Zhang Dedong, a model of patriotism and support of the army: 16 years, constantly looking for the "return" of the scattered martyrs
write in front
Tomb-sweeping season, be careful to chase the distance.
On March 30, a new martyr's cemetery in Xiaodong Town, Heishan County, Liaoning Province was officially completed.
Nine days later, the remains of 30 martyrs found by Zhang Dedong will be moved here for burial.
In Zhang Dedong's view, this is another "return" of the scattered martyrs.
In the 16 years since he retired in 2006, he has carried a map of Heishan County, walked through 942 natural villages in 278 administrative villages in the county, climbed 207 hilltops, and walked into the remains of 308 battlefield relics of the Heishan Blockade Battle, and found one after another. The remains of 160 scattered martyrs were all relocated to the local martyrs' cemetery to help them "return to the team" one by one.
Years and Witnesses
■Dong Lipeng text/picture
For 55 years, he insisted on retracing the road that heroes and martyrs traveled; for 49 years, he guarded the tombs of 29 martyrs; for 16 years, he kept looking for scattered martyrs... From the day he collected information on the party history and military history of the Montenegrin War of Resistance , Zhang Dedong, a model of patriotic support of the army in Liaoning Province, embarked on a hard road, but also a glorious road.
Follow the red footprint and inherit the red gene.
As more and more people join this glorious ranks, carry forward the heroic spirit, continue the red blood, and become a conscious action of the local military and civilians.
"Return" for the burial of the martyrs
——Record of the voluntary action of Zhang Dedong, a model of patriotic support of the army in Liaoning Province, to find the remains of the martyrs
■Lanjiang Wenjin Jiang Yukun
An investigation visit, let him and search for the ruins of the battlefield of the Montenegro blocking battle and search for the remains of the martyrs——
befriend
Unforgettable those longing eyes fifty-five years ago
Zhang Dedong is a model of patriotism and support for the army in Liaoning Province. He is 73 years old this year.
Before retiring, he served as the head of the cultural station in Dahushan Town, Heishan County, and also served as the county party history data collector.
In the 16 years since his retirement, Zhang Dedong has successively found the remains of 160 scattered martyrs.
It all stems from a survey visit 55 years ago.
In 1967, when 18-year-old Zhang Dedong had just arrived at the Dahushan Township government in Heishan County as a correspondent, the township leaders sent him to go deep into the villages to investigate and collect party history documents related to the Black Mountain Blockade.
The Battle of Montenegro took place during the Liaoshen campaign.
In October 1948, the 10th Column of the Northeast Field Army established a defensive line on the front line of Montenegro and Dahushan, blocking and delaying the retreat of the 9th Kuomintang Corps to Yingkou.
In this battle, our army suffered more than 4,100 casualties.
During the investigation and visit 55 years ago, most of the Montenegrin veterans and former models who participated in the war were still alive.
From their mouths, Zhang Dedong learned that hundreds of heroes and martyrs were buried in this hot land in Heishan County and surrounding counties.
In Panjialing, a small mountain village, Zhang Dedong learned that 189 officers and soldiers fought fiercely all day and night on an empty stomach, and all died heroically.
The villagers took off their slightly better clothes and put them on for the martyrs one by one.
At that time, there were only 8 households in the village, and they took out the remaining rice and made 189 bowls of sorghum rice, which were brought to the tombs of the martyrs.
In Mejiatun, which is 9.8 kilometers away from Panjialing, there were only 16 families and 480 officers and soldiers died there.
Older villagers told Zhang Dedong that during the Spring Festival that year, the villagers put together everything, bought an ox cart of yellow paper, wrapped 16 large pots of sauerkraut dumplings, and sent them to the tomb of the martyrs.
In just three months, the task of collecting party history materials was over.
When I heard that Zhang Dedong was going to return to his hometown, many veterans and exemplars of the support came to see him off, grabbed his hand tightly, and told him, "I will come again if I have the chance, there are still many stories to tell! "
"I will never forget the longing eyes of the villagers!" Zhang Dedong said. Since then, he had the idea of finding the martyrs who were buried in bulk and helping them "return to the team".
A mother-son dialogue made him care about the 29 tombs next to the village all the year round, and planted trees and flowers in front of the tombs——
guard the tomb
The twenty-nine martyrs are like their own relatives
At that time, Zhang Dedong came back from the countryside and told his mother about the experience of going to the countryside to collect party history materials.
The mother, who used to be a paramedic in the Montenegro Blockade, said to him: "There are 29 martyrs who died in our village. Let's sweep the graves of those martyrs in Xishanwan!"
Since then, villagers in Wutaizi Village, Dahushan Town have seen that every year when the Qingming Festival arrives, Zhang Dedong has placed wreaths in front of 29 tombs of martyrs.
In midsummer, he would go to the martyrs' tomb to weed.
