On March 28, 2014, the remains of 437 Chinese Volunteers martyrs were transported from South Korea to the Shenyang Martyrs' Cemetery to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea for burial.
This news has attracted the attention of the whole country, and it also affects the heart of Qiu Yongsheng, an 86-year-old man in Taicang, Jiangsu.
Thousands of memories came to my heart, 63 years ago, I personally buried my comrade-in-arms and classmate Wang Weijie, who died of illness, on a mountain in Inje County, South Korea.
Her body has never been found due to the drastic changes in the terrain caused by time.
What did this female warrior do to make this 86-year-old man remember for more than 60 years?
Forget life and death, and sleep in a foreign land
At the beginning of March 1951, after a short rest, the 20th Army received the task of entering Korea again. The troops shouted the slogan of "crossing the 38th parallel" and fought to the death with the enemy. After months of fighting, the fighters' physical strength was close to the limit.
Food supplies were inadequate, medical supplies were in short supply, and most of the comrades were exhausted and supported only by tenacious will.
The piercing waters of the Bukhan River and the Soyang River flowed quietly in front of them, and became the only way for the troops to advance.
According to Qiu Yongsheng's recollections: The river is waist-deep as the male soldiers, and it can not pass Wang Weijie's neck!
The division commander and comrades-in-arms all dissuaded her, and agreed to wait for her to recover from her injuries before coming back, but Wang Weijie refused.
The emaciated female warrior, dressed in thin clothes and carrying a medical kit on her back, waded resolutely through the bitter cold water.
He was not afraid of the rain of bullets on the other side, nor did he retreat because of the fierce battle, but just moved forward desperately.
She has a petite figure and thin shoulders, but she is known as "the greatest back during the period of resisting US aggression and aiding Korea".
On the other side, she was soaking wet and had no dry clothes to change. Her face and hands froze purple, and her body trembled, but she gritted her teeth and insisted that it was not cold, desperately trying to keep up with her troops.
At the beginning of May, under the indiscriminate bombardment of the US army day and night, the troops were about to run out of ammunition and food, and in a hurry, they had to make a decision to withdraw to the north of the 38th parallel.
The main road has been blocked by the US army, and the volunteer troops can only grope their way through the mountain paths at night.
Qiu Yongsheng was transferred to other teams, and by the time he returned from his mission, Wang Weijie had a high fever.
She refused to cause trouble to her comrades, did not sit on a stretcher, and insisted on walking. There was not enough medicine in the ranks, so the hygienist had to boil hot water to feed her. During the day, her comrades-in-arms took turns to take care of her, and at night they covered her with an extra layer of quilts.
Sleeping in the open air one after another, the harsh combat environment made Wang Weijie, who was already thin, contracted the wind cold, began to have a high fever, and was groggy all day long.
The comrades-in-arms said distressedly: "You lie down and rest, and take good care of your body." ”
"No! I'm going to be with everyone, I can't lie down!"
She had carried a stretcher countless times in the war, and she didn't want to cause trouble to her comrades, and she refused to lie down on her own once.
The battle was at a critical juncture, how could she be willing to get out of the line of fire with minor injuries, hold on to her sick body, and keep up with the troops to continue to move forward.
During one of the evacuations, her comrades forcibly carried her onto a stretcher, and American planes circled over our positions. Suddenly, she jumped down:
"Retreat, leave me alone!"
Then a cannonball exploded not far from her.
In order not to delay the evacuation of her teammates, she chose to sacrifice her own life! Fortunately, she was not injured.
By the time Qiu Yongsheng returned from the second search, she had fallen into a coma. It was raining lightly that day, and the comrades-in-arms couldn't feed a drop of water with all their might.
"The rain fell from the trees on her face, and I sat on the dead leaves, and there was nothing I could do. Recalling this, at the age of 86, he couldn't cry.
At 3 p.m. on May 25, the miracle did not favor the girl, who had just turned eighteen, and she passed away with the reluctance and love of her comrades.
The evacuation was urgent, and it was impossible to bring her body back, so Qiu Yongsheng and his comrades found a ravine and buried her on the spot.
There was no coffin, no ceremony, just a white cloth and a few layers of dead grass and rotten leaves, and Wang Weijie slept under such a small mound.
Sacrifice himself to join the army, optimistic and fearless
Every time he thinks that the remains of his old comrades-in-arms cannot return to China, Qiu Yongsheng always falls into pain and does not want to recall that painful history.
However, in order to let more people know Wang Weijie's story, he still told people about those eventful years.
Back in 1950, when the Korean War broke out, Wang Weijie, a 17-year-old girl from Taicang, was studying at Huangdu Normal School.
