【Text/Observer Network Columnist Zuo Wei】
On September 2, the ROK handed over to the Chinese side the remains and relics of a new batch of martyrs of the Korean Chinese Volunteer Army. From 2014 to 2020, the two countries have successfully handed over the remains of 716 martyrs of the Chinese Volunteer Army in Korea for seven consecutive times. This year is the eighth handover.
Upon learning the news of the "heroic martyrs returning home", Wang Yuanchao was upset.
In the Early Ming Dynasty this year, Wang Yuanchao entrusted the Shenyang Martyrs' Cemetery to place a letter that spanned time and space in front of the martyrs' heroic wall. The letter said: "Dad, I have turned 70 this year... For all these reasons we can't go to your resting place to pay homage, Dad, I miss you..."
In the Qingming Dynasty of 2019, Wang Yuanchao went to the Martyrs' Cemetery in the Jinsui Liberated Area to participate in the burial ceremony of some martyrs of the 7th Division of the 1st Army of the Volunteer Army and the burial ceremony of the remains of 26 scattered martyrs.
Ceremony site
In the 2018 Qing Dynasty, Wang Yuanchao, together with other martyrs, returned to Korea to pay tribute to his relatives. It was also because of this special trip that we learned the touching story of Wang Yuanchao.
Father Wang Bo: "I saw you in my dreams", and he said a word
On the morning of April 3, 2018, in the train carriage of Sinuiju, North Korea, a delegation of grave sweepers was undergoing immigration inspection by the DPRK.
The security officer found an object wrapped in red cloth in the suitcase and immediately signaled the holder to open it. Du Liangcun carefully unveiled the red cloth, which was wrapped in the remains of his great uncle Du Yuechao. Stunned, the security officer stared at the young man in the volunteer uniform in the photo and said in Chinese: "Good, good!" Thank you! ”
At the same time, in another carriage, the conductor solemnly saluted the peace medallion on the chest of the martyrs.
Entering North Korea, Wang Yuanchao felt very kind (Photo by Yang Tao)
Mr. Wang told me that it wasn't his first time in North Korea. In July 1958, as a military subordinate in the kindergarten of the 1st Army, he was taken to Korea by the army to reunite with his parents.
He still remembered that on the volunteer train, the volunteer uncle gently hugged him, and the policeman also brought out precious biscuits for him to eat. All the way unimpeded, Wang Yuanchao did not even feel that he had come to a foreign country.
After the armistice in 1953, the volunteer army began to withdraw in batches in 1954, but some troops, engineering and logistics personnel remained in Korea. This is a military consideration, but also to help the Korean people rebuild their devastated homeland.
"In 1958, Wang Yuanchao was reunited with his parents, so how could his father be a martyr who died in Korea?" With doubts, I continued to listen to the story of Wang Yuanchao.
In Chinese New Year's Eve 1958, Zhou Enlai, Chen Yi and Su Yu came to the Hinokura Martyrs' Cemetery. It snowed heavily that day, and Zhou Enlai stood silent for a long time in front of Mao Anying's tomb. The prime minister's visit was to meet with the DPRK side to discuss the withdrawal of troops in October.
Before the withdrawal in October, Wang spent the entire summer in Gushan, North Korea, living with his parents and troops. He also clearly remembers that the 1st Army built a million cubic meters of reservoir here, which can irrigate 38 million mu of fertile land, so the Central Government of the DPRK named the reservoir "Gushan Dprang-China Friendship Reservoir".
At the age of 7, Wang Yuanchao already understood things and knew that Wang Fushou was his stepfather. His father, Wang Bo, joined the Eighth Route Army in 1939, and in February 1953, Wang Bo went to fight in Korea. "The days of living with Wang Bo's father were very short, and I have donated his meritorious service certificates, diaries and letters to the memorial. All that remains of my thoughts now are a few photographs. ”
Wang Bo's last family portrait before going to fight in Korea
Wang Yuanchao continued: "Wang Bo's father is almost blank in my memory, and my mother said that he particularly hurt me and missed me. I'm old enough to cry whenever I think of the letter he sent back from North Korea. ”
"I heard that The Aid Dynasty was damaged on the head, but I don't know if it's better now?" At the same time, I heard that he was very naughty and scolded you, hoping that you would educate him well, induce him to learn well, and make him motivated, but do not force or scare him.
