The sound of squadron leader made old man Sun Xiaozhong burst into tears.
He had not heard this title for too many years.
During the national crisis during the Anti-Japanese War, when the entire country was devastated, the National Air Force transformed from a squadron of six aircraft into a squadron of six aircraft. In the end, some squadrons only had two aircraft left, and they were still flying. The squadron organization is retained.
At the beginning, Sun Xiaozhong's squadron had 24 aircraft. When he was promoted to squadron leader, there were only seven aircraft left in the entire squadron. By the end of the war, there were only four aircraft left, and most of them were shot down. It is difficult for pilots to survive, and the tragedy is evident.
After the war, Sun Xiaozhong was transferred to a civilian position. After being assigned to the pilots in the original squadron, almost no one called him squadron leader.
Han Zili on the other end of the phone was also full of tears. Memory loss is a painless torture for older people. More and more people and things are forgotten by them. When people ask in front of them if they still remember them When he still remembers certain things, Han Zili always feels extremely disappointed, because he really racks his brains and can't remember many people and things, which makes him feel ashamed of many people.
In the past few years, he himself could not remember much about the Anti-Japanese War. Many things were not remembered as much as his son. So when Sun Xiaozhong first said his name, he could not remember the details about it. , but this name seemed to be full of unique meanings in his subconscious. This huge contradiction made him particularly painful.
Fortunately, when Sun Xiaozhong talked about the number of the army back then, the old man's memories of struggling at the bottleneck suddenly came out, and those fragments, those pictures, those people, and those things about those years also poured in like a tide. He knew that the voice on the other end of the phone came from the then squadron leader Sun Xiaozhong, which excited him beyond words.
Han Zili thought he was dreaming. Sun Xiaozhong, the old captain who had disappeared for decades, actually called him. He couldn't help but ask again: "Squadron Captain, is it really you? I am Zili, are you really Is it Sun Xiaozhong?"
"It's me, Zili! I'm Sun Xiaozhong!" Mr. Sun repeated over and over again, then wiped his tears and sighed: "In 50 years, I heard that you went to Taiwan, but their volunteers told me that you were in Sichuan Du, why did you go to Sichuandu?"
Mr. Han also choked up and said: "I also heard people say that you gave up the opportunity to go to Taiwan. I had already arrived in Taiwan at that time. I wanted to send you a telegram to persuade you to come over, but they said that all the regiment headquarters you were in had been evacuated. , I couldn’t contact you by telegram, so I wrote you several letters and sent them to Yun Province but you were not found. At the end of 1949, many pilots who followed us were homesick and longed for New China, so they started to fly planes one after another. After escaping back, I also missed home and wanted to return to my country. I found the right opportunity to escape back at the end of 1949... "
Mr. Sun sighed: "You are really amazing. If it were you, I wouldn't even dare to escape. If I were shot down, I would lose my life!"
Mr. Han wiped away his tears and said: "Old captain, you are amazing. You gave up the opportunity to go to Taiwan for the sake of your wife and children. I was not strong-willed enough and ran away leaving my wife and children. I am so ashamed!"
Mr. Sun comforted him: "I don't blame you. They must have told you at the time that they would take your wife and children over to join your group, right?"
"Yes, they told me at that time that they would pick up my wife and children to meet me after a while. But when I went there, I realized that it was impossible for my wife and children to survive in that situation. Only then did I know that I had been deceived. Now, staying there means that I have to be separated from my wife and children. I don’t know when we will be reunited in what month or year, so how can I bear it? So, old captain, you are still great, and you see much more clearly than me... "
Mr. Sun nodded and suddenly fell silent in front of the phone.
At this time, Mr. Han's son hurriedly whispered a few words into his ear. Li Mu had talked to him on the phone before and needed Mr. Han's help to persuade the old man to go down the mountain.
After a minute or two of silence, Mr. Han said on the other end of the phone: "Old captain, let's meet! I don't know how long I can live. If I can see you again before I die, I will die with no regrets." !”
Mr. Sun said without thinking: "I want to meet, I want to meet. Give me your address and I will go find you!"
"I'm not close to you, old captain!" Mr. Han said: "I heard volunteers say that they will take us old pilots to Spring City for a reunion in a while. Let's just meet in Spring City. We can still survive before we die. Let’s revisit the old place! Maybe we can meet other old comrades!”
Mr. Sun said: "I just heard that Paul Crawford is still alive and will come to China in a while. Do you still remember him?"
"Who is Paul Crawford? Why is his name so long?" Mr. Han's memory was not completely recovered, and he couldn't remember who this person was for a while.
Mr. Sun said: "Have you forgotten? Paul, the American who flew the No. 99 Shark P-40 in the Flying Tigers, once your plane was injured, I worked with him to cover your retreat, and you specially invited him afterward. Let’s drink together.”
