In June of the lunar calendar in 1929, Yu Kailiang was born in a small mountain village called Sun Jiakuo in Muping County, at the eastern foot of Mashi Mountain, Jiaodong. In the disaster-stricken old China, the Yu family lived in extreme poverty for generations, struggling on the line of death.
His great-grandfather died of illness, his great-grandmother was a widow at a young age, and his grandfather lived with his great-grandmother as an orphan and widow since he was a child. In order to live, the mother and son got up early and went to the mountains to cultivate land. My great-grandmother had difficulty moving around her feet, so she could only sit on a futon made of budding rice leaves, plow the wasteland with difficulty, and then put the dug stones in the basket, which Yu Kailiang's grandfather picked out.
The two of them used their hands to pull out a bit of wasteland, grow some food, and maintain their lives. Due to overwork since childhood, his grandfather bent his waist. After my grandfather got married, he had his father, mother and uncle, and it was like a family, and with everyone's hard work, he lived a life of barely filling his stomach with sweet potatoes and vegetables.
After the death of his great-grandmother, his grandfather inherited the burden of hardship and family business, and did farm work in spring, summer and autumn throughout the year, and took his young children and villagers to Mashi Mountain to cut oakwood and burn charcoal in winter, and sent it to Rushankou to sell to charcoal dealers, and then they loaded it on ships and transported it to Yantai, Dalian and other places.
Charcoal burning is a very heavy manual labor, and it is also a kind of technical work. First of all, it is necessary to find a sheltered mountain on the mountain to dig a kiln, and then cut oak wood on the high mountain. The mountain is high and steep, so you can only tie the felled oak wood with two forked wooden poles and carry it down the mountain. It is not easy to go down the mountain, especially after the snow, the mountain road is very slippery, and if you are not careful, you will roll down the mountain with a piece of oak wood.
Charcoal kiln is working at high temperatures, people wear jackets sewn together by several torn clothes, soaked in water, hurry into the kiln to load, a bag of cigarettes (about 15 minutes) has to change a shift, the people who change out are already sweating profusely, and their clothes are dried out.
After the charcoal is burned, it is necessary to rush to Rushankou to deliver charcoal. Once, Yu Kailiang's father drove a donkey to deliver charcoal, and when he walked to the deep mountain path, it was already the middle of the night and he encountered a wild wolf. The donkey was so frightened when he saw the wolf that he sat back and didn't dare to go, and Yu Kailiang's father was also scared into a cold sweat, and his clothes were soaked. Fortunately, he was in a hurry, and hit the fire rope with a fire sickle, and shook the fire rope to move forward, the wolf was afraid of the fire and did not dare to approach, but the wolf refused to leave. People are fast, people are slow. Just walked all the way, the wolf followed all the way, and it was not until the east of Houdian Village that the wolf left. If there was no fire sickle, Yu Kailiang's father might really fall into the wolf's mouth!
Yu Kailiang's mother was also raised in bitter water, her father died when she was 4 years old, and her mother died when she was 6 years old, and Yu Kailiang's uncle raised her. His mother married into the Yu family, with an old woman, mother-in-law, father-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, and a lot of children in the future. His mother got up early and worked greedily at night, never finishing her work, and was so tired that she lay in bed at night and hummed, beating her arms and shoulders with her fists.
His mother gave birth to 7 brothers and sisters Yu Kailiang, 5 of whom died young, and in the end, only Yu Kailiang and his little sister remained.
Yu Kailiang's brother and sister died young, and his mother said that they all died because they were sick and had no money for treatment. The death of the eldest sister, the second sister, and the younger brother was watched by Yu Kailiang, and they all died because they were sick and had no money for treatment. That kind of tragic scene, Yu Kailiang is heartbroken when he gets old.
The eldest sister Yu Kailiang was 1 and a half years old, and suffered from dysentery when she was 5 years old. Because she didn't have the money to see a doctor, her mother found a home remedy, heated the soles of her cloth shoes in the hot ash at the bottom of the cooking pot, and then put them on the eldest sister's buttocks, and scalded the prolapse back on, but the eldest sister who was originally alive was killed.
When his second sister was 4 years old, she wanted to go up the mountain with her father, but her father didn't let her go, so she followed her father, crying and walking at the same time. When she arrived at the mountain, her father was working, but she still sat on the ground and cried, and when she was tired of crying, she slept on the ground. After returning home, I had a high fever, and the fever never went away, but because I had no money for timely treatment, I was sick for three days.
In the spring of 1938, the devil's plane flew over the village of Sunjiakuo. Yu Kailiang's whole family stayed at home, waiting for the devil's plane to drop a few bombs before they began to run out in panic. His father led Yu Kailiang to run ahead, and his mother and grandmother followed behind with his younger brother in their arms. Not far from the door, a bomb fell next to his grandmother, who was blown to pieces. The younger brother was swept into a tree more than ten meters away by the air wave, and his mother was spared by locking the door in the back.
After the enemy plane flew away, his father and grandfather were very sad to take the yellow table paper and pick up the broken bodies of his grandmother and younger brother.
