MY CHINA MYSTERY

MISSIONARY GROUPS IN CHINA 1939 TO 1949

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These photos are of groups of missionaries (and some others) in China between 1939 and 1949. Most of them have the inscription my father wrote on the back when sending them home to his family in Australia.

Others have no inscription and I can recognise few of the faces. Any help in identifying these people is very much appreciated. I can be reached by email at

ststephenspctam@internode.on.net

October 1939 - On board “SS Nellore”

Back: Frank White, Geoff Malins, Arthur Gunn, Reg Vines

Centre: Hec Hogarth, Miss James, Harry Gould

Front: Mr & Mrs Simpkin, David & Dorothy

Shanghai 1939 “The Aussies”

L-R Geoff Malins, Harry Gould, Frank White

This is the Australian and New Zealand Party in the grounds of CIM Shanghai.

L-R Frank White, Hec Hogarth, Geoff Malins, Harry Gould, Arthur Gunn

Oldest and youngest Australians - Shanghai 1939

- New Australian and New Zealand Party with the Australian Missionaries longest on the field:

Front Row: Mr and Mrs Joyce, Mrs McFarlane, Mr and Mrs Simpkin with Dorothy and David.

Back Row: Harry Gould, Frank White, Geoff Malins, Arthur Gunn

This is the Boxing Day group [Tali 1939]. I think you will recognize most of them.

Front: Miss De Waard, Mrs Simpkin, David and Miss Fershee sitting. Harry, Mr Simpkin and Dorothy standing

Middle: Bill Pape, Doug Muir, Don Cunningham, Ted Holmes, Hec Hogarth

Back: Arthur, Geoff, Steve Knights, myself, Dave Johnson in front and Frank Muir

Our New Year’s Day Picnic [Tali - 1940]:

Theo and Mrs Simpkin with children in front. Miss De Waard. Miss Fershee engaged to Ted Holmes at back on right hand side.

Frank and Doug Muir (Canada) front left

Steve Knights enjoying a joke and Bill Pape near kettle (left)

Centre Group – Harry at back with Arthur near him. Don Cunningham (Canada) between Hec and Geoff.

I am afraid light is getting into my camera.

This is our official photo [Tali 1940]. We decided to have it taken owing to influx of visitors. Miss De Waard is on her way back to her station after seeing Miss Chang on the road to recovery after typhus.

Mrs. Christianson visited doctor for medical advice. She may have to go to Hong Kong for an operation.

Christiansons are with Mr and Mrs Kuhn at Tribes Land. (Read “Precious Things of the Lasting Hills” by Mrs Kuhn. The soldier in the story was nursed by Miss Kemp in my room here – the operation by Dr Harveson was in Hec’s room.)

BACK ROW L-R: Bill Pape & David Johnson (England) Hec Hogarth (NZ) Steve Knights (England) Arthur Gunn (NZ) and Dad

MIDDLE ROW L-R: Doug Muir and Don Cunningham (Canada) Geoff Malins (Australia) Frank Muir (Canada) Harry Gould (Australia)

FRONT ROW L-R: Miss De Waard (USA) Ted Holmes, Mrs Simpkin and heo with two children, David and Dorothy, Miss Kemp (England) Mrs Christianson (NZ)

This is a snap of the Conference [1940].

Front Row L to R: Geoff Malins (Australia), Sam Jeffrey (Canada) John Lockhart (England)

Middle: L to R: Mrs and Mr Vinden (Superintendent) Bishop Houghton Mr Sinton (Regional Director) Mrs McIntyre (Brisbane)

Back: Cyril Prachett (NZ) Mr Fred and Mrs May Kerry (England) Miss Thoering (USA) Miss Cleveland (USA) Miss McLean (USA) Miss Pommer (USA) Miss Bailey (England) Sylv Lewis (Wales) Bill Picton (Wales)

A DAY OUT FOR THE LANGUAGE SCHOOL Tali 1940

The party just after landing, sitting down for morning prayers. A newly planted rice field in foreground.

The sails are made of straw matting and are very heavy and not much good.

Kwanshien 1940 - Chinese men are the Marshall and his bodyguard (two in uniform) and Rev Chia yu-ming D.D. – Principal of the Bible School on the mountain. You will recognise Geoff and Mr and Mrs Purchas. The other foreigner is Mr Ryding, a Canadian Missionary refugee from Honan.

Mr Ryding took this snap for me. The personnel are the same as in the other snap; only you see my dial over the top of Pastor Chia’s head. The Pastor is a fourth generation Christian.

Geoff and I with our Teacher. If you do not know just what Chinese gowns are like, they are divided on each side above the knee (women’s gowns – below the knee), and are very comfortable and warm in the winter especially.

Mrs Purchas, Geoff Malins, Mr Purchas, Frank White - Kwanshien 1940

Frank White in uniform - middle back - other people unsure, guess Geoff Malins front right

Frank White - middle back, Ella White - seated on right - other people unknown, place unknown

People and place unknown

Unknown people and place - guess Ella Davidson in front second from right

Unknown wedding - Bishop Houghton at rear. Place unknown, possibly Chungking.

Baby Marion with missionary children at Paoning CIM Hospital Compound, Szechwan, probably 1949.

Children of the CIM Mission Hospital Compound, Paoning, 1948

Ella White at back right with Baby Marion. Guess Mrs Armstrong at back left.

High Tea at Paoning CIM Hospital Compound 1948 or 1949 Ladies on either side unknown.

Captain F W F White - Member of the British Empire

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Once   upon a time, in a land far away, the King wanted  to give some  treasure  to a Captain in his Army who had served him with  outstanding  devotion.  He sent his servants to look for this Captain, but  they  could not find  him. So they put the treasure away where it would  be  safe, and forgot  about it. The King died, and his daughter became   Queen. The Captain  lived a long and honourable life never knowing about   the treasure  locked in the Palace vault. Then he too died.