Zhang Dedong has a son and a daughter. Since the two children were sensible, he took them with him every time he visited the grave.
Later, their children were admitted to university one after another, and then they were admitted to master's and doctoral degrees.
Every time he received an admission notice, Zhang Dedong would bring his children who came back from other places to visit the tombs of the martyrs one by one.
In October 2001, the son got married and started a family.
Before the wedding ceremony, Zhang Dedong took his daughter, son and daughter-in-law to visit the graves of the martyrs.
The children took the initiative to buy wreaths and tied 29 flower baskets with their own hands.
In the summer of 2013, my son, daughter-in-law and daughter came back from Shanghai together.
When the three saw that there were no trees or steles in front of the tombs of the martyrs, they suggested to their father that they should erect steles and plant trees for the 29 tombs of the martyrs.
The next day, the son, daughter-in-law and daughter went to the market separately to buy saplings and carved stone tablets.
Soon, 58 pine trees were planted, and 29 tombstones were erected.
After the holiday, the three returned to Shanghai, and Zhang Dedong continued to plant trees.
A few years later, there are more than 860 trees around the 29 martyrs' tombs, some of which have grown to the size of a bowl.
In addition to trees, more than 10 varieties of flowers and plants are planted in 29 flower beds and more than 100 flower pots in front of the tomb of the martyrs.
Throughout the year, Zhang Dedong always goes to the tombs of the martyrs from time to time, spending an hour or two to thoroughly clean the lawns and passages beside the 29 tombs of the martyrs, then trim the trees, plant flowers and water them.
It was not until April 2017 that the remains of 29 martyrs were relocated to the Martyrs Cemetery, and Zhang Dedong's life as guarding the tomb came to an end.
An unsuccessful search made him sleepless and sleepless. His mother, who had served as a former paramedic, went with him to the barren mountains and ridges——
hard to find
Seventy-year-old man carries his eighty-nine-year-old mother
If Zhang Dedong's old mother was still alive, she would be 92 years old this year.
The villagers of Hejia Village, Sanglinzi Town, Tai'an County, Jinzhou City, were still moved by the fact that the mother and son were searching for the tomb of the martyrs together three years ago.
In February 2019, in Hejia Village, Zhang Dedong found 7 tombs of martyrs according to historical clues.
According to historical records, 8 martyrs were buried that year, but the 8th was never found.
When he got home, his 89-year-old mother said to him, "Hejia Village was where 8 martyrs were buried. They were all the remains that I helped sort out. Why don't I try it?"
Early the next morning, Zhang Dedong rented a taxi and arrived at Hejia Village, 47 kilometers away.
When we arrived at the barren mountains and ridges overgrown with weeds, the old mother had difficulty walking.
The 70-year-old Zhang Dedong carried his 89-year-old mother on his back and moved step by step.
The girls went around for more than 3 hours, and finally found the eighth martyr's tomb beside a dam.
Zhang Dedong touched his mother's dusty face distressedly. The mother wiped the sweat of her son with her sleeve, and the mother and son smiled at each other.
At that time, the main battlefield of Montenegro's blocking war was launched on a land area of more than 2,400 square kilometers in the county.
Yuan Zhendong, director of the Heishan County Martyrs Cemetery Management Office, said that at that time, "the villages were under fire, and the villages were sprinkled with the blood of martyrs." Because of the urgency of the war, many sacrificed officers and soldiers were buried in ravines and barren fields. Years have changed, and most of those who have witnessed it have passed away.
A map, a bicycle, a pot of boiled water, two cornmeal flatbreads, a whole day of walking.
This is Zhang Dedong's "daily life" in finding martyrs buried in bulk.
To Zhang Dedong's relief, the hard work was not in vain. In the past 16 years, the remains of 160 scattered martyrs have been found.
On March 22, the newly found remains of 30 martyrs were relocated from the Martyrs Cemetery in Xiaodong Town, Heishan County.
That night, Zhang Dedong, who doesn't drink a drop of alcohol, boiled a pot of hot wine and drank it freely. Tears the size of beans fell down.
He said that when he went to his mother's grave on Qingming Festival this year, he would definitely tell the elderly: "There are 30 more martyrs 'returning to the team'!"
He was deeply shocked by a rural discussion, explaining that the Montenegro blocking war has more material and more abundant feelings——
explain
Wrote more than seventy distinctive editions
After Zhang Dedong's wife passed away in March 2007, his sons and daughters repeatedly asked him to take him to Shanghai to take care of his life, but he did not agree.
He wants to stay in Montenegro and continue to search for the scattered martyrs.
During Zhang Dedong's concurrent appointment as a party history data collector in Heishan County, he recorded tens of thousands of oral party history documents about the Heishan Blockade, and completed more than 500,000 words of party history documents called "Heishan Blockade".
