War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 599 Those Heroes
"Di di di di di di di di di di di di di di di di di di di di di di di di di di di di di di di di di di!"

The loud charge horn sounded again after less than half a minute, and the shouts of the soldiers rushing down from around the valley seemed to be even louder.

In the melody repeated over and over again, the raid did not last long, and some enemies jumped onto the trucks and jeeps in a panic, and fled towards the only gap with their lives.

However, the entire company of volunteer soldiers who participated in the siege let go of those who fled under the orders of their respective squad leaders and platoon leaders, continued to advance around the small village, and captured a large building that served as a command post as quickly as possible. house.

Almost at the same time as the battle here ended, the sound of the charge and the shout of killing almost overturned the darkness followed closely in the direction of the only gap.

But at this moment, Wei Ran was not in the mood to participate in the battle.From now on, he was holding the comatose Xia Chuan with his hands across his arms, looking for medical equipment in this small village filled with gunpowder smoke and war.

After running all the way and asking the surrounding soldiers, Wei Ran finally found a wooden house that had just lit a kerosene lamp.

There are only two captured US military doctors in this house, and there is a full set of medical equipment on the table not far away.

After a hasty inspection, Wei Ran put Xia Chuan on the operating table, and then took off the useless equipment on his body as quickly as possible.

After hastily washing his hands, he took out a pair of rubber gloves and put them on. After giving Xia Chuan a shot of anesthetic, he began to prepare for suturing.

"I can help you!"

A captured U.S. military doctor yelled, "Let me help you! I swear to God, I just want to fulfill the Hippocratic Oath!"

Wei Ran glanced at the military doctor, beckoning the volunteer soldier who captured him to stop for a while, and then asked in English while sitting and preparing for the surgery, "What's your name?"

"Howard"

The military doctor replied bluntly, "Let me help you. He needs blood transfusion to maintain blood pressure. It's difficult for you to complete the operation alone."

"He said he was willing to help me." Wei Ran asked the two volunteer soldiers guarding him, "Can you?"

"No problem." One of the soldiers immediately let go of Howard's shoulders, and at the same time did not forget to ask, "Many of our soldiers are injured, can we send them here together?"

"Claure, won't you help?" Howard asked another captured military doctor.

"I only provide medical services for white people," the military doctor replied arrogantly.

Wei Ran glanced at Howard who had already started to prepare, and immediately nodded, "Leave one person here to guard, and let the injured come over as soon as possible. In addition, that jerk doctor wearing glasses is unwilling to help, so put him Get rid of it, he just said that he is going to make trouble when we have the operation."

Before he could finish his words, the volunteer soldiers who were holding Dr. Claure immediately increased their strength and pushed him out of the house.At the same time, the soldier who proposed to send the other wounded also ran out, apparently to find the wounded.

"It seems that Mr. Crower is going to suffer some torture." Howard had already prepared the suture tools while speaking.

"Don't worry, whether you or Mr. Claure, you will receive preferential treatment." Wei Ran said with certainty, "Even if you are unwilling to provide medical help."

"I hope so"

Howard said seriously, "Sir, how about letting us temporarily abandon our identities and concentrate on rescuing the wounded?"

"Of course." While Wei Ran was speaking, he had already joined in.

With Howard's help, Xia Chuan was quickly transfused with the prepared plasma.Immediately afterwards, Edward also stood in the position of the chief surgeon without hesitation, opened the abdominal cavity and started the treatment work.

With the cooperation of the two of them, Howard quickly threw a carbine bullet into half of the tray, and then the two worked together to complete the suturing of the intestines, clean up the dirt in the abdominal cavity, and suture it. Muscle and epithelial tissue.

Waiting for Wei Ran to personally help Xia Chuan push penicillin for a while, followed by the wounded volunteers and American soldiers who were sent here, it also made Wei Ran and Howard no longer in the mood to chat. The two seemed to be competing with each other. Taiwan began rescue work.

While they were busy here, the volunteer soldiers who had completed the combat mission were also sealing the windows of the house used as an operating room with wooden quilts as quickly as possible.

Inside the opaque window, Wei Ran, Howard, and the two health workers who came later worked together to treat the wounded. Outside the window, the soldiers were also cleaning the battlefield as quickly as possible.

Before dawn, the last wounded man had finished bandaging. Howard took off his gloves and surgical gown, took off an American windbreaker from the hanger against the wall and put it on, and said sincerely, "Are you The fastest medic I've ever seen, and the roughest medic I've ever seen."

"At least they survived"

Wei Ran picked up the bugle and the weapon placed at his feet, "Whether it's your comrade-in-arms or my comrade-in-arms, no one on our operating table lost his life, right?"

"If only no one lost their lives in this war"

While feeling emotional, Dr. Howard took out a box of Lucky Strike cigarettes from his coat pocket, took out one and handed it to Wei Ran.

After taking the cigarette, Wei Ran let the other party help him to light it. He watched the two health workers directing the soldiers who came in to help collect medical equipment, and said casually, "I'm afraid I have to ask your president about this. The war he started."

"He just needs to sit in the office." Howard also seemed to have a lot of resentment towards their president. "Compared to how many people died here, maybe he is considering how much benefit he will get after dropping an atomic bomb here."

Wei Ran shook his head, "If other Americans think like you, this battle will not be fought."

