In November 1958, I embarked on a military journey from Shanxian County, Shandong. That year, 1,250 soldiers were recruited in the county, 50 of whom were lucky enough to become tank soldiers and went to Wuhan, while the remaining 1,200 were all assigned to railway soldiers. After assembling in Shanxian County, we started a meaningful hiking journey towards Dangshan Railway Station in Anhui Province. Today, the drive from Shanxian to Dangshan Railway Station in Anhui Province is about 54.4 kilometers, and in those days, we chose roads with less traffic and safer walks. This long trek is undoubtedly a difficult challenge for untrained rural recruits.
Because I was already a member of the Communist Party before I joined the army, I was designated by the cadre who received the troops to serve as the squad leader of the recruits. Under the leadership and guidance of the receiving cadres, I shouldered the responsibility and beckoned everyone to keep in formation, pay attention to safety at all times, and finally arrived at Dangshan Railway Station smoothly. Afterwards, we boarded the stuffy tanker and drove off into the unknown distance. These old-fashioned trains move slowly, with poorly ventilated carriages and loud noises. After a long week, we arrived at the Shandan County Railway Station in Gansu Province.
The recruit company is located in the Shandan Military Horse Farm, which is the largest military horse breeding base in mainland China and even Asia. The terrain here is flat and the barracks are vast. We started three months of hard training in the barracks of the military horse farm. During this time, we completed a magnificent transformation from rural youth to army soldiers.
After the training of the recruit company, we set off by train again, passing through Zhangye from Shandan Station to Qingshui Station. In the early morning, when we stepped off the train, we saw the vast desert and the vast grassland intertwined, and as far as the eye could see, there was no human figure or village at all. The car drove through this vast land for most of the day, and at about 3 p.m., we finally arrived at the company station. As soon as the recruit's car stopped, a cadre blew the whistle, and the veterans of the company came out of the pit one after another. When we looked closer, we were surprised to see that the pits were dug very deep, with steel rails and turf. From a distance, it is completely integrated with the grassland, and if you don't see it with your own eyes, you can't even notice that there are people living below.
There were more than 40 recruits assigned to the 47th regiment and one company in Shanxian County. The cadres who divided the troops read out the list of who will be in how many shifts, and who will be in how many shifts...... I was fortunate enough to be assigned to the fifth squad, and because I was the squad leader of the recruit company, I was directly announced as the deputy squad leader of the fifth squad.
Although the time I lived here was not long, it left me with memories that will last a lifetime. Most of the railway lines undertaken by our troops are meandering in the Gobi Desert, which is arid and rainless, deserted, and extremely inhumane. In the face of harsh natural environments such as wind and sand, lack of drinking water, and severe cold of more than minus 20 degrees, the cadres and soldiers have never cried out bitterly or tired. They insisted on working in two shifts a day, went all out to rush to prepare materials, and did everything possible to complete the tasks assigned by their superiors, fully displaying a high degree of revolutionary heroism and revolutionary optimism.
Later, I learned that the Qingshui Station where we got off was once an ancient castle in history, located more than 70 kilometers southeast of Jiuquan City in the west of the Hexi Corridor, and was one of the important post stations on the ancient silk road, and it was also a choke point that the rulers of the past dynasties attached great importance to. However, with the change of times, the castle has changed from prosperity to decline. Although Qingshui Station is only a small station on the Lanxin Railway Line, it has been recorded in the history of China's railway construction because it is the starting point of the Qinglu branch line, the only national defense engineering railway in the mainland. It was not until the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Base was announced to the world that people suddenly realized that this was the gateway to the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Base.
It is also because the Qinglu Railway Line was independently completed by the 10th Division of the Railway Corps, that the railway army road builders have made outstanding contributions to the motherland's aerospace industry, and have also won supreme glory and pride for the railway soldiers.
Our group of new recruits who have just arrived at the company are facing a severe test in a difficult environment. However, with the education and guidance of the cadres and the enthusiastic help of the veterans, we overcame many difficulties, actively participated in the construction, and contributed our own strength to the completion of the final tasks of the Qinglu Railway.
On July 1, 2023, the list of the first batch of Dongfeng people was engraved on the "Dongfeng Famous Wall" completed in the Dongfeng Revolutionary Martyrs Cemetery at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. There are not only personnel engaged in scientific research and security work, but also officers and soldiers of the 10th Railway Division who participated in road construction projects. Among them, the names of 8 comrades-in-arms, including Wang Zhengwan, Hu Xitian, Yu Qingyue, Wang Yuezhou, Wang Guang, Zeng Guangji, Liu Hongjiang, and Sun Peizeng, of the 1st Company of the 47th Regiment were also honored on the Wall of Fame.
I am very proud to be a railway soldier, and I am extremely honored to be able to participate in the construction of the Qinglu Railway. Those years of hard work and ambition will always be engraved in my heart.
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