Thirty-seven years later, the martyrs of the Vietnam War paid tribute to their tombstones and paid a silent tribute.
In the seventies and eighties of the last century, there were many border clashes in the southern border of our country, and our border guards fought bravely and skillfully, successfully repelled the enemy troops, and protected the security of our territory and people.
However, in the process of sacrificing their lives for the country and defending their homeland, there were always some innocent soldiers who were unfortunately captured by the enemy and became tragic figures like Li Ling of the Han Dynasty.
The protagonist of this article is such a tragic character. His name is He Yuanhai, and he performed well in the self-defense counterattack against Vietnam and was awarded the Medal of Honor for Meritorious Service of the First Class.
However, he was captured by the enemy during the battle, and after several unsuccessful attempts to commit suicide, he had to endure humiliation and finally managed to escape in 1981 and return to the embrace of his homeland.
FigYoung soldiers commemorate the martyrs who died in the self-defense counterattack against Vietnam, but what He Yuanhai didn't expect was that instead of flowers and applause when he returned, he also suffered countless doubts and accusations, and he was burdened with heavy grievances and sorrows for the rest of his life.
He Yuanhai, as a living hero, has two tombs: one of them is located in the Nanshan Martyrs Cemetery in Pingxiang, Guangxi, with the No. 20 tombstone in the 11th row, which reads: "He Yuan (Yuan) Hai martyr, a native of Echeng County, Hubei Province, enlisted in the army in March 1978, a member of the Communist Youth League, a soldier of the 7th Company of Unit 53464, died on March 2, 1979, at the age of 22, and was posthumously considered a member of the Communist Party.
In the Nanshan Martyrs Cemetery in Pingxiang, Guangxi, the tombstone of martyr He Yuanhai was found at the age of 59, thousands of kilometers away from the "wordless monument" near the Huangshan Primary School in Shawo Town, Ezhou, Hubei Province, his hometown.
It is said that more than 30 years ago, the name "He Yuanhai" was engraved on this "wordless monument", but it has been worn away and has become an "education base" for local people to commemorate heroic deeds.
He Yuanhai, an ordinary farmer born in Huangshan Village, Ezhou, Hubei, but fate played a cruel joke on him. His mother was mute, his brother had mental problems, and his father died when he was young, leaving his mother alone to support the poor family.
He Yuanhai is the only seedling in the family, the only hope for his mother, and the comfort she has been for ten years. Despite the hardships of life, her mother was strong and unyielding, and raised He Yuanhai and her brother by begging for food.
He Yuanhai, his upbringing was full of hardships, but his mother paved a hopeful path for him with wordless love and tenacious perseverance.
FigRural children herding cattle ** He Yuanhai, who grew up in a poor family, showed extraordinary maturity and understanding from an early age, he helped his mother with household chores, took care of his brother, and even learned to herd cattle and sheep in a difficult environment.
Although there were no landlords and squires in that special era, He Yuanhai might become a servant of the landlord. At that time, there was only one way out for rural teenagers in China to become soldiers, and being a soldier was a very honorable thing.
In the army, as long as you perform well, you can not only improve the family situation, but may even make great contributions and bring honor to the family. When He Yuanhai grew up, he was tall and strong, making him an ideal candidate for soldiers.
FigHe Yuanhai's ** in the army "before his death" He Yuanhai's dream of joining the army went through twists and turns, and the first and second conscriptions failed to fulfill his wishes, and he did not successfully enlist in the army until the third attempt in 1978.
Although his military career was only a little more than a year, the impact on him was profound. After enlisting in the army, He Yuanhai was assigned to the 54th Battalion, 481st Regiment, 161st Division, 7th Battalion, 7th Battalion, 7th Squad of the 7th Army, and with his burly and tall stature, he was selected to become a machine gunner.
FigDaily training of our army (new photo) He Yuanhai's dream has finally come true, and he has always aspired to become a machine gunner!Imagine what a majestic picture it would have been for his strong body to pick up a machine gun.
He Yuanhai understands that this opportunity is not easy to come by, and this is the only opportunity for him to change his fate, improve his family situation, and make his mother proud. Therefore, in his usual training, he showed the spirit of desperate Saburo, and every time he picked up a machine gun, he would maintain a standard posture for several hours in a row, and he would not move even if other fighters shouted that they were tired.