"Yeah, then I won't use this ghost place anymore." Howard flicked the cigarette butt in his hand, "Okay, soldier, send me wherever you want."

Wei Ran raised his finger and pointed to the prisoners of war who were waiting in line not far away, "With such a short distance, I guess you won't get lost."

"Of course." Dr. Howard raised his hands in high spirits, happily walking towards the other captured American soldiers alone.

"Where did this weirdo come from?"

Wei Ran muttered to himself, raised the bugle in his hand, wiped the blood stains on it with his cuff, and wondered where to find Xia Chuan or Squad Leader Shen.

However, before he wiped off the blood on the bugle, a strong white light appeared in front of him again.When the vision returned to normal, the surrounding scene changed from a snowy mountain village to a hotel room.

Looking at the empty hands, Wei Ran shook his head wearily. At this moment, he could even faintly feel the chill penetrating into his bones all over his body, and he could feel the pain on the soles of his feet caused by the long-distance running in boots that didn't fit well.

But in the moments before and after that beam of white light came on, there were already two worlds separated by more than sixty years.

"I don't know what happened to those people"

Wei Ran sighed, like a revolving lantern in his mind, flashed past the car driver Liu Yijiao he met at first, the scout Zhao Shengli and the hygienist Chen Qi, and then remembered that there was not much communication in the whole process The trumpeter Xia Chuan, the squad leader Shen Shen, and of course, the platoon leader whose name he didn't know from the beginning to the end, and the American doctor who seemed out of place.

Just when he was distracted, the metal quill was suspended on the page again, but what he didn't expect was that this time, the pen did not write the "Fourth Act" that he thought would appear. ".

Instead, it moved to the position required by the missions in the first act, and wrote the follow-up story about the car driver Liu Yijiao in black letters:

Auto Soldier Liu Yijiao/Liu Haifu, during the war, made a total of third-class merit once, and was awarded the second-level Medal of Freedom and Independence (North Korea), the Volunteer Army's expedition commemorative medal, and the title of model pacesetter.

In March 1953, while driving a truck to carry out the mission of ammunition transportation, he was killed by enemy planes, and his bones were buried in the Cemetery of Martyrs of the Chinese People's Volunteers (North Korea).

Under Wei Ran's gaze, the metal quill moved down slightly, and continued to write below the words in the second act:
Health worker Chen Qi, during the battle, was awarded the Medal of Honor of Second Class Soldier (North Korea), the Medal of Long Live Peace, the Medal of Friendship between China and North Korea, and the Medal of Resisting U.S. Aid Korea.

After returning to China in 1957, he retired from the army and returned to his hometown of Langshi. During his farming period, he also served as a township health worker. He had a son and a daughter.

During the battle and after the war, Zhao Shengli, a scout, recorded first-class merit once and third-class merit twice. ), the Medal of Long Live Peace, the Medal of Friendship between China and North Korea, and the Medal of Resisting US Aggression and Aiding Korea.

After returning to China in 1958, he changed jobs and returned to his hometown of Pingquan. He worked as a township electrician, telegraph operator, militia company commander, and village party secretary.

Lin Yuehua, the leader of the reconnaissance team, led the reconnaissance team to stand on the unnamed highland for eight days and nights during the Jincheng Campaign in 1953.

Sun Yannian, chief secretary and head of the cooking squad, was posthumously awarded the honorary title of "Second Class Battle Hero" during the Battle of Jincheng in 1953 when he stood on an unnamed highland and was bombarded.The bones were buried in Dandong Martyrs Cemetery to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea.

Scout Li Dali, in the summer of 1952, during the execution of the reconnaissance mission, was killed by covering the transfer of his comrades in arms.

Scout Gao Qiang, in the summer of 1952, during the execution of the reconnaissance mission, was killed by covering the transfer of his comrades in arms.

Following the handwriting revealed by the tip of the pen, Wei Ran subconsciously clenched his fists and clenched his teeth, and his eyes, which were still cold, turned red.

But the metal quill did not stop at all. After moving slightly, it continued to write under the words of the third act:
Shen Shen, the leader of the assault squad, died in May 1953 when he was bombed by a United Nations bomber during his mission.

Xia Chuan, commander of the Assault Company Division, was wounded during his mission in November 1951 and returned to Anton for recuperation.

During the battle and after the war, he recorded the third-class merit twice, was awarded the honorary title of "Second Class Combat Hero", and accumulatively won the Warrior Medal of Honor (North Korea), the Second-Class Freedom and Independence Medal (North Korea), the Long Live Peace Memorial Medal, and the China-North Korea Friendship Medal , Commemorative Medal of Resisting U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea.

After returning to China in 1954, he retired and returned to Luda, his hometown, where he worked as a music teacher in a county primary school, curator of a street cultural center, and administrator of an archive.

After writing here, the metal quill wrote a series of detailed addresses corresponding to each name after starting a new line.Among those addresses, some directly point to a certain martyr's cemetery, some are accurate to villages and towns, and some are detailed to the house number.

"How did so few survive?"

Wei Ran stared blankly at the page that was almost full of words, and after allowing the metal quill pen to start another line, he smoothly wrote out the sonorous and powerful lyrics that made him unforgettable - valiant, high-spirited , across the Yalu River.To protect peace and defend the motherland is to protect the hometown!

(End of this chapter)