Yu Kailiang's maternal uncle Wang Tingxian, during the period of 1937~1940, served as the secretary of the 11th District Committee of the Communist Party of China Muping County. He, Yu Kailiang's uncle Yu Changbao, as well as his uncle Liu Hanmin and other party members, carried out their work with Sunjiakuo Village as the center. In order to facilitate their work, they arranged for Yu Kailiang's father to serve as the village head, ostensibly dealing with the enemy and diehards, and secretly protecting our party's underground work. Sunjiakuo Village has also become the central administrative village of our party's underground organization.
Under the influence of his uncle, the seeds of revolution took root and sprouted in Yu Kailiang's young mind. When he was nine years old, Yu Kailiang became the head of the children's league in the central administrative village, and organized the children's league members of the whole village and schools to stand guard, post sentry, and deliver letters for the underground party.
One day in the spring of 1939, Zhang Zhenying, a classmate from a neighboring village, told Yu Kailiang that he had found a stone cave in the back of the ancestral hall with two baskets of grenades. After discussing with the children's members Yu Huinian, Wang Kehuan, and Zhang Zhenying, Yu Kailiang went to the cave at noon and each came back with a grenade. Since then, they have real weapons when they stand guard, but they dare not take them out during the day, for fear that the adults will see them and go. Later, he found out in person, and Yu Kailiang and the others handed over the grenade to the principal Liu Hanmin.
One morning in the autumn of 1940, President Liu Hanmin handed Yu Kailiang a letter and asked him to send it to Kouzi Village, which was more than 20 miles away from their village, and personally hand it over to a person surnamed Gong. Yu Kailiang rushed to Kouzi Village at noon and found the family, but the door was locked and the person was not at home. He sat at the door of his house until it was almost dark and the man surnamed Gong came home. After the code, he handed the letter to the other party, and the man felt a copper button from the pocket of his coat and handed it to him, telling him not to drop it. Along the way, Yu Kailiang always held the copper button with his hand, for fear of losing it.
When he walked to the east mountain pass of Kouzi Village, it was already dark, surrounded by black and oppressive mountains, and the sound of tigers and wolves howling seemed to sound in his ears, which frightened his heart. The more afraid you go, the faster you go, it's like a trot. When he ran to the north end of Zhaominzhuang Village, which was still three miles away from home, there was a cemetery in front of him, and he was so frightened that his hair stood on end, and he broke out in a cold sweat. When he ran to the village and saw his father waiting on the road, he was so anxious that he cried. His father encouraged him, saying that he had done a good deed by himself and had grown up. This was an important task that Yu Kailiang completed independently in revolutionary activities, when he was 9 years old.
One night in the winter of 1940, due to the whistleblowing of the villain pseudo-village chief, the bandit leader Ding Futing sent troops to capture the communists in Sunjiakuo Village and Tieshan Village. Liu Hanmin and others escaped through the back window under the cover of his uncle, but his uncle was arrested before he could escape. Also arrested at the same time was Yu Kailiang's uncle Yu Changbao. Underground party organizations have tried every means to rescue them, and the children's group has also carried out fund-raising activities. But to no avail, the uncle Yu Changbao was beaten to death in prison, and his uncle Wang Tingxian was buried alive in the Nansha River in Tengjiazhuang by the Gupai in the spring of 1941. Yu Kai's conscience planted another seed of revenge.
The idea of revenge surged like a tide in Yu Kai's conscience, and he wanted to go to the Eighth Route Army several times to take revenge. But he was only 11 years old, and his family did not approve of him joining the army.
In August 1942, Yu Kailiang entered a full-time militarized school founded by the party with the purpose of training cadres. He stayed in this school for a whole year, studying politics, military affairs, and culture. Through studying Xi, Yu Kailiang gained a further understanding of the revolution, and he felt that he was much more mature.
In June 1943, Yu Kailiang was transferred to the "Rescue Association" in Muhai County as an officer. During this period, he directly participated in the task force organized by the county to mobilize the masses, reduce rents and interest rates, and fight against hegemony. After entering the village, the Yijia team to which he belonged first visited the poor and asked about their sufferings and widely publicized the party's policy of reducing rents and interest rates. After the masses were mobilized, various mass organizations such as the Peasant Rescue Association, the Youth Rescue Association, the Women's Relief Association, and the Children's League were set up, and anti-oppression and anti-exploitation grievances were carried out. Organize the masses to engage in face-to-face struggle against bullies and landlords.
In order to train Yu Kailiang, Feng Mu, president of the various rescue associations in Muhai County, sent him to the training class of the East China Sea Committee in October 1943 to study and Xi. During the Spring Festival in 1944, Yu Kailiang participated in the performance of the live newspaper drama and became the backbone of the propaganda activities. In June 1944, he was selected by the Art Troupe of the Political Department of the Eastern Naval Division, and since then he has put on the uniform of the Eighth Route Army and began to engage in the cultural propaganda work of the army.
