Army Commander General Wang Shin-lung (王信龍) yesterday presided over a ceremony at the Martyrs’ Shrine in Taipei to add the names of five people to the list of those who gave their lives in service of the nation.
According to information provided by the Ministry of National Defense, the highest-ranked officer added to the list was major general Chao Chung-jung (趙仲容), who was born in Shanxi Province in 1905 and fought in the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Chinese Civil War.
In 1949, Chao was ordered to investigate whether general Fu Zuoyi (傅作義), then commander of the army’s anti-communist group in northern China, was planning to defect to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
Chao was arrested in Beijing on June 7, 1949. He was charged with destabilizing the mass movement for refusing to surrender and executed in 1951 at age 46, ministry archives showed.
Chao’s only surviving daughter, Chao An-na (趙安娜), said she began the process of applying for her father’s name to be added at the shrine after immigrating from China to the US in 1997.
Unaware of many of the details of her father’s death due to her young age at the time, Chao An-na said she had to petition the National History Museum and the Presidential Office to provide much of the information required for the application.
Her mother was imprisoned by the CCP for more than 20 years and two of her elder sisters had mental disorders, with another committing suicide during the Cultural Revolution, Chao An-na said.
Chao An-na said that she was moved at seeing her father’s name included in the shrine, adding that she hoped the spirits of her parents would find solace in the act.
She extended special thanks to the Presidential Office, the ministry, the Legislative Yuan and former minister of national defense Feng Shih-kuan (馮世寬), who provided the final authorization to add Chao Chung-jung’s name to the shrine, for their help over the years.
Chao An-na said she believes there are many martyrs whose contribution and service have yet to be recognized, but added that time would be needed to find all the needed proof, as many files have vanished or were destroyed.
The four other officers inducted at the Martyrs’ Shrine yesterday were lieutenant colonel Hsu Chen-yao (徐枕瑤), who died in the Battle of Zhangzhou in 1936 at the age of 35; captain Sun Yu-shan (孫玉珊), who died at age 31 in the defense of Niangziguan during the Battle of Taiyuan in 1937; colonel Pan Wen-chin (潘文欽), who died in the Battle of Changsha in 1944 at the age of 35; and second lieutenant Pi Tao-chou (畢道洲), who died in a battle near the village of Gongguo in Hebei Province at the age of 23.
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