Surviving soldiers of the 823 Artillery Bombardment yesterday attended the 59th anniversary of the battle in Kinmen, commemorating fallen comrades and stating their resolve to defend the nation in the event of war despite their advanced age.
The Kinmen Defense Command’s public commemoration ceremony was held at Taiwushan Public Cemetery (太武山) and presided over by Deputy Chief of Staff Chen Pao-yu (陳寶餘) and Kinmen County Commissioner Chen Fu-hai (陳福海).
The Kinmen Artillery Battle, widely known under the date that it occurred, was initiated by China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) on Aug 23, 1958, and intermittent shelling continued well into 1979, when the Second Taiwan Strait Crisis ended.
Photo: CNA
Surviving soldiers as well as their family members attended the commemoration.
Chen Chin-ming (陳欽銘), who was a member of the mortar division stationed at the Guningtou 409th Observatory, said his post was at the forefront in the battle and he saw many injured soldiers, but added that the Republic of China Army stationed on the island returned fire and dealt the PLA significant damage.
Chen Chin-ming said he had been scared when the battle first began and wanted to just reload and fire as quickly as possible.
“The more shells we fired, the more enemies we killed, directly contributing to making our country safer,” he added.
According to Chen Chin-ming, he had barely escaped death three times and the closest encounter was when an artillery shell exploded less than 20m from him.
Wars are terrible and should be avoided, he said, before adding: “Should we ever enter a war, we would still volunteer to defend our nation.”
“We may be too old to carry mortar rounds and artillery shells, but we can still hold a gun,” he said.
Lee Yan-tan (李煙潭) said he had narrowly escaped death when the Chinese shelling began.
Then a military police officer posted to the Kinmen Defense Command, Lee said he was making his rounds at about 6pm when he was knocked out after hearing a powerful boom, adding that he had been informed of the battle’s commencement after he woke up.
The sound he heard was an artillery shell dropping behind the pavilion he was patrolling, Lee said.
“I could have been done for,” he said.
Lee said the initial barrage had killed Kinmen Command deputy commanders Chao Chia-hsiang (趙家驤) and Chang Chieh (章傑), while deputy commander Chi Hsing-wen (吉星文) had died from an infected wound three days after the battle.
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