 Many  years went by. The  Captain’s daughter wanted to find out what her  father did in the war.  She asked a wise man to find out for her. He used  the latest magic to  read the Palace records and discovered the lost  treasure. The Captain’s  daughter later went up to London to visit the Queen, who presented her with the treasure her father won in the far away time and place. She will remember that day happily ever after...

In 1943 the Japanese army had taken the Burma Road cutting supply to the Chinese army. All supplies for Free China had to be flown in over the Himalayas, at great cost of life and aircraft. The Commander of the British Military Mission in China visited the General Director of the China Inland Mission and asked for two of his men who knew the language, customs and terrain to help in the distribution of supplies to scattered British outposts in Western China.

Missionaries Frank White (Australia) and a Canadian missionary volunteered immediately and were sent to Officer Training in Abbottabad, now Pakistan. Frank White, my father, was made a Captain in the Queen’s Own 6^th Gurkha Rifles. He was one of many Christians who fought a double war against spiritual wickedness, as well as the Japanese. He did not drink, gamble or curse. One day, his Senior Officer came along and put a tot of rum beside him. “You won’t go to the brothel,” he said, “but if you drink this, I’ll make you a major.” My father would not be bullied or bribed, and so he never became a major!

After China my father became a Christian Minister. “Daddy was an old time preacher man: He preached the Word of God throughout the land...” He found it too distressing to use his China experiences as sermon illustrations, but he loved using the Warrior Christian of Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress to illustrate Christian living and Biblical Truths. He waged his own battle against “Higher Criticism” of the Bible. Scripture for him was God’s supreme standard for faith and conduct. He taught us to love reading it day by day and to pray on our knees before God. He taught us to repeat by heart the Ten Commandments, John 3:16 and other Salvation verses.

After the war, my father was emotionally fragile, so China was a taboo subject for many years. However, in his old age, he told us some stories: of getting to downed allied aircraft before the enemy; of signalling to Chungking from the south China coast of enemy ships in the China Sea; of lions, tigers and apes in the jungles; of interpreting for the British Commanders with the Chinese top brass, both Nationalist and Communist; as well as leading a convoy of 60 trucks up the re-opened Burma Road. On many missions, Dad did not wear a dog tag and more than once had to eat his rice paper ID. At the end of the war he helped open the gates of Changi Prison.

In 2009, I decided to find out more about Dad’s army service. I received an email from the Curator of the Gurkha Museum in Winchester asking, “Did you know your father had an MBE?” No, I did not know that! I kept following this trail and it led me to Central Chancery where Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Matheson arranged for me to go to an Investiture at Buckingham Palace on 13th November 2009. There the Queen presented me with the MBE her father had awarded my father in 1946. At the bottom of the Warrant is a pencil mark, “Untraceable ‘48”.

Our day of splendour at the Palace was all we could wish for. My husband, son, daughter and myself were made most welcome by Her Majesty’s staff. The Queen said how pleased she was that we found Dad’s MBE and came to get it. Later, we visited the Gurkha Museum in Winchester and were presented with a copy of the Citation.

[This story was published in the Armed Forces Christian Union Newsletter Issue 1 2011]

More Scenes

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This is a little village called Loo Fong where we stopped for dinner one day on the Burma Highway and where drivers take supplies of petrol.

It gave me such a thrill to see these healthy Australian “gums” that I felt it was worth a snap.

Our bus can be seen just above the head of the chap carrying the two baskets of charcoal in the foreground.

Bell Tower at Mienshien.

This is a snap of the Pagoda here. It is said/supposed to be the biggest in the province.

Yesterday was the 5^th of the 5^th month festival, known as the

Dragon Boat Festival, and people visit this place to worship, etc.

There is a huge image of Buddha sitting on a lotus flower at the

basement, and little groups of idols on each story almost until

one reaches the top. In the fore ground is a man carrying two

baskets with a pole, then a stretch of rape field, then the pagoda buildings.

TALI 1939-1940

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These coloured enlargements will give you some idea why Tali is called the Switzerland of China.

This one, as you see, is taken from the lake.

The little white streak at the foot of the hills is the big pagoda and you can faintly see the outline of the city at its foot.

Although the snow sometimes comes down to the city, this is more typical to have it about half way up.

This snap, as you can see, is taken from the top of the wall and gives a good idea of the brick facing and the way it is packed up on the inside. The colouring of the creeper hanging on the wall this side of the guardhouse is, if anything, under-done.

This creeper has a flower very like a miniature wild hop flower about this [] size and in early spring simply covers the wall growing out of the chinks in the stones.

One can easily imagine Rahab’s house on the wall after being at Tali. The building which used to be a guardhouse is now a library and rendezvous for students.

[Original photo – 10cmX 7cm]

This gives quite a good idea of the colouring, although it is not usual for the roofs to be quite as red. The tiles are more a bluey-brown colour, except on a few homes of wealthy people and temples, where they are glazed all colours, reds, browns and greens predominating.

The house in the foreground is build of bricks made of mud and finely chopped straw sundried, and the one behind, of stones and mud packed up. The house to the left is plastered with lime.

These mud walls have to be very thick to stand up. For instance, the church wall at Tali built of mud and stones

FRANK AND ELLA WHITE

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Lanzhou January 1947

Shanghai September 10th 1947

Paoning August 1948

A Chinese Bible

Teacher's Cap, Bound Feet Shoes and Baby Slippers

Passports

Preaching Chart

REMEMBRANCE DAY

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Just two years ago, Remembrance Day 2009, we set foot in London, ready to go to Buckingham Palace on the 13th to receive Dad's MBE Badge and Warrant from Her Majesty the Queen. God save the Queen!

Straight from the 23 hour plane journey, we watched the ceremony at the Cenotaph and later went to Westminster Cathedral where countless little crosses stood on the lawn in memory of those who protected our freedoms.

Thank you, God, for your great example of sacrifice, that we might be free eternally.

I don’t believe it was a coincidence that the 11^th verse of my Old Testament reading this morning was a royal anthem:

Great David writing about his greater Son!

Yours, O LORD, is the greatness

and the power

and the glory

and the victory

and the majesty,

for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours.

