He Too Had, Served in the Taiwanese Army

the picture came attached to the papers…

Translated…

Back when I was enlisted in the army here, my father dropped me off to the train stations.  And, on that day, I’d learned, that he too, had served in the army, but, nobody had dropped him off.

It was, 1931, my father was born, in the distant town in Jiangsu, at age six, his father passed away, at age eleven, he’d lost his older brother, lived with his mother, just the two of them.  At age sixteen, he’d gone to Shanghai to become an apprentice, to help with the household economy.  At age ninety, China was taken by the Communists, he’d gone with his boss to Taiwan, to find business opportunities.  And this trip had, changed his life: China became something else entirely.

Based off of what my father told me, in 1955, he was called to serve in the army, it was the second term, and, the new training center was the army center at Chenggongling.  After four months of basic trainings, he was sent to Yeliou, Touchen, and in his final year of service, he was, sent to Kinmen.  He’d only gone to the private schools in his younger years, didn’t have a higher education, but, he had good handwriting skills, and, he’d taken up English for a short while after arriving in Taiwan, and so, although his duties in the army was the cannon guy, his ability was “English”, and worked in the secretarial tasks.

Two years after he was out of the armed services, he’d married mom, had me, my younger sister, my first younger brother, then, eleven years later, my youngest brother, and, the four kids gave him a total of eight grandchildren.  I’d asked dad, what was his mindset in serving in the army?  He said, fighting for China, of course, how else would he get back to see his own mother?  What’s sad was, my grandmother died back in 1975.  After my dad left his home at age sixteen, he’d not gotten the chance, to see his own mother again.

Jiangsu was my father’s hometown, Taiwan is my father’s home.

So, you see the HARDSHIPS those army officers weathered through, with little to no education, they’d still worked hard, provided for their families, and that, is the amazing work of a man.