The famous "Hero Road" - Duku Highway, starting from the oil city of Dushanzi in the north, and ending at Kuqa in the ancient city of Qiuci in the south, the whole journey is 562 kilometers, passing through the lofty mountains, passing through the deep mountains and valleys, and traversing the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains. The road was picturesque, but the construction of this road was not an easy task.
In the early seventies of the last century, this highway was used as a national defense war readiness project, codenamed "07042 Project", tens of thousands of officers and soldiers went through more than 10 years of hard struggle, of which 202 heroes sacrificed their precious lives. Looking back on the years of construction, on May 5, 1972, the 3rd Battalion of the 10th Regiment was ordered to participate in the "07042 Project".
At the time of its initial establishment, as the chief of the Third Artillery Company, I experienced all kinds of bitterness. Our task was to build the section of the road south of Kurgan to Tilimatidaban, an area of high mountains and deep valleys, rugged boulders, and complex geological formations. The construction machinery was limited, and it was all up to the hands of the soldiers, who dug meter by meter with hammers, steel drills, pickaxes, shovels and explosives. Day and night, the soldiers worked the cliffs, and the sound of artillery rumbled through the mountains.
The weather in the construction area is unpredictable, sometimes the sun is scorching, sometimes it is raining down, and the snow is fluttering. In order to build roads, comrades are not afraid of wind and rain, freezing hands and feet. We are often troubled by the impassability of roads and letters, and all construction and daily necessities must be transported from Kuqa.
Food is a big problem. The mountains are high and the valleys are deep, and fresh vegetables are hard to come by. We can only solve it by various means, and soybeans, raw bean sprouts, and mushroom picking have become our luxuries. Every time a small thing is solved, it is a moment of joy for the comrades-in-arms.
After overcoming all difficulties, after half a year of hard work, we finally completed the task ahead of schedule. At the end of October 1972, the Duku Highway was opened to traffic, which became the crystallization of our hard work.
Looking at the endless flow of vehicles between the mountains, each of our builders is extremely proud. This "Heroic Road" is not only a road to southern Xinjiang, but also an immortal monument.