On the afternoon of January 9, 1965, Zhang Liyi, a pilot of the 35th Task Force Squadron of the Fifth Wing of the Kuomintang Air Force at Taipei Taoyuan Airport, received a task from the wing commander and asked him to prepare for the mission tomorrow.
Zhang Liyi understood what this meant, the 35th Squadron was the "Black Cat" Squadron, he was a U2 pilot, and the U2 mission was to go deep into the mainland for espionage reconnaissance.
Born in 1929 and graduated from the Taiwan Air Force Officer School in 1951, Zhang Liyi was one of the first Taiwanese to train in F84 fighter jets in the United States. After returning to Taiwan in November 1953, he was assigned to the First Wing of the Taiwan Air Force and began to carry out missions.
With the development and growth of the People's Liberation Army Air Force, the Kuomintang Air Force no longer has an advantage in air supremacy, and every time he returns from a mission, Zhang Liyi will feel the excitement of reuniting with his family and the happiness of survival.
In 1958, he encountered our army's fighter planes in Fujian and other places along the coast of the mainland, Zhang Liyi did not dare to engage, hurriedly dropped the fuel tank and other equipment to escape back to the base, and only after landing on the ground did he find that his landline was actually rolled by the abandoned auxiliary fuel tank with a big hole, almost ending his flying career, allowing him to understand the strength of the mainland air force.
At the end of 1963, Zhang Liyi was sent to the United States to receive training in U2 aircraft. At that time, U2 was a strange and mysterious name, this high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft can fly up to 22250 meters, ground artillery fire can not hit, fighters are also limited by the flight altitude is difficult to intercept, known as the safest high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft. Being selected to fly U2, Zhang Liyi felt that his sense of security had increased a lot.
But this feeling soon disappeared, and in September 1962, Taiwan's first U2 was shot down by our missile unit, and two more were shot down in succession. Nowadays, driving U2 deep into the mainland to carry out the mission has become a chore, the voyage is both long and risky, Zhang Liyi has some hairs in his heart, and he does not know when it will be himself who will be shot down.
In a few days, it will be the Spring Festival, Zhang Liyi wants to have a good reunion year at home, and is reluctant to accept this task, the flight is not safe, in case of being shot down, who will take care of his wife and children. But the military orders are like mountains, what can be done?
At 18:00 the next day, Zhang Liyi flew his U2 plane, numbered 3512, into the vast night sky and flew towards the mainland. His mission was to conduct nighttime infrared reconnaissance of the Great Northwest nuclear base.
After flying for some time, he looked at the instruments and confirmed that U2 had entered the sky over the mainland from the Shandong Peninsula. His nerves immediately tensed, and he was not sure when the PLA missiles would crash into him.
After flying in fear for a long time, the plane entered the area over Inner Mongolia, and he looked at the table again, and in a quarter of an hour he could return. This was his 4th mission, and according to the regulations of the Taiwan Regional Air Force, he completed 6 more times, a total of 10 times, and he could leave the heart-pounding 35 Squadron.
Suddenly, the display of the electronic early warning device appeared a messy little bright spot. Zhang Liyi was a little confused, if it was a SAM-2 missile flying towards him, the display should be a stable bright line. Where did he know that the PLA's anti-electronic early warning system had made his electronic early warning device fail. At this moment, 3 missiles were lining up to fly towards him.
Just when Zhang Liyi hesitated to turn on the electronic interference switch, a string of fireballs had sneaked under his wing. Suddenly, the plane was like being struck by lightning, the fuselage was shaking violently, and the sealing cabin was pitch black. Only then did he realize that he had been hit, and subconsciously pulled down the automatic catapult handle, only to hear a bang, and then he knew nothing.
When he woke up, he was already on the ground, only to feel the cold wind, and found himself lying on the snow. Zhang Liyi was wearing only a thin high-altitude flying suit, where he could withstand the low temperature of more than minus 20 degrees, he was ready to get up for warmth, but when he exerted a strange pain in his waist and ankle joints, he knew that he was injured.
Soon after, he heard the sound of cars in the distance, and the flashing of headlights, but not in his own direction, and he realized that people were heading for the wreckage of the plane. Zhang Liyi wanted people to capture him, otherwise he would freeze in this icy snow, he shouted loudly, raised his arms and shook. But because he was injured, his shouting was very weak. The distance was too far, the woods were too dense, and the sound gradually faded away.
Zhang Liyi had to drag himself and began to crawl in the snow, hoping to be seen. From 21:15 p.m. on the 10th when he was shot down, until dawn on the 11th, after 8 hours of climbing, he finally saw several earthen houses with cooking smoke. Zhang Liyi was overjoyed, and struggled to crawl to the first house in the village, the stove mouth burst into flames, and a peasant woman was making breakfast. He opened the door and thought of the stove to keep warm.
The peasant woman exclaimed, "Who are you?" When I settled down and saw his strange flying helmet and high-altitude flying suit, I already understood seven or eight points in my heart.
