On the morning of September 2, the remains of the eighth group of martyrs of the Chinese Volunteer Army in South Korea were escorted by a special aircraft of the Air Force and returned from South Korea to Shenyang, Liaoning Province. The heroic souls of 109 volunteer martyrs and 1226 related relics returned to the embrace of the motherland from a foreign country!
In June 2013, South Korean President Park Geun-hye visited China and for the first time proposed to return the remains of all volunteers managed by the South Korean military on the 60th anniversary of the Armistice of the Korean War. Nine months later, the largest repatriation of remains between the two countries since the armistice of the Korean War was facilitated, which was also described by the media as a "new milestone" in Sino-South Korean relations.
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"Young Them- Documentary of the Return of the Remains of Volunteer Martyrs"
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In the first return in 2014, a total of 437 remains found and preserved by the South Korean side were returned to the Chinese side. Due to the significance of this handover, the South Korean excavation and identification team has always maintained a low profile and refused to be interviewed by all media.
Two months after the handover ceremony, after constant contact with the South Korean Ministry of National Defense and the South Korean Consulate in Hong Kong, the Phoenix Vision film crew was finally allowed to interview the identification team.
Liu Ciyong, head of the Korean Excavation and Appraisal Mission
Liu Ciyong is the head of the Korean excavation and identification team and one of the main leaders of the handover of the remains of the Volunteer Army in 2014.
As a subordinate agency of the South Korean Ministry of Defense, Mr. Yoo's identification mission was established in 2007, which is the second agency in the world after the U.S. military to be established specifically for missing people in war.
The regiment has 4 departments and 4 excavation classes, including planning class, excavation class, screening class, and support class. The members of the regiment are all active military personnel, and they all have archaeology, anthropology and other related knowledge or professional experience in the excavation of remains before enlistment.
The excavation mission is surveying the remains
"The search for the remains of fallen soldiers has been written into South Korean law," Mr. Liu said. The remains of Chinese and Korean armies were also found during the actual excavations. For humanitarian reasons, we will make the graves of the North Korean and Chinese armies. Although they were once enemies, we will still bury them and keep them safe. ”
In June 2014, the Phoenix Vision film crew followed an excavation team from south Korea to an old battlefield in Hengcheng, South Korea, more than 100 kilometers south of the "38th Line."
This is also the first time that the South Korean side has opened their excavation process to the media after proposing to return the remains.
Homecoming
From 2014 to 2020, China and the ROK have handed over the remains of a total of 716 martyrs of the Chinese Volunteer Army in The ROK for seven consecutive times. This year is the eighth time, and so far a total of 825 volunteer martyrs have returned home.
Even though the number of remains of martyrs returning to China has reached more than 800, they are only a tiny fraction of the 197,000 soldiers who died on the battlefield of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea.
According to statistics, in the fifth battle of the Korean War alone, the volunteer army suffered as many as 75,000 casualties on the Korean side.
Behind every number is a respected warrior.
Han Xiaoyan, from Taiyuan, Shanxi, was looking for his uncle, while Kang Ming, from Xining, Qinghai, was looking for his father.
According to the death notice received by the Kang family after the war, his father Kang Zhizhong was buried in tomb No. 1 of the 152 cemetery on the north side of the "38th Line". It is still a military exclusion zone for North Korea, and over the years, Kang Ming has tried in many ways, but he has never been able to pay tribute to his father's grave.
Although he knew that his father was not among the remains of those who returned to China in 2014, Kang Ming traveled thousands of miles from Xining, Qinghai to Shenyang. In his opinion, after all, this is the first time that the remains of volunteers scattered in foreign countries for more than 60 years are the same as his father's return.
On March 28, 2014, China and South Korea held their first handover ceremony at Incheon International Airport in South Korea. After learning this news, a large number of volunteer family members rushed to Shenyang from all over the country to prepare to welcome these martyrs home.
Families of volunteers waiting to be greeted with the remains
As the families and descendants of the martyrs, a common destiny binds them together. Seeing that there are still people like themselves, who are also looking for relatives, they feel more hope.
In July 2013, the descendants of Chinese soldiers were killed
Go to the Paju Volunteer Cemetery in South Korea to worship and sweep
September 30 is "Chinese Martyrs' Memorial Day". Every year on this day, in front of the Monument to the People's Heroes in Beijing's Tiananmen Square, a memorial ceremony is held to commemorate the heroes and martyrs. On the day before the National Day, the commemoration of the martyrs adds a great significance.
Editor: Wang Dingyao