Introduction : In 1991, I went to see Zhu Dan in Guangzhou with my village brother Zhu Jingrui (Zhu Dan’s distant cousin). At that time, Zhu Dan had just come to work in Guangzhou from Changchun City, Jilin Province. That was the first time I met her. When they met, everyone started talking about her father, Zhu Songgen. I learned that Zhu Dan’s grandfather, Zhu Shurong, was born in Zhuwu Village, Haiyan Town, Taishan, Guangdong. He got married in Hong Kong and returned to his hometown during the Anti-Japanese War. Zhu Songgen was born in Hong Kong. He was admitted to the "Air Force Aviation School" in Nanjing during the Anti-Japanese War and participated in the Anti-Japanese War after graduation. In early 1950, he flew a fighter plane from Taiwan to Yunnan. After being captured, he joined the People's Liberation Army. I didn't know much about his experience at that time. When I got in touch with Sister Zhu Dan again, it was already 31 years ago. I told her that I wanted to write about her father's experience and publish it in Taishan "Ziyang Monthly" so that fellow villagers can understand it. After hearing this, Sister Zhu Dan readily agreed, provided me with a lot of materials, and narrated her father's life experience orally. After compilation, I wrote an article for the enjoyment of others.
Taishan "Ziyang Monthly" Zhu Weomao
The past lives dormant in the depths of time, quietly forgotten by memory. If you want to read it, you have to rely on the memories of countless individuals to gather it, and then verify it and sort it out. Family history is like this. I hear only fragments occasionally, but in the end, I still can't connect the fragments to form a complete paragraph. Some of them no one mentions, and some of them are left unattended.
Our family took a group photo in Changchun in 1964
My father said that our hometown is Taishan, Guangdong. For me, who was born in Changchun, Northeast China, I was unable to know the geographical location of Taishan, Guangdong in China and its distance from Changchun when I was young. Come to think of it, that is a very far away place. Dad said that Guangdong is like spring all year round and the natural scenery is particularly beautiful. Since then, my desire for my parents to take me back to my hometown in Taishan has become stronger since I was a child. In my mind, Taishan can only be imagined in a boundless way based on maps of China. However, what I didn't expect was that my father never returned to Taishan. Until his death, he felt deeply regretful and guilty for not realizing his wish to return to Taishan.
Zhuwu Village is a village that advocates culture and martial arts. It has produced tribute students and successful candidates in history. In the 1980s, Mr. Zhu Peirong, an overseas Chinese living in Canada, donated money to build Wenbi Park
My grandfather’s name is Zhu Shurong, and he was born in Zhuwu Village, Haiyan, Taishan. He followed his grandfather and uncle to Nanyang since he was a child. He was no different from many Taishan people who went abroad to make a living. He worked as a coolie on a merchant ship and was called "running boat" by the locals. As I write this, many people will probably think of the Taishan people in the real-life version of "Titanic". On this sea route from the Indian Ocean to the South China Sea, I don’t know how many Nanyang tourists from Taishan are like my grandfather, carrying dreams and suffering. At that time, my grandfather met a girl in India and brought her back to Hong Kong to get married in 1906. Dad was born in Hong Kong in November 1915, and his name was Zhu Songgen. Unfortunately, his Indian grandmother died in childbirth when he was giving birth to Dad. Grandpa never remarried. He often left home for work, and sometimes we were separated for half a year. , the housework was left to my aunt (Zhu Lizhen), who was 9 years older than her father. She was both a sister and a mother and raised him single-handedly. It can be said that the children of the poor have become the masters of their own family early. The love between siblings and brothers can be seen from the back of the paper and pop up before your eyes. It wasn't until my father was in junior high school in Kowloon, Hong Kong that my aunt got married. She married an American businessman from Taishan (Haiyan Wangtou Village). After my father graduated from junior high school in 1933, he immigrated to San Francisco with his aunt and his family. In 1936, he returned to China with his aunt and his family to do business and lived on Huaihai Road, Nanjing. From then on, I had no contact with my grandfather. Later I learned that after the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, my grandfather returned to Taishan Haiyan Zhuwu Village alone from Hong Kong and passed away on the eve of the victory of the Anti-Japanese War. However, after my father said goodbye to his grandfather in Hong Kong, they never saw each other again. Dad I have never been able to put a handful of soil or incense on my grandfather's grave. Only dad has a deep understanding of these sad things.
My father (left) participated in the People's Liberation Army
war in 1950. No one could stay aloof. The Japanese invasion plunged countless families in China into the suffering of the war. The survival of flesh and blood relatives was all the family cared about. Nowadays, it is no longer taboo to tell the story of my father’s filled with war smoke and anecdotes about his life experience. From the photos my father left and the resume he wrote, I learned that my father was originally A captain pilot of the National Army. In January 1950, his plane was shot down by the People's Liberation Army over the China-Myanmar border. He surrendered after being captured. Speaking of which, he didn't have much glory.
It wasn’t until history suddenly turned that I suddenly felt that my father had grown taller. When the nation was at stake, facing the Japanese invasion, some people chose to take up guns to defend their homes, some chose to escape, and some recognized thieves as their fathers. For a nation that had just ended its feudal rule, years of fighting among warlords had made life difficult for the people. Just imagine, how strong is the national consciousness of the people? In fact, my father could have returned to the United States with his aunt and his family. With his aunt's support, he could have finished college in the United States, then found a job and started a family. For those who have the means, escaping the disaster of war is a humane choice. But his father made an astonishing move and joined the army without telling his aunt, and he generously responded to the national crisis. In , he left home in May 1937 and worked as a clerk in the Guangzhou Central Epidemic Prevention Office, which made my aunt worried all the time. The younger brother who thought he was docile and obedient actually caused such a shocking incident, which was something that my aunt never expected. After that, the grandfather, aunt, and father's families were divided into three places, and they didn't know each other's situation. It wasn't until the early 1980s that my father found his aunt in the United States. At this time, things had changed, and the siblings were all grown up.
In fact, the times choose people, and people also create the times. Although that war-torn era is far away, I seem to hear the pages of history turning. Traveling through time and space, things that seemed familiar gradually became far away, and things that seemed strange at first became vaguely closer. The photos left by my father instantly turned into a link that led me to the Central Military Academy in Chengdu and the Central Aviation School in Kunming, which I had never been to before. American Thunderbird Base; Myanmar battlefield; Henan, Hunan and Guangxi battlefield...
My hometown Taishan was called Xinning in ancient times, and Xinhui, Kaiping, and Enping were collectively called Siyi. This place is close to the historical Yamen naval battle. Southern Song Dynasty Hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians threw themselves into the sea and died for their country. Some of the survivors stayed in four cities to live and work, mostly in Taishan and Xinhui. In May of this year, I got in touch with Taishan's Ziyang Monthly. Since then, I, a northerner born in Changchun, have deepened my understanding of the Zhu clan in my hometown of Taishan. It turns out that the founder of Zhuwu Village in Taishan, Yuan Dagong, was The great-grandson of General Zhu Wenhuan. At the end of the Southern Song Dynasty, Zhu Wenhuan led his soldiers to fight against the Yuan soldiers in northern Guangdong . After the Song army was defeated, Wen Huan Gong's descendants scattered in Guangdong. It can be seen that the survivors of the Southern Song Dynasty were still spreading in four cities of Guangdong, and the genealogy was clearly recorded.