"Don't bake, frostbite can't bake." The peasant woman took out a coat and draped it over him, and said, "What you eat is on the table, you eat it yourself, and I will go out and do something." ”
The peasant woman's business was soon completed, and she brought back several militiamen. The woman was the wife of Dong Jizhao, the head of the local brigade, which was the production brigade of the west room of Shahaizi Commune in Tumut Banner, Inner Mongolia.
Several militiamen then dragged Zhang Liyi to the commune with donkey carts. By the time the People's Liberation Army arrived, the major pilot had changed into a local costume, wearing an eared cotton hat, and was eating egg noodles on the kang. The commune cadres, the militia, and the masses who came to see the bustle all urged him vigorously: "Eat more, eat more." "Where it is like treating captives, it is clear that they are entertaining guests.
Zhang Liyi was then taken to Hohhot, where he was admitted to the People's Liberation Army Hospital. After examination, he was seriously injured and was transferred by special plane to the PLAAf General Hospital in Beijing.
In the first week of admission to the hospital, his condition was very urgent, after examination, Zhang Liyi had suffered severe frostbite after a whole night of crawling outside in the cold, and the recorded condition at that time was: severe congestion in both eyes, near necrosis of his feet due to frostbite, spinal contusion and inability to sit up, and many fragments embedded in his shoulders and right ribs... His condition was critical, and emergency treatment was immediately initiated.
According to Zhang Liyi's own recollection, the dozens of fragments attached to the outside of his right shoulder were carefully removed one by one by the doctors, washed the wounds, and rubbed with painkillers and anti-inflammatory drugs. Two large pieces of shrapnel under the ribs, surgically removed. His feet collided with the ground and were injured when he landed, and after a night of freezing, he was already red and swollen and paralyzed, and when he arrived at the Air Force General Hospital, he was found to have the muscle tissue of his feet on the verge of necrosis, and if he went one step late, he would only have to amputate his limbs.
As a result, under the doctor's clever medical skills, not only saved his feet, but after a year, he also returned his once frozen and necrotic feet to normal function.
There was also a spinal contusion, which he only found extremely inconvenient to sit up at first, but upon examination, it was found that it was caused by a contusion in the third and fourth sections of the spine. After various physical treatments for the spine, after a while, he was fortunate to be healed without medicine and escaped the disaster that would lead to lifelong paralysis.
On the mainland, Zhang Liyi was carefully cared for, and in Taiwan, it was a different situation.
While Zhang Liyi was still eating noodles on kang, at his home in Donggang, Taiwan, Xu Huansheng, commander of the Kuomintang Air Force, was reporting his funeral. On January 12, 1965, Taiwan's "JoongAng Ilbo" reported: "Air Force Major Zhang Liyi was unfortunately martyred while flying a U2 reconnaissance plane to the mainland on the night of the 10th. Soon, the Taiwan authorities had completed the aftermath for Zhang Liyi, and the two tombs in the Bitan Air Force Cemetery in Xindian were the "crown tombs" of him and another pilot who had been shot down, Ye Changdi.
Zhang Liyi's family in Taiwan was devastated, and they did not know that Zhang Liyi soon recovered his health and began the necessary study and transformation. When Zhang Liyi was released in 1970, he first returned to his hometown of Nanjing to reunite with his relatives on the mainland. After that, he lived in the countryside for a while and became an ordinary farmer. In June 1975, he entered the Nanjing Steel Jacket Factory as a third-level fitter, and in March 1981, he was transferred to the nanjing aeronautical institute as the deputy head of the internship team of the internship factory.
On August 26, 1982, the mainland announced the situation of him and another captured U2 pilot, Ye Changdi, and approved their return to Taiwan through Hong Kong to visit their relatives and provide them with living expenses during their stay in Hong Kong, hoping that the Taiwan authorities would provide them with convenient conditions.
In accordance with the party's policy of "freedom of coming and going," we told Ye and Zhang that if they could not enter Taiwan, they were still welcome to return, and their positions and treatment would not change; they could also go to other countries or stay in Hong Kong. Your return to Taiwan to visit your relatives is a legitimate and reasonable demand, and justice and people's hearts are on your side.
However, the process of returning to Taiwan was unexpectedly arduous. The Taiwan side has long been eager to announce their deaths, and now the two have come back from the dead, which has greatly humiliated the Taiwan side. They looked for various reasons to refuse Zhang and Ye's request to return to Taiwan; one would say that they would confirm whether they were "spies," and the other they would say that they would be given a "military judicial trial" after they entered Taiwan.
After several months of detention in Hong Kong, the situation has not improved. Taiwan's behavior has aroused strong dissatisfaction on the island, especially the Taiwan Air Force personnel, and the pilots protested: "They all flew to the mainland according to orders and were beaten down." Now the mainland magnanimously let them come back, but instead make things difficult, selling their lives for you but not letting them come back, can this be justified? ”
Later, after contacting colleagues at that time, they managed to let them enter the United States, relying on the help of friends and odd jobs, Zhang and Ye maintained their daily lives.
