Mai Xiande photographed on the cover of the 4th issue of the People's Liberation Army Pictorial in 1966. (File photo)
【Biography】Mai Xiande, former deputy commander of the 91708 unit. In the 1965 "Eighty-Six" naval battle, Mai Xiande, as the mechanical and electrical soldier of the No. 611 frigate, still held the battle position for more than 3 hours in the case of being shot in the head, and was praised as a steel warrior and became a model for national learning. In 1966, he was awarded the honorary title of "Combat Hero" by the Ministry of National Defense. In 2017, he was awarded the "August 1st Medal" by the Central Military Commission. In 2019, he was awarded the national honorary title of "People's Hero".
The emotion that flowed in his chest, the moment he blurted out, became particularly difficult—
At the scene of the patriotic education activity of "Children's Hearts To the Party" at the Mingzhi Primary School in Panyu District, Guangzhou City, in the face of the childish faces of the stage, Mai Xiande, the winner of the "August 1st Medal" and the "people's hero," touched the red scarf worn by the Young Pioneers on his chest and said word by word: "The students should study hard and contribute their wisdom and wisdom to the construction of the great motherland when they grow up." ”
This short and relaxed sentence for ordinary people is very difficult for Mai Xiande, who has seriously damaged his language function due to war injuries.
Li Yuzhi, the old partner next to him, took over the stubble and told the children the story of Mai Xiande's battle——
In the "Eighty-Six" naval battle, Mai Xiande, a mechanical and electrical soldier of the 611th boat, suffered a severe blow to the head and his blood covered his eyes, but still held the battle position for more than 3 hours, and after the battle, he fell into a severe coma again, and his life was hanging in the balance.
At that time, Chairman Mao was worried about his injuries, and Premier Zhou Enlai personally served as the leader of the rescue command group and mobilized medical experts to perform brain surgery many times before he was rescued from the death line. After that, Chairman Mao received him alone in the small parlor of the Great Hall of the People. This made Mai Xiande deeply feel the care of the party. Shrapnel damaged his brain, but the belief in "always listening to the party" was deeply imprinted in his mind.
President Xi has also been worried about this old hero -
In July 2017, President Xi Jinping personally hung the "August 1st Medal" and issued a certificate to Mai Xiande. The order reads, "Comrade Mai Xiande is a strong-willed steel warrior who is not afraid of sacrifice."
In September 2019, the ceremony of awarding the National Medal and National Honorary Titles of the People's Republic of China was solemnly held, and President Xi Jinping awarded Mai Xian the national honorary title of "People's Hero".
Today, in the face of supreme honor, Mai Xiande, who is over seventy years old, is still the heartfelt words that have flowed in his chest for more than half a century: "I will always listen to the words of the party, listen to the words of the motherland, and do a good job of a small 'screw'." ”
This will and belief is the source of Mai Xiande's strength to die in battle, and it is also the spiritual code for him to overcome the after-effects of war wounds and create medical miracles.
Iron will -
Heroes not only lie in the struggle at key moments, but also in the long years of self-improvement
Between interviews, his wife Li Yuzhi took out a handful of pills and asked Mai Xian to take them with warm water. She told reporters that Mai Xiande had to take six or seven kinds of medicines every day, and there were more than ten kinds of drugs often.
"Over the past few decades, the number of medicines that Lao Mai has taken has been uncountable." Li Yuzhi said, "If there is no steel-like belief, it is difficult to just take this medicine every day." ”
The iron will of the iron warrior Mai Xiande inspired him to make outstanding achievements on the battlefield.
At 2:51 a.m. on August 6, 1965, on the surface of the sea near Dongshan Island in Zhangzhou, Fujian Province, the rumbling sound of cannons resounded through the sea and the sky. The fire of the frigates of our People's Navy blocked the small submarine hunting ship "Zhang Jiang" of the Taiwan Kuomintang army in a cluster of attacks. The largest naval battle since the founding of New China was fought.
During the battle, Mai Xiande suddenly felt a sharp pain in his head, as if a red-hot soldering iron had penetrated his head, and the pain was incomparable. The "soldering iron" is a piece of high-temperature shrapnel that hits his right forehead and goes all the way to the left side of the frontal lobe near the temple. The sky was spinning, and he fell...
fight! Keep fighting! Badly injured and unconscious, Mai Xian was awakened by the rumbling of cannon fire, and he stood up with amazing perseverance, but his eyes were covered with blood and he could not open them.
At this point, the roar of the front cabin subsided. Mak had to judge that it was likely that the machine in the front cabin had also been damaged by shells. Step by step, he groped toward the front cabin, climbed when he fell, and drilled through the cabin hole. In this way, he returned to his position strongly in the dark.
The huge vibration of the explosion shifted the wavebox, and he had no strength to reset, so he used his entire body to resist the displaced wavebox, clutched the lever with both hands to ensure the normal operation of the turbine, and insisted on it like a "sculpture" until the victory of the battle, and then passed out again.
The naval battle was won, but the long battle between Mai Xiande and the aftermath of the war wounds began.