Taishan Zhu family genealogy - Zhu Fang, Zhuwu Village, Hai'an (compiled by Zhu Shaochuang, the patriarch in 2002), you can check Zhu Songgen's ancestors.
In the late Qing Dynasty, a large number of young and middle-aged people from Taishan traveled across the ocean to build railways in the United States and Canada, thereby building railways in the United States and Canada. More and more people gathered in various regions of North America. Since then, Taishan has been known as the hometown of overseas Chinese. In the early days of Sun Yat-sen's propaganda of revolution in the United States, he relied heavily on overseas Chinese in the United States and Canada. He once said that overseas Chinese are the mother of revolution. Indeed, overseas Chinese played a huge role in overthrowing the feudal monarchy in the motherland. Overseas Chinese can open up a new world in a foreign country. In addition to diligence and frugality, there is also the reason why they can unite sincerely and dare to fight. I am often moved and admired for the inheritance of rural history and culture in Siyi. The ethnic groups in Siyi inherit the blood of the survivors of the Southern Song Dynasty and the qualities of their ancestors. They have a particularly strong sense of family and country. In the early days of the Anti-Japanese War, a large number of overseas Chinese in Siyi came to the country. Donations and gifts were made to support the motherland's war of resistance, and young overseas Chinese pilots in Siyi also returned to China to participate in the war.
Zhu Songgen’s big eyes inherit Indian genes
Although my father has lived in the United States for less than three years, he has been deeply influenced by the patriotic enthusiasm of overseas Chinese in the United States. In the motherland, I witnessed the atrocities committed by the Japanese army and witnessed the suffering of our compatriots. This is exactly why my father decided to join the army. This is just as Taishan-born Chinese-American ace pilot Chen Ruidian said: "The motherland is calling me." Dad and Chen Ruidian have a lot in common. They are both American Chinese and mixed-race. Their faces are different from those of Chinese people. Although they are different, their love for the motherland is as broad and profound as that of most Chinese people. .
List of students in the twelfth phase of the aviation class of the Air Force Officer School
In October 1937, my father was admitted to the Central Aviation School (twelfth phase). He was originally scheduled to join the army in Nanjing Xiaoying. However, due to the defeat in the Songhu War, it was postponed to New Year's Day in 1938. Reported in Lujiashan, Nanchang, and then took the railway to Changsha. We marched on foot from Changsha to Changde , then by water to Yichang and then transferred to Chongqing Laifengyi. Three months later we walked again along the Chengdu-Chongqing Highway to Chengdu. At that time, Nanjing had fallen, the Battle of Wuhan was underway, the aviation school was moving westward, and its resumption was far away. At that time, the Chinese Air Force had lost all its wealth after a year of hard work. Due to the severe shortage of aircraft and gasoline, it was difficult to carry out training normally, and the 11th batch of senior air officers had not yet graduated. Therefore, the students of the 12th batch of air officers were incorporated into the first corps of the 15th batch of land officers (school headquarters) to receive infantry training until they graduated on June 16, 1939. At that time, the aviation school was reopened in Kunming, so my father and his classmates returned to the Air Force to receive aviation school education. The students of the 12th batch of air officer officers successively received the double revolutionary baptism of the Army and Air Force Officer Schools. Like this, the entire group of students had at the same time A student status at the Huangpu Army Military Academy is a very rare example.
In 1940, after the Japanese army replaced the Zero fighter aircraft, the performance of our aircraft was relatively backward and the sacrifices were heavy. We could only rely on technology and courage to fight. The morale of the troops has always been high and they have no hesitation to compete with the enemy. The 12th period of flight training was also extremely difficult due to lack of fuel and equipment, as well as frequent warnings and little peace. Dad and the others often use the time between dawn and nine o'clock in the morning before enemy planes attack and after the alarm is lifted to conduct training. In this way, day after day, I finally completed my studies on time. I have to say, this is a miracle. At that time, my father’s classmates included: Chen Hongquan, Mao Zhaopin, Huang Xi, Xing Haifan, Lin Min’an (Lin Yinglong Overseas Chinese in Taishan), Zeng Tianpei (Overseas Chinese in Taishan), etc. (survivors after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War)
Right Zhu Songgen and his comrades in Kunming Photos of the stele of the Central Aviation School (photos provided by relatives in Taiwan)
During my communication with the Taishan "Purple Sun Monthly" publisher, they provided some information. At that time, the ancestral home of Taicheng Tongrenli was an overseas Chinese born in Oakland, San Francisco, USA. Pilot Zhu Anqi and a total of 30 of his classmates from the American Aviation School traveled thousands of miles and arrived at the Chinese Air Force Academy at the end of July 1938. Sixteen people, including Zhu Anqi, were enrolled in the 11th phase of the official school to begin advanced flight training. Four others were enrolled in the 12th phase to continue basic training because their skills had not yet reached the standard. In the aviation school, many instructors and students are from Siyi, Guangdong. They often said: Chinese Air Force half Guangdong, Guangdong Air Force half Taishan. Every time they hear Siyi local slang speaking Cantonese and English, they will definitely feel more friendly.
American flight tactics instructor teaches students (Zhu Songgen in the front row)
At the beginning of 1941, the United States' Lend-Lease Act to the Allied Powers came into effect, and air officer students were able to go to the United States to receive flight training. The 12th class benefited from this, and it became the first time for our country to go to the United States. The first batch of Air Force pilots to be trained (there were a total of 7 batches of students who went to the United States for training during the Anti-Japanese War, and there were 12 batches of students in batches 1-3). It's just that they have already started advanced flight training in China, and they have to start from the basic level after going to the United States. My father was one of the second batch of flight students to go to the United States. He went to the United States in November 1941 and studied in Class 1942F of the Destroy Flight Section at the Army Air Thunderbird Base. He did not graduate until December 1942. At this time, it had been four years since my father applied for the military academy.
Zhu Songgen (first from the right) takes a photo with his classmates at the Thunderbird Base (photo provided by relatives in Taiwan)
106 people were promoted to the advanced class in the 12th batch of air officers, and 98 people went to the United States for training (including 5 people who died in accidents and 2 people were eliminated), more than 30 people are known to have died for their country during the Anti-Japanese War. Dad was one of the few survivors from the 12th batch of students who went to the United States and returned to China to fight the war until victory. After thinking about it for a long time, if we had only relied on the old domestic fighter planes to compete with the Japanese army, maybe my father would have become a martyr in the Anti-Japanese War.
In the twelfth batch of students, there were three people from Taishan who came to the United States, Zeng Tianpei, Zhu Songgen, and Lin Yinglong (Lin Min'an)
In December 1941, The Pacific War broke out, the United States entered the war, and China joined the Anti-Fascist Allies. China's difficult course of resistance to the war , ushered in the dawn of victory. At that time, most of the Japanese Air Force were concentrated on the Pacific Islands to fight the US military, so there were many fewer Japanese aircraft on the Chinese battlefield than in previous years.