When she learned that the 20th Army of the People's Liberation Army had come to the school to recruit soldiers, she did not hesitate to sign up for the army.
She yearns for the heroic People's Liberation Army and longs to wear a military uniform and become a member of it.
In the face of her parents' concerns and opposition, she tried her best to persuade and finally persuade them to become a recruit in charge of propaganda work in the 20th Army together with alumnus Qiu Yongsheng.
The training in the boot camp was intense, and for the first time she felt the pain of military life, but she gritted her teeth and persevered. She often reminded herself that the soldiers on the front line shed blood and sacrificed, and her own suffering was nothing.
There were many soldiers from the countryside in the new barracks, and they did not know much about literacy, so Wang Weijie volunteered to tell everyone the stories of the year and pass on orders.
In September of the same year, U.S. troops landed at Incheon, and the 20th Army received an urgent order to enter Korea.
Wang Weijie and Qiu Yongsheng, who had just finished training in the recruit camp, followed the troops non-stop and arrived in Tonghua, Jilin by train.
At this time, she realized that her unit was the first batch of volunteers to fight in North Korea. Without having time to think about it, the large army advanced towards the other side of the Yalu River.
Entering North Korea, the combat environment was even more difficult than she imagined.
The soldiers of the 20th Army, who urgently went north, did not have time to change their clothes, and rushed to the battlefield wearing thin clothes and rubber shoes.
The weather of more than 30 degrees below zero made this little girl from the south suffer.
The bombers of the US army proudly circled overhead, bombing the positions of the volunteers from time to time. Roars and explosions came one after another, and the volunteer soldiers were facing a moment of life and death at any time.
Many soldiers died, but this little soldier with no combat experience was not afraid at all, and sang "The White-Haired Girl" and "Liu Hulan" loudly with a self-made iron horn.
Because of her thin stature, but optimistic and bold, her comrades-in-arms liked her very much and affectionately called her "Little Bailing".
Cruel years, selfless work
After a week's long journey, the volunteers finally arrived at the Changjin Lake battlefield.
In the extremely cold weather of more than 30 degrees below zero, Wang Weijie never flinched in the face of the US troops armed to the teeth. Accompanied by Allegro, she sang:
"Our will, like steel, overturned the tank brigades of the American imperialists. ”
There were many wounded on the battlefield, and she took on the task of placing the wounded, registering the names and blood types of the wounded soldiers, and trying her best to find the cars and quilts that housed the wounded.
The ox cart borrowed from the North Korean people was blown up during an evacuation of the wounded. She picked up two sticks and made them into stretchers to continue to house the wounded.
In the ice and snow, she ran under artillery fire for more than a month, gave the quilt to the wounded, and rubbed her hands with snow when she was cold, and her face, hands, and feet were all frozen.
When he was thirsty, he grabbed a handful of snow on the ground, and he didn't cry out when his hands and feet were frostbitten.
Because of the frostbite, her hands and face were still a frightening purple red color when the weather warmed up.
But she didn't care at all, and continued to run around the battlefield.
He often incarnates as a "little lark" and soothes the body and mind of the warriors with his light singing.
She did her best to save the wounded and give them hope for life, so she was called "Angel in the Snow" by the soldiers.
The ice and snow of Changjin Lake witnessed the heroic struggle of the soldiers and also recorded the perseverance of the 17-year-old female warrior.
In the end, with the tenacious will of the soldiers, the 20th Army won the 1st Marine Division, the ace of the US Army.
17-year-old Wang Weijie was recorded as a third-class meritorious service for his heroic performance in this battle.
epilogue
In 1982, Taicang County built a martyr's cemetery for the martyrs, but Wang Weijie's death certificate has not been received, so she was not listed. This has also become the only heart disease of her parents.
Qiu Yongsheng and a total of 10 veterans of his comrades-in-arms jointly wrote a letter to the old troops, only to find out that Wang Weijie's death notice had been issued in 1954 and had already been delivered to Taicang.
They found the staff of the Taicang County Civil Affairs Bureau, and finally found the notice, which was 45 years late.
In 2001, they jointly made a martyr's monument for Wang Weijie at their own expense.
They tried to look for her body, but when they looked at the map, they couldn't remember which mountain.
Wang Weijie used her own way to interpret the power of female soldiers of the Volunteer Army, who, like male soldiers, can shoulder the heavy responsibility of the nation and compose heroic hymns that belong to them.
For the victory of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, Wang Weijie's life was forever fixed at the age of 18.
Under the snow-capped cliffs, pure white flowers swaying in the air, she slept peacefully at the foot of the mountain, looking in the direction of home. In the next spring and summer, thousands of flowers bloom.
-END-
【Text|Junxi】
[Editor|Chang Gung]