The hot shrapnel penetrated from Mai Xiande's right frontal bone and inserted into the left side of the skull, because it was too deep, the first surgeon failed to remove the shrapnel; the second operation, after 18 hours, still could not find the shrapnel...
Nine months later, after more than 6 hours of surgery, the shrapnel was finally removed and Mai Xian had to get out of danger. The mutilated skull was replaced by two pieces of plexiglass implanted. To this day, the two pieces of plexiglass are still inside his skull.
His life was saved, but many sequelae such as traumatic epilepsy, weakness in the right hand, hemiplegia, walking restrictions, amnesia, and speech impairment caused by severe brain trauma accompanied the life of this combat hero.
Li Yuzhi recalled: "In the beginning, he even had to be supported when he walked, and he couldn't take care of himself. With the meticulous help of medical staff, he fought against the disease with superhuman perseverance, re-learning to pronounce and spit words word by word, practicing replacing the right hand with his left hand that was disabled by injury, and practicing walking with severe pain..."
Mai Xiande was not alone in the battle. In the long years, Li Yuzhi guarded Mai Xiande's side day and night, fighting the torment of illness with full love. Under the careful care of Li Yuzhi, Mai Xiande's epilepsy was miraculously better, and he had not had a seizure for more than 20 years.
In the autumn of 2015, Xu Manyun, the 80-year-old leader of the nursing team who was taking care of Mai Xiande in the hospital, rushed to Guangzhou to visit Mai Xiande. Seeing the battle hero in front of her, she said to Li Yuzhi emotionally: "We only took care of him for one year, you took care of Lao Mai for a lifetime, you are the hero of the people." ”
Liu Mingduo, a surgical expert who did head surgery for Mai Xiande, sighed: "It was a miracle that Mai Xiande was able to rescue him back then, and now he can recover so well, which is a miracle in the history of medical nursing!" ”
After nearly half a century of mutual encounters, Li Yuzhi used her love to make Mai Xiande's physical coordination, intelligence and memory miraculously restored.
In 2014, The Mak Hyun Tak family was named the "Most Beautiful Family" in the country. In 2015, Li Yuzhi was named a "National Moral Model" and was hailed as the hero behind the hero.
Steel-like style——
For decades, Mai Xiande has always maintained the heroic nature of the people's children and soldiers, enthusiastically helping others and not changing his original intention
Among the box-filled honor badges of Mai Xiande, the top one was the honorary certificate of "Shantou City's Fight against the New Crown Pneumonia Epidemic "Caring Citizens"", which attracted the attention of reporters.
At the beginning of 2020, when the new crown pneumonia epidemic suddenly struck, Mai Xiande saw on TV that military and local medical staff rushed to Wuhan to fight the epidemic, and he was excited to tears when he saw the people of the whole country working together to support Wuhan.
After consulting with Li Yuzhi, Mai Xian had to take out his family savings and donate them to the Shantou City Anti-epidemic Medical Team in the name of "a veteran".
Until the end of last year, the government department searched for it and learned that "a veteran" was Mai Xiande.
In fact, as early as 1996, after seeing the news of an explosion at a local factory and injuring several workers, Mak immediately donated love money as a "veteran".
Although he is particularly frugal in his life and living, he is very generous in poverty alleviation. Once, the troops organized a love donation, and considering that Mai Xiande was not financially rich, they did not tell him. After learning of this, Mai Xian had to find the leader of the troops and made a special donation.
He always remembered that he was a soldier of the people's children, and even though he was suffering from the aftermath of war wounds, he still wanted to do his part to protect the safety of people's lives and property.
Once, a strong typhoon struck, and the fierce wind swept through the city with torrential rain. People were hiding in their homes, but Mai Xiande, who had just returned from a meeting in the field, was nowhere to be seen.
"Where can the old wheat, who is not physically ill," go in the stormy storm?" Li Yuzhi anxiously took his son and daughter to look around in the wind and rain.
Because of the search, the whole family can only go home and wait for the news. His son Mai Haibin unexpectedly saw his father from the live TV footage - Mai Xiande, who was wearing only a vest on his upper body, was covered in muddy water to participate in rescue and disaster relief on the seaside promenade...
In the face of the test of interests, Mai Xiande also showed a steely style, always adhering to the bottom line of a party member and a revolutionary soldier.
Because of the long-term struggle with the sequelae of war injuries, the medicine can not leave the body, many drug dealers have their eyes on Mai Xiande. They want to use The Glory of Mai Xiande to make a fuss about the drugs he takes to enhance the advertising effect.
In the face of all kinds of drug dealers' invitations and inducements, Mai Xiande refused all of them.
A pharmaceutical factory learned of Mai Xiande's principles of handling affairs, and organized a meeting of patients on the pretext of inviting Mai Xiande to encourage patients from other places.
