In September 1959, Liu Yalou was appointed Vice Minister of Defense, still serving as commander of the Air Force, and soon after as a member of the Central Military Commission. A year later, he also served as deputy director of the National Defense Science and Technology Commission and president of the Fifth Research Institute of the Ministry of National Defense.
However, at this time, his health was deteriorating, and the chronic diseases that fell during the war years made General Liu Yalou's body more and more weak.
However, under such circumstances, the general personally took charge of the matter, which lasted 6 years and 7 months, and at the celebration of the 15th anniversary of the formation of the Air Force, the People's Air Force finally had a complete, suitable for the Chinese Air Force itself, and completely compiled by the Chinese servicemen themselves.
This new China's air force masterpiece, the "Regulations and Regulations of the Air Force of the people's liberation army of the Chinese and Civil Liberation Army," has compiled a total of 306 textbooks on regulations, including 55 articles, regulations, and teaching orders; 57 codes, outlines, and norms; 24 tactical courses, textbooks, and combat examples; 153 technical principles courses and textbooks; 10 political work textbooks, and 7 others.
Before this, the Chinese Air Force has been following the soviet military's regulations and teaching courses, and many contents have long ceased to meet the needs of the construction and development of the Chinese Air Force in the new era.
At a time when the development and construction of the Air Force was booming, the general's health was deteriorating and his mental condition was getting worse and worse.
In 1964, with Liu Yalou as the head of the delegation and Lieutenant General Mo Wenhua as the deputy head of the Chinese military delegation visiting Cuba, during the heavy visit, General Liu Yalou repeatedly suffered from pain in the right upper quadrant, diarrhea and other symptoms, and even to the point that only by taking painkillers could the pain be alleviated.
After returning to China, the Central Military Commission attached great importance to the general's condition, quickly arranged for Liu Yalou to be admitted to the General Hospital of the People's Liberation Army (301 Hospital), and organized experts from Beijing Hospital and Union Hospital to consult, and at the end of October, the general was diagnosed with liver cancer.
After the diagnosis, for the sake of prudence, Premier Zhou, Lin Biao, He Long, Luo Ruiqing, and other leading comrades led Wu Faxian, political commissar of the Air Force, and Liu Zhen, deputy commander of the Air Force, to the hospital on many occasions to listen to the expert group's arguments and reports.
The expert group unanimously believed that Liu Yalou's disease was actually liver cancer, and although this fact was cruel, it was indeed a medical diagnosis and could not be doubted.
The chairman and Comrade Shaoqi were very concerned after learning of Liu Yalou's condition, and instructed the Central Military Commission to hold a meeting to study whether to truthfully inform the general of his illness. The chairman also personally wrote a text message to Liu Yalou, entrusting General Luo Ruiqing to forward it, in which he asked the general to put down his work, rest well, seriously treat, and do not have a burden mentally, but it cannot be ignored!
After study and discussion by the Central Military Commission, it was finally decided that Wu Faxian, political commissar of the Air Force, would confess the specific circumstances of his illness to General Liu Yalou and tell the truth.
For a general who has fought on the battlefield and spent half his life on horseback, it is pointless to hide his illness from him!
Wu Faxian went to the door of the ward, hesitated for half a day, and finally pushed the door in, and after the greeting, he had to say to Liu Yalou: "The expert group has diagnosed your condition with liver cancer, and you need to stop working immediately, rest in peace, and carry out thorough treatment." ”
General Liu Yalou, who was accustomed to seeing life and death on the battlefield, seemed to have been mentally prepared for his illness, and replied: "Thank you for your frankness and sincerity, you told me directly, so that I have a bottom in my heart and a good preparation in my thinking." ”
After General Liu Yalou learned of his true condition, he wanted to transfer from Beijing to Shanghai for treatment, and the general had been hospitalized in Shanghai Huadong Hospital in the past, believing that the treatment conditions there were relatively better.
The Central Military Commission respected the general's opinion, and Premier Zhou Enlai personally sent a plane to send Liu Yalou and his wife Zhai Yunying, as well as health doctors, secretaries, and security guards to Shanghai. He also called Chen Pixian, the first secretary of the Shanghai Municipal CPC Committee, and asked him to take proper care of General Liu Yalou and his entourage.
Shanghai immediately sent people to carefully select a site, and a small garden building was vacated in a section of Huashan Road with fresh air and a secluded environment for the general and his party to live. There are also chefs and nutritionists who specialize in taking care of the general's life and diet.
The Party Central Committee and the Central Military Commission attached great importance to General Liu Yalou's condition, and immediately set up a high-level medical team composed of the State Ministry of Health and the General Logistics Ministry of Health, composed of Professor Zhang Xiaoqian and other well-known experts, and immediately came to Shanghai. This medical group lives near General Liu Yalou's apartment and is responsible for the general's treatment.
