Recently, such a short video circulated on the Internet, which aroused widespread concern among the masses, and a white-haired old man wearing a blue-and-white sailor commemorative suit said to the camera sonorously and forcefully: "I hold this bowl every day, I will remember that I am a revolutionary fighter, a revolutionary fighter has a sacred responsibility, I want to defend the motherland and build the motherland." At the end of the video, he also sang the "Battle Song of the Chinese People's Volunteer Army" with great spirits, which seemed to be in good spirits.
The protagonist in the video is the 89-year-old Wu Xiansheng from Changsha City, Hunan Province, who joined the army in 1949 and participated in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea in 1950.
A small green enamel bowl that veterans have used to eat for 71 years
"This is my old buddy, who has been following me for 71 years." Wu Xiansheng smiled and held the bowl. This was the bowl he issued on the first day of his enlistment, and this bowl followed him to the battlefield and witnessed the arduous years of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea. No matter which unit he was transferred to in the days that followed, this little green enamel bowl was never separated from him.
In August 1949, at the age of 18, Wu Xiansheng joined the army in Changsha. On the first day of enlistment, the troops distributed supplies to the soldiers, including this small enamel bowl, who could have expected that it would not look remarkable at first, and since then it has become a "priceless treasure" in Wu Xiansheng's heart.
Wu Xiansheng carried this green enamel bowl to the battlefield. Soon after joining the army, Wu Xiansheng was transferred to the Qingdao Navy by the troops. In June 1951, the Wangjiamai radar station had just been completed, and Wu Xiansheng became a radar soldier at the station. By 1952, eight radar soldiers, including Wu Xiansheng, had followed the command of the troops and went to Korea to fight. One day in April 1952, after the night came, Wu Xiansheng took two packs of biscuits and his comrades-in-arms on a stuffy can train, and after more than 20 hours of travel, they quietly arrived at the Dandong port, and then took a North Korean sailboat, and after sailing for nearly 4 hours, Wu Xiansheng and others finally arrived at Shumi Island, which is the outpost island of North Korea.
The area of The Island is about 3 square kilometers. Although the entire island is not large, it occupies the gateway area off the west coast of North Korea and is strategically located in an extremely dangerous position. After landing on the island, Wu Xiansheng and the soldiers began to carry out intensive radar detection work and build fortifications. "On the island we live in underground tunnels, which are dark all day long." Wu Xiansheng recalled. In order to ensure the confidentiality of the radar station, he and his comrades could only solve their own problems of eating and sleeping in the underground tunnels, "but living in the dark, every time I eat with my small bowl, my heart is always full of hope." Wu Xiansheng sighed.
In 1954, after the end of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, Wu Xiansheng returned to Changsha to reunite with his family members who had been separated for five years.
Although the surface of the bowl has faded a lot, Wu Xiansheng still has not lost it, and his family has repeatedly advised him to change the bowl to eat, but he has been refused. "I want to use it all the time, it's the job bowl of my revolution." Elder Wu was very insistent on this.
Although he has long returned to a peaceful and comfortable life, the old man still eats with this bowl. Because in his opinion, as long as he can use this "old friend" who has accompanied him for decades, his heart will always be full of hope for life.
The flames of war have stopped for more than half a century, but every time I see this enamel bowl, it still evokes the memories of the war 70 years ago in Wu Lao's mind, and these memories are like movie pictures, constantly being screened in front of the old man's eyes. Even now, he often wakes up in his dreams thinking that he is still on the Korean front and participating in fierce battles on the battlefield.
The "cutest man" of 70 years ago is still in good spirits when he recalls his glory days.
Second, when he first entered the barracks, he built a radar station in 65 days
In addition to the enamel bowl, Wu Xiansheng also treasures a photo of himself when he was 22 years old, which shows his sword eyebrows and stars. At this time, he was in his prime, and he devoted all his best youth to the country and the cause of resisting US aggression and aiding Korea. Wu Xiansheng carefully took the photo and told his experience.
In the early days of the founding of New China, China's overall radar industry was still blank. In order to accelerate the modernization of our army. In May 1951, Wu Xiansheng and 8 other cadets who graduated from the Radar College of the East China Naval Academy in Shanghai came to Qingdao to prepare for the construction of China's first naval radar station. Wu Xiansheng still clearly remembers that the design of the radar station began on June 8, 1951, began construction on July 4 of the same year, and completed construction on August 3.
