Remains of 117 Chinese Soldiers Killed in Korean War Returned
The remains of 117 Chinese soldiers killed in the 1950- 53 Korean War were returned to China on Sunday from South Korea.
Escorted by two Chinese fighter jets, an air force plane carrying the remains and belongings of the fallen soldiers landed at the Taoxian international airport in Shenyang, capital of northeast China’s Liaoning Province.
It is the seventh such repatriation following a handover agreement signed by the two countries.
The remains were casketed in the ROK on Saturday at a ceremony held at a provisional morgue of the 17th army division of South Korea in Incheon, west of the capital Seoul. Personal seals of three martyrs -- Ma Shixian, Lin Shuishi and Ding Zuxi -- were found among the soldiers’ belongings, providing clues to confirm the identities of the heroes and find their relatives.
“Most of them are unknown martyrs. ‘Hero’ is their shared name,” said Li Hanxiang, a veteran who fought in the Korean War, at a ceremony held at the airport to welcome the martyrs home.
“My father was also a martyr, sacrificed in the Korean War. Seeing the remains of these soldiers return is like seeing my father,” said Zhu Jiangbo, who came to the airport early in the morning to welcome the heroes home.
“The motherland and the people will never forget them.” Seventy years ago, the Chinese People’s Volunteers (CPV) crossed the Yalu River and fought alongside the army of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea against the ROK army and U.S.led UN forces, eventually winning the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea in 1953. “Why did we win the war? Because we, brave soldiers fearing no sacrifice, were fighting for justice and peace,” said Wang Liping, an 89-year- old CPV veteran.
A total of 2.9 million CPV soldiers entered the battlefield, and 197,653 of them sacrificed their lives in the war.