Under the smoke of war, she is the heroic flame that will never be extinguished. With her sincere heart and fearless courage, she saved the dead and helped the wounded, and was known as "the only female soldier who made a first-class meritorious service to resist US aggression and aid Korea". However, when the years precipitated and she entered the later years of her life, fate put her in a difficult situation. The purse is empty, she is seriously ill but has no money to seek medical treatment, and owes the hospital a huge amount of money that she cannot repay. What kind of ups and downs has this singing and crying hero experienced? How will she spend her old age?
A brave and fearless field nurse
In 1951, the smoke of the Korean battlefield filled the land. In this turbulent era, a young woman named Xie Xiumei joined the medical team of the Chinese People's Volunteer Army, and she became a brave and fearless field nurse with the heart of saving lives and helping the wounded.
At that time, the rain of bullets on the North Korean front never stopped, and the wails of the wounded were everywhere. However, in this dangerous environment, Xie Xiumei was brave and fearless, always guarding the soldiers. Even under heavy enemy fire, she never flinched, even at the risk of her own safety. Once, a soldier was wounded in the ice and snow, and the blood in his calf was frozen by the severe cold, and his shoes and socks were frozen into ice cubes and could not be taken off. Seeing that the wounded man was covered in bruises, Xie Xiumei didn't say a word, put his feet in his warm embrace, and patiently warmed and thawed.
As the war continued, Xie Xiumei made many achievements. In 1952, enemy bombers attacked, the field hospital was hit, and a fire raged all around. At the moment of crisis, Xie Xiumei was trapped inside despite the serious injury of the comatose soldier, she was not afraid of danger, bravely rushed in, used her body to shield the wounded soldier from artillery fire, and finally rescued Li Yonghua's platoon commander from the fire. But at this moment of rescuing people, the enemy's shells exploded nearby, Xie Xiumei fell to the ground, her head and arms were instantly injured, and blood stained the entire rescue scene.
With her fierce loyalty to the motherland and the people, Xie Xiumei hovered on the brink of life and death again and again in the flames of war, and her bravery and fearlessness boosted the morale of the officers and men of the whole army. Finally, on the occasion of the armistice in 1953, Xie Xiumei was awarded the highest honor - the Medal of Honor for meritorious service of the first class for her outstanding military achievements. She became the only female soldier to receive this honor and was known as the prototype of the "heroic daughter" Wang Fang.
An ordinary life of obscurity
When the war was over and the smoke of gunpowder dissipated, Xie Xiumei retired from the Korean battlefield and began her ordinary and moving civilian life. This heroine, who was once brave and fearless and won the highest military merit, lived a simple life as an ordinary laborer for decades after being discharged from the army, in obscurity, and never made any demands on the government and society.
In 1953, the Korean Armistice Agreement was signed, and Xie Xiumei withdrew from North Korea with the Chinese People's Volunteers, opening a new chapter in her life. Although she was once awarded the highest military rank, colonel, she did not seek a career in the army after the war, but chose to leave the army and return to her hometown to become an ordinary worker. At that time, the wages of the workers in the factory were meagre and the quality of life was generally low, but Xie Xiumei never complained about this, and still worked diligently with a peaceful heart.
As the days passed, Xie Xiumei unknowingly got married and formed her own small family. Due to the poverty of her family, she and her husband Li Gen live very poorly, and it is quite difficult to eat and wear. Despite this, the two insisted on having a few children, and the whole family depended on each other and barely survived. Xie Xiumei never complained about the injustice of fate to her, but tried her best to play the role of a good wife and mother, taking care of housework and raising children.
As time passed, Xie Xiumei's children grew up one by one, but their family's living situation was still very poor. Even if their children have entered society and started to work to earn money to support their families, they still cannot completely escape poverty. Xie Xiumei's heroic deeds of killing the enemy on the Korean battlefield seem to have been forgotten by the world at this time. This former heroic mother had to work in the factory while continuing to work in the factory to earn money to maintain the basic life of the family.
Despite the hardship of life, Xie Xiumei never asked the state and the government for any special care. Perhaps in her opinion, being able to rely on her family and get through difficult days together is already the greatest happiness. The whole family snuggles up to each other and helps each other, which is Xie Xiumei's greatest pursuit and expectation. Until the death of her wife, until she herself entered her twilight years, this singing and crying heroic mother still did not reveal any voice to the outside world, and spent the second half of her ordinary and simple life in obscurity.
A difficult past that no one knows
Xie Xiumei's life is heroic, but behind this brilliant deed, there is a difficult past that she does not know. Since she was a child, she has suffered from family trauma and lived a mutilated and incomplete childhood. When she grew up, she not only shouldered the burden of raising multiple children on her own, but even suffered the pain of domestic violence in her marriage.
Xie Xiumei was born in an ordinary peasant family, and although her parents were poor, they loved her in every way. However, as fate would have it, she had just finished elementary school when her father died suddenly, and her mother died due to excessive grief. In this way, Xie Xiumei, who was only ten years old, suffered the fate of having no mother and no father, and became a complete orphan. She can only rely on the help of distant relatives to survive, but fortunately, her relatives are not too kind to her, and they can help her continue to go to school as much as possible.
Despite this, as an orphan, Xie Xiumei spent most of her childhood half-starved and half-fed. She often had to work in the fields for a short time in order to get something to eat, and her life was very hard. However, even in the face of many hardships, Xie Xiumei has never given up her yearning and pursuit of life. She was diligent and studious, and finally admitted to a local normal school and embarked on a new journey in her life.