A group photo of the second batch of Air Force graduates studying in the United States (the one with the portrait of the second adult from the right in the second row at the bottom)
My father returned to China in January 1943 and immediately joined the 4th Destroyer Group of the Air Force in Baishiyi, Chongqing, with the rank of Warrant Officer Flight Trainee. During that period, most of them were performing ground attacks on Japanese troops or covering our troops. As the U.S. military aid to the Chinese Air Force increased exponentially, batches of new aircraft flew from India to Kunming via the "Hump". With the arrival of new aircraft, the Air Force also selected a group of outstanding pilots from various units, organized them into the Fourth Brigade in Baishiyi, Chongqing, and equipped them with new P-40 fighters. According to the Taishan-born American According to the account of the Chinese pilot Zhu Anqi, he was transferred to the 23rd Squadron of the Fourth Brigade at this time.
1942 Zhu Songgen took a photo with his classmates at the Thunderbird Base (photo provided by relatives in Taiwan)
I often thought that during the Anti-Japanese War, it was too difficult for the country to train a pilot, and it took a long time and money. After more than 4 years of study and training at the aviation school, my father was only a trainee flight officer when he was assigned to the Fourth Brigade. It was not until December 1943 that my father was transferred to the 29th Squadron of the 5th Expulsion Group of the Air Force as a second lieutenant pilot. It took my father 5 years from applying to the military academy to being able to fly an aircraft independently. 1944 was the highlight year for my father to show his talents on the anti-Japanese battlefield. This year, the Japanese army also suffered successive defeats in the Pacific battlefield. The sea lines of communication were cut off, and the Japanese army in Southeast Asia faced the dilemma of being cut off. For this reason, Japan was still struggling, so it launched the Henan-Hunan-Guangxi Great War in China.
The Fifth Destroyer Group of the Chinese Air Force is known as the Ace Group, Meteor Group, Guangdong Group, Siyi Group, and Unnamed Group. Ding Jixu, Huang Panyang, Wang Hanxun, Liu Suigang, Chen Qiguang, Chen Qiwei, Chen Ruidian, Yan Haiwen, Huang Xinrui, Ma Guolian, Cen Zeliu, Huang Pingxiang, Zhu Junqiu... each of the resounding names seems to be suddenly fresh. Come alive, they are the soul of this unit and the most legendary figures in the Anti-Japanese War Air Force. Although the Fifth Battalion suffered a disastrous defeat and even had its designation cancelled. All members wore badges with the word "shame" on them and became the only "unknown brigade" in the world, this cannot erase its glorious record. It played an important role in the Chinese people's resistance to foreign aggression. The illustrious name left in its history far outweighs the shame brought to it by its "namelessness". When my father joined this unit, both the performance of the fighter planes and the quality of the pilots had been completely transformed. The nameless group had also restored its designation. At that time, the Chinese Air Force and the 14th Air Force of the U.S. Air Force formed the Sino-American Wing. This move led to war. The purpose of training is to improve the combat skills and effectiveness of Chinese pilots. My father understands Chinese and English, which is his advantage. It is a natural thing to join the third brigade of the China-US Alliance.
Zhu Songgen joined the Sino-US Air Force
In October 1943, the Sino-US Air Force Mixed Wing (Sino-US Air Force) was officially established in Guilin . It was composed of some personnel from the Chinese Air Force and the U.S. Army's Fourteenth Air Force. Dad In December 1943, he was transferred from the Fifth Battalion to the Third Battalion of the China-American Alliance. At that time, Chinese accounted for about two-thirds of the pilots and service personnel of the Sino-US wing.The wing has established three combat groups: the 1st, 3rd, and 5th, each with 4 squadrons under its jurisdiction. The first group is the bomber group, using B-25 medium bombers.
The Chinese and American Air Force Wings, the one in the middle of picture 1 is Major Yuan Jinhan of the Third Battalion.
The Third and Fifth Battalions are fighter groups. Each combat brigade of the Chinese and American wings is dually organized, with one person from each side serving as commanders at all levels, from wing commander to squadron leader. If there is a combat mission, a mixture of Chinese and American pilots will be dispatched. The Sino-American Wing is stationed in Guilin, Ganzhou, Enshi, Zhijiang, Hanzhong and other places, under the unified command of General Chennault, but under the Chinese Air Force sequence.
Chinese and American Air Force Wing, Zhu Songgen, second row, first right (photo provided by relatives in Taiwan)
The Chinese commander of the third battalion is Major Yuan Jinhan, and the American commander is Lieutenant Colonel Bennett. The Chinese and American personnel of the third battalion account for 1 /4, subordinate to the 7th, 8th, 28th, and 32nd squadrons. The Third Group was initially equipped with P-40K fighters. Later, it was gradually equipped with new models. The performance of the fighters completely suppressed the Japanese aircraft. In the Sino-American air force, many older Chinese pilots do not speak English. Young men like my father who returned from training in the United States naturally act as their translators. During combat, Chinese pilots who understand English often repeat radio instructions in Chinese so that all Chinese in the formation can understand the content of the call. In order to enhance communication, the wing also came up with a set of hand gestures as a communication method when the aircraft is flying. Gradually, the Third Battalion became the main force in the Chinese Air Force's comprehensive counterattack.
Pilot Lieutenant Zhu Songgen (photo provided by relatives in Taiwan)
In March 1944, the Battle of Henan, Hunan and Guangxi first started in Henan. At 9 a.m. on March 4 of that year, the Chinese and American Air Forces decided to attack the Japanese Haikou Air Force entrenched in Hainan Island The base conducts a raid. Dad's Third Battalion dispatched P-40 fighter jets
During the Battle of Henan, Hunan and Guangxi in 1944, the Chinese and American air forces bombed Japanese warships in the Yangtze River.
On May 12, the Third Battalion to which my father belonged was on the battlefield in Luoyang, Henan, and destroyed as many as 40 to 50 enemy tanks, killing and injuring the enemy. More than a thousand, this is the first time in the seven years of the Anti-Japanese War that the Chinese Air Force has achieved air supremacy.
From late May to the eve of the fall of Hengyang , the Chinese and American forces launched 5,287 sorties on the Hunan battlefield, dropped 11,640 tons of bombs, destroyed 595 Japanese trucks, sunk more than 1,000 Japanese transport ships, and destroyed 14 bridges. , destroying more than a hundred Japanese aircraft.
On December 18, the Sino-US air force carried out a sweeping bombing of the Japanese air force base in Hankou, , basically destroying this most important Japanese air force base in central China.
Zhu Songgen's classmate Mao Zhaopin also belonged to the Eighth Squadron of the Third Battalion
In this year's Henan-Hunan-Guangxi battle, although the Chinese and American air forces achieved a decisive victory, the army's decline was still unable to reverse the situation. More than 20 of my father's comrades-in-arms died in this battle, and my father was also injured. From January 1945 to March 1945, my father was recuperating in Kunming. During this period, he received many honors and was promoted to lieutenant in the Air Force.Dad once said that if he hadn't been injured this time, he would have driven the more advanced Mustang fighter to annihilate the Japanese army until the victory of the Anti-Japanese War. In April 1945, my father returned from his injury and served as a captain's combat staff at the Fifth Route Command of the Air Force in Kunming (later moved to Chongqing), and he withdrew from frontline combat ever since. Since then, the Third Battalion of the Sino-American Wing has participated in many important battles, and a new generation of ace pilots such as Wang Guangfu (younger brother of Wang Guangmei, who lives in Taiwan) and Xu Huajiang have emerged.