Yours is the kingdom, O LORD,

and you are exalted as head above all.

- 1 Chronicles 29:11

CLIMBING THE MOUNTAIN ON SATURDAY AFTERNOONS

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12. Looking down on Talifou from about 9,000 feet. Taken from Temple steps.

Tali Lake in background.

It was rather a hazy day.

Note guard houses like little white dots on north wall.

Photo taken looking eastwards.

13. The last little village we passed before starting to climb. It contains about 20 homes packed into a plot no bigger than Hilary’s banana plot at the beach and snuggled in at the foot of the mountain in much the same way.

44. This snap was taken on a cloudy, cold and snowy morning. The stone slab track is typically Chinese for this area. I wrote on these snaps last week. If you look at the one of the four little children #31, the one with its finger in its mouth is the one that died a couple of days ago.

53. The others are on the little stone steps leading up to the shrine where I took the snap from. To get to it, one has to edge along the face of the cliff on a cut out ledge about 6 ins (15cm) wide and hang on with hand holds that have been dug out. I think it would be fatal to look below while on the narrow ledge. The bridge is quite level. The others were singing when I snapped this.

54. Frank Muir and Don Cunningham (

Canada

) in front. Geoff & Steve Knights at back.

Two of the others who were with us would not trust themselves on this narrow bridge of two quarried slabs of stone about 9 inches to a foot wide and about 10 feet long – the only way into another series of shrines.

I was the only one who had been over the bridge before, which accounts for the scared looks. The other snap will give you a better idea of the dizzy depths below.

55. Through this narrow and difficult natural rock archway, pilgrims of centuries have struggled. The picture gives you no idea of the terrific height unless you are able to distinguish the dim outline of a village over the top of the trees. The camera was pointing downwards to the plain below. Through the other side is a little ledge cut out of the rock where one can sit and contemplate about ½ dozen little images. This is the cliff I spoke of where some of them step off (so we hear). The rocks are about 1,000 feet below in a sheer drop. The grandeur of the scene is magnificent.

56. Harry took this snap of Geoff and me to give you an idea of what the snow on the mountain looks like. I am in the white hat in the distance.

57. This was one of the first little patches of snow we came to. We three Australians had never had a snow fight before, so we threw it at one another just for fun. (We went on this climb last Saturday after study)

59. This gives you some idea of what the track looked like. Harry is sitting on a rock and I am up to my knees in snow.

60. This is a snap of the track (my footsteps). The bushes are rhododendrons and azaleas.

58. This is a snap of the snow on the mountainside.

Tali C.I.M. Courtyard - 1939-40

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83. The women servants were all out under the pomegranate tree mending and darning and little Dorothy Simpkin was playing with them. It looked such a charming setting, I got my camera out and snapped them.

9. Main entrance to inner courtyard. Bill Pape’s room is behind the deck chair (in sunlight). Mine is next to his but further inside. I could not get it in the picture.

10. The masonry work in the background is the corner of the Church. This gives you some idea of the elaborate detail in Chinese architecture.

There is another circular door just opposite me and a large one between the two on my left. If you look at the other snaps # 9 and #11 and study the plan on the back (page 15) you should get some idea of the layout. These three, with a large double swing door make a square separating inner and outer courtyard. Four Chinese families live in the outer section.

17. Church with Belfry and mountain in background taken from the roof above my room. Upstairs bedrooms right, bottom corner. Note oiled paper windows. Top of free and circular doorway bottom-left seen in other snaps. # 9,10,11

Note: On Saturday morning just before breakfast a squirrel stole a cake of soap and ran up into the belfry to eat it. I chased him up and got the soap, much to the delight of the Chinese. I had to jump from roof of boy’s room to church and crawl over the tiles.

18. This is the interior of the Tali Church. I helped decorate it for Christmas. Mr Tuan & Ted Holmes really did it & I climbed ladders, etc.

23. This little girl was being given a ride in Simpkin’s baby pram on Boxing Day, but she took fright when I pointed the camera at her and hopped out. I think Father and Mother, Uncles and Aunts were all more thrilled with the pram than she was. If only you girls could have seen the colours and fancy work of her clothes.

24. Ch’un pestered us to take his photo so at last I consented to do it.

The background will give you an idea of how the mud and brick walls are made. Water is just poured on the ground and women puddle it with their feet and put in chopped up straw to bind it. Where the water splashes up from the ground,the plaster drops off

28. What about Tali Lake for a fishing trip! I have seen bigger fish than this in the market. Wang Si-Foo (the cook) is holding the fish and Ch’un Dar-Gore (cook’s boy) is nervously watching the camera. The cook’s boy is about 20 but has either 3 or 4 children. I won’t try to tell you how many Wang has.

31. Little Chinese are just as shy and hard to take a snap of as westerners but really and truly, aren’t they little darlings?! I often pick up the little chap second from left in my arms and he shuts his eyes and just squeals with delight. I feel so sorry for him. He is deaf and dumb. His father was converted about one month ago and is having a terrible time trying to break off opium.

(The little boy with his thumb in his mouth died some time later.)

42. This is a very nice bunch of coy young schoolgirls. I wish you could understand this little Chinese idiom. It means, “Is that so or not?” or

“What do you think about it?”

47. This is a snap of our servants. The cook is done up in all his best for New Year season, western hat included. He wanted 3 of his children taken too.

The old chap is the only Christian in the lot. He is thegardener, water carrier, etc. The Father of the young chap in the centre is an Evangelist and is our table boy, etc. The women do washing, mending, sweeping, and help with the work of the place.

11. Another angle on our courtyard taken from my door, giving another angle on the moon gates.

I tried to get the water carrier just as he was going through the gate (note shadow) and Miss Kemp walked out and was blurred.

The tree in the centre is a white camellia and the large one is a type of Chinese magnolia.

48. I thought Lass would be interested in this snap. This is the sewing woman, who made the fancy work I posted her, taken with her little son.

