The ninety-year-old veterans of the Korean War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea searched for the families of martyrs for 67 years
Yao Jing entered the dynasty in 1952, and was separated from his comrades in life and death for 67 years. Finding his family has become a lifelong wish
It takes two hours to drive from Suzhou to Shanghai, a hundred kilometers.
Knock on a door and hold the hands behind the door, but for a moment.
From the Korean battlefield to returning to the motherland, from 23 to 90 years old, for this moment, Yao Jing missed 67 years and waited 67 years.
On October 20, 2020, Yao Jing finally found her sister Li Lin who sacrificed her comrade Li Ji on the Korean battlefield.
The moment they met, the two wrinkled hands clasped tightly.
Yao Jing was wearing an old green military uniform with a commemorative medal for the Korean War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea. She lowered her head slightly and stared at the photo in her hand.
In the photo, Li Ji has short hair and a white scarf, smiling slightly, young and beautiful.
Li Ji will always look like a prosperous and prosperous, and her comrades-in-arms and her sister are inevitably stained with the traces of time.
It has been 70 years since the Chinese People's Volunteers went abroad to fight. During the three-year War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, 2.4 million volunteers entered and participated in the war, and more than 190,000 people stayed in foreign countries forever.
For Yao Jing, finding the family of comrade-in-arms Li Ji was not only for a wish of her own, but also to remember those "loveliest people".
Recent photos of Yao Jing.
Photo courtesy of respondents
A cloth bag, a meeting spanning 67 years
A white cloth bag embroidered with a white peace dove with a red mouth and red feet. This "for the cutest person" gift traveled from China to North Korea, and followed Yao Jing from North Korea to China.
That was also a gift from Li Ji to Yao Jing. Yao Jing brought it home from the battlefield full of artillery fire. It has been preserved to this day and cherishes the anomaly.
Every time I take it out and look through it, it feels like I'm back to that period of prosperous years.
In 1930, Yao Jing was born in Xinshi Town, Deqing County, Zhejiang Province.
Before liberation, she stayed in her hometown and was a member of an underground party organization.
In April 1949, as soon as his hometown was liberated, Yao Jing signed up to join the army and joined the art team of the 67th Division of the 23rd Army.
Yao Jing, the squad leader at the time, and Li Ji, the deputy squad leader, became good friends who said nothing.
"We joined the army together and submitted the war petition together." After the war to resist US aggression and aid Korea began, it was learned that some female soldiers were staying in the country. Yao Jing and Li Ji and others bit their fingers and wrote the blood book to join the war as they wished.
In August 1952, the 23rd Volunteer Army set off from Taicang, Jiangsu, and went north by train to Dandong, where it conducted combat readiness training such as cold and air defense.
On September 7, 1952, Yao Jing crossed the Yalu River with the 67th Division of the 23rd Army and joined the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea.
On the eve of the dynasty, Yao Jing and Li Ji separated. Li Ji stayed in the art team of the 67th Division, while Yao Jing was transferred to the Direct Engineering Division of the 67th Division Headquarters.
One morning in December 1952, Yao Jing learned that she would be transferred to the "Zhandi News Agency" and said goodbye to Li Ji before going to the front line.
Li Ji, who was resting, handed Yao Jing a cloth bag, "Consolation to the bag I have eaten, this bag is very beautiful, give it to you!"
"Unexpectedly, this bag will become the last memorial she left for me." Shortly after the separation, Li Ji died in an air raid.
It was Yao Jing's wish to figure out where Li Ji died. She has been thinking about it for 67 years.
Recently, with the help of the media, after several rounds, I finally contacted Li Ji's family.
Yao Jing, regardless of her 90-year-old age and family members’ dissuasion, insisted on going from Suzhou to Shanghai. She stubbornly said: "Of course I want to go. This is my lifelong wish."
The night before the meeting, Yao Jing was so excited that she didn't sleep well all night.
She was thinking the whole night, if Li Ji was still alive, how good it would be for the two to meet.
The next day, she specially put on the military uniform, don't put on the commemorative medals of the Korean War to Resist US Aid Korea and the third-class merit medal, and took care of herself neatly, knocking on the door of Li Ji's sister Li Lin's house.
"Thank you elder sister, I still remember my sister for so many years!" "If she is so good, I often miss her." Talking about Li Ji who died in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, the two embraced and wept.
Yao Jing saw Li Ji's "Certificate of Sacrifice of Revolutionary Martyrs".
Li Ji's remains were buried in North Korea near the 38th Parallel, while the clothes were buried in the Martyrs Cemetery in Jiashan.
Every Qingming Festival, Li Lin goes to worship and sweep the tomb.
"My sister has been asking for progress throughout her life. She wrote on the Korean battlefield to encourage us to contribute to the country."
"A stone in my heart has fallen." Yao Jing saw that Li Ji's family was in good condition and felt relieved.
She hopes to have the opportunity to go to North Korea again in the future to worship the dead of her comrades-in-arms.
Yao Jing took a photo in North Korea.