Zhang Liyi and Ye Changdi took photos while working at a gas station in the United States
In the United States, they have seen even more the inhumanity of the Taiwan authorities. In 1986, Ye Changdi's mother wrote to inform him that his father was seriously ill, thinking day and night about his son who had been lost for more than 20 years, and now he was "resurrected" in a foreign country, hoping to meet him. Ye Changdi immediately ran to Taiwan's liaison office in Houston in the United States to apply for a visa to return to Taiwan, but was still rejected. Two weeks later, Ye's mother called, her father was critically ill and about to die, hoping that he would rush back to see the last meeting immediately, Ye Changdi ran to the local liaison office again to inquire, and the clerk still refused his request.
In a hurry, he found the director of the department through a friend, and the supervisor's reply was: I will ask your case to the Taipei Ministry of Foreign Affairs for instructions... However, in the next few days, Ye Changdi inquired about the progress every day, and the answer was: Soon, wait a minute... Until his father died and was buried, the office still did not receive any instructions. After this incident, both Ye and Zhang completely lost confidence and hope in the Taiwan authorities, and no longer tried to make any demands on them.
Unable to return to Taiwan, Zhang Liyi's family could only visit him occasionally during his time in the United States. His two sons and a daughter are all adults, and in 1986, his daughter Jing Yi settled in New York after marriage, and often visited her father at the Washington D.C. nursing home where Zhang Liyi lived, and he could finally feel a little bit of happiness. In November 1989, when Zhang Liyi celebrated his 60th birthday, his two sons and daughter-in-law came to the United States together to celebrate his birthday in New York, where his daughter lived. This was the first time he was reunited with all his children and his daughter-in-law, who had recently entered the door, after being declared "dead." Recalling the reunion years later, Zhang Liyi said that it could only be described as "the intersection of sorrow and joy."
During this period, family members and colleagues continued to appeal for them, and Taiwanese public opinion has always demanded that the Taiwan side accept them. Even so, it was not until September 1990 that Ye and Zhang, who had been in the United States for seven years, were finally able to return to Taiwan.
Zhang Liyi has always been concerned about his wife and children in Taiwan, and when he was on the mainland, he politely refused the proposal to reorganize the family. His wife Zhang Jiaqi in Taiwan also has a deep affection for him, they already have three children, the wife does not want to believe that he is dead, forced by the pressure of life to remarry, but with the second husband made a gentleman's covenant: if one day Zhang Liyi reappears in the world, they will break the marriage contract. After learning the news that Zhang Liyi was still alive, her second husband, Mr. He, kept his promise and let her return to Zhang Liyi freely according to Zhang Jiaqi's wishes. In 1991, zhang Liyi returned to Taiwan and the two remarried.
Comparing the attitudes of the two sides of the strait toward them, it can be said that they are diametrically opposed. The mainland carefully treated them, and even rescued Zhang Liyi from the brink of death, which was not in return for intelligence or technology, but entirely for humanitarian reasons. After that, they made proper arrangements for their work, and during their time on the mainland, the two were as self-sufficient as the broad masses of the people, and by virtue of their own ability, they were also recognized.
The Taiwan authorities brainwashed the pilots and said: If they are shot down on the mainland, they will be skinned and cramped after being caught. The captured Ye Changdi also mentioned this matter to Liu Yalou, the commander of the Air Force who came to visit, and Liu Yalou could not help but be shocked.
And after they were shot down, without seeing any news, they could not wait to announce that the pilots had "become ren", which brought decades of pain to themselves and their families. After the two were "resurrected," they tried every means to make things difficult, and even after the two returned to Taiwan, they only received a one-time "pension" (Zhang Liyi received more than NT$700,000, and Ye Changdi only received more than NT$400,000), which is equivalent to cutting off their lifelong military career, and whether they live or die in the future has nothing to do with the Taiwan authorities they once served. At that time, both were in their early 60s, and they still had many years to raise, and they once went to all sides to run, complain, and hope to receive a "lifetime" treatment, but in the end it was in vain.
Taiwan officers such as Zhang Liyi and Ye Changdi were deeply blinded by the propaganda of the Taiwan authorities and once had a strong sense of anti-communism, and the education and transformation of them by our party made them change their thinking and gradually transform them into engineers and associate professors who supported the CPC and loved New China.
After returning to Taiwan, Zhang Liyi always remembered the mainland, and he migrated and lived between Taiwan and the mainland like a migratory bird.
On September 3, 2015, 85-year-old Zhang Liyi was invited to the military parade to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War, witnessing the mighty division of the motherland's army. "I feel the strength of my motherland, and as a Chinese I am very proud!" Zhang Liyi said emotionally.
On September 5, Zhang Liyi flew from Beijing to Baotou. "In my life, the most unforgettable experience in Inner Mongolia..." Time flies, but Zhang Liyi is full of affection for the grassland, and he specially came to Inner Mongolia to thank the villagers for saving their lives.
In 2019, Zhang Liyi died of illness at the age of 89.