Since then, he has experienced the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the War of Liberation and the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea. During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, he participated in the battles for the liberation of Wendeng, Weihai, Muping, Yantai and other places. During the War of Liberation, Yu Kailiang fought in the 9th Column of the East China Field Army, from the shore of the Bohai Sea to the south of the Yangtze River, and participated in the Menglianggu Campaign, which annihilated the 74th Division of Zhang Lingfu, the crown of the five main forces of the Kuomintang, and also participated in the Jinan Campaign, the Weixian Campaign, the Huaihai Campaign, the River Crossing Campaign, and the Liberation of Shanghai.
When talking about his revolutionary experience, Yu Kailiang always thinks of his own mother.
His mother was hardworking, kind, and sympathetic to the poor. Sometimes when she was eating at home, and a poor man came to the door begging for food, she would rather not eat her share of the food, but give it to the begging person. Sometimes Yu Kailiang asked his mother, why do you still give them if you can't eat enough? My mother called Yu Kailiang aside, for fear of letting the housekeeper's stern grandfather listen, and whispered to Yu Kailiang: "People need help, they come out to beg for food only when they are poor, and the taste of hunger is not good!"
She had a sense of justice and supported Yu Kailiang's revolution.
Yu Kailiang became the head of the children's group at the age of 9, and since then she has participated in revolutionary activities, and she has never stopped her. Under the influence of Yu Kailiang's uncle, she knew that Yu Kailiang was taking the right path of fighting the world for the poor.
Since the Liberation War in 1946, Yu Kailiang has been fighting in the north and south with the People's Liberation Army, and has been cut off from his family for four years. There are rumors in his hometown that Kailiang sacrificed. The people in the village were afraid that his mother would be too sad when she found out, so they kept it a secret from his family. But after a long time, he was slowly noticed by Yu Kailiang's mother.
At first, my mother didn't believe it, but she was always worried about it. After not seeing a letter from his son for a few years, he became more and more anxious to miss him, and he couldn't sleep with his eyes open all night, so that he developed into a trance, and even stood on the road at the entrance of the village all day long. When he saw that it was not his son, he cried bitterly, and he washed his face with tears all day long.
In September 1947, in the battle of Xiezi Bay in Haiyang County, Yu Kailiang's uncle's son died, after she heard the news, she also believed that her son was really sacrificed, for this reason, he had a serious illness, and a big pimple accumulated in the heart socket, as soon as he attacked, the pain was intense, and he would pass out. Her father and uncle carried her through the door panels, and walked from east to west village, seeking medical advice everywhere. In the end, I found a doctor surnamed Sui in Xiangshui Village, he prescribed a pair of traditional Chinese medicine, take this medicine to try, and come back if it gets better, if it doesn't improve, don't come again.
There is no end to the road, I took the two pairs of medicines prescribed by this doctor, and it really improved, and after taking a few more pairs of medicines, I slowly got better, and my life was saved, but the hard bump still did not disappear. Since then, her mother has lost hope that Yu Kailiang may be alive.
During the Spring Festival in 1947, his mother insisted that his father make a tablet for Yu Kailiang, saying: "I can't go home when I'm alive, so I'll call him home for the New Year." ”
In the spring of 1950, when Yu Kailiang was transferred to the 27th Army Teaching Regiment in Jiaxing City to study Xi, he had to write a letter to his family in his spare time, but how could his parents believe that he was still alive. It just so happened that Yu Keshan, who was in the same village as him at the time, was also working in the Jiaxing Field Hospital. His parents wrote a letter and asked him to check on Yu Kailiang's unit to see if it was Yu Kailiang. When Yu Keshan saw Yu Kailiang, the two took a photo together and took it home, so that the family really believed that Yu Kailiang was still alive. This time, his mother was so happy that she cried.
In the spring of 1951, Yu Kailiang was transferred to the Air Force, and when he was learning to Xi flying at the Fifth Aviation School in Jinan, his parents came to Jinan to visit him despite their physical weakness and illness. This is Yu Kailiang and his parents separated for more than 7 years before they get together again. When his mother saw Yu Kailiang, she hugged him and cried while recounting the unusual experience and longing for the past 7 years. Yu Kailiang burst into tears, tears welling up. At this time, he deeply realized the true meaning of the ancient adage that "loyalty and filial piety cannot be both" since ancient times.
After her parents came to reunite, my mother's heart disease was eliminated, and the hard bump on her chest miraculously gradually decreased. In the days when we get together, my mother always has a smile on her face and has endless words to say all day long. She told Yu Kailiang the story that happened all the way from the countryside to Jinan. She said: "I asked your dad why the train was loud and panting when it was running. Your dad said, it can't pull!" Yu Kailiang leaned back with laughter after hearing this, and tears burst into laughter.
Yu Kailiang later became a famous Air Force hero. He participated in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, he was not afraid of sacrifice, brave and tenacious, brave and good at fighting, personally shot down four enemy planes, and was awarded the first and second class merits once, and the third class merit twice. He was awarded the Order of the National Flag of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and a military merit medal, and the flight combat squadron led by Yu Kailiang was awarded the glorious title of "Yu Kailiang Squadron".
The 10th Regiment of Naval Aviation brought out by him was awarded the honorary title of "Eagle Regiment of the Sea and Air" by the Ministry of Defense.