For patients, Mai Xian is very willing to contribute to their early recovery. But he did not expect that along with several patients, there was also an advertising film crew of the pharmaceutical company. Mai Xian's face turned blue with anger. The other party said: "Now many celebrities are advertising, it is very simple, you just need to compare this pill box, the reward package you are satisfied." ”
"To seek personal gain by taking the honor given by the party and the people is to smear the party and the people, and I will never do this!" Mai Xian had to say emphatically. Since then, he has cut off contact with these pharmaceutical factories.
Mai Xiande's style and integrity also deeply affected his family. He named his sons and daughters Mai Haibin and Mai Haishan respectively, with the word "sea", hoping that the children would grow up in the wind and waves, and their hearts and minds would be as broad as the sea.
Influenced by Mai Xiande, the two children successively embarked on the road of serving the country from the military. Mak Haishan was admitted to the military academy to become a military doctor, and Mai Haibin graduated from the military academy and took the initiative to ask for assignment to a first-line combat ship. Both were awarded third class merit for their outstanding work.
Steel-like beliefs —
Being willing to be a small "screw" and inheriting the revolutionary spirit is Mai Xiande's unswerving pursuit of faith
Mai Xiande wrote down the five big characters of "serving the people" as a gift to the representatives of the officers and men of the army. These five words are not only his entrustment to the younger generation of officers and soldiers, but also his persistence in life as a veteran.
In the "Hero Boat of the Sea" unit, back to the place where he once fought and lived, Mai Xian was particularly excited. He watched the "86" naval battle video with young officers and soldiers, recalling the naval battle scenes and telling the story of the battle.
"It is necessary to exercise the excellent skills of the 'night tiger' and carry forward the spirit of not being afraid of suffering and not being afraid of death." Mai Xian had to encourage the officers and men of the new generation of hero boats to listen to the party, follow the party, and strive to be the heirs of the steel hero boats.
After many years, Mai Xiande still maintains the strong and strong style of a soldier. But in front of the children on campus, Mai Xiande always had a big smile on his face. The growth of the younger generation is his biggest concern.
A variety of war wounds and sequelae have made Mai Xiandu face the torment of illness for many years, and it is difficult to walk and communicate with language. Even so, over the years, no matter how far away or near, as long as his health allowed, Mai Xiande and Li Yuzhi would go into the army, schools, party and government organs, and enterprises to devote themselves to public welfare activities and carry out revolutionary traditional education.
In 2011, Mai Xian was invited to participate in the activities of Raoping County's Fengbei Primary School, and seeing that the students' learning conditions were poor, he and his wife took out 20,000 yuan to buy bookcases, desks and books, helped the school build a reading room, and coordinated with the Shantou City Library to build a library for the school. He also coordinated and helped Shantou Guihua Primary School and Jinzhu Primary School, two national civilized campuses, to pair up with Fengbei Primary School to carry out co-construction and co-education activities.
Today, Fenbei Primary School has become a patriotic education base for young people, with 210,000 teachers and students visiting and learning.
"It was the party and the people who gave me a second life, and I want to listen to the party, do my best to do more useful things, and pass on the revolutionary tradition from generation to generation." This is the heart of Mai Xiande, and it is also the belief he has worked hard to practice for many years.
After retiring, Mai Xiande devoted all his energy to social welfare and national defense education, inspiring generations of people with his actions and stories.
"Old Mai is not very convenient for talking and walking. But my heart and Lao Mai's heart are connected, and what he wants to say in his heart, what he wants to say, his desires and pursuits, I know best in my heart. Li Yuzhi said with a smile, "I am Lao Mai's 'spokesperson'." ”
Over the years, Mai Xiande has been invited to serve as an external counselor in more than 20 colleges, universities, and primary schools, encouraging the younger generation to establish lofty ideals in life and make more contributions to the party and the country by telling heroic stories.
"What is a hero?"
On the playground of the elementary school, the reporter casually asked the students. The children blurted out: "A hero is a person who contributes to the country!" It's people like Grandpa Mai. ”
Short comments
Put loyalty in your veins
Blood and loyalty are the thickest background colors of the people's heroes. After joining the army, Mai Xian had to have the belief of serving the country from the military and trained a strong skill. He fought bravely, was badly wounded, and held his position until victory. After the war, in the face of the after-effects of serious war injuries, Mai Xian had not forgotten his original intention and silently practiced the oath of "listening to the party, following the party, and making more contributions to the motherland".
The bloodiness and perseverance of revolutionary soldiers come from unlimited loyalty to the party. Resolutely obeying the party's command is where our army's life, strength, and soul lie, and it is the greatest advantage of our army in overcoming all difficulties and obstacles. Practicing loyalty on the journey of strengthening the army requires not only bloody responsibility at key moments, but also silently paying day after day.
With the loyalty carved into the soul, no matter what kind of hardships and hardships you face, you can bravely move forward and go forward. Mai Xiande is a fighting hero with an iron will, and he is also a model practitioner of loyalty to the party. The deeds of the heroes enlighten us that by rooting loyalty in our minds and into our blood, strengthening our ideals and convictions, and tempering our spirit of struggle, we will certainly be able to shoulder the duties and missions entrusted by the party and the people and create extraordinary achievements.
Source: People's Liberation Army Daily