Search for deceased veterans' families comforts the living

Taiyuan (CNS) – On March 21, a list of 265 deceased and spouseless Taiwan veterans who once took part in the Anti-Japanese War was sent to organizations devoted to the interests of old soldiers all across China. Civil organizations began to contact volunteers to search the Chinese mainland for the veterans' surviving family members.

Sun Chunlong, chairman of Shenzhen Longyue Charity Fund, sponsored the activity.

Days ago during his journey to Hualien County, Taiwan, Sun saw a cemetery where many veterans were buried. He learnt that the old soldiers drifted to Taiwan from the mainland around 1949, didn't marry because they nursed the hope they would return home someday, and died alone here. Thus, Sun is determined to help make some kind of contact between these lonely souls and their families on the mainland.

Sun also released information on these veterans via microblogging and online media: names, hometowns and dates of birth and death. The post has already been forwarded thousands of times by mainland web users.

The list covers about twenty provinces on the mainland, including the provinces of Shanxi, Fujian, Shandong, Guangdong, Anhui, Hunan, Hubei and Sichuan.

The task is not a simple one, as many things have changed across the time and space, said Wang Jinghui, who volunteered to target Shanxi Province. She said there is a high probability soldiers once changed their names, or the address they registered with has been renamed.

Nevertheless, family members of three veterans who were born in Jiangxi Province were reached and subsequently came to Taiwan.

People feel a debt of gratitude and are devoting much effort to this cause. In their minds, old soldiers should not fade away without a trace.