What a great achievement it took only 65 days to build such a modern radar station on a barren mountain more than 100 meters high. According to Wu Xiansheng, the establishment of the station represents the end of the history of our Navy's single-eye observation.
In order to liberate the island, camouflage is carried out under the eyes of the enemy
In 1953, China's radar troops collectively rushed to the front line in Zhejiang. "At that time, there were still many islands along the coast that had not been liberated, and our radar station was located on Gaodao Island, just outside the mouth of the East Sea in Zhejiang Province." Wu Xiansheng said.
The entire island of Takashima covers an area of about 2 square kilometers, and to its southeast is Dachen Island, which was home to nearly 20,000 Kuomintang troops at that time. Between Takashima and Dachen Island, there is also an island called Yijiangshan, on which more than 1,500 Kuomintang troops are stationed.
"Our radar station has always been operating right under the noses of the enemy." Wu Xiansheng said. In order to blind the enemy, he and his comrades camouflaged the radar antenna, in addition to covering a few canvases painted with various colors of paint, and inserted many branches on the radar.
Because the naval uniforms are all bright white, it is easy to be spotted by the enemy. Therefore, when they are usually active in the mountains, they usually disguise themselves with bare arms and pretend to be fishermen on the beach. Due to the enemy's tight seal, their lives are more difficult, and the availability of fresh water is insufficient. Therefore, under the harsh conditions at that time, the warriors would store the face wash water used in the morning in a large bucket, and then whether they washed clothes or bathed, they would wash it at the beach and then re-rinse it with filtered fresh water in the bucket.
Enemy fleets are still rampant, often parking their ships near Takashima for sabotage and reconnaissance. Wu Xiansheng and his comrades-in-arms could only sink their hearts first, hold their breath and concentrate, and quietly wait for the arrival of the battle opportunity.
Fourth, the sinking of enemy ships, the naval radar troops are indispensable
The Emperor heaven paid off, and the opportunity they had been waiting for for a long time finally came. On November 14, 1954, after the Kuomintang's large frigate "Taiping" sailed out of the port of Dachen Island, it was followed by China's radar.
The frigate "Taiping" is an American frigate destroyer, which belongs to the Atlantic Fleet of the United States. In early 1946, in order to provide military assistance to chiang kai-shek of the Kuomintang, the U.S. government made a decision to donate the ship to the Kuomintang Navy. At the time, it was reported that the ship was the "seventh largest ship" of the Kuomintang Navy at the time.
After the radar dispatch, the People's Navy sent 6 torpedo boats south. Soon, the Ministry of Defense sent an urgent telegram requesting sinking, and 4 torpedo boats obeyed the order to attack quickly, forming a tight encirclement of the Taiping, and the bombers and strikers of the Air Force were also dispatched at the same time. At this time, the Kuomintang soldiers on the frigate "Taiping" were still unaware of this.
"Our radar crews kept using radio to inform us of the position of our fleet and the enemy's fleet, as well as their course and speed." Wu Xiansheng said. It was not until only 4 nautical miles away from the taiping that the four torpedo boats of our army remained that the Kuomintang soldiers discovered the traces of our army, but it was too late. The torpedoes fired by our army hit the starboard side of the Taiping Wheel, exploded a large hole, and fell into the water in an instant.
Soon, the two enemy ships sailed out of The Port of Dachen again, but they did not dare to approach the Taiping, but only made a few signals and turned away. At 3 o'clock on the 14th, another tugboat quietly approached the "Taiping" and dragged it forward with a thick cable, but the speed was extremely slow, and the time passed minute by minute, and after dawn, the "Taiping" had been twisted from side to side, and even if it was a tugboat, it was powerless. At 7 o'clock the next day, a huge ship sank into the deep sea. According to Wu Xiansheng's recollection, Comrade Hua Ming, a reporter from the Xinhua News Agency at the time, pointed his camera at a telescope that could be magnified by 40 times and took this precious image before the "Taiping" sank.
