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Chapter 3 Unforgettable friendship in the garrison

Although some things have become history, they are deeply engraved in the mind for a long time. As a middle-aged person, whenever he has free time, he likes to reminisce about the road he has traveled and the things he has passed through. On the eve of the "August 1st" Army Day, he loves to look back on the day and night with his comrades in a certain unit in the Beijing Garrison, helping and learning from each other. , Unity and friendship for more than seven years of military career. At that time, comrades from all corners of the country carried out various learning activities in this university of the PLA, and forged an unforgettable comrade-in-arms complex through mutual help and mutual learning.

study politics.The biggest feature at that time was the study of Chairman Mao's works. In addition to the unshakable one-person reading and everyone listening to group learning, there was also the persistent individual learning of writing experience.In addition to observing the reading notes at the duty point of the squad, the good ones will also be exhibited in the company headquarters (the small red building located in the southeast corner of Tiananmen Square, which was demolished when the Chairman Mao Memorial Hall was built), and the reading experience will be introduced regularly.My first squad leader was from Shandong, named Sun Sheng. He was not well-educated, but he was very simple and honest.Not only did he care about my daily life like an older brother, but he also went somewhere and made me a beautiful Mao Zedong anthology box with shiny red paint.This made me, a new soldier, deeply moved. I still keep this hair selection box to this day, and it has become an eternal treasure to link the friendship of comrades-in-arms.In order to do a good job of studying, I also went to Wangfujing Bookstore to buy Marxist-Leninist books such as "Communist Manifesto", "Criticism of the Gotha Program", "Leftist Infantile Diseases in the Communist Movement", so that I can understand Marx, Lenin, and Mao Zedong in their treatment of some people. I have a preliminary understanding of the positions, viewpoints, and methods of major issues, and I also have a certain understanding of the history of the Chinese Communist Party and the history of the international communist movement, especially Bakunin's anarchism and the Bernstein and Kautsky revisions of the Second International. I also have a certain understanding of the nature of teachers who are anti-foreign, such as Doctrine.With the help of veteran comrades, as the theoretical level gradually improved, I participated in the theoretical study and tutoring class of the company.I remember that maybe two comrades from the PLA Pictorial Agency invited me and two other comrades in the counseling group to the first floor of the Revolutionary Museum to take photos criticizing Lin Biao’s anti-Party clique’s speech through the glass with Tian’anmen as the background. Completed, I don't know if it will be published in the end.At that time, we all participated in the "Criticism and Rectification Movement" with simple class feelings.While being responsible for theoretical counseling, I was also invited to serve as an out-of-school counselor for six primary and secondary schools including Beijing Dongying Primary School, Fahuasi Primary School, and Jingshan Middle School, and also served as a holiday counselor for students in the Youth League Family Academy located on the west side of the Great Hall of the People. Party members, teach students some revolutionary tradition lessons and participate in some off-campus activities together.