Don’t you agree with me that some Chinese have beautiful faces? I only wish you could have seen the beautiful gown she is wearing. She brought it with her to dress up for the occasion: it was gorgeous.

82. Three of the Li (Lee) family who came to see us off. The lady in the check is mother of the girl with the basket and mother-in-law to the one in the centre. Mother and daughter are fine Christians but the other one is not, although we hope she soon will be.

TALI CITY - 1939-40

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16. Four of the boys standing on top of

the west wall. I took this from the

high bank on the opposite side of the

creek that formed a natural moat.

Tali Christian Church.

27. Just a shot at random to give you an idea of what the main street and shopping centre looks like. Every shopkeeper piles the day’s bargains out on the street.

29. This is the north gate market. These markets are held twice a month and people from near and far come to sell their goods. Each man sells his own – no agents. See Harry in helmet about centre of snap. He was trying to buy some walnuts.

30. This was the Tibetan’s camp but they would not let us take them – turned their backs, hid, and did all sorts of funny things when a camera was pointed at them. I think they were afraid it would go off and shoot them. I just took a hurried snap when we had walked away.

36. The airmail arrives in Tali. All mail comes from the capital to Hsia Kuan (Xiaguan) by bus and the last 10 miles by donkey. The city gate is in the background.

35. A caravan, almost an every day sight, passing through the streets of the city. This is the main street of the 2^nd largest city of a province of 10,000,000 people. How would you like to ride a pushbike in China?

37. The local service car (night-soil) passing out of the city gate.

The posters are patriotic and are most vividly coloured. They may not get past the censor if I describe them.

40. Old and new in China. Discarded bus tyres for wheels on a donkey cart. The aristocratic way of travelling between here and Hsia Kuan. Mr Bryars, independent missionary, leaves for America.

43. This is taken outside the city wall and one of the best I have seen so far. Can you imagine the thrill it was for us when we came here to walk along the top (of the city wall) and try to visualize the conflicts of ancient days?

41. Some time ago I sent you a snap of the main street taken from on top of this gateway (possibly #27 or 35). I was with Arthur when he took this looking in the same direction but from outside in the street.

45. This is a most magnificent place. Note the carved marble railing just ahead of the boys. The whole place is a school donated by a wealthy Chinese Gentleman for the uplift of his people. There are three other buildings bigger than this for schoolrooms. This is only the library and temple etc, but of course by far the most elaborate in construction.

84. The university invited us to play tennis during their spring vacation. This is Harry and Geoff with their two best players.

92. This pagoda is about one mile west of the south gate of Tali known as I-t’ah-si Pagoda. It is remarkable for its unusual form – about 120 feet high, capped with a gilded ball, supposed to have been built in the F’ang Dynasty – 923 A.D. to 936 A.D. Mr Clarke found brick with Sanskrit Chinese characters. May have been built by Nestorians. This Pagoda was used as a fort by Mohammedans in the rebellion of 1867.

107. This should have given you an idea of the local meat market. It hangs out in the sun and dirt.

Some of the more enterprising butchers have umbrellas, as seen.

The light in the camera has spoilt this snap.

108. This is the entrance to the parade ground at the State School. It was a very poor day.

110. This is a snap of the Pagoda here. It is said/supposed to be the biggest in the province. Yesterday was the 5^th of the 5^th month festival, known as the Dragon Boat Festival, and people visit this place to worship, etc. There is a huge image of Buddha sitting on a lotus flower at the basement, and little groups of idols on each story almost until one reaches the top. In the fore-

ground is a man carrying two baskets with a pole, then a stretch of rape field, then the pagoda buildings.

NEW YEAR'S DAY - TALI - 1940

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53. Our New Year’s Day Picnic:

Theo and Mrs Simpkin with children in front

Miss Fershee engaged to Ted Holmes at back on right hand side.

Frank and Doug Muir (

Canada

) front left

Steve Knights enjoying a joke and Bill Pape near kettle (left)

Centre Group – Harry at back with Arthur near him. Don Cunningham (

Canada

) between Hec and Geoff.

[I am afraid light is getting into my camera.]

55. This woman is the equivalent of our spirit mediums. She has an offering of food for the spirits in front of her & is using the egg in the nature of a crystal to divine with. She was swaying and muttering and seemed to be unconscious of the fact that we were there. She had been called in to help the chap in the next snap. Someone in the family had a terrible skin disease and the thought that the spirit of the water dragon was hungry, hence the offering. The bush is holy and the spring is in the background.

56. This chappie seemed afraid to look up when I wanted to take his photo. This snap was taken a few yards from where we had our picnic. We got out water from a wonderful spring of clear water bubbling out of ground at about 50 to 100 thousand gallons an hour. (approximate estimate) Superstitious belief is that it is the dragon’s mouth and the huge flat rock (in snap)nearby is made a natural sacrificial altar. This chap was cooking the food for the woman to offer. Part of the ceremony was to sacrifice a fowl and sprinkle its blood.

87. This shot was taken on the way to the foot of the mountain for the picnic. The bridge, like most bridges, is made of quarried strips of stone (granite). I have measured some slabs 15 ft (4 to 5 metres) in length and more.

To the right of the thicket, what looks like rocky ground is really thousands of grave stones and in the distance you can see very faintly the trees at the foot of the mountain.

OFFICERS OF THE 6th GURKHA RIFLES

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KUNMING 1939

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"This is taken from our premises at Kunming. This is the cafe where we had the meal I think I describe as being one of the worst I have ever had. There is no kitchen. All food is cooked behind the glass case and table, which holds stock in trade. We used to go upstairs." [Inscription from back of photo]

ENGINE CHANGE - Chapter 7

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The Chinese Soldiers could change an engine in half and hour.

The Gurkha troops did not do engines: they were warriors!

