In 1985, the Chinese People's Liberation Army carried out a large-scale military disarmament operation, during which three heavily armed rapid reaction units were formed, namely the 54th Group Army, the 38th Group Army, and the 39th Group Army. The predecessor of the 54th Group Army was the 54th Army, which was founded in 1952, and its first commander was Ding Sheng, while Wu Ruishan served as the deputy commander.
Now, we will tell the story of Wu Ruishan and the end of his later years. Wu Ruishan was born in 1913 in Lu'an, Anhui Province, and grew up in a poor peasant family. At the age of 18, he joined the Red Fourth Front Army, participated in the anti-"encirclement and suppression" in the Hubei-Henan-Anhui base area, and participated in the Long March.
During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the War of Liberation, Wu Ruishan performed well, especially in the Battle of Hengbao during the War of Liberation. In 1952, after the establishment of the 54th Army, Wu Ruishan was appointed deputy commander. Soon after, together with Ding Sheng, he commanded troops to fight in Korea.
After a brief mobilization, the troops moved north from Huiyang, Guangdong, in January 1953 and arrived at the Cheolsan Peninsula in North Korea in February. During the Korean battlefield, Wu Ruishan commanded troops to undertake coastal defense and combat training tasks, and was also responsible for the anti-enemy landing on the west coast and the anti-airborne combat mission in the Pyongyang area, and made outstanding contributions to the victory of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea.
It was precisely because of his outstanding military exploits that Wu Ruishan was promoted to major general in 1955 and became a founding general. In addition to serving as the deputy commander of the 54th Army, Wu Ruishan also served as the commander of the 23rd Army and the 31st Army. In 1964, he was appointed commander of the Jiangxi Provincial Military Region. However, in this position, he was criticized and dismissed.
In August 1967, when the "Decision on Handling the Jiangxi Issue" was issued, Wu Ruishan, as commander of the Jiangxi Provincial Military Region, was considered to have made a serious mistake in supporting the conservatives. As a result, Wu Ruishan was criticized and dismissed from his post as commander of the Jiangxi Provincial Military Region.
After Wu Ruishan was dismissed, Yang Dongliang succeeded him as the new commander of the Jiangxi Provincial Military Region. After returning to the barracks, Wu Ruishan successively served as deputy commander of the Fuzhou Military Region and deputy commander of the Wuhan Military Region, providing valuable suggestions and assistance for the modernization and regularization of the PLA. It is particularly worth mentioning that Wu Ruishan lived a long life until he died of illness in 2012 at the age of 99.