Changjin Lake in the eyes of a veteran warrior to resist U.S. aggression and aid Korea
The ending song sounded, and the lights came on for an instant.
In the huge movie hall, only an old man stood upright.
"The great spirit of resisting U.S. aggression and aiding Korea will last forever!"
"The great martyrs of the Chinese People's Volunteers will be immortal!"
Facing the two lines on the big screen, the old man raised his stumped arm and saluted a special military salute vigorously.
In the National Day file of 2021, the movie "Changjin Lake" was screened nationwide.
With the high attendance rate of the film, a theater in Chengdu “booked out” the 88-year-old Li Huawu, a veteran of the Korean War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea.
When watching the movie on October 12, the old man deliberately put on a military uniform that he hadn't worn for many years.
After 70 years, veteran Li Huawu met his fighting youth in a movie.
The movie "Changjin Lake" seems to be a time and space tunnel, so that the veteran instantly returned to that unusually cold winter and touched the hot blood of that period of icy and snowy years.
Soon after the film began to show, the train to the border made the old man lost in memories.
For most people now, the first time they traveled away from home at the age of 18 was probably on their way to the university campus.
For Li Huawu in 1951, at the age of 18, as the second batch of volunteer soldiers to enter the DPRK, he rushed to the frontline of the battle to defend his home and the country.
Starting from his hometown of Guangyuan, Sichuan, Li Huawu and his comrades first took a bus to Baoji, and then took a train from Baoji to the Northeast for two or three days.
Like "Wu Wanli" in the film, sitting in a stuffy tanker, Li Huawu, who had just enlisted in the army, could not imagine the cruelty of the distant battlefield, just as he did not expect his bravery and fearlessness in the future.
"I am a soldier of the 3rd Battalion, 7th Company, 4th Row, 60 Artillery Squadron, 105th Regiment, 35th Division, 12th Army of the Chinese People's Volunteer Army, Li Huawu!" The number and name of his unit.
With such an identity that made him engrave his whole life, Li Huawu crossed the Yalu River.
Similar to the Battle of Changjin Lake, the winter of 1951 was still cold, still difficult, and still long.
In the snow-covered mountain forest, the roar of enemy planes became a haze over the heads of the volunteers.
The hidden march is the common memory of all volunteer soldiers.
During the day, Li Huawu and his comrades rest in place.
They spread a tarp on the snow, just enough for two people to lie down together.
At night, they waded on the way half a person high in snow.
If it were not supported by a tenacious fighting will, and relying only on thin military uniforms, it would be difficult for the volunteers to withstand the severe cold of minus 30 or 40 degrees Celsius.
Li Huawu first entered the battle on an evening in November 1951.
The fierce gunfire sounded, and he was still a little nervous. He couldn't think about it, "Only when the enemy is driven away will the motherland be peaceful." After more than 4 hours of fighting, Li Huawu and his comrades repelled the enemy's many attacks and died. Hold the position firmly.
For this veteran in the bloody battlefield, the cruelty of the war does not need a movie to review.
In a blocking battle a year later, Li Huawu lost his right eye and both hands forever.
The Charge horn sounded, and Li Huawu carried a nearly 20-jin gun frame and ran through the dense fire net.
Suddenly, a sharp whistling sound came from his ears, and he fell down with his hands on his head.
In the dull explosion, the shell exploded in front of him.
Li Huawu fainted when his eyes were dark...
Waking up three days later.
The hygienist told him, “Most of the comrades who charged with you were sacrificed. Your life was snatched from death by the stretcher team comrades and medical staff.”
During the treatment in Heilongjiang, the medical staff told him the story of Paul Kochagin, reading "How Steel is Made" over and over again.
"In order to survive for the sacrificed comrades," Li Huawu began to practice eating and dressing with his broken arm, and learning to read with the remaining left eye.
There were steel fighters on the battlefield. After stepping off the battlefield, Li Huawu still maintained the iron will.
"With faith and belief, not to mention losing hands and eyes, even the greatest difficulty can be overcome." After returning to his hometown, he started his post-war life.
This time to Chengdu, veteran Li Huawu also fulfilled a wish.
Because of "Changjin Lake", he once again met his former comrades-in-arms.
After watching the movie, the veteran Li Huawu came to the Sichuan Provincial Revolutionary Disabled Soldiers Retreat (Invalides).
There, he met the 87-year-old brother Zhou Quan.
It has been 58 years since they last met.
During the Battle of Changjin Lake, Zhou Quan's brother spent three days and three nights in ambush in the snow. His limbs were amputated due to severe frostbite.
After returning to China, Li Huawu and Zhou Quandi, two elderly people, once learned to live with a stumped arm together in the Les Invalides.
"Wrap a cloth strip around the remaining half of your arm, and insert the spoon into the cloth strip to tighten it when eating. Sometimes the spoon is dropped if you can't eat it, what should I do? Pick it up and continue eating... the same is true for writing , Tied a pen with a cloth strip..." The old man Li Huawu can not only take care of himself, but also get rid of illiteracy and can read books and newspapers.
The fighting spirit of "make up your mind, not be afraid of sacrifices, and overcome all difficulties to fight for victory" has been inspiring him.
In May 1957, the Les Invalides established an after-school performance team for disabled revolutionary soldiers in Sichuan Province.
Li Huawu and five comrades with upper limb disabilities worked hard for more than a month and learned to play the harmonica.
"Volunteer Army Battle Hymn", "My Motherland", "I Am a Soldier"...With a sincere heart, they played these songs, and the exciting sound of the songs spread all the way to Beijing.
"After the performance, Premier Zhou and other leaders came to the stage to'shake hands' with us! In fact, we didn't do anything great at all, but the Prime Minister cared and loved us so much and was very touched!" Li Huawu said, standing next to Premier Zhou, feeling being touched. A great sense of happiness enveloped.
During this meeting, Li Huawu and Zhou Quan's old man recalled many past days.
"If we can't shake hands, let's touch our elbows." In this way, the two completed a special hug.
"There is a platoon leader named Lei in the movie. The platoon leader of our company has the surname Gao. He takes care of me the most. But I don't know whether he died on the Korean battlefield..." According to the theater staff, When watching the movie, the old man Li Huawu was silent most of the time.
After returning from the battlefield for nearly 70 years, veteran Li Huawu is using his own eyes to watch for the sacrificed comrades in New China step by step toward prosperity, strength, and the future.
"We have finished fighting all the battles that should be fought, and our younger generations don't have to fight." Looking at the young faces who came to the theater to watch "Changjin Lake", the old man Li Huawu was very pleased. "This generation of Chinese youth Not forgetting the history, living up to the predecessors, still looking forward courageously with hope and conviction."
A netizen said: "Many people haven't left since the film is over, thinking that there might be some "Easter Eggs", but they didn't wait for a long time, so they had to leave. Walking out of the cinema, I saw tall buildings, busy cars and crowds of people outside. , It’s so lively, this is the best "Easter Egg" if you want to come here."
Li Huawu, a veteran who also lived in this era, also felt this kind of happiness.
(Thanks to Sun Shaojian and Guo Linli for their strong support during the interview.)
Layout design: Liang Chen
Wei Yumeng