Japan surrendered and the Anti-Japanese War was won.
This was my father’s glory. Unfortunately, my father only had one year to fly a plane on the anti-Japanese battlefield. This was another regret for him. At that time, my father’s monthly salary plus subsidies was about NT$400, which was three times higher than the rank of Army division commander. At that time, it was an astronomical figure, but everyone knows that the life of a pilot is very short, and the money they receive It was earned in exchange for life. As far as I know, at that time, Ma Bangji, a Chinese American Flying Tigers pilot from Taishan, took leave from the army because he was concerned about his mother and sister at home in Taishan, and returned to the countryside alone to pick up his sister. If my father had known that my grandfather was in his hometown in Taishan and asked the commander of the Fourth War Zone to bring money or things to my grandfather, then my grandfather would not have starved to death. From 1943 to 1944, it was the most difficult and miserable period for the folks in Siyi. At that time, due to successive years of drought and harvest failure, overseas remittances were interrupted, and a large number of people poured into Siyi from the occupied areas, resulting in famine. According to statistics at the time, more than 100,000 people died of starvation. This tragic situation must still be fresh in the memory of those elders who are still alive to this day.
12 The first batch of students who went to the United States for training and returned to China to fight in the war, until the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, there were only two survivors.
However, filial piety and loyalty cannot have both, and the unchangeable fate, for everything, is like a misaligned totem, 亊Things are extending, and they are getting staggered bit by bit. Those things that are staggered are the only regrets, but they are also the only good things. Dad is not alone in fighting. In the face of national justice, he knows the choice. When he flies into the blue sky of the motherland in a fighter plane and overlooks the devastated mountains and rivers, he can't help but hesitate in his heart. . Do I think this: There are thousands of Chinese around him who will support him, care for him, and hope that passionate men like him will drive the Japanese invaders out of the country as soon as possible. Of course, after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, if my father could get in touch with his aunt in the United States, he would surely return to the United States like many overseas Chinese pilots from Taishan, so that he could avoid the civil war and live an ordinary life. It can be seen that Dad is also lonely and has no friends. But compared with previous students from the aviation school, their average "life span" from graduation from aviation school to participating in combat did not exceed half a year, and their average age was only 23 years old. Their young lives were forever fixed in that era. Especially my father's classmates in the 12th grade, the first batch of 50 students to go to the United States for intensive training. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, there were only two survivors. In this way, dad is undoubtedly lucky.
After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, my father was transferred to the Nanjing Air Force Headquarters No. 1 Department for personnel training in June 1947, doing personnel classification work and serving as a captain trainer. The training work of the Air Force mostly refers to the comprehensive use of organizational training combined with other methods to promote the overall improvement of the quality and capabilities of the Air Force troops. Simply put, they are instructors.
Wedding photos of dad and auntie getting married in mainland China in 1947 (photos provided by relatives in Taiwan)
During this period, dad found love and got married in October of the same year (the bride is from Hong Kong, my name is auntie). As the civil war continued to expand, the Kuomintang The army was defeated and the Kuomintang government was crumbling. In June 1948, my father was transferred to the Third Department of the Nanjing Air Force Headquarters, where he served as captain and staff officer in the Office of the Director of the Operations Division. During this period, many pilots in the Kuomintang Air Force had flown uprisings, such as: Liu Shanben in June 1946; Yang Peiguang in September 1948; Wang Yanzhou in April 1946, etc. Therefore, the pilot's family members were arranged by the Kuomintang government to be "protected" in Taiwan. My aunt then moved to Taiwan and gave birth to my brother (Zhu Zhuobin) at the end of the year.With the liberation of Guangzhou in October 1949, the Kuomintang's regime in mainland China was completely destroyed, and China ushered in a new era.
Wedding photos of my father and my aunt getting married in Mainland China in 1947 (Photos provided by relatives in Taiwan)
After my father retreated to Taiwan, in October 1949, he served as a captain and airlift staff officer in the 10th Airlift Brigade of the Chiayi Air Force in Taiwan. At that time, although the situation of the Kuomintang government was over, southwest China had not yet been liberated, and a large number of Nationalist troops still retreated to southwest China to make a final resistance.
Dad's signature in the Taiwan Air Force Training Corps in 1949 (photo provided by Taiwanese relatives)
On January 19, 1950, Dad was on a mission to Taiwan and headed to the China-Myanmar border. He and his colleagues flew a fighter plane from Taiwan and were shot and wounded by the People's Liberation Army over Daping, Yunnan. , was captured by the Fourth Field Army of the People's Liberation Army after making an emergency landing, and was later transferred to the Fourth Field Military Hospital. My father survived the disaster this time, thanks to the rescue efforts of the People's Liberation Army. After my father recovered from his injury, he stayed in the Political Department of the Fourth Corps of the Second Field Army of the People's Liberation Army in Kunming to participate in political studies. In October 1950, he was sent to the People's Liberation Army Air Force Study Team to study. In November of the same year, he joined the People's Liberation Army and was transferred to the Flight Management Office of Kunming Airport as a staff officer. . When my father was captured, my aunt was pregnant with Liujia, and my sister Zhu Xiaoyao was born in Taiwan in July 1950. But my father has never seen this little daughter, which is another regret of his father.
Dad, auntie and brother Zhuo Bin took a photo together in Chiayi, Taiwan in the winter of 1949 (photo provided by Taiwanese relatives)
This was the worst of times, but also the best of times. From then on, the poor people in China were liberated. At that time, my father was deemed to have surrendered to join the People's Liberation Army. Under normal circumstances, those captured by the National Army would either stay and join the People's Liberation Army or be deported back to their place of origin, depending on their personal wishes. But my father is a pilot and a rare talent. Therefore, the People's Liberation Army tried every means to keep him. What I didn't expect was that the place of birth my father filled in was actually Zhuwu Village, Haiyan, Taishan, Guangdong. He was born in Hong Kong and has never even returned to his hometown. Presumably, this was due to his grandfather's usual education to him, as well as political needs and the need to better protect himself. But my father’s certificate of joining the army was never sent back to Zhuwu Village, which had no effect on my grandfather. At that time, my grandfather had already passed away for more than four years. Later, I asked my father whether the People's Liberation Army would let you go if you insisted on returning to your hometown in Taishan. Dad said, if it was really that easy, I wouldn't have to study politics for nearly a year.
The Second Aviation School of the Chinese People's Liberation Army was established in Changchun on December 1, 1949 (formerly known as the Second Aviation School of the Air Force, and was renamed on December 20). It was formerly the Second Bombing School of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, often called the Second Aviation School of Changchun. school. After the establishment of the Second Aviation School, pilot students were selected from the Army and Soviet flight instructors were invited for direct training. After graduation, the students were assigned to the newly formed Air Force aviation unit.
