basically did not clash head-on with the Japanese army. Only once, my father was the head of the machine gun squad, according to intelligence, the Japanese army was coming, the machine guns were set up, and the Japanese army did not come after waiting for half a day. At that time, their troops were Yan Xishan to give equipment and military sounds, and when my father was a deputy platoon leader, he wore leather boots and breeches, and the monthly military rings were very impressive. Later, Yan Xishan learned that the death squad was actually a team led by the Communist Party, so he cut off the military sound. In December 1939, the so-called "December coup" led to the death squad openly breaking away from Yan Xishan and officially transferring to the Eighth Route Army.
After the transfer, my father and some people with some culture were sent to the school of the Eighth Route Army, began to learn and train communication technology, and after training, they were assigned to Liu Deng's unit to engage in communications work and devote themselves to the War of Resistance Against Japan. Later, when my father advanced into the Central Plains with Liu Deng's army and prepared to enter the Dabie Mountains, he was already the chief of the communications unit, and before leaving, he ate with two fellow villagers, who were already the battalion commanders of the troops, but after separation, they all died in the battle to advance into the Dabie Mountains. Speaking of this, my father was very sad, saying that the fighting at that time was very cruel, and the platoon commander changed in a day or two. My father was fortunate to be engaged in communications work, along with the troop organs.... My father followed the Second Field Army to participate in the Battle of Huaihai, the Battle of Crossing the River, marching into the Great Southwest, liberating Yunguichuan... After the liberation of the whole country, my father's unit was reorganized into the Chuannan Military Region, and he served as the chief of the communications section at the headquarters, at that time General Fan Chaoli was the main leader of the Chuannan Military Region, and his wife worked in the communications section. During his time in the Southern Sichuan Military Region, my father twice served briefly in the local area, as if he had served as the director of the telecommunications bureau of Zigong City.
In November 1952, my father was ordered to accompany some cadres and fighters of the organs of the Southern Sichuan Military Region to Linfen, Shanxi, located on the Loess Plateau, to participate in the establishment of the 12th Aviation School of the Air Force, and served as the first regimental commander of the First Flight Regiment of the Aviation School, which was in Yuncheng, Shanxi. Subsequently, as the deputy chief of staff of the Aviation School, my family moved to Linfen, Shanxi. In 1959 my father became chief of staff of the aviation school and then vice-chancellor. When awarded the rank in 1955, the rank of lieutenant colonel was awarded, later promoted to the rank of colonel, and in 1964 it was designated as the eleventh administrative class. At the time of the award, the rank was counted from December 1939, the so-called "December coup". Until December 7, 1979, the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee and the General Political Department of the People's Liberation Army issued a circular to the whole Party and the whole army, clearly pointing out that "the League, the Death Squad and other forces of the New Army were all initiated and formed by our Party, and have always been revolutionary organizations and revolutionary units under the leadership and command of our Party." It was only in 1980 that my father was made clear that he joined the revolutionary army in June 1937 and enjoyed the treatment of joining the revolution during the Red Army.
At the beginning of 1960, my father was transferred to the Eighth Aviation School of the Air Force as the vice principal, which is a school for training air force aviation ground staff, located in Shenyang, Liaoning Province. In 1966, when the Cultural Revolution began, the superiors decided to carry out the "Four Greats" in the ground service colleges, and the students in the school were very passionately involved in the movement, the mass organizations were established, and the Cultural Revolution movements such as parades, criticisms, and armed struggles between various factions all occurred, and normal work and life changed at once. Many leading cadres have been dismissed or beaten into bourgeois roaders because of "historical problems." My father's history is simpler and innocenter, but there are still "revolutionary masses" who put forward my father's history of the "death squad", fortunately, Chairman Mao's writings mentioned that the "death squad" in Shanxi is a revolutionary anti-Japanese team ... And so there was no more investigation. However, at that time, most of the school leaders were "on the sidelines", and only my father worked in the post. In that era, people who "stood on the sidelines" suffered a lot, but they were also uncomfortable at work, work institutions and work procedures were destroyed, and there were still many things that needed to be handled, maintain daily work, contact with superiors, and so on. The mass organizations that have done the work are not satisfied with it and criticize the streets. Once, when something happened in Shenyang City, the local government asked the school to send personnel to help, but at that time, the school was in chaos, the students were participating in the "movement", and it was difficult to organize the personnel, so my father explained the situation to the local personnel and politely refused. The next day, my father was dragged by the "masses" to daigao to criticize the streets on the grounds that my father did not care about the overall situation. So that period was also very difficult in the workplace. Later, at the strong request of my father, the superiors decided to let the principal of the school resume his work, so that my father's pressure was much less....
In 1969, according to the needs of Sino-Soviet relations and combat readiness at that time, the Central Military Commission decided to move the school as a whole out of the northeast, and selected Xinyang, Henan, the site of the former Air Force Anti-Aircraft Artillery School, and the anti-aircraft artillery school was dissolved. My father undertook the relocation of the troops and went to the Xinyang Artillery School to deal with the handover matters before the war.... At the beginning of 1970, the school as a whole was relocated to Xinyang City, and our whole family also went to Xinyang City with the school's large army, and when we arrived in Xinyang, we learned that my father was living in the hospital due to fatigue. In May, I received an order from the Air Force to let my father work in the Military Control Commission of Zunyi 061 Base in Guizhou, and at that time, the personnel of the unit were reluctant to go to the local "left" or "military management" because they were worried that they might leave the army and stay in the local area. Although my father was very reluctant ideologically, he immediately went to his new job, and our family remained in Xinyang. From a big city like Shenyang, just arrived in the small city of Xinyang, although Xinyang is small, we are good in the living force compound, the conditions in all aspects are still good, and we must immediately move to the southwest remote town of Zunyi, where there is no living security conditions for the army, life is very hard. But there is no way, we can't let my father live there alone, plus his work pressure is very high. So in July, our family was preparing to move to Zunyi, and my father couldn't come back to pick us up because he was busy at work, so we had to go to Zunyi with a cadre from the artillery school and his family.
