Source: Camouflage tata WeChat public number Author: Zhang Ding
"Second Sister Yu Ai:
...... Have you been working there lately? How was Xi'an's New Year's Day? Sister Xi wrote to explain. We were all well in our positions, living under the shells every day and night, and hearing the sound of machine guns flying every day. And it is very lively during the New Year, with entertainment parties and every day you can get news of victory. Last year, the enemy once suffered heavy casualties and asked us to shoot down dozens of enemy planes. We are now preparing to meet the enemy's attack on us, to wipe out [all] the enemy [to] attack, not to let them escape, and to fight to the end for the cause of peace! Finally, I wish you to fight for the construction of the motherland before victory!
Brother Xu Yucheng
4 January 1953"
Xu Yucheng (right) and his mother (left)
Xu Yucheng, a Xi'an boy born in 1933, became a soldier in the artillery battalion of the 179th Division of the 60th Army of the Second Field Army of the Chinese People's Liberation Army at the age of 16. After the outbreak of the Korean War, Xu Yucheng bit his finger and wrote a blood letter, resolutely applied to join the Korean War, and finally on March 18, 1951, he crossed the Yalu River with a large army and went to the Korean front. At the time of the opening, the troops had been through Xi'an, but in a hurry, Xu Yucheng failed to go home to say goodbye, but only used the allusion of "Dayu Zhishui three times over the door and did not enter" to explain to his family, while motivating himself.
At the end of April 1951, the Volunteer Army launched its fifth campaign, concentrating the strength of 33 divisions to launch a fierce attack on the enemy. Our army has annihilated more than 80,000 enemy troops, but it has also paid great sacrifices, and the battle situation is extremely tragic. The 1st Company of the 179th Division, which had just arrived from the country, fought two fierce battles with heavy casualties. In particular, the process of retreating north on May 21 was almost like a nightmare.
According to Xu Yucheng's comrade-in-arms Deng Xianmin, at nightfall, the volunteers first pulled mules and horses into the water under the cover of night, and then the infantry and wounded crossed the river, and the crowds along the river were very crowded. As soon as the water was launched, the enemy's reconnaissance planes discovered this river crossing point, and soon attracted more than 10 fighters to take turns bombing and strafing the river. The river was soon stained red by the blood of the Chinese soldiers.
In the days of rear repair, Xu Yucheng wrote several letters to his family. He missed his family very much, but to avoid his family's worries, he never mentioned his participation in the war in his letter.
In October 1952, the 60th Army was ordered to go to the front line to take over the Yuyin Mountain position. This place is close to the 38th Line and has a direct confrontation with the US military. The warriors' first task was to dig tunnels, and Xu Yucheng, a hygienist, was also dispatched to carry shells in addition to his own tasks. In the winter, the front line was full of heavy snow, and Xu Yucheng carried dozens of kilograms of shells in the kneeless snow, and had to travel more than 40 kilometers a day under enemy artillery fire. However, in his family letter, we never read about these hardships and hardships, but about the thoughts and relief of our loved ones.
One afternoon at the end of March 1953, Xu Yucheng was rescuing wounded gunners under the enemy's artillery blockade. Suddenly, a cold cannon from the enemy struck, and the shrapnel hit the femoral artery of his left lower limb, and blood gushed like a fountain. By the time the military doctor hurried to arrive, Xu Yucheng had lost too much blood, and the stretcher had only retreated a few hundred meters, and he stopped breathing forever. At that time, the enemy's cold artillery was still exploding around from time to time, and the comrades could only find a sunny slope, dig a pit, lay pine branches and military raincoats, and bury Xu Yucheng.
Xu Yucheng died on the eve of victory. In April, the 60th Army was ordered to return to China and garrison near Nanjing. In November 1955, Deng Xianmin rushed to Xi'an to return Xu Yucheng's relics. At the behest of Xu Yucheng's second sister, Deng Xianmin concocted a beautiful lie to Xu Yucheng's old mother: Yucheng was sent to the Soviet Union by the army to study because of his outstanding business, and could not contact his family because of his secret mission.
This lie was not finally revealed until 1964. During the sino-Soviet confrontation, Xu Mu became suspicious: the Soviet experts had all withdrawn, why had Yucheng not heard from him? Finally, everything could not be hidden, and the old mother wept for several nights. In the years before his death, the old man was not very conscious, and often looked at the distance on the balcony of his home, shouting "Yucheng, Yucheng!" "She is still waiting for the return of her only son!"
Editor: Ding Zengyi, Liu Xuan
Original Title: A Beautiful Lie to Mother
Author: Zhang Ding
Editor: Chen Hongjia
WeChat: jfjbshzk
Posted by: [email protected]
The pictures in this article are from the Family Book Museum of Chinese University
Draft: Liang Chen