Old soldiers receive badge of recognition (2)

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Old soldiers receive badge of recognition (2)

By Zhao Xu (China Daily) 13:11, September 24, 2013

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Growing sympathy

During the past 10 years, a steady push toward historical truth has resulted in growing public awareness and increased sympathy for these neglected and long-suffering soldiers. The issue, first raised at grassroots level, has received an increasing amount of attention from the government.

In July, the Ministry of Civil Affairs decided to incorporate all surviving KMT World War II veterans into the country's social welfare network. Before that, they had been denied access to the system.

Sun Chunlong, founding director of the Longyue Charity Foundation, one of the country's leading advocators of improved welfare for KMT veterans of World War II, described the move as symbolic.

"It's not just about the money, although many of them did live in situations that demanded instant change," the 37-year-old said. "If you have ever met any of these men, you'd know that honor is what they truly, desperately crave. Recognition from the country for which they shed their blood in their youthful years - that's what has mattered for their entire lives, however little time they have left."

As a former newspaper reporter, Sun experienced this heartfelt desire for honor at first hand and found it heartbreaking. "During a reporting assignment in Myanmar, I met a KMT veteran, part of a unit that had been sent into the country's uninhabited tropical forests around 1942 to fight the Japanese and sever their supply lines," Sun said. "He was seriously wounded during one battle and was left behind when the troops retreated. He had stayed there ever since."

Deeply touched, the young reporter offered to help the old man to his hometown in China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, but he refused.

"There can't be anyone left in my family, so don't waste your money," he told Sun. "The one thing I still want from this world is a war medal. Could you please let my country know and bring it to me next time you come?"

In the years that followed, as Sun traveled around China, not as a reporter but as a vociferous champion of his newfound calling, he heard the same request many times. On each occasion, it sliced through his heart like a razor.