When Cao arrived, Huang was lying under a quilt on a kang (brick-made bed) with only his long white beard showing. The 93-year-old's eyes were bright and gleaming, but he lost the ability to speak several years ago.
Huang's son said his father had often spoken about the difficult wartime conditions.
"In addition to fighting the Japanese army's encirclement and suppression, the NAJUA soldiers also had to fight nature," he said.
"He told me that in summer, the biggest threats were poisonous snakes and insects such as mosquitoes. The moment you realized a snake was hissing toward you was really terrible. In winter they had to walk in snow almost a meter deep, and many soldiers froze to death because they didn't have warm clothes or shoes," he said.
According to Wen, to cut the supply lines, the Japanese mopped up villages with connections with NAJUA, and forced the residents to leave their homes and live in camps. They also created a strip of "No Man's Land" and committed more than 500 massacres.
Baijia Puzi, a village in Tonghua city that was a NAJUA stronghold, was the site of one of the worst atrocities. The Japanese attacked in July 1936, killing 412 villagers. Only three people survived.
Old scars never healed
Nowadays, Liu Zhenyu has just one hobby - watching TV programs about the Japanese occupation, although he once almost destroyed the TV after viewing a scene in which NAJUA soldiers were executed in cold blood.
"I have many scars left by the Japanese," the 90-year-old said, lifting his shirt to display the scars on his abdomen, stomach and back.
For Liu, every scar signals a narrow escape from death, such as the time he was shot in the neck.
"The bullet hit me when I was carrying explosives to bomb a Japanese stronghold," he said. "Our weapons were very poor, and bullets and guns were very precious. All of us had done a lot of bayonet practice," he said, showing a scar on his abdomen incurred during a bayonet fight.
Bai Qingchen, from Miaoling village in Fusong county, clenched his fists in rage as he described witnessing Japanese soldiers cutting the hearts out of dead Chinese troops before decapitating the corpses and hanging the severed heads from the branches of trees.
Bai joined NAJUA at age 18. "My first task was to deliver intelligence to three CPC members outside our town," he said.
The Japanese killed civilians randomly, so villagers avoided places where they might encounter the troops. However, on the day he carried the information, Bai was stopped by a detachment of Japanese soldiers.
"They were 50 meters away, so I quickly hid the intelligence in my left shoe," he said.
"Two Japanese holding guns came forward and asked who I was. The Japanese forced children in Manchukuo to learn their language, so I replied in Japanese and told them I was a student," he said.
Bai was searched, but the soldiers failed to find the messages he was carrying. "I tried to remain calm, but my heart was beating very fast. They told me to report to them if I heard anything about NAJUA. I told them I would, but inside I was smiling and thinking 'I'm the person you've been looking for!'" he said. Using his student cover identity, Bai successfully delivered many messages.
Revenge attacks
However, retribution was the order of the day, according to Wen: "Under the leadership of the CPC, NAJUA killed many Japanese and puppet army soldiers, so the Japanese carried out crazy acts of revenge that caused huge casualties to NAJUA, including several top leaders."
Bai witnessed one of the cruelest acts. "The Japanese killed commander Yang Jingyu in 1940. They put his head in a glass case and ordered four Chinese to parade it around the villages in our county. I couldn't helping crying when I saw his head with its square face and long beard," he said.
By 1940, only about 1,000 NAJUA troops were left, so they were evacuated to the Soviet Union to recover.
"Most of my comrades were killed. Very few survived," Bai said.
"I've outlived all of my former comrades. I have enough food and I sleep in a warm house in winter. I need nothing more," he said.
Cao believes the NAJUA troops were the unsung heroes of China's struggle against Japan, and their memory should be honored accordingly.
"Every time I say goodbye to one of these veterans, I worry that it may be our last meeting. These old men are heroes of our country. Now they are in the autumns of their lives, and they deserve the very best we can provide for them," he said.