Learn military affairs.The main task of the army is to be on duty.So studying the military is to serve the security work.There are mainly three kinds of content to learn: the first is how to set up the protocol post, fixed post, mobile post, high-altitude lookout post, plainclothes post, welcome and send foreign heads of state post and other temporary guard posts to protect the head of the central government.To stand well in these different types of sentry positions, you must first practice your military posture.Therefore, practicing queues, walking forward, and practicing the appearance of standing like a pine on duty have become the main subjects.Practicing goose steps made my legs sore and hard to go to bed.In the midsummer of the scorching sun, standing at attention for two hours without moving a muscle, the sweat soaked through the clothes and flowed down the trousers into the shoes.In the cold winter, the puppet-style standing method of "two upright and one retracted" makes the fingers that are closed together feel numb from the cold.After repeated practice by the officers and soldiers and the soldiers and soldiers, we new fighters basically got used to the posts.But sometimes there are surprises. One day in the midsummer of 1971, a soldier from Henan who had just joined the army that year and I was on duty at a protocol post. A foreign leader staying at the hotel was having talks with our leaders in the Great Hall of the People.Because the post was wearing a relatively high-grade woolen military uniform, high-waisted black leather shoes, wearing a belt, and holding an automatic rifle in his hand, he was exposed to the scorching sun for two hours in a standing posture. When it was almost time to change the guard, he couldn't hold on anymore. At this moment, the staff of the Great Hall called and said that the meeting was over and the foreign guests would return to the hotel soon.By convention, the whistle is not changed when foreign leaders enter and leave the hotel. Because there are six people on and off the whistle when changing the whistle, they are afraid of affecting the entry and exit of vehicles.When the foreign guest convoy returned to the hotel, the soldier couldn't hold on any longer, and fainted straight on the sentry post.The comrades immediately carried him under the electric fan to blow air, and wiped it with a cool towel before he woke up.The second is to practice shooting and assassination.The guard forces in the garrison area are quite special. They generally live and eat in the institutions they guard, and do not have their own barracks or training grounds.Even our military training is usually concentrated in the courtyard of the History Museum or on the sidewalk east of Tiananmen Square.Shooting is my forte. I shoot targets at the western suburbs shooting range several times a year. My hand and rifle shooting are excellent.During live ammunition shooting and live grenade throwing, the company cadres came to the front line in person to give specific guidance and be careful not to cause accidents.Once when shooting a target, a new soldier from Sichuan failed to buckle the trigger of his pistol in place. Others fired the bullets according to the password, but his gun did not go off. In a panic, he raised his pistol and asked the company commander who was directing the shooting behind him what to do.The company commander was shocked and ordered him to turn the gun. After he calmed down, he carefully taught him the shooting instructions, so that the new soldier completed the shooting task.The relationship between officers and soldiers is evident.Assassination training is also a very hard thing.Sometimes the two tigers' mouths are bleeding.I remember that the assassination model in the garrison was a soldier of our division who joined the army in 1971 and won the second place in the whole army competition. I forgot his name. He can assassinate more than 1,100 guns in a row, and his movements are standard.The third type is to practice catching the enemy boxing.This is a kind of martial art that guard soldiers must learn.From recruits to the army until they are discharged, they have to learn over and over again.Since each movement requires fierceness, precision, and ruthlessness, every training, although the veterans are not afraid of beatings and demonstrate the movements first, the new recruits have to suffer a lot of flesh and blood every time they learn a movement.I remember that at the beginning of 1973, not long after I became the squad leader, our regiment practiced Zhangdiquan in the concentrated rotation training class of Beijing University of Political Science and Law (at that time, most of the students of the college went to the mountains and countryside, and only a few teachers and students stayed behind).I fell on the road covered with slag, and the slag tip hurt my whole body, and my arms were red and swollen from the fall, and I couldn't hold the chopsticks with my hands when eating.A cadre from the secret service company was our instructor, and the training was very strict. After the training, he would fetch water for us, apply medicine for comrades who were slightly injured, tell stories to amuse everyone, and rush forward and backward, making the blunt training full of fun.The skillful skills of capturing the enemy enabled many soldiers to show their talents on duty and subdued many criminals.

Learn news.I remember that when I first joined the company, there were six high school students in my new soldier company. At that time, the army attached great importance to news reports, and concentrated the six of us to learn to write manuscripts.Comrades are not afraid of hardships, and stay up late at night thinking hard to write manuscripts.However, due to the lack of solid basic skills as a beginner, the manuscripts I wrote were sent to the newspaper office like a stone sinking into the sea.As the saying goes: Failure is the mother of success.While each manuscript was "shot" by the editors of various newspaper offices, it also received tireless and enthusiastic guidance from the editors.In retrospect, I still remember the enthusiastic guidance and help of the editors of "People's Daily", "Liberation Army Daily", "Beijing Daily", and "Guangming Daily".

After tempering, the army leaders saw that I looked like a piece of writing material, so they let me participate in the news report training courses held at the battalion, regiment, and division levels.While listening to professional news officers from the army give lectures, the training class also invited famous writer Haoran and famous editors and reporters from major newspapers to give lectures, which enabled me to gradually master some writing skills.Hard work pays off. Since 1973, I have published articles in "Beijing Daily", "People's Daily", "People's Literature" and other newspapers.At that time, apart from our regiment, the most commended unit was the divisional honor guard battalion (that is, the army, sea and air force guard of honor who went to the airport to accept the inspection of foreign heads of state).In addition to the army attaching great importance to news work, the news unit also cares and supports the correspondents, constantly sending some internal materials and key reminders of reports in different periods, and some even let them participate in some exhibitions, sports competitions, and cultural performances.Around 1977, "People's Literature" sent me an invitation to participate in a cultural evening commemorating the 20th anniversary of the publication of Chairman Mao's poem "Butterfly Love Flower Reply to Li Shuyi" held at the Tianqiao Theater.In addition to performing a variety of cultural programs, Comrade Li Shuyi, who was just hired as a librarian of the Central Research Institute of Literature and History at that time, was also invited to recite Chairman Mao's "Butterfly Love Flower" in strong Changsha dialect with the support of the hostess. ·Answer to Li Shuyi" and her "Bodhisattva Man".The famous poet Zang Kejia also wrote an impromptu poem, which probably meant that the polar bear was used as a metaphor to satirize the Soviet Union at that time. He recited it in authentic Shandong dialect, which won warm applause from everyone.