Every year, important festivals such as Qingming Festival, "July 1st" and Army Day are distributed in 14 cemeteries where 10 counties of Liaoning Province bury the martyrs of the Black Mountain Blockade War, and they are eager to invite Zhang Dedong to come and explain.
Zhang Chong, curator of the Montenegrin War Memorial Hall, said that Zhang Dedong not only knew thousands of martyrs in 14 martyrs' cemeteries, but also told many touching details.
In Tianjiatun, Erdao Township, Heishan County, there are dozens of solitary graves not far from the village.
In the second year of Zhang Dedong's retirement, he went to Tianjiatun many times to prepare cigarettes, convened eighty and ninety-year-old elderly people in the village, held 7 symposiums to understand the situation of those solitary graves, and finally confirmed that the one buried here was the Northeast based on historical data. 60 commanders and fighters of the 15th Division and 43rd Regiment of the 5th Column of the Field Army died in hand-to-hand combat with a battalion of the Kuomintang army.
"The clothes I wear for the martyrs cannot be buried in battered clothes." "I couldn't find a coffin. My family donated a kang cabinet and buried 4 martyrs." The son held his head, and the martyr died at a young age, how could there be descendants, I held the head for the martyr." These touching details learned in the discussion will become the content of Zhang Dedong's explanation in the future.
He has written more than 70 unique explanations for different groups of people who sacrificed to the tombs of the martyrs.
At the end of last year, Zhang Dedong was awarded the "Most Beautiful Volunteer" in Liaoning Province.
In March of this year, Liaoning Province organized more than 20,000 CPPCC members to tell the "good story of Liaoning". After Wang Dongmei, a member of the CPPCC in Heishan County and a teacher of the county's No. 1 senior high school, told Zhang Dedong's story, many soldiers and civilians were moved.
Take a trip unforgettable
■Liu Shibin, a taxi driver in Heishan County, Liaoning Province
In the 19 years of driving a taxi, one of the passengers who impressed me the most was Zhang Dedong.
On a snowy morning 19 years ago, Zhang Dedong got into my taxi.
Since then, every time he goes out for a long run, he calls me in advance and asks me to pick him up.
The first time I ran a long distance for Zhang Dedong was to accompany him to the Martyrs Cemetery in Zhangwu County, Liaoning Province to verify the data.
We ran all day from morning to night.
At noon he invited me to dinner, one bowl of rice and one bowl of egg soup.
At first, I thought he was stingy.
I learned later that when he first retired, his monthly pension was less than 1,000 yuan, and it slowly increased.
Taking a taxi to various places to search for the remains of martyrs, and to collect various materials of the Montenegrin blocking battle, Zhang Dedong has never been stingy.
During the 19 years he has rented my car, the distance is nearly 180 kilometers, and the distance is thousands of kilometers.
After careful calculation, I ran with him in 28 counties, more than 470 towns and towns, and visited more than 160 martyrs' cemeteries.
Taking a taxi alone would have already spent most of his savings.
In the twelfth lunar month of 2018, I accompanied him on a long trip, and he suffered from cold and cold. He fell ill on the way.
I thought, he definitely won't be able to go out the next day.
Unexpectedly, he urged me at the intersection early the next day, which made me very embarrassed.
I asked him why he worked so hard, and he said, "I'm getting old. If I don't hurry up, I'm afraid I won't have a chance to do it in the future!"
Every time Zhang Dedong went to the Martyrs Cemetery, no matter it was cold or hot, he always bought a few wreaths and placed them in front of the Martyrs' tombs respectfully.
He never forgets to bring some gifts whenever he visits veterans and old supporters.
He said to me: "The courtesy is light. I just want to show respect and respect to the heroes."
Benefit from one lesson for a lifetime
■Zhang Chong, Curator of the Memorial Hall of the Heishan Blocking War, Heishan County, Liaoning Province
On the Qingming Festival in 1986, when I was in junior high school, the school organized teachers and students to visit the Cemetery of the Martyrs of the War of Resistance in Montenegro to sweep the tombs of the martyrs.
Zhang Dedong told everyone about the battle of Montenegro, and many teachers and students were moved to tears.
I still can't forget that Zhang Dedong, with tears in his eyes, told the scene when the head of the children's group, Zhang Dexin, was brutally murdered by the enemy because of the protection of the village cadres who were transferred.
Since then, I have listened to him about the Montenegrin sniping battle almost every year, and I was moved once and cried once.
Influenced and nurtured by Zhang Dedong, after graduating from university, I first went to work at the county TV station, and later I was transferred to the Heishan Blockade Memorial Hall as the curator.
Zhang Dedong is a volunteer lecturer at the memorial hall. During the in-depth contact, I found that he himself is a veritable expert on the history of the Montenegro blocking war.
"Documentary of the Black Mountain Blockade" written by Zhang Dedong has become an auxiliary textbook for local party members and cadres to study and educate party history.
