Mother in tears as peacekeeper’s body flown home
Print Edition
THE body of Chinese UN peacekeeping soldier Shen Liangliang, killed in a terrorist attack in Mali last month, arrived in northeast China’s Changchun City yesterday.
A Chinese air force plane carrying his body touched down at 3pm at Longjia Airport in the city, where Shen had served in the army for 11 years.
China’s Central Military Commission sent the plane to
Bamako, Mali’s capital, on Wednesday to bring him home.
The 29-year-old sergeant first class was killed in a terrorist attack on the night of May 31 in the northern Malian town of Gao, when a vehicle with an improvised explosive device detonated at a UN camp. Another five Chinese peacekeepers were injured.
Shen’s coffin was carried out of the plane by eight honor guards. Another honor guard walked in front, holding Shen’s portrait. To music provided by a military band, the honor guards slowly put Shen’s coffin on a white platform, and two soldiers laid a white wreath on it.
Shen’s mother Yang Qiuhua, who was too upset to stand, was in tears as she sat among high-ranking officers, with Shen’s father Shen Tianguo standing beside her.
About 500 officers, civilian officials and soldiers at the airport took off their caps, and bowed three times in respect.
“Shen’s sacrifice showed the heroic spirit and bravery of Chinese soldiers,” Yi Xiaoguang, deputy chief of the CMC’s joint staff department, said at a simple ceremony at the airport.
“Peace-loving people around the world will never forget, the motherland and Chinese people will never forget, the whole army will never forget,” Yi said, calling on all servicemen to contribute to safeguarding national sovereignty and world peace.
A soldier handed over Shen’s portrait to Shen Mingming, his elder brother, and the honor guards again lifted the coffin into a waiting hearse.
Shen will be buried in his hometown in central China’s Henan Province.
Yang Zhancheng, one of the five Chinese soldiers injured in the deadly attack, was also brought back to China for further medical treatment aboard the CMC plane.
Shen was the youngest of three children. He delighted his parents during the recent Spring Festival holiday when he brought his girlfriend home. His mother dreamed of seeing her youngest son get married and of having a grandchild.
That was until she learned of the attack in the news and feared the worst when Shen did not reply to a message she sent to his phone.
The attack came just 11 days after Shen arrived in the mission region as a member of the fourth batch of Chinese peacekeepers in Mali. He had applied for the mission three times.
“I want to voice appreciation for my squad leader, but I cannot do it now,” said Qiao Zhi, a soldier in the 16th Corps of the People’s Liberation Army, where Shen served. “He helped me overcome many difficulties when I was just enlisted and integrate into the army.”
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