After completing the basic subject training, He Yuanhai always increased the amount of training for himself. His outstanding performance won the affection of the whole class and even the whole company, and he was awarded a third-class merit for it.
FigAt the beginning of 1979, Vietnam continued to violate China's borders, repeatedly setting up checkpoints behind our border posts and killing our border guards.
The atmosphere of the war is becoming more and more tense, and in just one moment, a "shocking rainstorm" will fall on the Sino-Vietnamese border: the artillery fire and fireworks will form lightning and thunder, and countless bullets will pour down like a torrential rain, and turn into bright red blood after flowing to the ground.
Under the constant provocations of the Vietnamese ** and the army, our country had to start preparations for a counterattack. Under the order of the ** Military Commission, He Yuanhai's unit also entered the highest state of combat readiness, and carried out a series of preparations for the expedition in an intense and orderly manner.
He Yuanhai is usually introverted, but in the face of this big battle of the troops, his heart burns with a raging fighting spirit. He knew that this participation in the war was his chance to change his fate, and he was going to go no matter what, and he must go.
Although He Yuanhai's family was in a special situation and could not have been on the battlefield, he believed that as a seven-foot man, he could not stay out of the country when it was in trouble. If he doesn't go to the battlefield, what kind of face will he have to wear a military uniform again?
He Yuanhai's motive for joining the army was not to protect his family and defend the country, but to change his fate and improve his family situation. His brother is demented and can't take care of himself and his mother, but needs to be taken care of by a mute mother.
Therefore, He Yuanhai went to join the army with the belief of victory, because he knew that once something happened, his family would not be able to support it.
FigIt is not that He Yuanhai, a soldier of the People's Liberation Army fighting bravely on the front line, has not thought about these issues, on the contrary, he has thought about it many times. However, he still resolutely joined the expedition, and despite the peculiar circumstances of his family, he did not disclose any information to the troops.
On February 17, 1979, the self-defense counterattack against Vietnam officially began. Ho Yuanhai's unit then departed from the garrison and arrived at the Sino-Vietnamese border in the early morning of February 26 10 days later, where it immediately entered the battle.
He Yuanhai's 3rd Battalion and 7th Company were ordered to carry out continuous interspersed operations, and the initial progress went smoothly, only encountering some sporadic resistance, and soon successfully broke through. This may be due to the fact that they entered the battlefield relatively late, and most of the enemy's main forces were annihilated by the friendly forces lined up in front of them.
In the self-defense counterattack against Vietnam, our flamethrowers fought valiantly, using jets to attack enemy positions. As they approached Lang Son on March 2, they encountered one of the fiercest battles since they entered the war, and were held back by the Vietnamese army, and were once pinned down in a valley and unable to move.
The 7th Company made hard efforts in this battle, and the battle losses were very large. He Yuanhai's old squad leader Xiang Yongwen was unfortunately shot and died, which was a heavy blow to him.
On the battlefield, the troops were in a high level of tension at all times, and comrades were constantly sacrificed, which made it difficult for many soldiers of the 7th Company to adapt, their appetite was greatly reduced, and sometimes they could not even eat.
However, He Yuanhai is different, he has lived the hardest life since he was a child, he doesn't care about these difficulties, and he quickly adapts to this exotic battlefield.
He Yuanhai saw the sacrifice of his comrades on the battlefield, and his heart was full of anger and sadness. But he knows that anger will not solve the problem, and he must calm down, kill more enemies, and avenge his comrades.
Therefore, he eats well at every meal to maintain enough physical strength. However, when he saw the squad leader Xiang Yongwen being killed in front of him by the enemy, he could no longer remain calm.
The squad leader is the best person he has been to since he joined the army, and it is he who teaches him hand-in-hand and enables him to grow rapidly.
In order to take revenge on the battlefield, He Yuanhai frantically strafed the enemy and killed three Vietnamese soldiers. His anger made him lose his mind, and he just wanted to vent his anger and hatred.
However, such heavy fire also made him the main target of the enemy.
He Yuanhai was extremely angry, lost his vigilance, and only thought about avenging the squad leader. Defenselessly exposed to enemy attacks, he continued to fight despite several bullets, and the machine gun in his hand was constantly spraying vengeful bullets.
However, in the end, he was blown unconscious by a grenade and died heroically.
