It was a farewell that the generals would attend, and it was an almost state funeral.
"A thousand armies are easy to obtain, one will be difficult to find", when the stars fall, their light may not be there, but the way forward that illuminates the people has become eternal.
In 1965, Admiral Liu Yalou died of illness, and in order to mourn, the party and the state held a memorial service for him that was almost a state funeral.
Liu Yalou
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="4" > Liu Yalou, the pillar of the country</h1>
In July 1949, on the eve of the founding of New China, in order to win a comprehensive victory and for the comprehensive development of a new China that was in ruins and awaiting rejuvenation, the Central Committee assigned a task and ordered Liu Yalou, then commander of the 14th Corps of the Fourth Field Army, to start from scratch and form a people's air force that belonged to our country.
And to complete this task, it is not easy. At that time, our country not only experienced fourteen years of artillery fire, but also missed the rapid economic development of the world, lagging behind the world in all aspects, poor and white. Therefore, as early as when the leadership of our Party proposed the formation of an air force army, some people ridiculed our country as if it wanted to build an air force, which was tantamount to ascending to the heavens.
Indeed, at that time, the Chinese People's Liberation Army not only did not have a decent air force, military academy, but also did not even have the most basic factory to repair aircraft. It was against this background that Liu Yalou exerted great efforts to govern the country, from the army's food standards to the outline of teaching materials, and he personally handled them one by one and strictly grasped the army's work style.
In this way, in just four months, the Central Military Commission officially announced the establishment of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Air Force. In the more than a month since then, Liu Yalou has set up six aviation schools, creating a miracle belonging to China.
Under the effective leadership of Liu Yalou, China's air force started from scratch and became the world's top three air force by leaps and bounds. In 1963, the Air Force was rated as a pacesetter for the whole army by the Central Military Commission.
However, such progress is not everyone's hope. It should be known that as early as the eve of the end of World War II, the United States, as the world's three major hegemons, tried to control the world pattern at the Yalta Conference, and naturally it has long set its sights on the Asia-Pacific region.
After our party's victory and shattered its delusion of disintegrating our cross-strait areas, the United States began to expand the War of Aggression against Vietnam in an all-round way, deliberately harassing our borders. Against this background, the United States, which has more developed air weapons technology, has also "supported" the remnants of the Kuomintang on several occasions in conducting aerial reconnaissance and raids on China's territory. Liu Yalou was busy again for this.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="12" > the last "stubbornness" of life</h1>
On the morning of August 16, after Liu Yalou led China's party and government representatives on a visit to Rome and West Asia, Liu Yalou, who had always been energetic, suddenly felt unwell and physically weak in the last few days. At first, Liu Yalou only thought that he was not satisfied with the soil and water, and did not care. I didn't expect that,
After returning to China, Liu Yalou's diarrhea continued to worsen, as if he had changed a person.
His wife, who noticed the abnormality, persuaded him to go to the hospital for examination, but he refused. Because in Liu Yalou's heart, the most important thing at this time is to solve the air violations suffered by the country, not himself.
A few days later, Liu Yalou went to Nanjing again, regardless of his body, to preside over a meeting of the Air Force. At this time, Liu Yalou's diarrhea was even worse, but even so, he had to complete 8 hours of reporting and a large number of documents review every day. In addition, at this time, the US military reconnaissance planes frequently harassed China's Yunnan and Guangxi areas, and they "could not tolerate" Liu Yalou's rest.
Finally, under the repeated study of Liu Yalou and the fighters in the Air Force, the weakness of the RF-101 high-altitude high-speed reconnaissance aircraft, known as the "Strategic Eye of the West," was finally found by our army. But Liu Yalou could not hold on any longer.
One day in November, Liu Yalou was "forced" to go to the hospital for examination after completing his main research. Due to the damage during the war and long-term high-load work, Liu Yalou's liver transaminases were more than 4 times higher than ordinary people, and liver cirrhosis was serious. At the moment when the Air Force was booming, Liu Yalou fell ill.
However, when his body fell, his will did not waver in the slightest, and he even asked the doctor: if he had an incurable disease, he must tell him and let him "buy time and do a big job."
Liu Yalou's condition affected the Party Central Committee, in order to save the heroic general, the central leadership urgently gathered the top professors of xiehe, Beijing, and east China, and demanded that they go all out to save Liu Yalou!
On November 26, Chairman Mao, who replied to Liu Yalou's report, commented on the document: "I am very worried about hearing that you are sick. Be sure to recuperate seriously, listen to the doctor,and don't neglect. ”
It was not until the day after receiving the chairman's "order" that the "stubborn" Liu Yalou temporarily put down his work and went to Shanghai Huadong Hospital for treatment.
In order to let Liu Yalou treat his illness well, the then secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee also specially found a garden building for Liu Yalou and his wife to live in, and sent someone to take care of his diet. Zhou Enlai even instructed: "No matter how much money you spend, you must also save the life of Comrade Liu Yalou." "We will not hesitate to import medicines from Hong Kong.