Although the medical team composed of Experts from Beijing and the Huadong Hospital in Shanghai exhausted various drugs and tried all kinds of methods, General Liu Yalou's condition has never improved.
During the period when General Liu Yalou was being treated in Shanghai, Premier Zhou, Lin Biao, He Long, Ye Jianying, Luo Ruiqing, and several other veteran marshals, as well as some leaders of the Central Committee, ministers of various ministries, responsible persons of various plausible headquarters of the People's Liberation Army, and so on, all visited Shanghai on many occasions to pay respects to the general.
Helplessly, the general's condition developed extremely rapidly. Before the Spring Festival in 1965, when Luo Ruiqing, chief of the general staff, and Wu Faxian, political commissar of the Air Force, went to Shanghai to visit Liu Yalou, the general's face was haggard, his face was sallow, and he was lying on the bed, so weak that he almost didn't have the strength to speak...
When Luo Ruiqing and Wu Faxian reported to Premier Zhou after returning to Beijing, the premier was in a very heavy mood and frowned...
In early May, the Central Military Commission received phone calls from the hospital and General Liu Yalou's wife, Zhai Yunying, informing him that the general was dying. After receiving the phone call, on behalf of the Central Military Commission, Luo Ruiqing, Yang Chengwu, Wu Faxian, Liu Zhen, and several other principal leaders of the Air Force immediately flew to Shanghai.
When the chiefs arrived in Shanghai and rushed to the general's residence, Liu Yalou's consciousness had begun to blur, and he could no longer recognize anyone, and he lay on the bed and entered the dying moment...
At 10:00 a.m. on May 7, the two doctors who had been measuring his blood pressure and pulse from time to time around Liu Yalou stopped working, stood up and said apologetically to Zhai Yunying, "I'm sorry!" Then he walked to Luo Ruiqing and other leading comrades who had not slept all night, accompanied by Liu Yalou's bedside, and reported that General Liu Yalou had passed away...
On this day, the Chinese Air Force lost its first generation of outstanding leaders. General Liu Yalou died young at the age of 55!
When the special plane carrying the general's ashes flew to Beijing, Lin Biao, He Long, Nie Rongzhen, Ye Jianying, and other leaders of the Central Military Commission, as well as the principal responsible comrades of the PLA headquarters and all branches of the armed forces, a total of more than 300 people had already been waiting at the western suburbs airport to send General Liu Yalou on his last journey!
The general's eldest son, Liu Yunan, and the second son, Liu Yufen, got off the plane first with a large photograph of General Liu Yalou, followed by the younger son, Liu Yubin, holding his father's urn. When Liu Yalou's wife, Zhai Yunying, stepped off the plane, the leading comrades of the Central Military Commission present shook hands with her in turn, sent condolences, and expressed their condolences.
The hearse that greeted the general for a long time carried the general's ashes directly from the airport to the Zhongshan Hall in Zhongshan Park on the west side of Tiananmen. Placing General Liu Yalou's ashes in the Zhongshan Hall was an extremely noble treatment.
According to the regulations at that time, only party and state leaders at or above the level of members of the Politburo, members of the Secretariat, vice premiers of the State Council, vice chairmen of the National People's Congress, and vice chairmen of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference were eligible to use Zhongshan Hall.
General Liu Yalou's position at that time was vice minister of national defense and commander of the air force, and the specifications of the memorial service could not have reached this level. But the Central Committee decided to give him the same high courtesy as the leaders of the Party and the state.
Inside the Zhongshan Hall, the portrait of General Liu Yalou hangs on the front wall, and the urn is covered with a party flag, guarded by four soldiers with guns. In the spiritual hall, in addition to their relatives, cadres of organs directly under the Air Force, academies and universities stationed in Beijing, and cadres at and above the divisional level of the army also take turns to guard the spirit, with 16 people per shift.
General Liu Yalou's mourning activities lasted for three days, and more than 100,000 people entered the spiritual hall to mourn.
On the day of the memorial service, Liu Shaoqi, Zhou Enlai, Zhu De, Chen Yun, Lin Biao, Deng Xiaoping, and all the marshals and vice premiers in Beijing, the principal responsible persons of the headquarters of the Central Military Commission, all branches of the armed forces, and the Beijing Military Region were present and signed one by one in the registration book.
This check-in book is the most complete signature of party and state leaders since the founding of the People's Republic of China. For a deceased general, such a solemn memorial service is extremely rare in the history of our army!
The memorial service was presided over by Comrade Liu Shaoqi, and Luo Ruiqing, secretary general of the Central Military Commission and chief of the general staff of the People's Liberation Army, delivered a eulogy. After the memorial service, the hearse convoy was escorted by the salute soldiers to the Babaoshan Revolutionary Martyrs Cemetery.
On the way of the hearse, all the soldiers along the way stood up and saluted, silently praying to General Liu Yalou all the way!