At the Second Aviation School of the Chinese People's Liberation Army in Changchun
In January 1951, my father was assigned to the Second Aviation School as the instructor of the tactics group of the training department (later transferred to the instructor of the flight principles group). As early as in October 1950, the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea had broken out. From then on, my father participated in this war that was related to the rise and fall of the country in another way. My father joined the army at the age of 22 and experienced the Anti-Japanese War and the Liberation War until the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea broke out. My father was already 35 years old. As a professional soldier, the war sharpened his will, tempered his blood, and gradually made him mature and wise. He knew the cruelty of war and had a deep understanding of the ravages of Japanese aircraft. When the volunteers fought in an environment where they lost air supremacy, they must pay a huge price of sacrifice. In the face of powerful enemies, it has become an urgent practical need to train Chinese pilots and form the air force of New China.
In October 1950, the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea broke out, and the volunteers crossed the Yalu River
My father, wearing the label of a surrendered soldier, entered a higher military academy in New China to engage in teaching work. He was a bit like the teacher Chang Naichao in " Bright Sword ". At a loss what to do.The students my father faced were all "mudboys" who pulled cattle up trees. Compared with the requirements of high school graduation for recruiting pilots in the national army at that time, the quality of knowledge of "mudboys" was far different. Some students can't even understand the four mixed operations of and . For knowledge such as coordinates, dynamics, acceleration, etc., even if the students are crammed into the students, the teaching effect will not be achieved. For this reason, Dad often has to compile his own teaching materials, combine the students' situations, and use intuitive methods to carry out his teaching work.
Dad took a photo with colleagues from Changchun No. 2 Aviation School
The theory and training methods of flight teaching of the Chinese Air Force have always followed the American model during the Republic of China. For tactical teaching, it is just about knowing yourself and the enemy and complementing each other. The young New China Air Force can only confront the powerful US Air Force by choosing reverse and asymmetric tactics. On this battlefield without gunpowder, in this backward and difficult teaching environment, my father continued to explore and put the knowledge and experience he had accumulated over more than 10 years to the best. He combined his superb flying skills, commanding skills, and practical experience. Teach it to students bit by bit. Finally, with the joint efforts of everyone, the "mud boy" was lifted up into the blue sky. As a result, batches of outstanding pilots have been trained for the country. Such as: Song Fengsheng, Liang Zhijian, Zhang Fuyan, Zhou Xianyu, Wang Yuhuai, Duan Shikai, Zhang Yonggeng, Li Ruhai and so on.
The Second Aviation School has established immortal merits for the New China Air Force’s magnificent transformation from scratch to strong. No wonder U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff Vandenberg once lamented: "Communist China has become one of the world's major air force powers almost overnight." Although this was inseparable from the support of the Soviet Union, it was also inseparable from the efforts of all workers who participated in the construction of the New China Air Force who accepted orders in times of crisis and worked hard.
The warriors of the 40th Regiment of the 14th Air Force Division who came out of the Second Aviation School had a bad fate. For a professional soldier, he either died on the battlefield or survived by defeating the enemy. Dad naturally knows that he was rescued by the People's Liberation Army. He was able to gain the trust of the mainland and let him teach in a military institution. Getting this job in mainland China, which is already at peace and stability, is for dad. That was a great relief. At the very least, I was far away from the life of swords and swords. At that time, in the New China Air Force, there were many pilots who had either revolted or surrendered from the Chinese army. Among them, my father and I graduated in the 12th batch and went to the United States for training in the same batch. After returning to China, they were classmates in the Third Battalion of the Sino-American Wing. Xing Haifan (alias Xing Wenzhuo). Xing Haifan has repeatedly made military exploits on the battlefield of the Korean War to resist US aggression and aid Korea, and is a well-known ace pilot. There is also comrade Wang Yanzhou who also belongs to the 8th Squadron of the 3rd Battalion. They were fighting with their lives against the U.S. Air Force. In contrast, I feel that my father is still lucky.
Looking back on my growth experience, in that passionate era, my understanding of heroes is that only those who wrap their bodies in horse leather on the battlefield and die generously on the execution ground are worthy of this title. As I read more about the world, I began to realize that the ultimate meaning of a hero lies not in being shaped by "being needed", but in human life and the precious human emotions. Therefore, I think my father is also a hero. In order to protect his family and country, he put his life aside and dedicated his youth to this nation. But in the end, he often suppressed the pain of longing for his wife, son and daughter across the strait, and in a sensitive political environment, he did not dare to reveal his thoughts to anyone around him. In such a big era, an individual's destiny can't help but be controlled by himself, and the destiny of the whole family is torn apart. The widow on the other side of the strait and her children will be like floating catkins in the future, rising and falling with the changes in the world.
A group photo of the Zhu Songgen family in Taiwan in 1949 (photo provided by Taiwanese relatives)
I remember Marquez said this: "Life has never left loneliness and independent existence. Whether we are born, we grow, we fall in love or we succeed. Failure, until the end, loneliness exists in the corner of life like a shadow."The loneliness of dad, aunt, and grandpa was the same. No one was spared. It wasn't until the end that I figured out why 's dad didn't ask for leave and return to his hometown in Taishan. Because, if his wife and children in Taiwan lacked the support of the Taiwan authorities, Taking care of him will make life difficult. As long as the false news that my father was shot dead by the People's Liberation Army in Yunnan is kept secret, the longer the better. In that way, the three of them will receive corresponding care in Taiwan. I believe that the mainland will maintain a tacit understanding with my father. .
The victorious volunteer troops to resist U.S. aggression and aid Korea returned to China
On July 27, 1953, the war to resist U.S. aggression and aid Korea came to an end, which lasted for two years and nine months.This victory is great and legendary. This battle has made New China's status in the international community continue to rise. Improvement, thus overcoming the shame of being bullied by foreign powers for more than a hundred years in modern China. For this reason, it also changed my father's view of New China and made him gradually improve. In December 1955, my father was demobilized and transferred to Changchun No. 1 I worked as a teacher in the No. 3 Middle School. At that time, my father was already 40 years old, but he was still alone.
In the past, my father often told me with joy that he had brought out several of his best students at the No. 2 Aviation School, and later he was promoted to a general of the People's Liberation Army Air Force. I also remember that in my father's later years, these generals often came to visit him together. For me personally, perhaps this is the most rewarding reward my father received from Changchun No. 2 Aviation School.
As far as I know, the hometown of Taishan Haiyanzhu The founder of the estate, Yuan Tat Gong, migrated alone from Enping during the Hongzhi period of the Ming Dynasty. He was a teacher, and after he spread his branches, he established Zhu Uk Village. Most of the descendants inherited the legacy of their ancestors and set up calligraphy schools to teach. He teaches, educates and resolves doubts. He is highly respected by the villagers in the Haiyan area. To this day, there is still the Maolin School that was founded in the Guangxu period. During the Xianfeng period, Zhu Fu, a member of the clan, passed the imperial examination, and the gentry from all over came to congratulate him. In the Haiyan area, He became famous for a while. After gaining fame, Zhu Fugong erected a "flagpole folder" at the entrance of the village and founded the Zhu Family School in Puli, Zhuwu Village. This move made the villagers in eight villages within ten miles envious. After more than a hundred years, the people of the tribe worshiped literature. Zhuwu Village was known as the "Literati Village" due to its prowess in martial arts and the emergence of talented people. Therefore, later generations built Wenbi Park to promote its reputation.