Photo courtesy of respondents
Record the last moment of sacrificing the hero
On the evening of September 7, 1952, Yao Jing crossed the Yalu River with the 67th Division of the 23rd Army and entered the Korean War.
"Each of us carried backpacks weighing more than 40 kilograms, climbing snow-capped mountains and crossing pontoon bridges. It was very difficult." In order to avoid enemy attacks, they rest during the day, march at night, and walk 100 miles a day.
"When the enemy is bombing, we can only run desperately, run fast!" After 24 days, Yao Jing and his comrades walked all the way from Dandong to Yuanshan Port on the east coast.
"This is the first test we have received after entering the dynasty." Yao Jing recalled that time there was still lingering fear.
As the squad leader, she had to complete the task on the march, and she had to take care and encourage the female soldiers in the squad.
The squad led by Yao Jing is called the "baby squad", and the youngest of the 12 female fighters is only 15 years old. Despite this, they also won the collective third-class merit during the Korean Empire.
In the winter of 1952, the 23rd Volunteer Army was ordered to march from Yuanshan Port to the middle line of the 38th line.
The winter in North Korea is very cold, with the lowest temperature reaching minus 40 degrees Celsius.
On the marching road, one bite of fried noodles and one bite of snow were extremely difficult.
Once the condolences team visited the front line, Yao Jing got a bag of candies in the tunnel.
She still keeps the cloth bag. The front is painted with a soldier holding a steel gun, with the words "Resist US Aid Korea, Defend the Country" and "Assorted Fruit Candies" on the back.
"This bag shows that I participated in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea. It is very precious and I will leave it to future generations."
In the spring of 1953, Yao Jing was transferred to the 23rd Army "Zhandi News".
"As long as I have the opportunity, I will strive to go to the front line, I want to avenge." On the front line of the war, Yao Jing witnessed the sacrifice of his comrades in arms and also recorded more deeds of the martyrs.
On July 4, 1953, Yao Jing and his comrade Wang Hongjun set off from South Chori, North Korea, over a large mountain, quickly rushed across the blockade of the enemy’s artillery, and arrived at the forward position-Beishan, Shixiandong.
On the evening of July 6, the battle against Beishan in Seokhyeon-dong started.
In the trenches, Yao Jing saw a squad leader rushing to the front with a dynamite bag, followed by soldier Xu Jiapeng.
At that time, there was a hidden fire spot on the main peak that prevented the troops from advancing.
"I saw Xu Jiapeng come forward. The enemy hit him on the right leg. He still clung to the explosive bag and crawled forward." Yao Jing saw through the telescope, Xu Jiapeng slowly climbed to the front of the dark castle and pulled the explosive away. The fuse of the bag, unexpectedly, the explosive bag did not explode due to moisture.
"Xu Jiapeng blocked the enemy's muzzle with his body, and we rushed up!" Taking advantage of the enemy's machine gun misfire, the volunteer army rushed to the main peak.
"The people of the whole country know the heroic deeds of Huang Jiguang, the brother force, and I also want the people of the whole country to know the hero Xu Jiapeng!" After witnessing the heroic deeds of the martyr Xu Jiapeng, Yao Jing immediately called the president Yang Jun to report and went to the company with his comrades. Organize materials.
Finally, the president Yang Jun personally wrote Xu Jiapeng's report, so that the people of the whole country knew the heroic martyr.
Soon after the report was published, the Chinese People’s Volunteer Army’s leadership posthumously remembered Xu Jiapeng as a first-class combat hero and special-class hero, and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea also posthumously awarded him the title of hero, the Golden Star Medal, and the first-class national flag.
When talking about these past events, the 90-year-old Yao Jing had a clear logic and remembered some details very clearly. She laughed and said: “This is all the credit of being a reporter back then, and she has a good memory when she is old.”
Remember "the cutest person"
In 1953, the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea ended.
After returning to China, Yao Jing transferred from the army and continued to study.
After finishing a year of accelerated high school, she entered Zhejiang University of Technology to study chemistry.
After graduating from university, Yao Jing was assigned to work in the Suzhou Institute of Chemical Industry, undertaking the research project of sewage treatment in Suzhou sulfuric acid plant.
In 1963, she won the third prize of Scientific Research Achievements of the National Science and Technology Commission until she retired in 1986.
After retiring, Yao Jing moved into a nursing home, sang and wrote and wrote calligraphy every day, and watched "News Network" and "Across the Taiwan Strait" in front of the TV on time. "I don't know what is happening in the world."
At the beginning of this year, she also donated 20,000 yuan to the white-clothed soldiers on the front line of the Wuhan epidemic.
"Thanks to these brave soldiers in white clothes who are fighting the epidemic bravely, they are the cutest people in the new era!"
Now Yao Jing lives a happy and peaceful life, but she has never forgotten the sacrificed comrades in arms. “Many of our comrades have been sacrificed on the battlefield. They have exchanged their precious lives for our happy life today.” She is currently writing about Reminiscences of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea are often written so sad that they can’t go on. She hopes to remember those "loveliest people" in this way.
Trainee reporter Wu Caiqian and intern Zhang Congjing