PROLOGUE

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I see my parents now, standing together singing a song. We are at the bottom of the back steps of my Grandparents’ farmhouse-on-posts at Redland Bay. I see and hear my parents now, their voices blending in pleasing harmony. Dad is tall, athletic and fair, though at this time his once round face is rather gaunt, his ‘Roman’ nose is more prominent and his grey-blue eyes are bloodshot. Mum is short, sturdy and trim, with the dark hair, brown eyes and olive skin of her Scottish-Spanish heritage. The lines of her face are classic. She is a beautiful woman. Altogether they are a striking couple.

My parents, Frank and Ella White, are very much in love. This is a time when couples do not make outward display of romance, holding hands or hugging in public. So my parents express the joy of their love in song. They are singing “The Love of God”, and if I am cute enough I may persuade them to sing “Nor Silver Nor Gold” as well. To hear their voices interweave, one taking the melody, and then the other, both capable of rich harmony, is brilliant. And those wonderful rhyming words – “human comprehension”, “infinite dimension”, “broad in its intention” – I love the sound of them, the rhythm of the verse enriching the vowels and consonants, though their dictionary meaning is not important to me. They really are good, these parents of mine! I’m so happy!

But even at the exalted age of three, I know there is a limit. You must not push my father too far. My mother is ever vigilant and intervenes whenever she senses his strength and patience are running out. There is time for only one song today. He must get back to work. He must not waste time. The chipping of the tomatoes needs to be done…

My parents found each other in North-west China. It was love at first sight, and they became engaged immediately. Dad was 35 and Mum was 31 when they met and it was the first and only love for both of them. That may be hard to believe in the modern Australian setting, but it is true. They were both far too busy preparing for and pursuing their missionary vision to have romantic entanglements in their early twenties. And then came the war. In 1945, my mother caught the first boat to India after the war at the same time as my father was flown home to a military hospital in Brisbane to be treated for Amoebic Dysentery and Tuberculosis. It wasn’t till January 1947 that they met at Lanzhou on the western reach of the Great Wall of China.

...
Then, in the mail one day at the end of 2008, a package arrived from my cousins Ruth and Roslyn in Melbourne. Here were Prayer Support Letters my father wrote from China from 1939 to 1949, full of people, places, dates and stories. Ruth and Roslyn’s mother was the kind sister who printed and circulated these Prayer Letters to Dad’s supporters. To think they had been preserved in full until now! I could not read them with dry eyes. Here was far more than I ever expected to know.

Now, with these letters, the dry bones of my valley of vision have come together, covered with flesh, full of spirit. May this story live for you!

CHAPTER 7

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CHUNGKING – BRITISH MILITARY MISSION:
FEBRUARY 1944 - SEPTEMBER 1946

I

On the 1st February 1944, from the Mission Headquarters in Chungking, my father goes across the hillside to the British Military Headquarters and puts on uniform. He flies in an RAF plane to Abbottabad on the North-west Frontier of India (now Pakistan) and trains for two months to be an officer in the 6th Gurkha Rifles. Dad has already done his basic military training in Australia. He excels in many sports, including marksmanship and wrestling. In his youth, he started training as a boxer but after an opponent broke his nose he switched to wrestling. After the 1936 Olympics, he was chosen to train as a wrestler for the 1940 Tokyo Olympics. The war in Europe meant that the Tokyo Olympics were abandoned and this put an end to any Olympic ambitions my father had. He sees no conflict of interest in being an athlete and a missionary. After all, his hero since youth has been Eric Liddell, champion of the 1924 Olympics in Paris! However one skill that is altogether new for him to learn in Officer Training is the use of the Gurkha weapon, the kukri. He has had no experience of this. And it is as a Gurkha he is to serve.

The Gurkha regiments are drawn from the tribesmen of Nepal. The British Commanders of the Indian Army find that the Gurkhas are fierce and valiant fighters, worth every man of them, and the respect is mutual. The problem is that at this time the Gurkhas absolutely refuse to serve under Indian Officers. They will, however, obey and serve British Officers. Thus, my father and Ted Holmes become Officers in the 6th Gurkha Rifles, the only ‘white-skins’ in the China-based Gurkhas.

To prove his capacity to be a Gurkha, my father had to be able to decapitate a goat with one swing of the kukri. My father’s kukri was always treated with the utmost respect. It was never on display, and remained wrapped up in the bottom of his lowboy. It was never unsheathed without drawing blood. And so, on the very few occasions he took it out when we urged him to show us, Dad cut his finger on the blade before putting it away. Thus, he reinforced for us, his children the absolute solemnity for him of drawing this weapon.

For the Allied forces, 1943 ends in turmoil. They have been defeated everywhere throughout South-east Asia. Chiang Kai-shek goes to North Africa to put his case for more assistance to Churchill and Roosevelt on the 28th November 1943. The Fourteenth Army based in India is “The Forgotten Army” while all focus is on the European War. It isn’t until now, with the loss of Rangoon and Japanese forces cutting the Burma Road that Britain and America focus their attention on Asia.
America is thinking beyond the end of the war. It dreams of establishing an All-China trade zone making China and America into the dominant economic force throughout the world. But Japan is not defeated yet. The Japanese commander counts on helping dissident Indian groups rise to oust the British from India. And by the end of 1943, when the British Commander approaches Bishop Houghton for help, this seems a distinct possibility. It is hard now to realize what a shock this possibility is to the British, to whom India is more than a colony. Possessing India underpins the fortunes of the whole British Commonwealth. The British in India hope for business as usual after the war throughout India, Burma and the Far East. But the situation is even more complex where China is concerned. It is not just a matter of defeating the Japanese. There is the civil war in China for the International Community to consider. Chiang Kai-shek is fully expecting the Americans to help him wrest control of All-China from the Communists after the Japanese are defeated.
As 1944 dawns, the first priority of the Allies is to re-establish a supply line between India and Western China, and that means re-opening the Burma Road. “The construction of the Burma Road over forbidding, monsoon-swept terrain was an astonishing feat.”1 After the Japanese took control of all eastern ports of China in 1937, Chiang Kai-shek and the Kuomintang hired foreign experts to do a feasibility study for a supply road through Burma to Rangoon. The experts predicted it would take a decade to build such a route, but Chiang did not have ten years. In fact the Burma Road was built from the China end at Kunming by 200,000 coolies, men, women and children, in 1937 and 1938. It followed elephant trails, winding along the ridges and crossing raging mountain streams. It became the main supply route for ‘Free China’ and the Nationalist Chinese Army. When the Japanese took Lashio, thereby closing the Burma Road, all supplies had to be flown over ‘The Hump’, the Himalayan Mountain Range. This too, was an impressive achievement. “From the spring of 1942 until the end of the war in August 1945, pilots’ skills were tested as they crossed towering mountains in abysmal circumstances – violent turbulence, Japanese airfire, dreadful weather, malfunctioning aeroplanes – and with little sleep… In all, some 650,000 tons of supplies were ferried to China over The Hump, but at a cost: more than 600 planes and 1,000 lives were lost in the airlift.”2 The route became known as the ‘Aluminium Trail’ because of the litter of crashed aircraft. My father told of unpressurised aircraft in which people went to sleep for lack of oxygen whilst flying over the highest mountains in the world.
Meanwhile, a ground route was essential and British and American Generals agree to cooperate in retaking Burma and building a road through Northern India, the Ledo Road, to join the Burma Road on the Burma-India Border. They decide on a route through the mountainous jungle based on refugee trails, elephant trails and British surveys. On 29th October 1942, General Stilwell of the U.S. Army orders the operation, and on 26th November he sets up a base in Kunming, a city Dad knows well. It is not until 28th January 1945 that the Burma Road in China is cleared of Japanese soldiers.