FigIn the fierce battle with the Vietnamese army, the company successfully defeated them, but found that He Yuanhai was covered in blood and the carotid artery had stopped beating, which was considered to be sacrificed.
Due to the urgency of the company's mission and the need to move forward quickly, the surviving soldiers had to temporarily place the bodies of He Yuanhai and the other seven martyrs in a pit near the battlefield, and cover them with branches and firewood.
The soldiers intended to bring their bodies back to their home countries for a ceremonious burial after the war. The Vietnamese army left a place of corpses, and after being defeated by our army, they retreated, and our army temporarily disposed of the fallen fighters, and then left the battlefield with the wounded.
Before that, he was a member of the glorious People's Liberation Army, but from this day on, he was nominally a "martyr of the countrymen", but in fact he became a prisoner of the enemy.
FigHe Yuanhai's "posthumous photo" In the early morning of March 3, on the Kunzi Peak in Vietnam, the early sun was warm and the spring breeze was slightly warm. The corpses of the Vietnamese soldiers left over from last night's battle fell to the ground in all directions, ruining the beautiful scenery.
In the faint morning light, in a pit not far away, a corpse slowly opened its eyes. He Yuanhai woke up, and after a night of recuperation, he miraculously woke up from a coma!
You know, he was hit by three bullets in a row from the enemy, and finally he was hit by a grenade at close range. Isn't it a miracle that after losing vital signs, he woke up one night later
FigHe Yuanhai, a soldier of the People's Liberation Army, was resting, and although he had woken up, his body seemed to be pressed by an object weighing hundreds of pounds and could not move. The area from the shoulders to the chest felt numb, as if the body did not belong to him.
Although his body couldn't move, He Yuanhai's eyes could still turn, and through the gap in the shelter on the top of the pit, he saw Xiang Yongwen, the squad leader next to him, and some other people next to him, but he couldn't see who it was.
It turned out that the comrades-in-arms mistakenly thought that he had died and put him with other martyrs. However, he is not dead, but now he cannot move and does not know when they will return.
He could die in this pit, which terrified him. After all, sleeping with a dead person and waiting for death in silence can be one of the scariest things in the world.
During the self-defense counterattack against Vietnam, Ho Yuanhai encountered a test of life and death. He heard voices and dogs barking not far away and immediately realized that something was wrong. It was Vietnamese, and if they found out that he was still alive, the consequences would be unimaginable.
He tried to commit suicide, but his body was too weak to move. So, he chose to play dead, hoping to escape. However, his plan did not succeed.
The three men and one woman with their dogs found him, dragged him out of the pit, put him on a stretcher and carried him away. He Yuanhai realized that he had been captured by the enemy, which was what he feared the most.
He Yuanhai's life changed dramatically at that moment, he went from an ambitious warrior to a prisoner of the enemy in an instant. He looked at the squad leader lying in front of him, and his heart was full of despair and helplessness.
He imagined that he might be wounded and maimed, that he might die a heroic death, but he never imagined that he would be a prisoner. And the army did not teach him how to face this situation, and the only thing he could think of was to choose to commit suicide as a way to make up for the guilt of the country.
However, the tenacity and perseverance in his heart made him decide to live strongly, and no matter what he would experience in the future, he would face it bravely.
In the rear hospital of Vietnam, Ho Yuanhai was captured by the Vietnamese army and taken to the hospital**. Although he wanted to kill himself, he couldn't do it because he couldn't move due to the numbness of half of his body.
After a short infusion, he had a certain amount of strength, but he wanted to break free from the infusion tube and refused to wait for death, but he was tied up with wire by the Vietnamese army. When Vietnamese civilians heard that a Chinese prisoner was living in the hospital, they repeatedly broke into the ward while the medical staff were not prepared, scolded him in Vietnamese he did not understand, and slapped him in the face to seek justice for their compatriots and relatives who died in the war.
He Yuanhai spent every day of torment in the hospital.
Ho spent a month in the hospital before being transferred to a prison in Vietnam. He was locked up in a dark room for three months, and there was no movement except for two meals a day that came in through the small window under the iron door.
This punishment is even more unbearable than physical punishment, because a dark room without light, without sound, or even with the concept of time can make people feel hopeless.
He Yuanhai tried to commit suicide by hitting the wall, but every time he just got a big bag on his head, bleeding nonstop, but he was still sober. Although he tried to hit it again, his injuries worsened, but he did not die.