Miss me? I miss you. How many times have you dreamed of you since I came to North Korea, have you dreamed of me? This is inevitable. However, for the happiness of the Korean people and the safety of the motherland, we can only meet temporarily in our dreams and live a more stable and happy life in the future. ”
The family letter of the martyr Wang Bo
On June 26, 1953, the U.S. Air Force dispatched more than 40 aircraft to intensively bomb Lao Bald Mountain near the 38th Line, when the 19th Regiment was holding an operational meeting at Lao Bald Mountain, and a total of 114 cadres at or above the company level, including Wang Bo, were killed.
Wang Bo never saw Wang Yuanchao's mother and son again, and "seeing him in a dream" became a slur. In 2018, Wang Yuanchao came to the Hinogakura Martyrs Cemetery. Next to each martyr's tomb, there is a northeast black pine specially transplanted from China, quietly accompanying them. Wang Yuanchao and other martyrs' families stopped at the Martyrs' Memorial Pavilion and placed the remains of their relatives in front of the pavilion.
Kang Ming was one of the organizers of the tomb sweeping regiment, and his father was Kang Zhizhong, the commander of the 19th Regiment of the 7th Division of the 1st Army, who died with Wang Yuanchao's father, Wang Bo. For more than 30 years, Kang Ming has been searching for the descendants of his father's comrades in China, running between the two koreas, looking for the bones of his father, and finally confirming that his father is buried in cemetery 152 after all the hardships. Wang Yuanchao personally went to Korea this time, but unfortunately the cemetery was already a military restricted area and could not be approached.
They were on their knees at the Hinokikura Martyrs' Cemetery and were crying heart-rending. Many martyrs shouted the names of their loved ones in the direction of the three or eight lines.
Behind the barbed wire, is the graveyard of relatives (photo by Kang Ming)
Stepfather Wang Fushou: Be worthy of the dead, but also worthy of the living!
After Wang Bo's death, in 1955, Huang Yanting, Wang Yuanchao's military mother, took him to remarry Wang Fushou, who was also a volunteer army.
His successor, Wang Fushou, joined the army in 1947 and made special meritorious contributions in the Liberation War, and was in the 21st Regiment of the 7th Division of the People's Liberation Army with Wang Yuanchao's father, Wang Bo. After entering the Korean War, Wang Fushou was in the Tank Regiment of the 7th Division of the 1st Army, and Wang Bo was in the Health Department of the 7th Division.
Wang Fushou was 32 years old and Huang Yanting was 40 years old. Their wedding was held at the Xining Left Guard in Qinghai, a special wedding that made 4-year-old Wang Yuanchao unforgettable. "The wedding was solemn and lively, and there were a lot of people coming. The uncles and aunts of the army were in full swing, and many people poured wine on their stepfathers and mothers. I thought they were bullying their mother, crying and making a lot of noise next to them, and making their uncles and aunts laugh. ”
Recalling this, Wang Yuanchao burst into tears: "At that time, my stepfather was an unmarried officer, and many people introduced him to him. It hurts me to think of that, I owe my stepfather so much in my life. ”
In 1959, his stepfather Wang Fushou transferred to Chengdu. Recalling the childhood he lived with his stepfather through his youth, Wang Yuanchao choked up several times. "He always gave me the best he could and always spoke to me happily. Even if I made a mistake and he was angry, he just didn't speak with a cold face, and he didn't lose his temper with me even once. ”
Even during the 3-year famine, his parents plucked grain from between his teeth and gave it to Wang Yuanchao, so that he did not go hungry. In 1962, Wang Yuanchao left Chengdu to study in Hebei. His stepfather, Wang Fushou, sent him to the train station, fearing that he would be hungry on the road, and went to the restaurant to buy a small bowl of precious white rice. Wang Yuanchao ate two bites, then said that he was full, and pushed the bowl to his stepfather. "Before, at home, he never ate only some paste and wild vegetable soup. That time he took the bowl of white rice and ate it to the ground. My parents cared for me meticulously in life, but at the same time they were very demanding. My stepfather always told me to study hard and be a good person, and not to be sorry for my martyr father. ”
Family portrait before joining the army, the first brother on the left in the back row, Wang Yuanqing, and the second brother on the left to aid the dynasty.
In 1973, Wang Returned home from demobilization and wanted a bicycle. In the era of the planned economy, bicycles are difficult to get started. One day, Wang Yuanchao overheard his parents talking, and his stepfather said to his mother, "We must do things worthy of the dead and the living!" This bike is hard to buy. ”
It was not until after his stepfather left that Wang Yuanchao understood the deep meaning inside.