Since then, Xie Xiumei's life seems to have finally taken a turn for the better. But who would have thought that not long after she graduated, World War II broke out. In order to fight against the Japanese invaders, Xie Xiumei resolutely joined the anti-Japanese militia and began her long and arduous fighting career. Later, she participated in the War of Liberation and fought until the founding of the People's Republic of China.
Finally, in 1951, Xie Xiumei joined the Chinese People's Volunteer Army as a military doctor and went to Korea to participate in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, where she created legendary heroic deeds. However, even though she has become a heroic idol of the whole army, the hardships of life do not end there. After retiring, Xie Xiumei married an ordinary worker, Li Gen, and the married life of the two was very happy at the beginning. But later, Li Gen became an alcoholic and began to commit domestic violence against Xie Xiumei.
In that era, the problem of domestic violence was widespread, and Xie Xiumei, as a woman, had no choice but to endure it silently. What's even more cruel is that after the two gave birth to several children, Li Gen not only punched and kicked her, but also often directed his anger at the children. As a mother, Xie Xiumei has to be cautious at all times, for fear that her children will also be harmed by domestic violence. In this way, this once heroic heroine was reduced to a situation where she was devastated at home and lived an extremely painful life.
Awaken the attention of the country in a desperate situation
Time flies, and Xie Xiumei has entered her old age. Although she was once a glorious hero on the battlefield in Korea, in her ordinary life, fate never showed mercy to her. It wasn't until one day, when she was suddenly hit by an illness and the family's only savings were exhausted, that the attention of the state and society was finally aroused.
On an ordinary day in 2018, Xie Xiumei's family ushered in a sudden change. On this day, she unfortunately suffered a stroke and suffered a cerebral infarction, and her condition was very critical. In order to treat her illness, Xie Xiumei's children had to spend all their belongings, and even owed more than 30,000 yuan in high medical expenses.
For this ordinary working family, the huge sum of 30,000 yuan is really an unbearable burden. Xie Xiumei's children are struggling and almost bankrupt, but seeing that their mother's condition is worsening, they are still stretched thin and helpless. Just when they were in a desperate situation, someone thought of asking the local government for help.
Soon, Xie Xiumei's identity as a veteran and her heroic deeds on the Korean battlefield were revealed, attracting national attention. It turned out that this old man, who was suffering from illness and living in embarrassment, was the "only female soldier who made a first-class meritorious service to resist US aggression and aid Korea" who was once awarded the highest honor. It is shocking and heartbreaking that she has made great sacrifices for her country and its people, and that she is now in such a difficult situation.
For a time, Xie Xiumei's experience caused strong repercussions across the country. People have denounced that society has forgotten this heroic figure for a long time. Some kind-hearted citizens even took the initiative to donate, hoping to share part of the burden of medical expenses for her. In the face of the strong voice of public opinion, the government authorities also reacted quickly and immediately waived all arrears for Xie Xiumei, ensuring that she could be treated with peace of mind and spend her old age.
In this way, this heroic mother, who saved the lives of her comrades-in-arms several times, finally received the attention and care that the country and society deserved in the last few years of her life. Although this incident was exposed a little too late, Xie Xiumei was still extremely relieved about it. She has said to her children many times: "Our party and country will not abandon heroes, and you must believe this." Sure enough, when she was in trouble, the warmth of the country soon enveloped her.
An immortal image of a hero
Since Xie Xiumei's experience was exposed, the whole country has poured deep attention and respect into this singing and crying heroic mother. People hope that she can regain her dignity and regain the honor and status she deserves in her lifetime. As a result, local governments and social organizations began to restore her home and build memorial facilities to immortalize her heroic image.
First of all, Xie Xiumei's hometown of Xinyang City, Henan Province, set out to comprehensively improve her living conditions. In 2019, the local government invested hundreds of thousands of yuan to completely renovate the old house where Xiumei lived, and built a new two-bedroom building for her, which solved her long-term problem of poor living environment. In addition, they also added a one-time subsidy and a certain amount of monthly living expenses for Xie Xiumei to ensure that her life in her later years was carefree.
At the same time, some social groups also began to renovate the site of Xie Xiumei's wartime unit, creating a place of mourning and commemorative facilities to highlight her extraordinary heroic deeds. On the Korean battlefield, there was a hill that was affectionately called "Little Fang Mountain" by the soldiers, because it was there that Wang Fang, the prototype of Xie Xiumei, died heroically. Today, a monument has been built on the top of the hill to forever engrave Xie Xiumei's name.
In addition, at the Ningxia Zhongwei Military Camp where Xie Xiumei was once stationed, local residents and soldiers spontaneously organized a commemorative event to relive her glorious image of bravery and fearlessness in the flames of war. At the event, some veterans donated the old military flags they had sewn with their own hands and enshrined them in the center of the barracks to pay the highest respect to this great heroine.
At the end of the commemorative event, the people in the audience understood Xiumei's incomparable achievements and offered their most sincere blessings to her. Some people expressed the hope that she could live a healthy and peaceful life in her old age; Some people also said that she hoped that her heroic deeds would be passed on to future generations forever and become inspiring positive energy. Everyone's praise echoed through the barracks like a bell.
In this way, Xie Xiumei, the heroic mother who was once forgotten by the world, finally re-highlighted her rightful status and glory in the last few years of her life. Memorial facilities have been built in various places to relive her glorious image during the war, as a permanent tribute to the society. As a veteran said: "Xie Xiumei is like a heroic flame that will never be extinguished, and she has written a heroic chapter with her life." "Yes, such a heroic and fearless, brave and strong image of a female warrior will be forever engraved in people's hearts, passed down from generation to generation, and immortal.