On March 20, 1988, Zheng Weiyuan visited Sun Liren and assured him:"You can go anywhere you want and meet anyone you want. "
Sun Liren was shocked, he finally waited for 33 years of freedom. Sadly, however, he died on November 19, 1990, before he could enjoy a free life.
Before he died, he held his son's hand tightly and said:"If you don't bury me on the mainland, you can't bury the coffin in the earth. "What does this mean exactly?
Who is Sun Liren? Why was he under house arrest for 33 years? What did he mean by his last words? He was once famous for his victories in the Battle of Ringanqiang, and he was born in 1900 in a scholarly family in Lujiang County, Anhui Province, and received excellent traditional culture and modern education from an early age.
In 1914, he was admitted to the Department of Civil Engineering of Tsinghua University with the first place in Anhui Province.
During his studies, Sun Liren was keen on sports, represented my country in the 3rd Far Eastern Games, and performed well on the court as a member of the basketball team of Tsinghua University, and was known as "General Fei".
After leading the Chinese team all the way through the test and finally defeating the Japanese team in the final and winning the victory, Sun Liren graduated from Tsinghua University in 1923 and was given the opportunity to study abroad at public scholarship and went to study at the Department of Civil Engineering of Purdue University in Indiana, USA.
On August 17 of the same year, he and Bingxin, Liang Shiqiu and others took an American cruise ship to the United States for further study. After receiving a Bachelor of Science degree from Purdue University, although Sun Liren's classmates returned to China to serve as university professors or experts and scholars, he made an unexpected decision: he was admitted to the Virginia Military Academy.
He believes that reading and military affairs can also save the country. In 1927, after graduating from the military academy, Sun Liren began to travel in Britain, Germany, France, Japan and other countries, and this experience had an important impact on his military theory and military skills.
To this day, in the Virginia Military Academy History Museum, the achievements of two of the most outstanding alumni of World War II are still displayed: one is Patton of the United States, and the other is Sun Liren of China.
In 1928, Sun Liren returned to China and served as a lieutenant military training captain at the National Party Affairs School; In 1930, he came to the Army, Navy and Air Force Headquarters Guard Corps as a colonel and deputy commander; In 1932, he was transferred to the Tax Police Corps of the Ministry of Finance as the commander of the second detachment and the commander of the fourth regiment.
The Tax Police Corps was founded by Finance Minister Song Ziwen and purchased from the United States, and most of the officers above the platoon level were students who returned from studying in the United States.
With the support of Song Ziwen, Sun Liren gave full play to his military talents and made efforts to train the troops. He combined traditional Chinese education with the education methods of American schools to formulate a training system and methods that meet the needs of the troops, and was praised as "Sun's Drill Code".
In 1937, when the full-scale Anti-Japanese War broke out, the Tax Police Corps immediately went to the front line of the Songhu Anti-Japanese War. Sun Liren led the Fourth Regiment of the Tax Police to hold their positions on the south bank of Suzhou Creek and fought a bloody battle with the Japanese army for 14 days.
At Zhoujiaqiao, they repelled the Japanese army who forced to cross the Suzhou Creek seven times, making this place the worst place for the Japanese army in the Battle of Songhu. Sun Liren was hit by Japanese mortars while charging at the front line, and was hit by shrapnel in 13 places all over his body, and was in a coma for three days and three nights.
Luckily, he was later sent to Hong Kong**and**. After that, Sun Liren immediately returned to Wuhan and led his troops to Duyun in Guizhou to train troops and enhance his own strength.
At the end of 1941, Chiang Kai-shek reorganized the Tax Police Corps into the new 38th Division, and Sun Liren served as the first division commander. Soon after, Sun Liren was sent to Burma to fight alongside the Allied forces.
After the Chinese expeditionary force entered Burma, Chiang Kai-shek flew to Meimiao, 40 kilometers east of Mandalay, convened a meeting of the generals and decided to send Sun Liren to guard Mandalay.
In the spring of 1942, the Chinese Expeditionary Force won a major victory in Tonggu in which more than 5,000 Japanese troops were annihilated, and the Battle of Tonggu was also the first major defeat suffered by the Japanese army in the Southeast Asian War.
In order to counterattack, the Japanese launched a large-scale offensive against the Allies at Ringanqiang. On April 19, when Sun Liren led the New 38th Army to the front line of the battle, he found that the British army, which was supposed to hold its position, was surrounded by the Japanese army, and failed to break through the encirclement many times.
Sun Liren immediately dispatched the only armored corps of the New 38th Army, the 13th Regiment, to seize the high ground and quickly enter the battle.