Taishan Haiyan Zhuwu Village Maolin Family School
Perhaps, my father also inherited the wisdom of his ancestors With ambition, he chose the simple and pure job of teaching after demobilization. In fact, he had many options at the beginning, such as: aircraft repair shop, automobile factory, machinery manufacturing factory and other positions. Perhaps, my father was used to the podium and learned from it. Enjoy the sense of accomplishment. In December 1955, my father was assigned to Changchun No. 3 Middle School as a teacher of geography, physical education, English and other courses. In my opinion, that was overqualification and underutilization. Of course, given that my father was not Miao Zhenggenhong, It was impossible to stay in the Second Aviation School. It was precisely because of his identity that he laid the groundwork for his subsequent suffering.
Changchun was called "Kuanchengzi" in the Jin, Yuan and Ming Dynasties. During the Qing Dynasty, there was a post station on the bank of Yitong River in the south of Changchun. It was the only place where the Qing emperors went to Changbai Mountain to worship their ancestors. JiaqingFive years later, Emperor Jiaqing began to establish local administrative agencies here. Previously, Emperor Qianlong wrote two poems about this place: "Changbai is ancient Xizhou for thousands of years, and spring is endless in Kuancheng." Therefore, Emperor Jiaqing picked the first character of the poem and named the place "Changchun Hall". Changchun has a very short history. It does not have a rich history of humanities like small cities in the south, nor does it have a long history and splendid culture like other big cities.
Photos taken by Dad in the early 1960s
Dad has been in Changchun for 11 years. After the distant nostalgia for his wife and children across the Taiwan Strait and the hope of family reunion were swallowed up bit by bit by the years, he faced The cruel reality of Lao Yan's separation made her completely despair. When he reaches middle age, his father is still alone. He is like a lone goose, flying in the endless sky outside the pass, sleeping in the vast world. During every festive season, I stay alone in the school dormitory, quietly missing my loved ones and looking for the way home for my soul.
June 8, 1960 in Qingdao
Perhaps, the so-called fate is probably the same thing. Destiny is already a river that no dam can block, and running towards the sea is its only direction. Dad's wandering life experience made friends who knew about it secretly care about him and often advised him to reorganize his family. Coincidentally, my mother is also a middle school teacher. She comes from a wealthy family. My mother’s ex-husband was the director of the Chun branch of the Kuomintang’s Secrecy Bureau (named Zhang Xisen). He was shot after liberation, and my mother has been living with her daughter. In this way, my parents can be considered a good match.
1981 Mom's File
In fact, when a person transfers his hope to another thing, the transfer process is often a painful and helpless process. In reality, both parents need a family so they can take care of each other. With the help of a good friend, the school also went through the formalities for my father to unilaterally divorce his Taiwanese aunt.
A group photo of my grandfather and his family in the early days of liberation (my mother is second from left in the second row)
In the spring of 1962, my parents got married. Their wedding was simple to the extreme without any lively scenes. It seems that from then on, the mother's dignified appearance and temperament illuminated the Zhu family's humble family, and the two lonely people began to rely on each other and provide warmth to each other.
In 1922, my mother (who is dependent on my grandfather) took a photo with my grandparents and three aunts when she was 5 years old.
On New Year's Day in 1963, I was fortunate to be born in a new era, far away from war and enjoying peace. At that time, my father was already 48 years old. My arrival allowed my father, who had a daughter in his old age, to regain the happiness of his family. Due to the inheritance of Chinese and Indian genes, I was born with a unique and very cute face, which was deeply loved by my neighbors. My father regarded me as the apple of his eye. I started playing with my peers when I was four years old, and I was always creative and unmatched by them. I remember, my father often took me to the Second Aviation School to play with the 360-degree spinner used for pilot training. Sometimes, my father would take me to the skydiving tower . He would let me sit on his lap, tie my waist to his, and skydive together. The clear laughter of childhood cracked the sky, and also made my father’s heart drunk with laughter.
My mother held me and I took a photo with my father, aunt, and sister (half-mother)
The happy past of childhood. Now, although they are scattered in the horizon, I still remember the happiest times in my childhood. Unfortunately, my happy childhood was too short-lived for me. I remember that when I was able to independently play the wheel in the aviation school, my family suffered the impact of the Cultural Revolution. My parents were taken away, and then the Red Guards came to my house to rummage through the boxes. When my parents got married, the small golden Buddha that my grandfather gave to my mother as a dowry was taken away, as was the few oceans my father brought back from Taiwan. I remember very clearly that those Dayangs were very old. My father asked me to take Dayang and rub it on my hair. I polished the Dayang to make it very shiny, especially the Yuan Shikai portrait. Dad also had a copper box in which two gold pens and the Air Force Medal from that year were taken away. At that time, my family had a big yellow cat and three newborn kittens, and they were also beaten to death. I cried for a week because of this. After my parents were taken away, I was ignorant and didn't know how to feel sad. My kind-hearted neighbor made up beautiful lies about my parents going on a business trip to comfort me. Later, I learned that my parents were imprisoned under the Changchun Geological Museum. From then on, I started to eat from hundreds of families and lived in each neighbor's house in turn for a week. I survived only by being taken care of by everyone. After my mother was imprisoned for two years, she was rescued by his students. Then, she abandoned me and hid in a relative's house alone for another three years, while my father spent five years in prison..
Photo taken in 1964 when he was two years old
Children can easily remember happy times as well as sad days. Adults, on the other hand, have different memories of those unforgettable things. Some things they don't want to mention to the younger generations. Therefore, all grievances are forever sealed up. Now, looking back and staring into the abyss, seems to have traveled an extra mile.In the violent era of , I don’t know how many ordinary families had sweet dreams, but was crushed to pieces by the wheels that had left the track of history. Despite this, when the catastrophe was inevitable, Dad still had a heart born towards the scorching sun, a military will that could not be wiped out in adversity, and confidently guarded his beliefs, regardless of the world. Change. To him, survival is a war. As a result, he did not fall down. Like a tiny firefly, he tried hard to cut through the dark night sky and wipe out the brightness of life, showing his unyielding strength.
Yunjuan Yunshu, no matter how complicated the world is, people's kind hearts can always bring sunshine and hope to others. To this day, I still feel that I cannot repay the life-saving kindness of my neighbors, especially Grandma Yang, who is not related to my family. Back then, after my parents were taken away, she regarded me as her little granddaughter and took great care of me so that my young heart was never hurt. All this is due to the cause and effect of my parents getting along with the neighbors in the past. It seems that it is true that distant relatives are not as good as close neighbors. Back then, I stayed at Grandma Yang's house for the longest time. The Yang family not only cared about me, but also cared about my father who was in prison. When I was 5 years old, Grandma Yang specially made a new floral cloth dress for me and took me to the photo studio to take a photo. Then she took the photo with her to visit my dad in prison. Grandma Yang later said that when my father saw my photo, he felt like he had found a treasure and burst into tears. This photo of my childhood is all my father’s thoughts about his family while he was in prison. He kept it with him until he was released from prison. To this day, I still keep this photo. It has witnessed the helplessness of the ups and downs of the world and the warmth of true love in the world. It is one of the most precious memory media in my life.
