 He was senior military officer in the North China (or 5th) Field Army, a veteran of the Korean War and commander in China during the Sino–Vietnamese War.Yang Dezhi was a native of Nanyangqiao in Liling County, Hunan Province, the son of a blacksmith.He worked as a miner at Anyuan Coal Mine near Pingxiang at the age of 16 (1926) and may have heard Mao Zedong speak during the 1927 strike organization efforts.