In the summer of 1979, Wang Yuanchao's wife became pregnant, her parents were overjoyed, and her stepfather mysteriously told Wang Yuanchao that they were going to Xi'an. Wang Yuanchao asked his parents what to do in Xi'an, and his stepfather only stared at him with relief and smiled.
When Wang Yuanchao sent his parents to the train, his stepfather bought Wang Yuanchao a popsicle and smiled while watching him eat: "In three days, I will come back." ”
However, the world was unpredictable, and after three days, his parents did not return home, but Wang Yuanchao received the news that his stepfather was critically ill in Xi'an. He rushed to Xi'an and saw his stepfather lying on a hospital bed. He was covered with tubes and could no longer speak. It turned out that Wang Fushou suddenly developed appendicitis in Xi'an, and sepsis was triggered by an acute infection.
"At the hospital bedside, I was often accompanied by a strange aunt, and her eyes looked at me with pity." But at that time, Wang Yuanchao's attention was on rescuing his stepfather, and even though his mother, Huang Yanting, signaled Wang Yuanchao to be close to this aunt, Wang Yuanchao did not pay attention to it.
"When my stepfather was dying, he used his last strength to pull my hand and the aunt's hand together. He laughed and walked away with that smile. The grief-stricken Wang Yuanchao vaguely felt that he was inextricably linked to this strange aunt.
Biological father Du Yaoting: Sacrificed on the day of the armistice
April 5, 2018, Qingming. The martyrs' group rushed to the China-DPRK Friendship Pagoda early in the morning to attend a public ceremony held by the Chinese Embassy in the DPRK. Every year, China and the DPRK organize festivals.
The Korean People's Army Military Band has long been in place, and North Korean salute soldiers are guarding the Friendship Tower with guns. At the scene of the solemn and solemn public sacrifice, Wang Yuanchao was particularly conspicuous in the crowd. Because he held a portrait of a volunteer martyr on each hand. The two people on the portrait are his father Wang Bo and the other is his biological father, Du Yaoting. The name Du Yaoting is in the Friendship Tower's "List of Cadres and Martyrs above the Volunteer Corps".
"There is a descendant of a Xi'an martyr who has carefully searched several times, and has not found his father's name on the wall or in the roster. He was an old man a few years older than me, and he suddenly had an emotional breakdown and was crying like a child on the ground. "His father was not found in North Korea but registered in China, and many martyrs did not even leave their names." There are also some soldiers who died at the age of 15 or 16, without even a descendant, and I don't know if anyone will remember them a hundred years after their families. ”
Martyrs weep as they caress the names of their loved ones on the wall of the martyrs' list (Source Red Jinsui Network)
It was not until the death of his stepfather in 1979 that Wang Yuanchao cleared up his own life. At that time, Wang Yuanchao was in another hospital in Xi'an, looking for scarce erythromycin for his stepfather, and suddenly found that a man in the crowd sounded very similar to himself. He probed his head for the source of the sound, and suddenly met the owner of the sound. In a moment, the man opened his mouth first: "You are just aiding the DPRK, right?" It turned out that this man was his second brother Du Jianmin. The "aunt" in front of his stepfather's bedside was his birth mother, Lu Ruiqing, and his biological father was named Du Yaoting.
Du Yaoting joined the army in 1937 and was the same as Wang Bo in the old Eighth Road during the Anti-Japanese Period. His biological father, Du Yaoting, his adoptive father Wang Bo, and his stepfather, Wang Fushou, were brothers of the 21st Regiment of the 7th Division of the 1st Army. Later, from the regimental part to the division headquarters, Du Yaoting and Wang Bo were also together.
The Du family and the Wang family lived together in Gaotai Town, Gansu, the Du family already had 2 children, but the Wang family had nothing to do for many years, Du Yaoting and Lü Ruiqing passed on the newborn old Three Kings to Wang Bo. Wang Yuanchao said: "I don't know whether the name Of Aid Korea was taken by my biological father or my adoptive father, but they all showed their intentions -- resisting the United States and aiding Korea, defending the family and defending the country!" ”
Although the birth parents passed on Wang Yuanchao, they have always been very concerned about Wang Yuanchao. The adoptive mother had no breast milk, the biological father squeezed money out of the allowance to buy a dairy sheep, and the adoptive parents milked the milk to Wang Yuanchao every day. Every weekend, the biological father would also take Wang Yuanchao back to the Du family, and then send him back. Wang Yuanchao ushered in his 2nd birthday in double love. In the same month, Du Yaoting and Wang Bo were ordered to go to North Korea.
