ELDERLY veterans Zhuang Shuifa and Lin Yongshou accidently met in the intensive care unit at the Eighth Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University on April 20. The two encouraged each other to fight their diseases, which deeply moved everyone in the ICU.

    Zhuang, who joined the Dongjiang column in 1944, went through the Anti-Japanese Aggression War and the War of Liberation. In 1945, Zhuang’s left eye was hit by shrapnel during the Anti-Japanese Aggression War. Since he didn’t undergo a prompt surgery due to the harsh conditions of the war, his left eye has been blind ever since.

    Due to a lung infection, Zhuang is suffering from Sepsis and went to the hospital April 15. The elderly man and his family are very low-key, said Li Hao, director of the ICU. “For treatment, we needed to understand the situation with his left eye, and then we learned about his glorious history.”

    On the afternoon of April 20, a nurse who was chatting with Zhuang inadvertently said that Lin, who was in bed No. 1 of the ICU, had heart failure due to a lung infection. Zhuang then remembered that Lin was his comrade in the same squad of the Dongjiang column.

    The two beds were pushed together. “As the two met, their eyes suddenly lit up, and they were both very excited, with their hands clasped together,” said a hospital worker named Lin Li.

    “Hold on, Lin Zai, let’s leave the hospital together,” said Zhuang. Lin said very slowly, nodding, “Let’s leave the hospital together.”

    Their families are overjoyed about the reunion of the two elders. “Thanks to the doctors and nurses. If they hadn’t accompanied them and talked to them, they would have been reunited,” said Lin’s son. (Nan Nan)