Maybe my father is destined to be alone, and he will have less resentment in his poor quilt, and marriage will be good for him. For him, it was all unsatisfactory. There is my aunt in front of me and my mother in the back. Both of his marriages suffered from divorce and separation of children. Come to think of it, this is his destiny. During the turbulent era of the "Cultural Revolution", most of the pilots who had rebelled or surrendered from the National Army and stayed in the country had been marginalized or persecuted. For example: Liu Shanben was beaten to death in 1968; Zhou Xundian was brutally persecuted to death in 1970; Zhou Yanfang was ransacked and criticized in 1966, resulting in unemployment, and later suffered a stroke and paralysis; Wang Yanzhou was detained in 1967 for "current counter-revolutionary, The label of "American and Chiang Kai-shek agent" was "under criticism and struggle".
In August 2005, Wang Yanzhou and Wang Guangfu (my father’s comrades), members of the Sino-American team, took a group photo with General Chennault’s wife, Ms. Chen Xiangmei.
According to the information provided to me by Taishan’s Ziyang Monthly, I learned that Gong’s birthplace was Baisha Town, Taishan. Anti-Japanese pilot Huang Rongxiang (formerly known as Huang Huaikun, Huang Guangrui's brother from the same village) from Biantianxin Village was admitted to the fifth batch of Guangdong Air Force Aviation School in 1930. The Taishan students at the same time included Zhang Daishan, Huang Ruiwen, Huang Chaowei and others. ). After liberation, he stayed at the Nanchang Air Force Station and served as the flight technical staff officer of the Air Force. In 1966, Huang Rongxiang's wife Ye Qiaoyu couldn't bear the humiliation of being beaten and finally jumped to her death. In 1967, Huang Rongxiang's three sons were forced to sneak into Hong Kong, but unfortunately they drowned. Subsequently, Huang Rongxiang was sentenced to jail for "planning illegal immigration". In 1970, he died unjustly due to "intracranial hemorrhage". He left no last words and no relatives.
Such pilots who have repeatedly made military exploits on the anti-Japanese battlefield, in the end, their personal fate is so tragic, it is really sad. The more I learned about history and the deeper my understanding, the more I became indifferent. The tragedies caused by those embarrassing deviations in history, no matter whether future generations are willing to admit it, face it, and summarize it, they are often the sordid discord that they do not want to face in reality. If you cover it with a fig leaf, can it alleviate the pain caused by the trauma in the originally kind and righteous heart? When I learned about what happened to my father, I also understood that period of history.
I wore a red scarf in 1975
In 1970, when I was old enough to go to school, Grandma Yang sent me to Kangda Primary School. At that time, I brought two small benches with me every day, one for writing and one for writing. Used to sit on. The teacher is an educated youth who "went to the mountains and countryside". He brings an alarm clock to the classroom every day. When the bell rings, class starts and get out of class ends. At school, I integrated into the collective life and played with my classmates, thus forgetting the discomfort of my parents not being around. It was not until the end of 1971 that my father was released from prison due to poor health and was allowed to receive medical parole. Soon, my mother also came home. The family reunited after being separated for 5 years, with a mixture of joy and sorrow. At that time, my father was very thin and had a limping leg. Every time I see my father, I feel sad. He said it was the result of being bitten by a prison dog in prison. There was a large, sunken scar on his thigh. I thought that the original muscle in my father’s thigh must have been bitten by a dog. After surgery, the new muscle could not return to its original state. Despite this, Dad believed that it was just a traumatic injury and believed that he could return to normal walking as long as he went through rehabilitation training.
When I was in junior high school in 1977, my parents took me to take a photo in front of the Heroes Monument in People's Square, Changchun.
In 1972, my parents transferred me to Anda Street Primary School, not far from home. Every morning my father takes me to exercise together. Regardless of wind or rain, we have to run for an hour. Dad's health subsequently recovered and he began to walk normally. Due to long-term running training, when I was in junior high school, I became a long-distance runner in the school and won many honors. Every summer, my father teaches me how to swim. He said that my grandfather was a sailor and I am a descendant of a sailor. I must learn to swim. Dad taught me different swimming styles. Later, I was able to swim breaststroke, freestyle, backstroke, and butterfly with ease. Under the training of my father, I am very good at swimming. At that time, in order to commemorate Chairman Mao's swim in the Yangtze River, Changchun City held a swim in the Songhua River every year. There were more than a thousand participants from all walks of life, and I was the only woman. My father was always proud of me at that time. During the years when I grew up with my father, because of his words and deeds, I inherited his excellent qualities such as stubbornness, positivity, and optimism, which became a great wealth for me in my future life.
In 1976, my elder sister (half-father, left in the front row) was transferred back to Changchun from the countryside. A family photo was taken.
After the collapse of the Lin Biao Group, some personnel who had been persecuted in the Air Force system recovered their reputations. Dad was not so lucky. During this period, Dad was still charged with "criminal charges" and was released on medical parole. However, life must go on and the family must eat. Fortunately, my father was very popular and got a job at his original employer, Changchun No. 17 Middle School. He usually swept the floor, delivered newspapers, turned on the water, cut grass and planted flowers, etc. People who don't know about it would never imagine that this old man, who is nearly 60 years old, turned out to be a Anti-Japanese War pilot, an air combat captain's staff officer, a flight tactics instructor, and an English teacher. The five years of imprisonment have made the hero fade, but the persistence and watchfulness remain in the hero's heart. Perhaps, only those who are indifferent to fame and wealth can be humble, willing to be ordinary, and face everything with an open mind.
I never imagined that my father, unwilling to be left alone, actually selected students to organize a football team at school and became an unknown coach. The teacher's understanding and the students' respect allowed Dad to find a source of happiness in his most depressed years. Being able to do this is definitely not possible for ordinary people. Dad did not let his grievances and anger make him lose his way. He still embraced the world with his affectionate and generous love.
In the autumn of 1976, the haze shrouding the land of China was blown away by the autumn wind, and China ushered in a great turning point in history. The heartbroken person finally got his name corrected after going through many hardships, and then dragged his exhausted body and mind back to work to exert his remaining energy. Since then, my family's files have also been corrected, and the word "pseudo" that originally defined the family's status as "pseudo-soldiers" has been deleted. My parents have transformed from handymen back to people's teachers, but they haven't waited until They have reached the age of retirement when they return to the familiar platform.This huge gap makes the stories hidden deep in their hearts become insignificant. Every time I read it, I no longer feel excited or depressed. "Being unfazed by favors and humiliations, watching the flowers bloom and fall in front of the court", this is all my parents have to do with the world and be happy with the flowers during this period.
A family portrait of my family in 1982. At this time, my parents had retired and my father was paralyzed.
The relatives scattered all over the world are my greatest thoughts. At this time, my father had not seen my aunt for 40 years. If he did not look for her again, he would probably never see her again in this life. In 1980, my father started writing letters to his aunt. Fortunately, he still remembered the address where he and his aunt lived in San Francisco, USA, when he was young, so he tried to send the letters there. Unexpectedly, the person who received the letter was my uncle's relative in Taishan, Taiwan. At that time, my uncle's family had already moved to Hollywood , so the former residence was given to this family. After many twists and turns, my aunt received a letter from my father. When my aunt read the letter, which revealed between the lines my father's endless guilt and concern for his family, I burst into tears.