5. Sixty years of separation, looking forward to reuniting with comrades-in-arms and mentors
It is worth mentioning that this old man from Hunan, in addition to speaking Mandarin, also speaks a few standard English sentences from time to time. "My radar teacher was a British-Chinese, and he was also a very remarkable returnee engineer." Wu Xiansheng said.
In 1951, China broke through many obstacles and successfully purchased the first Imperial Reconnaissance Radar of New China. At the beginning of May of the same year, Wu Xiansheng, Zhao Xingquan, Chen Chunwu and seven other comrades-in-arms bid farewell to Shanghai and came to Qingdao. At that time, the superior announced an exciting news to these 8 enthusiastic young people: to build China's first naval radar station as soon as possible. The engineer Qin Yichun also made up his mind to return from Britain to become the first returnee radar engineer in New China, and he assisted Wu Xiansheng and others in building this first naval radar station.
After Qin Yichun completed the installation and commissioning of the radar, he had completed his task. However, he chose to stay and teach the use of radar to these 8 young people. Wu Xiansheng and others regard him as a mentor. Until April 1953, after Wu Xiansheng and eight other new Chinese radar soldiers built the first radar station of China's volunteer army, they heeded the call of the troops and rushed to the Korean front. However, Qin Yichun, as a returnee technical talent, chose to stay in China and continue to teach useful knowledge to the Chinese people. Wu Xiansheng and others also lost contact with Qin Yichun.
After separating from his mentor, whether in the battlefield full of artillery fire or when learning combat knowledge in the rear of the battlefield, Wu Xiansheng never forgot Qin Yichun's earnest teachings to him. In 1955, wu Xiansheng saw an article signed Qin Yichun in a magazine while working as a radar instructor. The article set him on the path of finding his mentor, and he first tried to send a letter to the magazine to inquire about the whereabouts of the author, but after a long wait, he still did not receive a reply. After a few years, he heard that Qin Yichun was a teacher at Nankai University, so he sent letters to Nankai University and the Tianjin Municipal Party Committee, but the reply he received only had eight words: "This person has died and cannot be delivered." These short eight words seem to have the weight of a thousand jun, and whenever Wu Xiansheng mentions this to others, he will shed tears of sadness.
In the past few decades, Wu Xiansheng has never forgotten his comrades-in-arms and troops. In 2007, Elder Wu sent out his own pleas for help from a number of media inside and outside Hunan Province, looking for his mentor Qin Yichun and his old comrades who fought together. Although enshi has died, he has successively found two comrades in Qingdao who sunk the Taiping together, and has also found several comrades of the second batch of naval radar troops in Shanghai.
"When we chatted, we all talked about the 'Taiping' in the past, and now we have a common wish, that is, we want everyone to get together once and take a successful family portrait together." Wu Xiansheng said. Today, he still maintains close ties with these comrades-in-arms.
6. After 61 years of separation, reunited with the old photo shooter who sank the "Taiping"
In November 1954, Xinhua News Agency reporter Hua Ming came to Zhejiang for an interview and took a photo of the sinking of the frigate "Taiping", which is a precious image of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea. Huaming reporters also met wu Xiansheng, the hero of the annihilation of the enemy, and others. In 2015, Elder Wu was finally reunited with Huaming reporters who had been separated for 61 years, and the two nearly 90-year-old men talked about the battle scenes they had seen in person, and the same memories are still fresh.
Zhejiang Satellite TV's "China Dream Show" after learning about the relevant media reports, specially invited Elder Wu as a guest to record a program, the host Zhou Libo had a cordial conversation with the old man, listened to the old man tell the heroic combat deeds of that year, and saw the scene where Elder Wu still insisted on holding his head high to salute everyone, and many viewers at the scene were in tears.
What surprised Wu Xiansheng even more was that his troops also saw media reports and found him in August of the same year after many inquiries. As one of the first batch of naval radar troops in New China, he was invited back to the army and deeply felt the progress of China's naval construction. The troops also presented him with a brand new set of naval commemorative uniforms.
"I will wear this sailor suit into the classrooms of primary and secondary schools and tell the glorious history of the people's navy of our country until the last moment of my life." Wu Xiansheng said. Elder Wu's great spirit of struggle and self-dedication is worthy of the respect of our descendants.
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