When I arrived in Zunyi, I learned that my father had been assigned to the 101 Engineering Headquarters of the State Construction Commission as the director of the Military Control Branch, and the 101 Engineering Headquarters of the National Construction Commission was the team responsible for the construction of the 061 system (base) infrastructure. Since the 061 system (base) and the 101 project command are subordinate to the two central ministry and commission systems, in order to ensure the smooth progress of the base construction and facilitate the coordination of the working relationship between the two units, the superior decided that the 061 system (base) military control committee will send personnel to form a military control branch to implement military management for the 101 project command. The composition of the 101 Project Command is also more complex, it is composed of construction units from all over the country. It is a direct organ of the State Construction Commission. In practical work, although the 061 base military control committee and the 101 engineering command military management branch are one (superior and subordinate relationship), but the 061 base and the 101 engineering command belong to the two central ministry system, there are inevitably contradictions in the work, which brings great difficulties to the work of the 101 project command military management branch.
In accordance with the spirit of the instructions of its superiors, the Military Control Branch has carried out a series of work to stabilize the situation, resume the work of promoting production, disband the rebels, and transfer all power to the Military Control Commission. Organize the leaders of the rebel faction to hold study classes and isolate all tandem activities between their units and between the units and society; set up a provisional party committee with the Military Control Commission (group) as the core, use old cadres, old workers, and intellectuals, closely rely on them, and give full play to their role; all major affairs of the units are carried out under the leadership of the provisional party committee; in order to implement militarized management, grasp the revolution, promote production, and promote the construction of the 061 base at the fastest speed. In a very short period of time, the 101 Project Command quickly embarked on the track of normal work, ensuring the orderly development of the construction project of the 061 base and basically completed it smoothly in the first half of 1973.
During that special period, when my father was working in the 101 Project Headquarters, he was respected by the vast number of cadres and workers because he was the oldest, the highest administrative level, decent, approachable, and united comrades. The work done by him and his colleagues in the Military Control Commission has been affirmed by the superior leaders and recognized by the cadres and workers of the unit. In June 1973, with the evacuation of the 101 Project Headquarters from Zunyi, Guizhou to Changsha to carry out new project construction, the Military Control Branch also began to withdraw its original troops. At that time, there was a legend that because my father was doing a good job, Guizhou Province wanted to keep my father to work in the province, but my father still did not want to leave the army, so he returned to the original unit. During his time in Xinyang, the leaders of the 101 Project Command, who had worked together, also went to Xinyang to see my father, and the entourage of the leader said at that time, everyone said that the relationship between the Military Control Commission and local cadres was not good, how do you come to see the comrades of the Military Control Commission? The leading cadre said, "Our relationship is very good!"
In Zunyi, due to the work tension and life is more difficult, the father insists on working with a long-term illness, he has a long-term bad stomach, has not been able to cure, and the transaminases have been very high, and do not know what the reason, he is very busy at work, he does not care much, so the liver has not been good. My father returned to the original unit, arranged work due to physical reasons, and recuperated at home.
At the beginning of 1975, when I received an order from my superiors, my father was transferred to the Wuhan Air Force Radar School of the Air Force as the vice principal, and he went to the post himself, and our family moved to Wuhan in May 1975. My father went to Wuhan to work not long ago, because his liver disease has not improved, so at the end of 1975, the superiors decided to let my father leave his job to recuperate, which had a great impact on his spirit, the older generation only knows work, suddenly called him to leave the cultivation is very uncomfortable...
In 1980, our family moved to Hugh Gan, and because my father's liver disease had not improved, he still did not care much and did not seriously treat it. In May 1985, during the physical examination, it was found that liver disease had become diffuse liver cancer, and he died in September 1985. At the time of his death, zhang Keqiang, an old comrade-in-arms of the Southern Sichuan Military Region and then chief of staff of the Guangzhou Air Force, happened to come to Wuhan to deal with the dissolution of the Wuhan Air Force and was preparing to visit my father at home, only to learn that my father was seriously ill in the hospital, and he went to the hospital to visit my father, at that time my father was in a coma, and I did not know whether my father felt the visit and concern of his old comrades-in-arms before his death.
My father's life was ordinary and simple, obeying the organization and the overall situation in his work, working hard and complaining, working diligently, always thinking about the interests of the party and the interests of the army, never considering the interests of individuals, indifferent to fame and fortune, and actively working hard to complete whatever work the organization did. At the same time, he is upright, decent, bold, united with colleagues, approachable, concerned about subordinates....
My father's generation was a survivor who came out of the war, and although there were no earth-shattering feats, they worked silently and worked hard for the cause of the party, the development of the country, and the construction of the army. They are truly a dedicated generation!
December 22, 2021, is the 102nd anniversary of my father's birth, and although he has been away from us for almost 40 years, we miss him so much!
This article is written by Guo Hua
On December 22, 2021