A photo of Zhu Songgen's sister Zhu Lizhen attending her granddaughter's college graduation ceremony in the United States in 1978
For forty years, her brother's life and death had been uncertain. When she found out that he was still alive, the huge surprise made her, a sister, panic for a moment. . At this time, my aunt was already 75 years old. She couldn't wait to ask her children to reply to the letter on her behalf. From then on, the father, brother and sister expressed their feelings to each other through letters. My aunt once recalled that not long after the Anti-Japanese War started, she went back to Taishan to look for her grandfather and father. At that time, her grandfather who lived in Zhuwu Village, Taishan was still alive. She left a sum of money for her grandfather and returned to the United States. She also worked in the United States. I sent money to my grandfather several times, but then I couldn’t send it out. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, my aunt learned through the overseas Chinese in Taishan in the United States that my grandfather had starved to death when there was a famine in Taishan. In her letter, she scolded her father, saying that when her grandfather was alive, her father had not fulfilled the filial piety of a human son. Now that he has passed away, she asked her father to return to Taishan to pay incense and sacrifice to her grandfather. What my aunt said was so shocking that my father suddenly woke up and felt extremely guilty. When my father was preparing to return to Taishan, his health condition deteriorated day by day, and he finally became paralyzed due to cerebral thrombosis . From then on, whenever my father talked to me about my grandfather, he always expressed regret that "the son wanted to support him but his mother was not around". As the saying goes, "A young man who doesn't understand the kindness of his parents will become an old man when he understands." How could he have thought that the grand song of life would be so tragic and magnificent, that all the busyness in youth and adulthood could not offset the wasted years, and in the end he left his gray hair and disabled time to his little family.
At that time, China and the United States established diplomatic relations , and I had just finished high school, and my aunt discussed with my father to apply for me to immigrate to the United States. With my father's broad vision, I readily accepted it. In that case, I could go to college in the United States and continue my studies. But my mother was reluctant for me to leave her, and in the end, I lost this opportunity. My aunt loved her father from beginning to end and often urged her children to write letters to him. Because she was too old to fly back to China, they and her brother and sister had never been able to see each other.
In 1981, Zhu Songgen’s son Zhu Zhuobin’s family in Taiwan were photographed together.
But on the aunt’s side in Taiwan, it turned out that the aunt had always kept in touch with the aunt. When the aunt informed the aunt about her father’s current situation, brother Zhuo Bin in Taiwan began to I wrote a letter to my father. At this time, brother Zhuo Bin was 33 years old and sister Xiaoyao was 30 years old. They were already married and had children. I remember back then, when my brother was less than 3 years old and my sister was not yet born, my father left them. This separation lasted 30 years. When dad suddenly showed up, the surprise that the siblings felt was understandable. I believe they would understand dad's difficulties. After all, this is history.
Auntie took a photo with her brother, sister-in-law, sister, niece, and nephew in Taiwan
Back then, my father and brother gave each other recent photos of their relatives in the two places. Later, I learned that my aunt had remarried as early as 1955. My aunt’s second husband was a general in the Taiwan Air Force and my father’s colleague at that time.In this way, the aunt has a home, and the brother and sister are taken care of. Thinking about it, this is also the best choice.
At that time, Taiwan had regulations that when pilots performed missions, regardless of whether they were killed or captured on the mainland, their family members in Taiwan would receive preferential treatment. After my father was captured, Taiwan always regarded him as dead in action. Therefore, Auntie and the others are regarded as martyred soldiers. Because my father was born in Hong Kong, he returned to China from the United States that year. Therefore, neither people from my hometown in Taishan nor overseas Chinese in Taishan in the United States can understand my father’s life experience. Furthermore, the mainland did not announce to the public at that time that my father joined the People's Liberation Army after being captured. After working at Yunnan Airport for three months, my father was transferred to Changchun, and he simply disappeared from the world. Therefore, it is difficult for Taiwan to verify the true situation of my father. Looking back at what was mentioned above, it was also based on these considerations that my father did not send the "Certificate of Joining the Army" back to his hometown in Taishan.
According to the Taiwanese sister-in-law’s dictation, my brother lived in Tainan at the time. When he was studying in college in Taipei, the Taiwan Air Force used a helicopter to pick him up back to Tainan every month during the holidays. After the holidays, he was sent back to Taipei. The treatment was beyond compare. My imagination. It can be seen that the life of the aunt, brother and sister in Taiwan is quite good. My brother and sister are able to accept my father, and they send money to my father every New Year and festival. All this is due to my aunt's long-term support for this family relationship, and also due to my aunt's usual open-minded education.
My aunt’s second wedding photos
Because my sister and her husband both work in the Tainan Air Force, due to political considerations, it is inconvenient to communicate with my father. As my father and brother exchanged letters more and more frequently, especially when my mother saw photos of Taiwanese aunts, women's petty tendencies started to show up. Parents often have conflicts over this, which makes the family extremely disharmonious. I remember that Brother Zhuo Bin sent my father a photo of his aunt accompanying his sister-in-law and nephew. My mother actually cut out the aunt in the photo. I still keep that photo, and sometimes I can’t laugh or cry when I think about it.
My aunt, my sister-in-law, and my nephew took a group photo together in Taiwan. My aunt’s face was cropped out by my mother.
I love it. Others will never be able to understand it. Just like the light refracted by the sun in the lens, it will look different in the eyes of different people. color. My parents, who are both over 60 years old, can be indifferent to fame and wealth, but they are in trouble because of the presence of their aunt. Back then, I always thought my mother was being unreasonable. My aunt is married, my father is paralyzed, and the two sides of the Taiwan Strait have not yet communicated with each other. Why do these objective facts make my mother so unhappy? I think the answer can only be found from dad's heart. In fact, as long as you keep some old things in your heart and don't disturb them, you will feel at ease. But when the people and things related to them meet again, they will inevitably cause various associations. Had it not been for the changes in the current situation, the father and aunt would not have been separated. Although time has passed, when my father got in touch with my aunt and looked at her photo, all kinds of thoughts naturally arose in my heart. This is something my mother cannot tolerate. Sometimes my father would be so angry with his mother that he would find someone to take him back to Taishan, even if he had to climb back. But his dreamy hometown of Taishan, in his dying years, was just his wishful thinking. In the end, he had to give in under his mother's "pampering". Therefore, I have never been able to see a river in my hometown or step on an inch of soil in my hometown. The turmoil that parents have in their later years may seem unreasonable, but it embodies deep emotional connection and social reflection.
In 1985, a photo of Zhu Songgen on his 70th birthday.
Everyone is a passerby who passes by carelessly. When he embarked on the journey of his life with passion, the once great songs were wasted along the way. The muddy road flows between thousands of rivers and mountains. On April 12, 1987, my father finally finished his wandering life, retreated from all auras, and walked forward in obscurity with heavy burdens, meandering all the way to peace and indifference, and finally fell silent.
Postscript: (Follow-up)
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