However, in the expectation of everyone, Liu Yalou's condition did not improve.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="25" > almost a state funeral</h1>
At 15:45 on May 7, 1965, with the bad news coming from Huadong Hospital in Shanghai, the entire hospital fell into a death-like silence. Liu Yalou, vice minister of national defense of the People's Republic of China and commander of the People's Liberation Army Air Force of the Chinese, died at the age of 55 after fighting the disease for nearly three hundred days.
In addition to the medical staff of the hospital, but also the important leaders of our party and country who are in grief. An hour after Liu Yalou's death, Lin Biao, who learned the news, hurriedly sent condolences to express his deep condolences, and his words revealed his regret for mentors and friends and models of the three armed forces, and condolence calls from the three headquarters of the People's Liberation Army also followed.
On the same day, Lin Biao, who could not calm down, wrote an inscription on Liu Yalou that "Comrade Liu Yalou is immortal" and praised his lifelong contribution.
On May 8, on the front page of the influential People's Daily in China, an obituary by the Ministry of National Defense took up the entire page, showing Liu Yalou wearing air force collar flowers and a military uniform with the rank of general, which was printed in a black frame and distributed throughout the country.
At the bottom of Liu Yalou's photo is the list of his funeral committee, which contains Deng Xiaoping, Ye Jianying, Liu Bocheng, Premier Zhou and other important party and state leaders, and Lin Biao is even the chairman of his funeral committee, which shows the importance of his farewell.
In addition to the People's Daily, the major media at the central and local levels have also carried out a large number of relevant reports, and almost for a time "occupied" the front pages of major newspapers. In terms of publicity, its funeral is almost the level of a state funeral.
Under such preparations, after Liu Yalou received a farewell from all sides of the society in the Small Auditorium of Shanghai Lilac Garden, his ashes were escorted by Wu Faxian and others at three o'clock in the afternoon of the same day, accompanied by mourning, and arranged for a special plane to be sent to Beijing.
Lin Biao, Peng Zhen, He Long and other important leaders of the central government wore black veils to come to pick them up. The heads of the Ministry of National Defense and the PLA headquarters and branches of the armed forces also stood on both sides of the plane and made a final farewell with the old marshal.
Accompanied by the founding fathers and people, Liu Yalou's children covered their father's ashes with the Flag of the Communist Party of China and placed them in Zhongshan Hall on the west side of Tiananmen Square, ushering in a three-day farewell from May 9 and with 100,000 soldiers and civilians in the capital.
More importantly, during these three days of ceremonies, important leaders of our party, including Premier Zhou, Lin Biao, and Zhu De, spontaneously came to mourn. Wu Faxian even recalled: The registration book for Liu Yalou's memorial service is the most complete one signed by party and state leaders, which shows Liu Yalou's influence and respect in the party and at home.
And we know that Zhongshan Hall in Zhongshan Park belongs to the place where the party and state leaders held funerals, and belongs to the treatment of politburo members, while Liu Yalou is "only" a general. Such extraordinary courtesies and such a large attendance team are almost unprecedented, so in terms of funeral treatment, the funeral is also close to the level of state funeral.
On May 11, under the attention of more than 2,500 people in the capital, Liu Yalou's public ceremony was held in Zhongshan Hall as scheduled. Except for Chairman Mao, who had important matters on the northwest slope at that time and could not withdraw from the meeting, all the leaders of the central committee were present.
In the spiritual hall, the remains of Liu Yalou were hung high on the front of the spiritual hall, and a huge horizontal link was hung next to his photo, telling the story of Liu Yalou's life: "Mourning Comrade Liu Yalou, a loyal soldier of the Chinese people."
Inside and outside the Zhongshan Hall, there are wreaths from all sides. Four heavily armed soldiers, guarding his urn, accompanied him on this last journey with the highest honor of a soldier.
After the mourning performance of the military band, Luo Ruiqing, then secretary of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee, delivered a eulogy and farewell to Liu Yalou.
After the public festival, escorted by Liu Shaoqi and Lin Biao, the hearse slowly drove to the Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery.
Along the way, thousands of warriors stood on both sides of the road, standing upright and saluting the hearse, and thousands of people spontaneously came to the road to bid farewell to the hero.
Therefore, whether it is the scale of its public ceremony or the influence it has formed among the military and the people, its funeral is almost the level of a state funeral.
In this way, General Liu Yalou advanced his life for the country and the army. The party and the state are deeply reluctant and solemnly mourn, and the specifications of their funerals can be called state funerals.
As Premier Zhou said with tears at his memorial service: "A thousand troops are easy to obtain, but one will be difficult to find, and Comrade Yalou left too early." "Our country has come from the road of semi-colonial and semi-feudal rise, and has experienced too much along the way, and the departure of any heroic ancestor will cause a lot of mourning, not to mention a great man like Liu Yalou, who has such a huge influence on the party and the people."
He served the people wholeheartedly, heroically and wisely, meticulously and boldly, and dedicated his life to the country. And this is also the reason why Liu Yalou can be respected by the military and the people, and "finally" have the mourning honor of almost a state funeral after the end of his life.