Mr. Han was stunned for a moment, then suddenly realized and said: "I remember the person you mentioned! He is still alive!"
Mr. Sun smiled and said: "We are not dead yet, why can't we live?"
Mr. Han also smiled and said: "That's true, but at such an old age, this may really be the last time we meet. Old captain, you must be there then!"
Mr. Sun immediately promised: "Don't worry, I will definitely be there!"
When hearing this, everyone present breathed a sigh of relief.
It seems that for the old man, his health, better living conditions, and the vague hope of family ties cannot prompt him to leave this thatched house, but the established comrades-in-arms play a decisive role.
Liu Xinxin turned around excitedly and wiped his tears quietly. At the same time, he also glanced at Li Mu quietly. No one thought that he would persuade the old man to go down the mountain by helping him find comrades. If Li Mu had not followed, he might have reached a deadlock in the end. , the final result is probably that the old man is still unwilling to go down the mountain, and he can only go back in despair, and then find a way to help the old man find the whereabouts of his relatives, and then use family affection to convince the old man.
While Li Mu breathed a sigh of relief, he suddenly felt a blockage in his heart. He walked to Liu Xinxin and whispered to him: "I'm going out to smoke a cigarette. You, the old man, work harder and try to let him Promise to come with us today."
Liu Xinxin nodded lightly, and Li Mu quietly retreated from the thatched hut. When he came out, he found that dozens of villagers had come to the door. If Chen Chengwu hadn't stopped several soldiers, they would have all rushed out. Come in and watch the fun.
When he walked up to Chen Chengwu, Li Mu took out a cigarette and handed him one, saying, "Want one?"
Chen Chengwu looked at Li Mu in surprise and asked with a smile: "Mr. Li, do you smoke too?"
Li Mu smiled slightly: "Very occasionally, one pack a month."
Chen Chengwu nodded, took out a lighter and wanted to light it for Li Mu first. Li Mu was also very polite and stretched out his right hand to protect the flame. After the smoke was lit, he gently touched the back of his hand and said thank you.
Chen Chengwu was even more surprised. Smokers have rules for smokers. If someone lights a cigarette for you, if you give him face, you must protect the fire out of politeness. But if the other person's status is obviously higher, there is nothing wrong with not protecting the fire. According to Chen Chengwu Come on, with a status like Li Mu, who is infinitely taller than him, he would be so polite. He really didn't expect that, and this further increased his good impression of Li Mu.
Li Mu took a puff of cigarette, and after Xu Xutu came out, he asked him: "Why are so many villagers here?"
Chen Chengwu said: "The old village chief went door-to-door to notify the villagers. They heard that the old man was an anti-Japanese hero and wanted to come and have a look. The soldiers persuaded him and said they were videotaping the old man inside, so they waited outside. "
After speaking, Chen Chengwu asked Li Mu: "Has the old man agreed to come down the mountain?"
Li Mu nodded: "I agreed. It's not easy to persuade him to agree!"
"I heard that." Chen Chengwu said: "Earlier, I said that the old man would not go down the mountain until he died, and just wanted to stay here. How did you persuade him? Tell me?"
"Hey, it's hard to describe in words." Li Mu said, "The photographer took the picture. I'll show it to you when I go back. I'm afraid you'll cry after watching it."
Chen Chengwu said: "I shed tears just now when the old man saluted us. I feel very uncomfortable when I think of the old heroes who flew planes in the sky and fought fiercely with the Japanese devils now living like this."
Having said this, Chen Chengwu looked at Li Mu and said seriously: "Mr. Li, what you have done is of great significance. The history of these veterans must be remembered by the world..."
Li Mu said: "My biggest wish is to enable the whole society to pay attention to the lives of these veterans in their later years. They not only need our material help, but also need our adequate spiritual recognition. The elderly have done Such great things, but they keep everything in their stomachs. If they pass away, these true and great stories can only go away with them. That feeling is really sad."
"You're right!" Chen Chengwu nodded repeatedly, and then asked: "By the way, can the old man follow us today?"
Li Mu said: "I'm letting Xinxin continue the work to see if we can convince the old man to come with us today. It shouldn't be a big problem."
Chen Chengwu said: "Even a helicopter can't land in this damn place. I'm afraid the old man will suffer a lot if he comes out with us. Our soldiers prepared a folding stretcher when we came. Let's take turns carrying him out of the mountain."
Li Mu said, "Thank you for your hard work. If we can get out before dark today, we will rest in the town for one night. Then I will ask Xinyin to contact an ambulance from Yun Province and take the old man directly to the hospital tomorrow morning."
Chen Chengwu said hurriedly: "No, go to our military sanatorium, which is next to the military hospital. Xinxiang has communicated with us before. What the chief means is that as long as they are veterans within the coverage of the Yun Province Military Region, they can Send them to military hospitals and nursing homes, and all expenses will be borne by the military region! This is what we should do!"
(End of chapter)