CCTV News from Changchun, September 29 (Reporter Shu Zhen) Martyrs’ Day is approaching. Pines and cypresses stand tall at the Martyrs Cemetery in Qingshi Town, Ji’an City.
An old man bent over and gently wiped the ashes on the tombstone with a towel. The sunlight passed through the treetops, fell on the tombstone, and also fell on his gray hair.
His name is Gao Fuyou, and he is 71 years old. He has done this action for most of his life.
Gao Fuyou pays homage at the Martyrs Cemetery (Photo by Chen Linzhi published by CCTV)
A word of advice, three generations of people take over.
In 1946, the battle of Xinkailing in Liaoning began. Five seriously injured people walked from Huanren along the river to Gumaling Village, Dalu Town, Ji’an City. The oldest among them is only 27 years old, and the youngest is only 18 years old.
Gao Fuyou’s grandfather was already old at the time and had a tight life, but he still took the five young soldiers home with injuries. The 18-year-old soldier endured the severe pain and said, “Uncle, I miss my mother. Can you help me find her?”
But Gumaling Village is located in a large ravine and has limited conditions. In the end, Grandpa Gao was unable to fulfill the little soldier’s dying wish. This unfinished wish has become the lifelong mission of the descendants of the Gao family.
On the Tomb Sweeping Day in 1968, Grandpa Gao took 14-year-old Gao Fuyou to the tombs of the martyrs in the back mountain and told him: “Son, I built these five tombs, and we must take good care of them. When you grow up, you will join the army and go out to help these martyrs find their families.”
From that day on, Gao Fuyou started guarding the tomb.
To guard the tomb is to guard the heart.
In 1976, Gao Fuyou honorably enlisted in the army and served as a soldier in Liaoning and Inner Mongolia. During his service, he contacted relevant departments many times to look for relatives of martyrs, but due to the age, there was no result.
After returning home from the army in 1982, Gao Fuyou carried the faith of a soldier and the respect for the martyrs. No matter it was windy or rainy, he would fill the graves with soil, weed and clean them. He would clean up fallen branches from trees and traces left by livestock as soon as possible.
Someone asked him why he was so persistent. Gao Fuyou said: “As a human being, we must not forget our roots. Guarding the graves of heroes and taking over the revolutionary ranks is more honorable than making money.”
Gao Fuyou, the guardian of the mausoleum, looks up to the heroes, protects the loyal souls and inherits the red memory (Photo by Chen Linzhi published by CCTV)
From the back mountain to the cemetery, Gao Fuyou put his roots down here.
In 2013, five martyrs’ tombs were moved from the back hill of Gao Fuyoujia to the Martyrs’ Cemetery in Qingshi Town, Ji’an City, and were merged with other martyrs’ tombs.
On the day the cemetery was moved, did Gao Fu go to the site? “I’m afraid to be there. These five martyrs have become my family, a promise I have kept throughout my life.”
When he first visited the cemetery, Gao Fu immediately recognized the five tombs of the unknown soldiers that he had guarded for many years.
From then on, Gao Fuyou had to trek dozens of miles of mountain roads every time he performed sacrifices. With a meager income, he spent tens of thousands of yuan at his own expense from 2013 to 2018, carrying bricks up the mountain from the foot of the mountain, and building a nearly kilometer-long and two-meter-high fence piece by piece. The cemetery was bare, so he carried the soil up the mountain, planted trees and placed flower pots. He has explained the martyrs’ stories to visitors tens of thousands of times, touching and shocking countless people.
It was a long journey to find his relatives, so he set out with his grandfather’s wish.
Gao Fuyou has always been unable to let go of the fact that he could not find the relatives of the martyrs. In 2018, he, who had never traveled far, started looking for his family alone. He went to Shandong, Hunan, Sichuan and other places successively. Although he could not find the relatives of the martyrs, he still registered with the martyrs cemetery management departments, charity federations and other institutions in various places, and donated a total of 17,000 yuan.
Gao Fuyou told the staff to help search for it. If he couldn’t find it, the money would be donated to the local cemetery. “It can also be considered as helping my grandfather fulfill his wish.”
“The martyrs here gave their precious lives for the liberation of the motherland and were buried in a foreign land. I just want to protect this cemetery during my lifetime and give them a clean and peaceful resting environment. I cannot let these martyrs be too lonely.” Gao Fuyou said.
In his seventies, he became the official tomb keeper.
In 2022, Gao Fuyou, who is nearly seventy years old, took the initiative to take care of the martyrs’ cemetery and became an official tombkeeper.
Today, the Martyrs Cemetery is neat and solemn, with tall pines and neatly arranged tombstones, looking solemn and solemn under the shade of pines and cypresses.
Gao Fuyou wipes the tombstone (Photo by Chen Lingzhi published by CCTV)
“Without these martyrs, there would be no New China today. They dedicated their youth and lives for the motherland and the people, so we should take good care of them.” Gao Fuyou said, “Not only must we guard the martyrs’ cemetery, but we must also pass on this glorious mission from generation to generation like my grandfather did.”
Memorial Day is coming. Gao Fuyou went to the cemetery again. As usual, he picked up the towel and wiped the tombstone one by one.
The sun shines through the pines and cypresses on the monument. Some of those names are clear, and some are blurred. But he remembered that under every monument, there lay a hero who defended with his life.
“As a man, you must never forget your roots.” This is the instruction Gao Fuyou received from his grandfather when he was 14 years old, and it is also a promise he has kept for more than fifty years.
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