黃廷鑫：“諾曼底”戰役幸存者

離西湖不到500米的杭州市中醫院，喧鬧中帶著幾分幽靜。7月30日下午，筆者來到這里拜訪了祖國大陸至今唯一健在的第二次世界大戰中諾曼底戰役的幸存者、88歲的黃廷鑫老人。

那天當我踏進病房時，正好一位美國的女記者也在采訪他，他坐在椅子上，用流利的英語與女記者敘述往事。

這是一位具有傳奇色彩的老兵，不久前還獲得法國頒發的最高榮譽勛章——“榮譽勛位騎士勛章”。

諾曼底戰役的親歷者

1944年6月6日，第二次世界大戰中聞名于世的“諾曼底登陸”爆發。眼前這位鶴發童顏的老人，是當年這場著名戰爭的親身經歷者。當62年光陰彈指過去后，滿頭華發的黃廷鑫因帕金森綜合征長期在杭州臥床休養。病中的黃廷鑫不甘時光白白流逝，堅持每天口述自己二戰時期在歐洲戰場的親身經歷，讓兒子黃山松為其記錄整理。他說：“記住諾曼底，是為了記住殘酷的戰爭；記錄歷史，是為了永遠的和平。”

1937年黃廷鑫19歲，他從老家安徽高中畢業后考取青島海軍學校，4年后當他在海軍學校將要畢業之時，中國的海軍軍艦在抗擊日本的戰爭中已經損失殆盡。無奈之下，黃廷鑫轉而進入成都陸軍學校，成了黃埔第17期學員。

1942年，黃廷鑫和其他23位中國海軍軍官通過考試，踏上了去英國學習和參戰的征程。

1943年10月，中國軍官們抵達倫敦格林尼治皇家海軍學院，在完成第一階段海軍科目學習后，1944年3月他們被派往各個戰區現役大型軍艦上實習和參戰。

黃廷鑫登上的“搜索者”號是一艘由美國制造、一萬噸級、能載25架飛機的輕型航空母艦，主要執行護航任務。在“搜索者”號上，黃廷鑫擔任副值更官。“我主要負責觀測航母在海上的角度和在編隊中的位置，這可不是一個輕松的差事。”老人回憶說，“航母必須根據風向、水流來決定航行的狀態，從而保證飛機順利起降。同時，航空母艦在航行時，值更官要時刻監視飛機換班、在天空飛行是否有異常等情況。”

1944年6月5日晚，“搜索者”號停泊在貝爾法斯特。午夜時分不知為什么突然悄悄駛出軍港，繞到英吉利海峽由北往南游弋。沒有特殊情況航母不會在午夜出港，然而究竟為了什么黃廷鑫和許多戰士都不知情。

直到6月6日早上7時大家在艦上餐廳用餐時，聽到英國BBC電臺發布的新聞，得知盟軍已經在諾曼底登陸，大家這才明白“搜索者”夜晚出行的原因。聽到這個消息大家十分高興，但很快又開始擔心起來：盟軍部隊在諾曼底能站得住腳么？類似敦刻爾克的大撤退是否還會重演呢？

幾天后，盟軍繼續向縱深推進的消息陸續傳來，黃廷鑫所在的“搜索者”號也積極配合戰役完成海上護航和反潛任務。接著，1944年10月黃廷鑫所在的“搜索者”號又參加了盟軍在法國南部土倫港附近的登陸作戰。

難忘教英語的日子

1948年黃廷鑫回到中國，在南京國民黨海軍司令部作戰處任職。

在國民黨撤退臺灣時他選擇了留在內地，并參加了中國人民海軍。解放后他先后任護航艦“武昌號”副艦長、華東軍區海軍槍炮業務長、大連海軍學院教員。

1958年，黃廷鑫轉業到浙江化工學院（現浙江工業大學），因為他曾留學英國，能說一口流利的英語，所以在化工學院教起了英語，1965年又轉到浙江紡織專科學校（現浙江理工大學）教英語，離休后在學校圖書館工作。說起那段經歷黃廷鑫非常謙虛，他說：“我不是一個稱職的英語老師。”

黃廷鑫的兒子黃山松告訴筆者，他父親一生為人低調，在黃山松小的時候父親一直都沒提起過曾參加諾曼底戰役的事，直到二戰勝利50周年的時候，在一個又一個媒體來采訪后才揚了名。

此次黃廷鑫決意口述自己的經歷并由兒子負責整理，主要是考慮到自己年事已高，想在有生之年記錄下一個普通中國人在歐洲戰場上的所見所聞，并借此表達戰爭對人類社會的破壞、和平生活的來之不易。

88歲獲法國最高榮譽勛章

2006年7月5日上午，法國駐上海總領事館總領事約翰來到杭州，代表法國政府向88歲的中國老人黃廷鑫頒發了一枚“榮譽勛位騎士勛章”。這是法國最高級別的榮譽勛章。

總領事約翰說，法國政府最近才了解到有24位中國人參加過諾曼底登陸這一事實，于是便在中國尋找健在人士，最后終于找到了參戰的在中國大陸唯一的幸存者黃廷鑫。他說，這枚勛章代表了法國對黃廷鑫的感激和謝意，法國感謝黃廷鑫參加了世界上最重大的軍事行動之一——諾曼底登陸。法國永遠忘不了1944年6月6日，法國也忘不了幫助我們從納粹的兇蠻中解救了祖國和疆土的人們！