student life.In the daily life of the army, we have mainly learned five things through the help of veterans.One is to pack backpacks, do housekeeping, and mend clothes and bedding.Everyone has a sewing kit, and under the hands-on guidance of the veterans, every hairy boy has learned how to do needlework.Comrades, whoever is sick, we will help him wash his clothes; whoever unpacks and washes the quilt, we will help him sew.The warmth of a big family is reflected everywhere.Especially in the garrison area in 1971, after the whole army first tried on military uniforms made of new fabrics, everyone washed and mended them frequently to prevent any dirt or damage on the clothes, maintaining the good image of the soldiers in the capital.The second is to cook.The main thing is to make dumplings. I learned to roll the skin and make dumplings with the help of veterans after three months in the army.Later, Wang Ze and Zhang Chunwang, comrades-in-arms from Handan in the class, made dumplings quickly and well. Once we ate dumplings, we quickly made dumplings, and went to Zhang Jiaguo, a fellow in Handan who was the monitor of the cooking team, to arrange a cooking pot in advance, so the whole class ate dumplings. Always eat ahead.The third is to plant rice seedlings.At that time, the rice fields of the regiment headquarters were in Liangxiang, the rice fields of the company headquarters were in the northern suburbs of Beijing, and the vegetable fields were near Shuangjing, Guangqumen.Although I don't do much of this kind of work, it is quite interesting to learn this kind of southern work as a northerner.The fourth is to talk heart to heart.Heart-to-heart talk was a very effective method of ideological work in the army at that time.The new soldiers love to be homesick and carry their ideological burdens, so the veterans will talk to them, confiding in their hearts, until they get rid of the knots in their thoughts, so that the comrade-in-arms who care about each other is vividly reflected.I benefited from this warm approach to brotherhood when I visited home for the first time in my fifth year in the military without being haunted by homesickness.There was a soldier from Shanxi who was often emotional and "backed the plank" at every turn.In addition to making sick meals for him, many cadres and soldiers talked with him heart-to-heart, and finally he was influenced and happily devoted himself to normal work.The fifth is to go up when there are difficulties.Our company is located around Tiananmen Square, and our daily life has two characteristics: First, the central government leaders and foreign leaders have frequent activities here, with many temporary tasks and heavy duty duties.At this time, everyone will be the first to go to the sentry, and this custom is passed down year after year. In January 1976, when Premier Zhou passed away, condolence activities were held in the Working People's Cultural Palace.I even dispatched some officers and soldiers to perform security duties. At that time, there were only two people in a post, so I arranged for other comrades in the class to go to the normal post, and I went to the most tiring temporary post in the Cultural Palace.Although I was sentry for more than ten hours a day, and I was so tired that I fell seriously ill afterwards, but I was very happy.The second is to participate in appreciation, entertainment and large-scale political activities.Whenever encountering various large-scale party and state activities such as watching various ball games, watching cultural performances, and participating in non-security activities, comrades will take the initiative to pass these good things to others and work at home.When I was a recruit, I went to the Xiannongtan Stadium to watch football, went to the Capital Gymnasium to watch table tennis, went to the Beijing Hotel to watch programs, went to the stadium near Jingshan to watch Mu Tiezhu and others play basketball, and went to the auditorium of the Central People’s Broadcasting Station to watch acrobatics, etc. Many of them were given to me by veterans.Once when I went to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to watch a movie, the old soldiers were scrambling to stand guard for the new soldiers at home and let the new comrades go.I remember that it was a Vietnamese feature film that had not yet been translated into Chinese. The film described the story of two young heroes and heroines admiring each other while fighting in the war against the United States and saving the nation.The film was performed and translated by a young man, and his affectionate dialogue as a man and a woman made everyone laugh out loud.This small incident of watching a movie made me deeply moved by the old soldier's practice of giving up good things to others.This became a benchmark for my life in the army for many years to follow, thus deepening the friendship in the garrison area.

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