Source: PEKING REVIEW Vol.1 No.3, March 18, 1958
As we go to press the first groups of the Chinese People’s Volunteers are leaving Korea. A special committee, with representatives from all political parties and public bodies, has been formed to welcome them and prepare the homecoming festivities in the border town of Antung.
Anlung, which overlooks the Yalu River, is in great holiday spirit. Flags and buntings are out and red lanterns and streamers inscribed with warm words of welcome are visible everywhere. A triumphal arch towers above the Yalu River bridge across which the men and officers in the first-stage withdrawal from Korea will be marching home. Home after more than seven years in embattled Korea where, shoulder to shoulder with the valiant Korean people, they fought and beat back the aggressors from across the Pacific to the 38th Parallel, from which the invasion was launched.
Seven years ago, when the Volunteers answered the call to go to Korea, they left their homeland immersed in the task of reconstruction and rehabilitation after decades of misrule. They return to a China which looks much different than when they left, to a strong and confident China well advanced in its socialist transformation. Much of what has been achieved by the people at home is due to the Volunteers, who safeguarded the country and enabled uninterrupted construction in both the economic and cultural fields. For this the entire nation will always be grateful to them.
The Volunteers are great fighters for peace. They return to take their place in the peaceful construction on the home front.
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