The 13th Regiment launched a fierce attack from the rear of the Japanese flank, and after two days of fierce fighting, successfully annihilated the main force of the Japanese 33rd Division, and the remaining Japanese troops fled in a hurry. The new 38th Division commanded by Sun Liren not only relieved the crisis of more than 7,000 British troops, successfully rescued the British ** and American missionaries captured by the Japanese army, but also recaptured many horses and cars captured by the Japanese army, and returned them all to the British army.
The British ** officers who were rescued by Sun Liren were grateful to him and the new 38th Division, and gave him a thumbs up. Even Stilwell couldn't help but say after learning about this: "This guy is too kind, he is a real soldier, I really hope there will be more Sun Liren!" ”
The victory of Ren'anqiang was a great victory for the Chinese Expeditionary Force after its expedition, and Sun Liren was awarded the "Imperial Hero" medal by the British emperor and the "Meritorious Service" medal awarded by Roosevelt of the United States.
After the Battle of Ringanqiang, due to the British army's abandonment of Burma and withdrawal from India, coupled with the miscooperation of the Chinese, American and British allies, the Allied forces were flanked by the Japanese army. Therefore, the Allies could only choose the path of breaking through.
However, no matter whether they went to the northeast or in other directions, they could not successfully break through. Under such harsh conditions, Sun Liren did not carry out the order of Du Yuming, deputy commander of the expeditionary force, but retreated in the direction of India according to the route designated by Stilwell and others.
Under the command of Sun Liren, the new 38th Army experienced many life-and-death battles, and finally succeeded in breaking out of the encirclement. Although none of his 5,000 men and equipment were lost or lost, he took in many stragglers and refugees during the retreat and led them to evacuate to India.
This move won Stilwell's appreciation, but it caused Du Yuming's dissatisfaction and laid a hidden danger for Sun Liren's future career. Chiang Kai-shek was also very dissatisfied with this, so he relieved him of military power.
However, due to the inaction and internal chaos of the Kuomintang in the war situation, many cadres were despised by Western countries. However, Sun Liren has attracted the attention and admiration of various political leaders in the West because of the military miracle he created in the invasion of Burma.
At the end of March 1945, Eisenhower, who had served as the first American leader, invited Sun Liren to visit Europe, hoping to have the opportunity to meet this legendary general from China.
In May, Sun Liren came to Naples, Italy via India, Pakistan and other places. Naples was the defense of Alexander, the European commander of the British army, and when he heard that Sun Liren, who had rescued the first division of the British army, had come to his defense area, he hurried to the airport to meet him.
Sun Liren's visit to Europe and Asia was warmly welcomed and praised by the top leaders of various countries. In Naples, Sun Liren and his entourage arrived in Paris, and although Eisenhower himself was unable to greet him personally, he sent ** and let Sun Liren ride in a room-style car reserved for marshal-level VIPs.
This kind of car is usually only allowed to VIPs like Montgomery and Charles de Gaulle, which shows the importance that Eisenhower attached to Sun Liren. During his visit to Europe, Patton had been promoted to four-star general, but when he heard that Sun Liren was going to visit the headquarters, he immediately showed rare enthusiasm and sent a motorcycle squad to wait for Sun Liren 20 miles away from the headquarters.
After the two met, they shook hands tightly, told the past, and parted with Sun Liren to present him with the trophies he had captured, a German cross and a pistol. This is very rare.
On June 17, Sun Liren was invited to visit the United Kingdom, where he received the second "Order of the Imperial Commander" from the Queen of England and commended him for his outstanding service in the Northern Burma War.
On 23 June, Sun Liren was invited to visit the United States, and his visit was warmly welcomed and praised by the high-level leaders of various countries.
During his trip to Europe, Sun Liren held informal discussions with foreign leaders on major issues without Chiang Kai-shek's permission. Although this was informal, it was seen by Chiang Kai-shek as a "great rebellion".
In addition, Sun Liren also knew that Chiang Kai-shek was a suspicious person, so he did not tell Chiang Kai-shek about his conversation with Eisenhower and Marshall, which made Chiang Kai-shek even more suspicious and laid the foundation for Sun Liren's career in the future.
In 1946, with the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan, the relationship between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party gradually deteriorated, and the battle for the northeast became more and more intense.
On May 15, on the eve of the capture of Siping Street, Sun Liren took over the command of the New First Army from Zheng Dongguo. Subsequently, he led his troops to attack Siping Street, and at the same time, Liao Yaoxiang's division of the New 6th Army captured Tazishan in a roundabout way, cutting off the retreat of the Siping defenders, and forcing the Northeast Democratic Alliance Army led by ** to retreat.
