A photo of a child soldier from 70 years ago went viral in China. How is he doing now?

We all know that during World War II, the Sino-Japanese War was the largest battlefield in Asia, but in fact the Japanese army not only extended its claws to China, but also carried out attacks on the surrounding areas of our country, such as Thailand and Myanmar. In order to prevent the Japanese army from occupying Myanmar and other places and forming a siege on our country, there was a huge gap in strength between the Japanese army and the Japanese army in Burma and other places.

In March 1942, our country formed an expeditionary force and entered Myanmar to conduct operations on the Yunnan-Burma Road. The composition of this Far East Army was relatively special, and a large part of it was formed by people who voluntarily participated. , there were some child soldiers among them. Half a century has passed and the war has long ended. However, a photo of child soldiers that has been handed down has exploded on the Internet. What is even more shocking is that the protagonist in the photo is still alive, an 83-year-old The veteran said with tears, "This is me."

In 2014, the United States released a batch of precious photos taken during World War II to commemorate them publicly, except for a few photos that have not been released to the world. Among the photos of the Nanjing Massacre, there is another photo that has attracted great attention in our country. It is of a child soldier. According to the time of shooting, it should be when the expeditionary force went to Burma. The child soldier in the photo is wearing a military uniform that is several times larger than him, with grain bags and water bottles hanging on both sides of his neck. His smile is very simple, but it is extremely contagious.

The innocence of children and the cruelty of war instantly collided and sparked, making people scream when they see the photos. While everyone was giving a thumbs up to the anti-Japanese warriors, an old man from Guizhou shouted out after seeing this photo on a villager’s cell phone that this was him. This attracted the attention of the people around him. Only then did he realize that the doll in the photo was Bing's signature happened to be the same as the veteran's name, Chen Youli.

Chen Youli was born in Guizhou in 1931. His family was very poor. Both his parents passed away when he was 8 years old. He could only go to Bijie to beg on the streets. In addition, there were wars at that time. When he was 11 years old, Chen Youli joined the army. He became a child soldier, but because he was too young to carry a gun and go to the battlefield, he was assigned to the logistics department as a groom, responsible for feeding the army's horses.

The photo was taken on November 23, 1944, when he was 13 years old and had served in the army for two years. He was selected into the expeditionary force to Burma. At that time, the army had just experienced the Battle of Longling. , after the victory, an American correspondent came to the military camp and wrote an interview for them. He took the photo at that time. Because the war was victorious, he smiled very happily.

When he checked the files with the local government and determined that the protagonist in the photo was Chen Youli, a reporter went to interview him. He described to the reporter that he was following a company commander named Lu. , a very good person. He graduated from the military academy and taught him how to read, fight, and ride horses. Together with Captain Lu, he experienced wars in Songshan, Nantianmen and other places. He also described to reporters that his neck was The kettle on top was awarded to him in that war.

When he recalled it, Chen Youli was already very excited. He said that this was the only photo he had left. In 1947, Chen Youli left the Kuomintang army and surrendered to the military camp of our party. He continued to participate in the Huaihai Campaign and the Cross-River Campaign, and achieved many military exploits. In 1956, the army was reorganized, and Chen Youli, who had been away from his hometown for a long time, was assigned to work as a worker in the Zunyi Geological Team. He did not return to his hometown again until 1979. It's just that the old man kept a very low profile after he came back, and never mentioned his history of joining the army to others.