Based on the collected and organized party history materials, he wrote different versions and more than 170,000 words of explanations for the Memorial Hall of the Montenegro Blockade Battle for different needs of visitors.
During a series of activities to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China organized by Heishan County, the county party committee invited Zhang Dedong to give party lessons for more than a thousand party members and cadres in the county.
He stood on the 101 high ground in the Montenegro blocking battle and told more than 30 real and touching stories, and many people had tears in their eyes.
In June 2018, Zhang Dedong suggested that Montenegro's heroic spirit of blocking the war be brought into the campus, and a group of "little lecturers" should be trained every year.
He worked hard for more than a dozen days and nights, compiling a set of narration words suitable for primary school students, which revolved around more than a dozen classic stories that emerged from the Montenegro blocking war.
In the past 4 years, we have trained 39 "little lecturers" who can explain independently.
The brightest coordinates
■Yu Guofeng, deputy head of the Shuangyong Work Leading Group in Jinzhou City, Liaoning Province
After 74 years, the Unknown Soldier finally "found" his relatives.
On March 9, Zhao Jiyou, an 81-year-old man in Malianzhuang Village, Quanlin Town, Sishui County, Jining City, Shandong Province, received a long-awaited message: an unknown martyr buried in the Jinan Revolutionary Martyrs Cemetery is his father.
The good news is that Jinan City, with the help of DNA identification technology, has successively found relatives for 45 unknown martyrs in the past two years.
Heroes are the brightest coordinates of a nation.
Combining this news with the actions of Zhang Dedong in Heishan County, Liaoning Province to find the martyrs who were buried in bulk and let them "return to the team" to relocate to the martyrs' cemetery, we can read a simple truth: the nation that produces heroes has a profound history, and those who respect and cherish heroes The nation has the spiritual power to revive.
To seek is to witness.
In August 1934, hundreds of officers and soldiers of the 52nd Regiment of the Red 18th Division of the Red Sixth Army Corps disappeared mysteriously in the area of Ganxi, Shiqian County, Guizhou Province to cover the breakout of the main force. It was not until 70 years later that the mystery was revealed: Back then, the Kuomintang that encircled and suppressed the Red Army The army used the masses as "meat shields" to attack the Red Army. The officers and soldiers did not want to shoot at the masses or become prisoners, so they decided to drop their guns and jump off the cliff together. More than 100 officers and soldiers died heroically.
It took the local people a whole day to bury the remains of the fallen officers and soldiers.
Most of them did not leave their names.
According to incomplete statistics, during the Revolutionary War, more than 21 million martyrs died, and there were only more than 3.7 million martyrs who could be investigated and their families enjoyed preferential treatment.
Today, many cities (counties) across the country are actively looking for the relatives of the unknown martyrs.
They showed by their actions that the process of searching is a process of witnessing the deep bond between the army and the people.
To seek is to perceive.
Due to many reasons such as age and war damage, the records of some martyrs are not detailed enough, the relatives of some martyrs cannot know where the martyrs are buried, and some martyrs' tombs have not been swept by relatives for a long time.
As the Tomb-sweeping Day is approaching, the news of finding relatives for martyrs in various places has once again attracted the attention of many people, and the situation is moving: Guangxi pays tribute to heroic martyrs, and starts the work of "finding relatives for martyrs" in 2022; Shanghai Jiading, for 32 Jiading Martyrs search for relatives; in 5 years, Zhang Weihua from Puyang, Henan helped 31 martyrs find their relatives... More and more provinces and cities across the country, like Jinan City, have launched more down-to-earth measures to support the army and give preference to family members in the process of looking for unknown martyrs; More and more soldiers and civilians across the country, like Zhang Dedong, are driving more people to join the ranks of supporting the military and their family members in the process of helping the scattered martyrs "return to the team" and relocate.
The vast number of military and civilian operations show that the process of searching is the process of comprehending that the military and the people want to be together, suffer together, and work together.
To seek is to inherit.
Back then, in the face of life and death choices, countless heroes put their lives aside and held the interests of the country and the nation high above their heads.
It is heartbreaking and regrettable that they fell before the founding of New China.
Today, all levels are conscientiously doing a good job of caring and comforting relatives of martyrs and finding relatives for martyrs, constantly improving the basic information database, and strengthening the management and protection of martyrs' memorial facilities.
Last year, the "Government Public Service Platform for Martyrs to Find Relatives" was launched, adding the wings of informatization to the centralized burial of martyrs and the work of finding relatives of martyrs.
More and more places and more and more people show through their actions that searching is a testimony, an understanding, and an inheritance.
Embark on a new journey, march forward bravely towards the realization of the second centenary goal, call for the promotion of the heroic spirit, and call for the further consolidation of the rock-solid military-government-military-civilian relationship.
Tribute to those who seek relatives for the martyrs