*Execute *** get out of the way and occupy both compartments", and retreated to Princess Ridge. Du Yuming received information that ** did not have the spare strength to continue fighting, and then he ordered the troops of the 5 armies to pursue, and Sun Liren led his troops to force the Liao River to attack Gongzhuling.
* Helpless to continue to retreat, Sun Liren led his troops to conquer Changchun within 5 days, and then recovered strategic places such as Nong'an. It was at this time that Marshall came to China to mediate and put pressure on Chiang Kai-shek to force a truce between the Kuomintang and the Communists.
On June 6, Chiang Kai-shek ordered the second truce between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party.
During the period when Sun Liren and Du Yuming were at odds, Du Yuming repeatedly sent telegrams to Chiang Kai-shek accusing Sun Liren of being ineffective in fighting and arrogant. Chiang Kai-shek knew that the two were not compatible, so he pretended to promote Sun Liren to be the deputy commander of the Northeast Security Command, but in fact relieved him of military power.
In July 1947, Chiang Kai-shek transferred Sun Liren from Northeast China to serve as Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Commander of Army Training, and established the Army Training Command in Nanjing, which was responsible for the training of the National Defense New Army.
Later, Sun Liren was placed under house arrest for 33 years and sent to Fengshan, Taiwan, for military training. During his four years in Fengshan, Sun Liren trained 8 divisions, of which 7 divisions remained in Taiwan and became the core of Taiwan's military strength.
At the time of Chiang Kai-shek's defeat on the mainland, the United States had planned to abandon Chiang Kai-shek and protect Taiwan instead, and intended that Sun Liren would govern Taiwan. Even MacArthur approached Sun Liren and wanted him to take responsibility for defending Taiwan.
However, Sun Liren decisively rejected this proposal. However, this move by the United States caused Chiang Kai-shek unease. In order to appease Sun Liren, Chiang Kai-shek specially appointed him as "Commander-in-Chief of the Chinese ** Army and Commander-in-Chief of Taiwan's Defense".
With the consolidation of Chiang Kai-shek's position in Taiwan, Sun Liren had a contradiction with Chiang Ching-kuo's implementation of the "** system" in the army. After the signing of the "US-Taiwan Mutual Defense Treaty" in 1954, Chiang Kai-shek believed that there was no longer a need for Sun Liren to "entrap" the United States, so he removed him from military power, creating the "Sun Liren Mutiny Case" that shocked the island and beyond, and put him under house arrest for 33 years.
After Sun Liren was placed under house arrest, he was forced to move to Taichung, and although he lived freely, he was not allowed to leave Taiwan or have contact with the masses. He was incorruptible when he was an official, but after being placed under house arrest, he had no salary and had a difficult family life.
When he became commander-in-chief of the army, his family was poor, and his family planted fruit trees to supplement his family. In this difficult life, he misses the mainland and his comrades-in-arms.
Sun Liren planted a purple and white jasmine tree next to the bedroom. The children were curious about this and asked their father why he planted this flower. Sun Liren smiled and said: "This is the school flower of Tsinghua University, I want you to know Tsinghua University and feel the spirit of pursuing knowledge." ”
Since then, Sun Liren has had a wish, that is, to let his children also be able to study at Tsinghua University. Eventually, the children listened to their father's words and went to Tsinghua University in Taiwan, but despite this, in Sun Liren's heart, this school is still Tsinghua University in the mainland of the motherland.
Whenever the children see their father drinking a glass of hot milk brewed from skim milk powder every morning, they ask him why he does it. At first, they thought that their father was just frugality, but later they learned that this was a habit that Sun Liren had developed from the War of Resistance Against Japan.
He used to work on the battlefield in Burma, and relied on U.S. military airdrops of supplies, including concentrated condensed milk. Sun Liren believes that it is everyone's duty to cherish materials, even if it is an empty canned condensed milk box, it is necessary to take boiling water and rinse it before discarding it.
The children now understand their father's actions, and they say, "Dad drank boiled water with the smell of milk all his life, and although I didn't think it was anything at the time, now that I think about it, he not only developed the habit of frugality, but also mourned the compatriots who died on the battlefield." ”
Sun Liren's will is not buried in the mainland, and the coffin is not buried in the ground. The 80s of the 20th century was a critical period of great changes in Taiwan's society, and the political atmosphere became more and more relaxed.
In 1984, in order to celebrate the 60th birthday of the elephant Lin Wang, the Taipei Zoo invited veterans who participated in the Sino-India-Burma war to attend. Many of them were Sun Liren's subordinates, and they began to pay attention to Sun Liren's situation.