In the end, he hit the wall for the third time and only fainted.
In the Vietnamese prisoner of war camp, our soldier He Yuanhai, who was suffering physically and mentally, tried to commit suicide, but was found and rescued by the Vietnamese army. After learning that the Sino-Vietnamese border war had ended and the exchange of prisoners of war between the two sides had begun, He Yuanhai rekindled his hope, after all, his wife and stupid brother were still waiting for him at home.
The old lady lived a hard life in her early years, living by begging, and raised him and her brother. For the sake of his family, He Yuanhai decided to live and couldn't let his mother and stupid brother face difficulties alone.
In the dark room of a Vietnamese prison, Ho Yuanhai endured the most cruel punishment in the world, but at home, he was a highly praised hero. He bravely annihilated three enemies, so the troops posthumously remembered his first-class merit and held a grand send-off ceremony at the martyrs' cemetery in Pingxiang, Guangxi.
In Echeng, Hubei, He Yuanhai's old mother personally received his first-class military merit medal, and his deeds were also broadcast by the whole village, becoming the pride of the people of his hometown Huangshan Village.
In order to commemorate him, the villagers erected a huge stone monument for him in the back mountain, which was engraved with "The Tomb of the Hero He Yuanhai", as well as his birth and death and his heroic deeds.
Huangshan Primary School, He Yuanhai's "Hero's Tomb" is located on the hillside behind the school. There is a monument to heroes nearby, which once became the patriotic education base of Huangshan Primary School.
Teachers often tell the children about He Yuanhai's heroic deeds and encourage them to learn from him Xi. With guilt and love for his mother, He Yuanhai suffered in a prisoner of war camp in Vietnam for more than a year.
He was finally repatriated in 1981. However, at this time, it has been nearly two years since his "sacrifice", and the area around his tombstone has been overgrown with weeds in the Pingxiang Martyrs Cemetery in Guangxi, and his heroic deeds are still widely praised in Huangshan Village, Echeng, Hubei Province.
However, after He Yuanhai returned to China, he was not treated as a hero, but was directly escorted to the detention center and interrogated again and again. Only after confirming that he had no problems was handed over to the old troops.
He Yuanhai has experienced a huge turning point in his life. He was awarded the Order of Merit of the First Class and the title of Martyr, but these honors were later revoked and he was rated as a third-class B-class disable.
Although his troop superiors and comrades-in-arms still cared about him, their relationship became delicate. In the end, He Yuanhai was demobilized and went home, and ** arranged a job for him.
After returning to his hometown in Echeng, Hubei, he was assigned to work in a forest farm, during which he also guarded the fish pond for a period of time. A few years later, due to the restructuring of the unit, he lost his job, and only the living expenses provided by ** were left.
Unfortunately, due to the low disability rating, his living expenses are less than 300 yuan.
In front of the martyrs' cemetery, He Yuanhai mourned silently, his pain was unspeakable. The inscriptions on the monument to the heroes of Huangshan Village were chiseled off by the villagers, and the stele was gradually surrounded by weeds.
Every year, he goes to see his nameless monument, because only there can he confide freely. He felt disillusioned by fate, he couldn't understand why his fate was so bumpy, and although it wasn't his fault that he was captured, he had to endure this unjustified reverse treatment.
However, he understands that life has to go on, and he has to live. Although many people looked down on him, he knew that his wife would always believe in him, and the old leaders and comrades-in-arms in the army were also caring about him.
For example, his old company commander Chen Xiaocheng found him many years later and has been campaigning for help.
He Yuanhai: Silently endured bitterness and sorrow, insisted on retaining the first-class meritorious service medal for more than 30 years, He Yuanhai has silently endured bitterness and sorrow, but his persistence is admirable.
At that time, the army revoked his honor and withdrew the first-class meritorious service medal. He Yuanhai had no opinion on this decision, but he only insisted on keeping the first-class meritorious service medal.
He believes that he deserves to be alive, worthy of the motherland, the army, and his conscience. At home, he often put on his old military uniform, wore the medal, and stared in the mirror.
In an interview with Phoenix Satellite TV, He Yuanhai said lightly: "I promise that I have a clear conscience, I shed blood for the motherland, I never brag, and I don't say it." But I just want to keep (the medal) as a memorial and put a question mark in my life.