At 5 p.m. on September 27, 1955, the first award ceremony of our army was held in Huairen Hall, Zhongnanhai. For a soldier, the military rank is not only a symbol of honor, but also represents the merit of a soldier, and the first award of the title of New China is undoubtedly the one with the highest gold content.
At the same time, the founding generals were also awarded three medals, namely the August 1st Medal, the Order of Independence and Freedom, and the Order of Liberation. These three medals represent the period of the Red Army, the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the War of Liberation, and are divided into first, second and third grades.
Among all the PLA generals and colonels who participated in the evaluation, 178 were awarded the Order of August 1 of the First Class, 313 were awarded the Order of Independence and Freedom of the First Class, and 983 were awarded the Order of Liberation of the First Class.
In terms of quantity, it is the most difficult to obtain the first-class Bayi Medal, and even the eight founding generals (Lu Zhengcao, Wu Lanfu, Chen Mingren, Dong Qiwu, and Tao Zhiyue) have not been able to obtain the first-class Bayi Medal.
The most important condition for obtaining the 1st Class 81 Medal is that he has held at least a divisional position or above during the Red Army period, and many founding lieutenant generals and major generals were only regimental or battalion level cadres during that period, so they could only receive the 2nd and 3rd class 81 Medal. For example, Founding Lieutenant General Nie Fengzhi, he made great achievements during the Anti-Japanese War and the War of Liberation, but his highest position during the Red Army period was regiment commander, so in the end he only won the second-class 81 Medal.
It is worth mentioning that among the 178 people who won the first-class eighty-one medal, in addition to Zhou Baozhong and Feng Baiju, who were transferred to the local government without being evaluated, there were three colonels, namely Luo Houfu, Xin Shixiu and Zhou Shiyuan.
Luo Houfu is also the most special of the three colonels, because he is the only meritorious hero who has won three first-class medals with the rank of colonel, and even a fierce general with outstanding military achievements like Li Tianyou does not have this honor.
So, why did Luo Houfu only get the rank of colonel in 1955?
Luo Houfu, a native of Hong'an, Hubei, was born in 1909, joined the revolution at the age of 20 and joined the local Red Guards, and served in the Red 25th Army and the Red 28th Army successively.
In November 1934, the Red 25th Army left the Hubei-Henan-Anhui Soviet Region to start the Long March, and Luo Houfu was ordered to stay in the Soviet area. At first, he had only 20 guerrillas at his disposal, but after a few months, the ranks suddenly expanded to more than 300 people.
In February 1935, Luo Houfu's department was merged into the newly rebuilt Red 28th Army and was appointed as the battalion commander.
Soon, the Red 28th Army moved to the northwest of Anhui, and Luo Houfu was more familiar with the terrain and people's conditions in this area because he had been fighting guerrillas in northeast Hubei for a long time, so he was left behind by his superiors.
At that time, the superiors only left a dozen people for Luo Houfu. Relying on these dozens of people and more than a dozen guns, Luo Houfu once again showed his ability to pull the team, and by 1936, his team had reached more than 1,000 people, so he was appointed as the commander of the Third Road Guerrilla Division of the Northeast Hubei Provincial Committee.
After the outbreak of the full-scale War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Luo Houfu was appointed secretary of the Hong'an County Party Committee, and later successively served as the captain of the Sixth Guerrilla Brigade of the New Fourth Army, the commander of the First Regiment of the Henan-Hubei Advance Column, the commander of the 14th Brigade of the Fifth Division of the New Fourth Army, the commander of the Special Service Brigade, the commander of the First Army Division of the Hubei-Henan-Anhui-Hunan-Jiangxi Military Region, and the deputy commander of the Fifth Army Division.
When the Fifth Division of the New Fourth Army was established, it had three brigades under its jurisdiction, the commander of the 13th Brigade was Zhou Zhijian, the commander of the 14th Brigade was Luo Houfu, and the commander of the 15th Brigade was Wang Haishan.
When the title was conferred in 1955, Zhou Zhijian was a lieutenant general, Wang Haishan was transferred to a local government, otherwise he would at least be a major general, and the regiment commander and political commissar below the 13th Brigade were all major generals, while Luo Houfu was only a colonel as a brigade commander.
The partner is the founding general
During the War of Liberation, Luo Houfu successively served as deputy commander of the Jianghan Military Region, deputy commander of the Northwest Hubei Military Region, deputy brigade commander of the Independent Brigade of the Central Plains Military Region, and commander of the Xiaogan Military Division of the Hubei Military Region.
Among them, He Bingyan is the commander of the Jianghan Military Region, Luo Houfu is the deputy commander, Wang Shusheng is the commander of the Northwest Hubei Military Region, Liu Changyi is the first deputy commander, Luo Houfu is the second deputy commander, and Zhang Caiqian is the third deputy commander and chief of staff. When the title was conferred in 1955, Wang Shusheng was a general, He Bingyan was a general, and Liu Changyi and Zhang Caiqian were all lieutenant generals.
With this qualification, it is not too much to give a lieutenant general, at least a major general, so why was Luo Houfu only awarded the rank of colonel in 1955?
Demoted from the rank of deputy army to the rank of full division
In fact, it all stemmed from a post-1949 demotion that demoted him from the rank of deputy to the rank of full division. And this demotion originated from his actions for the benefit of his subordinates.
In April 1949, Xiaogan was liberated by the People's Army. At that time, Xiaogan's economic situation was very poor, and the living conditions of the officers and soldiers of the army were very difficult.
At that time, Luo Houfu's actions won the praise of the majority of officers and soldiers. Later, the factory became profitable, which not only greatly improved the living conditions of the officers and men of the troops, but also provided interest subsidies for each cadre, and at the same time solved the employment problem of many martyrs' families.
However, the general environment has changed, and all walks of life must be standardized, and this behavior has also made Luo Houfu review many times before and after, and his position has also been reduced from the deputy military level to the full division level.
It is said that at the beginning, the list reported by the provincial military district was to award Luo Houfu the rank of colonel, but the old leader, Division Commander Li, said that Luo Houfu was an old comrade and it was too unfair to him to be given a colonel, so he changed it to the rank of colonel.
Many of Luo Houfu's subordinates are much higher in rank than him, such as Lieutenant General Lin Weixian, who served as his correspondent during the Red Army. Luo Houfu is not only Lin Weixian's old chief, but also once saved his life, and the relationship between the two is very deep.
In the year of the award, once, Lin Wei first went to Wuhan to visit Luo Houfu. When he saw that the old chief was only a colonel, Lin Weixian couldn't help it anymore, and cried in front of Luo Houfu and said: "It's too unfair to talk about qualifications and contributions." ”
Luo Houfu couldn't figure it out at first, but after looking at it, he said to Lin Weixian: "The party and the state have given me enough, and the real credit should belong to those comrades who sacrificed, and how much money can a military rank be worth? As a Communist Party member, what kind of face do you have to fight for the level of treatment and the size of your position?"
When parting, Lin Wei gave a military salute to Luo Houfu who was sitting on the sofa in a dignified manner, and at this moment he was full of infinite respect for the old chief.
In 1961, Luo Houfu was finally promoted to the rank of major general, but the punishment has always haunted him.
On May 11, 1975, Luo Houfu died in Wuhan. Before his death, the old general made the only request to the organization, hoping to investigate the incident back then. #头条创作挑战赛#