On January 13, 1988, Chiang Ching-kuo died of illness, and Sun Liren's situation gradually improved. On March 20, Zheng Weiyuan personally came to Taichung to visit Sun Liren and said to him: "From now on, General Sun has full freedom of action and speech, you can go to **, and you can meet whoever you want." ”
Sun Liren was stunned at first, but then reacted, which meant that he had finally regained his freedom and ended his 33-year house arrest. After Sun Liren was freed, many people asked him to come out and expose Chiang Kai-shek's atrocities, but he refused.
Although Sun Liren cared about what happened to him, he refused to speak ill of the chief. His health deteriorated, so he began to search for the descendants of his comrades-in-arms on the mainland, and cared about the current situation of their cemeteries.
For example, he paid close attention to the situation of the newly built monument to the sacrificed soldiers of the New First Army in Guangzhou. In the Battle of Ren'anqiang, Zhang Qi, deputy commander of the 113th Regiment and commander of the 3rd Battalion, who served as the main attacker, died, and more than 40 years have passed, Sun Liren has not forgotten to find Zhang Qi's descendants on the mainland, and he wants to hand over the Silver Star Medal awarded to Zhang Qi that year.
In addition, he was also very concerned about Qi Xueqi's tomb. Qi Xueqi was his deputy division commander and died after being captured by the Japanese army. Sun Liren urged the people to commend Qi Xueqi, posthumously award him the rank of lieutenant general, and through the relationship of international organizations, retrieve Qi Xueqi's bones from Myanmar and personally send them to Yuelu Mountain in Changsha to build a tomb, so that the souls of his old classmates and comrades-in-arms can return to their hometowns.
After Sun Liren was freed, he immediately paid attention to the situation of Qi Xueqi's descendants. When he learned the news of the destruction of Qi Xueqi's tomb, he was very worried and even had trouble sleeping.
Although he was 90 years old, he still sent his old department to Changsha to investigate and determine the specific location of Qi Xueqi's tomb. He also raised $6,000 in Taiwan and commissioned relevant personnel to rebuild Qi Xueqi's tomb to express his longing for the mainland.
After the resumption of cross-strait exchanges, Sun Liren's thoughts became more urgent. He once said in his memoirs: "I am a native of Anhui, and I came out of Jinniu Mountain, a rural area in Anhui, ......Although his health and age are not enough to support him to return to the mainland, as long as there are relatives and friends who return to the mainland, he always entrusts them to express their wishes and go back to his hometown for himself.
Once, after Liu Wenmei, Sun Liren's old department, returned to his hometown to visit relatives, he brought back a ** of his former residence. Sun Liren was full of emotion after seeing it, and kept stroking **. Around the Qingming Festival in 1989, Sun Liren's old ministry Pan Dehui returned to the mainland to visit relatives, and he hurriedly asked Pan Dehui to go to Lujiang to worship his ancestors after learning about it.
After Pan Dehui returned to the mainland, the relevant departments took him to the grave of Sun Liren's parents to pay respects. When Sun Liren learned that his parents' cemetery was still there, he hurriedly sent his eldest son Sun Anping back to the mainland to pay respects.
After Sun Anping returned, he reported to his father, and Sun Liren wrote a letter of thanks in mid-May and expressed his wish to move his parents' cemetery to Jinniu Mountain, his former home. Although decades have passed, his description of Jinniu Mountain in his letter is very detailed, which shows his nostalgia for his hometown.
The relevant departments immediately helped him fulfill this wish, but it is a pity that he still could not come back to worship his parents in person.
Sun Liren's classmate Bingxin wrote a letter to Sun Liren through an acquaintance, inviting him to return to the mainland to have a look. After Sun Liren received Bingxin's letter, in addition to recalling the friendship between them, he also explained his recent situation, and expressed his regret that he wanted to go back to the mainland but couldn't.
On October 5 of the same year, Bingxin's 90th birthday, Sun Liren sent a congratulatory message from Taiwan to celebrate her birthday. Although Sun Liren's health is getting worse and worse, he still remembers Bingxin's birthday and took a congratulatory message for her, which shows his deep affection for Bingxin's family.
However, just over a month after Sun Liren celebrated Bingxin's birthday, he fell into a coma due to dysphagia and was taken to the hospital**. Subsequently, he developed pulmonary edema due to pneumonia and sepsis and was transferred to the intensive care unit.
Despite the best efforts of the medical staff, Sun Liren's condition did not improve, and he could only rely on a respirator to breathe. One day at noon, Sun Liren's spirit was particularly good, he looked at the children guarding the bedside, and then took his son's hand and said his will: "If you don't bury the mainland, the coffin won't go into the ground." ”
On November 19, 1990, Sun Liren, a famous anti-Japanese general, passed away at the age of 89, and he left us only a dozen days before his 90th birthday. According to his will, his cemetery in Taiwan was designed so that his coffin was raised above the ground, which was a special burial method.