那天，黃廷鑫非常激動，穿著一件白色襯衫，還特地系了一條細格子領帶坐在輪椅上接受了勛章，他說：“此時此刻，我想起了與我同時在戰場作戰的23位同學，可惜他們都作古了。作為一個中國人，這一榮譽不僅屬于我，也屬于他們。”“榮譽勛位騎士勛章”設立于1801年，設立者為拿破侖。在法國所有勛章中，“榮譽勛位騎士勛章”是級別最高的。起初只授予在戰役中有突出戰績的人，后來逐漸擴展到在科技、藝術、文化等領域有突出貢獻的民間人士，約有100名中國人獲得過這種勛章。

總領事約翰說，黃廷鑫先生和他的同胞們作為中國人參加為保衛法國國土而戰的軍事行動，抵抗納粹的侵略，意義非常深刻，這不僅再次證實法中兩國深厚友誼具有很深的歷史淵源，其更深層意義在于博愛——1944年，在法國最困難的時刻，中國與法國并肩站在一起，法國不會忘記。

如今，黃廷鑫的大兒子已經做了外公，最小的兒子黃山松的女兒也已經念大學了。他們三兄弟經常輪換著到醫院陪父親，84歲的妻子也天天在醫院陪護著黃廷鑫，一家人浸沉在天倫之樂中。

（本文供圖：黃山松）

A Chinese Survivor of Normandy

By Lao Guoqiang

I paid a visit to Huang Tingxin at the Hangzhou TCM Hospital on the afternoon of July 30， 2006. I stepped into the ward only to find that Huang was chatting with an American woman journalist. The 88-year-old veteran， the only remaining survivor in China of the 24 Chinese navy officers who had taken part in the battle of Normandy， sat in a chair， speaking English fluently.

I sized up the war hero. He looked good and healthy at first sight， though he was receiving medical treatment for Parkinsonism in the hospital. Like a soldier with a brave heart， he still keeps fighting for peace in his own way: he reminisces about his war experience. He notes， We need to keep Normandy in mind because we don't want to forget the atrocities of the war. Keeping history in mind is striving unremittingly for peace.His youngest son Huang Shansong records and sorts out the old man's memories.

A native of the neighboring Anhui Province， Huang entered a navy college in Qingdao at 19 in 1937. Upon his graduation four years later， the qualified navy officer did not have a ship to work， for the Chinese navy had lost all the warships in the war. So he entered an army academy in Chengdu. In 1942， Huang and other 23 Chinese navy officers passed a test and went to study in Britain in 1942. After a long journey， they arrived at the Royal Navy College located in Greenwich， Britain in October of 1943. After a brief period of orientation， the Chinese officers were posted to fleets in different war theaters for internship in March， 1944.

Huang was assigned to the British aircraft carrier HMS Searcher as a deputy observation officer in charge of monitoring the navigating angle of the carrier and helping maintain its position in the fleet formation. At the midnight of June 5， 1944， the Searcher sailed south from Belfast. The crew on the carrier was puzzled by the mysterious mission. They learned about the Operation Overlord on BBC at 7 o’clock on the morning of June 6th. In the following days， the carrier conducted the escort and anti-submarine activities. In October 1944， the Searcher took part in the landing of the allied forces at Toulon in southern France.

Huang returned to China in 1948 and worked at the navy headquarters. When the nationalist Kuomintang retrieved to Taiwan， Huang chose to stay on the mainland. After the liberation， he worked as a deputy captain， an ordinance officer at the East China Military Region and later an instructor at the Dalian Navy College. In 1958， he was discharged from the navy and came to work as an English teacher at the Zhejiang Chemical College (Today’s Zhejiang Engineering University) and later at Zhejiang Textile College (Today’s Zhejiang University of Science and Technology).

Huang Shansong comments that his father had kept a low-profile about his war experiences before and that in those years he never mentioned to the family that he had taken part in the battle of Normandy. It was after the 50th anniversary of the triumph of World War II that the media discovered the old veteran and the war hero began to talk about his past.

On July 5， 2006， Jean-Marin Schuh， French consul general in Shanghai， presented Legion d’Honneur to Huang in Hangzhou on behalf of the French Government. That day， Huang was excited. He sat in the wheelchair， sporting a white shirt and a tie with small plaid pattern for the occasion. The consul general observed that the French government had learned that 20-some Chinese participated in the Normandy landing only in years and had been trying to locate them all and that now France finally came to know Huang is the remaining survivor of the 23 heroic Chinese. The consul general said that France was grateful forever to the Chinese who fought side to side with the French resistance against the Nazi. He also explained that the honor was first awarded to accomplished soldiers only， but now non-military people are also qualified for their extraordinary achievements. About 100 Chinese have been awarded the honor so far.

Today， Huang Tingxin is a happy great grandfather. His youngest son’s daughter is in college now. Three sons take turns to accompany their father in the hospital. The 84-year-old wife stays with her husband everyday.

(Translated by David)