File photo of Liao Xinggen.

Liao Xinggen, the last surviving Achang veteran of the Chinese Expeditionary Force, died at the age of 92 in his home in Yunlong county, Yunnan province on April 18.

In 1942, more than 3,000 soldiers with the Chinese Expeditionary Force came to the mountain fortresses of the Achang people, an ethnic minority in China’s Yunnan province. Passions kindled by demonstrations against Japanese aggression, many Achang people volunteered to join the army. Liao, one such volunteer, served as a machine gun operator in Myanmar and in western Yunnan. 

After the victory in the Chinese People’s War against Japanese Aggression, Liao became a soldier in the People's Liberation Army. In 1951, Liao retired from the army. 

In January 2013, Cao Xianxiang, a scholar of the Achang ethnic group, went to Liao's hometown and discovered that Liao's family was poverty-stricken. Soon, local authorities and kindhearted people from many different walks of life came to help Liao and his family. With a subsidy of 13,000 yuan from the Yunlong county government and individual donations amounting to 43,494 yuan, Liao was finally able to purchase a new house in October 2013. 

In September 2015, Liao received a commemorative medal on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.