After months of stalemate between the Allies and the Japanese, 1944 begins with a forward movement by British and Chinese troops in Burma. This operation drawing together different Allied battalions is named the Chindit Campaign, Chindits being the mythical lions that, carved in stone, often guard the entrance to important buildings. The Japanese launch a counter offensive and the British Chindits move behind Japanese lines. Battles ebb and flow across the Indian and Chinese borders from Burma, and all the while my father is preparing to join the action. By the end of his training, he is promoted from Second Lieutenant to Captain in the 6th Queen’s Own Gurkha Rifles, a promotion considered exceptional even in war time.

At the end of March my father returns to China. It is unclear whether he joins the action in the Second Chindits Campaign, though the photos in his effects seem to indicate this. The Curator and Archivist at the Gurkha Museum in Winchester have not been able to discover his battalion, and advise that there is still research to be done.

The men of the 6th Gurkha Rifles fight with such courage that two Victoria Cross Medals are awarded to them for this action. “It was during the Burma campaign, that the Regiment received its first Victoria Cross, in fact two awards were made to members of the Regiment for actions on the same day. Captain Michael Allmand and Rifleman Tulbahadur Pun were awarded the V.C. for their actions during the fighting around the Pin Ilmi Road Bridge at Mogaung in Burma on 23 June 1944 whilst serving with the 3rd Battalion who were taking part in Operation Thursday, which was the second Chindit expedition.”3

My father has two photographs of the 21 year-old Rifleman Tulbahdur Pun, decorated with leis, one with his proud father, wife and mother. Captain Michael Allmand died in the battle. This action involves hand to hand combat with kukri: the stuff of nightmares! In the big picture, this action demonstrates that British Troops can succeed in guerrilla jungle warfare, regaining some of the loss of face Britain suffered after the Japanese captured their Far-eastern colonial cities of Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, and Rangoon so easily.

.....

While my father fights the good fight in the spiritual realm, he is also in immense physical danger. The Japanese drop, along with their bombs, “WANTED” notices for foreign soldiers. The price on the head of a Captain is equivalent to a whole year’s wage for a Chinese worker. Despite the temptation, Dad’s men never betray him, and they take steps to protect him in their own way. On one occasion, my father is out with his band of twelve Chinese slodiers. They put up at a Chinese inn for the night. The Chinese are talking among themselves. The locals ask the newcomers about the foreigner, not realizing that he understands what they are saying. His men reply easily, “Oh, he’s OK. He’s one of us - an Old China Hand.”

In early July of 1944, Dad is on convoy work and contracts amoebic dysentery. The Medical Officer promises him a few weeks in hospital when he gets to the end of this trip. He writes from Chungking, and is thrilled that letters from home are getting through regularly for the last month or so. His good friends Harry and Elizabeth Gould are at the Mission Home which is on a hillside outside Chungking so he does not see them at this time. However, he calls on other friends and enjoys the usual Saturday evening Prayer Meeting at which an Aussie couple, Arthur Kennedy and his wife Bessie speak. He attends the Sunday Service and enjoys Bishop Houghton’s good message. Then he moves off again on Monday, expecting to land up in hospital in about a week’s time. “Ted Holmes will be able to come and visit me occasionally so I won’t be too lonely,” he writes.

All this time, Chungking suffers nightly air-raids from Japanese bombers. Fifty to one hundred Japanese bombers come over Chengdu and Chungking at night, killing tens of thousand of civilians. China sustains the largest number of civilian casualties of any nation in the world during World War II.9 The intention of the enemy in these air-raids is not to destroy the Chinese military but to terrorise the population. The army barracks are on the edge of the city and sustain little damage. Each morning, the Army calls a curfew. Chinese civilians like to carry their wealth with them, so the soldiers strip all valuables from them, load their bodies into trucks and dump them in the Yangtze River where they drift down stream, decomposing. The military lifts the curfew each morning when they have finished. One night a huge air-raid shelter in the Central Business District takes a direct hit by a bomb and thousands die. Dumping the bodies in the river poisons the water downstream where the Japanese are. Thus the river becomes a weapon of war. Before the tide of war turns, the Japanese get half-way up the Yangtze-kiang to Chungking.

On the other side of the world, where other bombing raids work their destruction, Allied forces have landed at Normandy in France (6th June 1944) and are moving to liberate Europe. China enters the seventh year of “The Double Seven War” which started on 7/7/1937. The Kuomintang forces continue to take the brunt of the action while Mao Tse-tung in far-away Yenan hones his followers for another battle when the foreigners are defeated.

