CHONGQING, Nov.4 -- Jiang Yinsheng, the last remaining member of Nanyang Volunteers, passed away at the age of 96 in Yongchuan District of Chongqing City in China on October 29.
The Nanyang Volunteers was a special group formed during the Chinese People's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression. In 1937 when the war broke out in full swing, the Japanese army blocked the coastal traffic channels, and the Yunnan-Burma Highway became the lifeline in wartime for China. In 1939, some 3,200 overseas Chinese drivers and mechanics living in Southeast Asian countries, rallied by famous business pioneer and philanthropist Tan Kah Kee, established the wartime overseas Chinese mechanics volunteer group known as the Nanyang Volunteers for short.
Jiang Yinsheng was an overseas Chinese born in Calcutta, India, in 1927, with ancestral home in Guangdong. He signed up for the volunteer group and returned to China in the ninth batch, becoming one of the over 3200 Nanyang Volunteers.
From 1939 to 1942, the Nanyang Volunteers transported 500,000 tons of military supplies, more than 15,000 auto vehicles and lots of civilian supplies through the 1146-kilometer Yunnan-Myanmar Road. During that time, more than 1,000 of them lost their lives, equivalent to one member’s life lost per kilometer on average. They had made indelible contributions to the victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War.
After Japan was defeated, Jiang Yinsheng did not return to India and joined the Kuomintang’s troops as a driver. In 1946, when his troop joined the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) following a military uprising, Jiang became a service member of the PLA. As the Sichuan-Xizang Highway was opened to traffic, Jiang Yinsheng and his comrades in arms were responsible for transporting materials from Chengdu to Xizang. During his days in the armed forces, he won multiple commendations.
After he left the military, he worked for a transportation company in Chongqing as a coach driver.
In 1979, Jiang Yinsheng joined the Communist Party of China (CPC).
In 2015, as a representative of the Nanyang Volunteers, Jiang Yinsheng was invited to watch on-site a military parade and awarded a medal, in commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression.
