A Pingtan native who served as one of 20 buglers for a grand military parade on Sept 3 recently shared his story and how he made the team in an interview with ptnet.cn.

Gao Yuan, a native of Pingtan and a fifth year student at Fourth Military Medical University, was selected to a bugle team for the Sept national military parade in Beijing. [Photo/ptnet.cn]

Gao Yuan, 21, is in his fifth year at Fourth Military Medical University. A clinical medicine major, he has never lost his love of music and is versatile on many instruments, playing piano, trumpet, clarinet and melodica.

It's no wonder he was thrilled by news earlier this year that the country's authorities would allocate 20 spots for buglers from universities for the Sept 3 parade which marked the 70th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War.

"I was the leader of our university's bugler team, so I certainly had a lot of confidence in making the cut," Gao told the website. "But frankly I was a little nervous before the result came out."

"When I was informed that I would be in the V-Day parade, I felt both excited and relieved. It is such a great honor in my military career."

It was indeed a glorious mission. And Gao kept the secret from his family for months, until he was headed to Beijing in late May.

"When my son disclosed the news to us we all felt proud of him," said Wang Yanzhen, Gao's mother. "Being able to take part in the national military parade was a valuable experience for him and an occasion for him to demonstrate patriotism."

The ultimate honor always comes with plenty of hardship and sometimes suffering.Gao revealed that the physical training was so heavy that even his shoes were soaked in sweat.

The 20 buglers constituted only a small portion of the parade's 1,200-member band. . All the members had to rehearse 30 songs together in every training session. For a bugler, it was a big challenge since he had to hold up the instrument all the time, which requires strength.

"My arms were pretty sore during the first phase of the training. But as time went by I got a lot better and I was finally able to complete my job easily."

After 136 days of training and rehearsal, there came the true test. The music band marched on the street playing perfectly songs that their members had practiced tens of thousands of times.

"We were all so concentrated during the parade. It lasted not too long, because time seems to run faster when you are completely locked in."

Gao says he has two strong memories of the parade: the passing by of the veteran delegation and the armored troops.

"Without the great sacrifice and contribution of the old soldiers we wouldn't have had today's prosperity. And seeing the new weapons rumbling before us was really astounding."

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