The troops of American General Stilwell and British Lord Mountbatten continue to secure towns in Northern Burma, and by 16th August 1944 Japanese resistance in North-east India ends. By October, the British and Chinese are capturing more strategic posts including an oil depot and airstrip from the Japanese, and my father is back in hospital “with the same old trouble”. The American doctors and nurses treat him very well and one of the other inmates, a cartoonist, sketches his profile. Never did he look so gaunt!

My father travels all over Southern China, on convoy, gathering intelligence as he goes. The forests of South-west China are full of monkeys, lions and tigers at this time, adding spice to the journeys. Dad and his men make their way to the coast and carry out spy work all along the south coast of China and in the mountains, as well as attacking supply barges. They use pedal-powered radio communication by which they signal the position of enemy ships off the coast to the American Air Force at Chengdu and Chungking. Dad called this Chinese-style radar! Often the American planes sink these Japanese ships, spilling their cargo of drums of oil and other materials into the sea. Chinese fishermen collect everything that floats and sell the drums of Japanese oil and petrol to their own soldiers. Dad grinned when he said he ran his trucks on enemy oil!

Another task set for my father is to sabotage enemy bridges and other enemy engineering works, even if they were built by Allied Prisoners of War. His practice is to use his teeth to clamp detonators onto fuses, as he found his teeth more reliable than pliers. He continued this practice in later years when exploding large stumps to clear land in Australia. His notes list rules for storage and transport of explosives.10

For more than a year, my father is liaison officer with the Royal Air Force, while he takes charge of ferrying supplies flown over “The Hump” from the airfields to the scattered British personnel throughout Southern China and the border areas of Burma and India. Dad and his men are required to go in after downed aircraft to find surviving crew before the enemy does. On one occasion, my father takes the place of a dead tail gunner in an American Bomber on mission. On many of his missions he does not wear a dog-tag. If he is captured, he is on his own. His Identification Paper consists of a photo glued to a ‘rice paper’ document. On more than one occasion he has to eat his Identification Paper.

The 6th Gurkha Rifles Regimental Headquarters is located at the scenic mountain city of Abbottabad, North West Frontier, now Pakistan.11 When he comes in from military exercises, no matter what he has been doing, the British Raj holds sway. He has to dress for High Tea at 5 o’clock and Dinner at 8.00. He will never forget the strict order of the Indian caste system. On one occasion, he accidentally drops a knife at dinner. The butler, standing behind his chair, restrains Dad from bending to pick up his knife. He summons a waiter who goes out and summons someone of the sweeper caste who comes and sweeps up the knife. The waiter then returns with another knife. Only someone of the lower caste bends to pick up things from the floor.

...

Another Christmas rolls round with a world still at war. My father is back in civilization and feels fortunate to be in a place where he can splash out and send a cable home by civilian channels and a gift through the bank. He is rarely in a position to do so. He grieves that “Little Joyce” is still interned in Japan and not home for Christmas.

In February 1945, he feels free to give a little bit of local colour that should assure his mother that she is still the best cook in the world. His mastery of hyperbole is evident: “The Major and I have been putting up with chow that the boys have been messing up. Our cook had started on a get rich quick policy some time ago and so we found it necessary to invite him to cast his eyes on distant fields. After about a month of suffering the culinary curiosities that our orderlies dished out, a cook was taken on. He was said to be a cook on one of the long distance trains until a couple of months ago and our hopes ran high. We sat down to his first meal expectantly. The soup was fair. Although the vegetables had all been fried we said nothing but when he sent in mashed potatoes sweetened with sugar and then fried into little balls for dessert we definitely took a dim view of the whole effort. Major ---- after one mouthful let out a roar like an enraged lion and in his most forcible Chinese told him that if he dished up stuff like it again he would throw it right into his eye. Would you consider that losing face? We are still looking for a cook.”

Early in his time of service, my father is in Calcutta and sees a ship in harbour bound for Australia. He moots the idea with his Senior Officer of going home to join the Australian Infantry Forces. “You put one foot on that ship, White, and I’ll arrest you. You will dig latrines for the rest of the war!” And so as children we had to field questions at school as to why our father didn’t fight for Australia like the other fathers. It’s not easy being different!

A certain Lieutenant-Colonel Fielding-Mould comes through Chungking while Dad is there. He wants to see China as it is. Of course, China ‘as it is’ means fairly primitive plumbing, and no private bathrooms.
“Oh, White,” he said, “I’d like to bring up the matter of a bath.”
“Yes Sir,” says Captain White, “there are public baths or you can pay for a separate room.”
“Let’s go and investigate!”
Off they go to the public bathhouse.
Some time later Captain White is sitting waiting at the bathhouse. He hears a scream. Suddenly, he is confronted by the naked Lieutenant-Colonel holding a towel in front of him.
“White, get that woman out of here!”
“Sir, if you paid for a separate room, you get an old woman to scrub your back.”
Captain White can see that the woman feels hurt. He explains to her that westerners aren’t used to having their backs scrubbed.

...

Years later, Dad told us how some of the senior ranking men in the Officers’ Mess scoffed because he would not drink alcohol or go to the brothels with them. At one stage he is made Acting-Major and a Senior Officer comes up to him with a whiskey in his hand. He plonks it down in front of my father and says, “Drink it down, White. That’s all you have to do and I’ll make you a Major straight away.”

There is a stubborn streak in my father. His early training has been that it’s live fish that swim against the current. He has chosen for his mentors men like Eric Liddell who refused to run on Sunday against his conscience. He will not be bullied and he will not be bribed! Suffice it to say, Dad never became a Major.

Even so, his relationship with the higher ranks must have been reasonable, and we now know his name was put forward for a high military honour. Was he told of this informally? Did someone in the Officer’s Mess say, “Oh White, I’ve put your name down”? That remains a mystery.