The leaders of the Logistics Department of the 7th Division took a group photo in the DPRK, and the 3rd from the left in the front row was Du Yaoting, the director of the division
(Source Red Jinsui Network)
After Wang Bo's sacrifice, Du Yaoting told Huang Yanting: "Don't be sad, Wang Bo sacrificed to defend his family and defend the country, and we should feel honor and pride for him." In the future, your life and the life of aiding the DPRK will be completely managed by our family, and we will be responsible for the end, and the aid to the DPRK is the common child of our two families. ”
At 10:00 a.m. on July 27, 1953, the Korean Armistice Agreement was signed, and the two sides agreed to enter into force at 10:00 p.m. 12 hours later. The shelling between the north and the south continued until 9:59 p.m. that day. At 10 p.m., both positions fell silent. After another 10 minutes, the positions were boiling, and the veterans of the volunteer army recalled that many soldiers cheered and hugged together.
In the crowd of celebrations, there was no figure of Du Yaoting. In the evening before the armistice agreement came into effect, the logistics command post of the 7th Division was attacked by an angry bomb of the Us army, and Du Yaoting was killed on the spot.
Wang Yuanchao's biological father and adoptive father fell on the eve of victory, buried in the military buffer zone on the 38th Line. The birth mother, Lu Ruiqing, fell into great grief, and she perked up through mutual help and mutual help with the child's adoptive mother. Later, the birth mother Lü Ruiqing and stepfather Wang Fushou talked for a long day, and then Wang Fushou applied to the organization to marry Huang Yanting, who raised Wang Yuanchao alone.
In the autumn of 1953, Lü Ruiqing (squatting row 3 from left) in front of Du Yaoting's tomb
It was also after his stepfather left that Wang Yuanchao learned that they had secretly gone to Xi'an in order to personally tell his blood relatives that Wang Yuanchao was about to become the good news of his father. Speaking of this, Wang Yuanchao wept: "I killed my stepfather!" He paid too much for me in this life, and he didn't expect that in the end, even death would arise because of me! If it wasn't for the news to my birth mother, how could he have died in Xi'an! ”
After his stepfather returned to China in 1958 and died, he contacted his birth mother to tell them about Wang's schooling, joining the army, working and living. Wang Yuanchao finally understood that his stepfather's words, "We must be worthy of the dead, but also worthy of the living" is the promise of the warrior to his comrades-in-arms for a lifetime.
Wang Yuanchao: In my life, I have not done a single thing that makes people poke their backbones!
On April 7, 2018, the martyrs' group was about to return to China.
North Korean tour guide Xiao Hong seemed reluctant. In the past few days, Xiao Hong has talked the most about the volunteer army: "Without the volunteer army, our Dprk would have perished", "We Koreans remember that even Chairman Mao's children stayed in Korea."
She said this kind of history education runs from elementary school to university in North Korea. She also said that she had received many Chinese tour groups before, and what made her very sad was that some young Chinese people did not understand the confrontation with the United States and aid to North Korea, which also made the old people of the martyrs' group feel sad.
Finally, Wang Yuanchao sighed that his life may be unfortunate, losing his biological father and adoptive father when he was a child, and losing his stepfather "when the son wants to raise and not waiting for his relatives", which has become a heart disease in his life. But he also felt that he was extremely happy, that he had won the love of three military families, and that his parents were both heroes in defending their country and deep affection that outweighed blood ties.
He said: "In this life, I can assure that I have never done a thing to make others poke in the spine, and I have not disgraced my heroic parents." As my stepfather said, be worthy of the living and worthy of the dead. ”
The five brothers of the 19th Regiment held the roster of heroes and martyrs in their hands, and the camaraderie of their fathers continued in their hands.
From left to right: Kang Ming (son of the regimental commander Kang Zhizhong)
Li Xiaobing (son of Li Zhonglin, chief of the Organization Section of the Military Department)
Wang Anji (son of Chief of Staff Wang Boming)
Wang Yuanchao (the protagonist of this article)
Sun Qunkai (son of political commissar Sun Zedong)
Before I said goodbye to my uncle, he said emotionally: "There are no my fathers in the remains of the martyrs who returned to China, but every time I see the heroic martyrs returning home, I feel that my relatives have returned home." If North Korea Cemetery No. 152 is open, as long as I can move my steps, Dad, I will definitely come to your tomb to see you, and now the motherland is singing your story everywhere, and the party and the people will not forget you. ”
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