In early 1945, soon after the Burma Road reopens, my father commands a convoy of 60 trucks from Northern India to Kunming. It is so cold that the water must be drained from the engine block and radiator every night and they are forced to use power alcohol, which is very corrosive, as anti-freeze to keep the vehicles running. Dad’s Chinese soldiers are able to do an engine change in half an hour. The Gurkha troops do not do engines: they are warriors!

My father continues to look to God as his strength as the war drags on. Back in Chungking in February he takes every opportunity to enjoy Christian fellowship. He writes: “We are having it very cold now. Last night I walked home from the Red Cross in a snow shower. I was wearing an Australian hat and the brim and the crease in the crown was packed with snow by the time I got in. It wasn’t very far either. The 15 cwt (hundredweight) I usually drive is undergoing repairs so I drove the station wagon to church. Today, we, that is ‘Old Soup’ my orderly and I ploughed and skidded all the way but we got there without accident. A very nice communion service. The pastor, Chinese, gave me a very warm invitation to come back.”

In the early months of this year, the Allies regain one town after another until within sight of Rangoon. On the 3rd May, Lord Louis Mountbatten holds a Victory Parade through Rangoon while General Stilwell’s troops are still in the field.

After the atom bombs are dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima, Japan surrenders on the 15th August. When my father hears of this, he is on duty in the mountains of western China in two feet of snow. By the 9th of September he is transferred to Singapore, based at Nee Soon Barracks. His first duty is to open the gates of Changi Prison where so many Aussie diggers are interned. Whilst on Singapore Island, he helps with the War Graves Commission and looks for the grave of his cousin Willie Jenyns, who is buried on the back of Reformatory Hill. On the back of a photo of bones and a helmet half wrapped in a blanket he inscribes, “They paid the price.”

Officially, the war is over. Unofficially, the other war in China is taking up where it left off. The Communists have no time for foreign Intelligence Officers and the more the foreigner knows the less the Communist leaders like it. John Birch is captured by the Communists on 25th August 1945, near the city of Suzhou in Jiangsu Province. He is “shot in cold blood, thrown in a ditch … and left to die … his hands bound behind his back as if he had been executed, his face destroyed by multiple bayonet thrusts. A second bullet may have passed through his skull from back to front.” When the tragedy becomes known, Chinese friends lovingly wrap his body in white silk, and missionaries and pastors attend his funeral.”12

After his tour of duty in Singapore, my father returns to India and China and takes part in reclaiming eastern China for the Chinese. He is the first foreign soldier in the beautiful city of Guilin, The Cassia Grove City, surrounded by a wall two or three thousand years old, “built of huge blocks of stone so big that the method of erection of the wall is a puzzle.” The city is surrounded by great, grey limestone towers and conical hills “which stand up like rows of jagged molar teeth from a flat plain.”13 He then proceeds to Hanchow, near Shanghai. In a photo he takes there, a nurse, some Allied Soldiers, Chinese men and boys all make an effort to smile for the camera. There is an air of subdued cheerfulness about the group.

By December 1945, Dad is wishing that he may be home early in January 1946. He writes on the 16th December: “I will be on the road the day after tomorrow and almost certain to be travelling next Sunday and I still hope against hope that as soon as I get to Kunming that elusive movement order will be waiting for me. It is possible but highly improbable that I will be able to make it home by the 12th to go down to the beach with you all but my word I would like to. If you knew how cold it is over here now you would almost wonder if one could ever find pleasure in cold water again.

“You will notice how well the mail is coming through. Your last letter was dated 2/12/45 and it got here in less than a fortnight.

“Nearly everyone in the Mission is leaving for Shanghai but Harry and Elizabeth will be keeping on until after the New Year. Bishop and Mrs. Houghton hope to leave on Tuesday. There are two parties leaving by plane tomorrow and one by boat so I am sleeping at the Mission tonight to see the boat party off early in the morning. They are rather short of staff.”

And so the China Inland Mission Headquarters closes in Chungking and reopens back in Shanghai, for a few years anyway, while my father waits eagerly for the British Military Mission Commanders to send him home for a rest. He spends another Christmas far from loved ones, on the roads of inland China.

CONTENTS AND MAPS FOR MY CHINA MYSTERY

2010-05-02T23:45:00.000-07:00

CONTENTS

MAPS

CHRONOLOGY & GLOSSARY

PROLOGUE

1. SHANGHAI: OCTOBER 1939

2. TALI: NOVEMBER 1939 TO JULY 1940

3. KWANHSIEN: OCTOBER 1940 – JULY 1941

4. NINGKIANG: AUGUST 1941 - NOVEMBER 1941

5. NANCHENG: NOVEMBER 1941 – AUGUST 1942

6. NINGKIANG: AUGUST 1942 – JANUARY 1944

7. CHUNGKING - BRITISH MILITARY MISSION: FEBRUARY 1944 - SEPTEMBER 1946

8. FIRST BOAT TO CHINA: JULY 1945

9. RETURN TO SHANGHAI: SEPTEMBER 1946

10. LANCHOW: OCTOBER 1946

11. FENGSHIEN: DECEMBER 1946

12. JANUARY 1947: THEY MET ON THE GREAT WALL

13. SEPTEMBER 1947: SHANGHAI WEDDING

14. FENGSIANG: NOVEMBER 1947

15. T’SAI CHIA P’O: MARCH 1948

16. EVACUATE TO SZECHWAN: MAY 1948

17. PAONING: JUNE 1948

18. THE JOURNEY HOME: JULY 1949

19. THE RELUCTANT EXODUS

20. WHAT NEXT?

21. EPILOGUE

22. ONE FINAL CHAPTER

23. BIBLIOGRAPHY

CHRONOLOGY - 1939 to 1949

2010-03-18T23:11:00.000-07:00

This chronology gives the year,
something of what Frank and Ella (Davidson) White were doing, (abbreviations: F.W. & E.D.)
what was happening in the China Inland Mission,
and what was happening in China and the World.

1939
5.10.39 Frank White travels from Kowloon (Hong Kong) to C.I.M. at Shanghai
end of October – to Tali for Language School

C.I.M. Headquarters OK despite Japanese control of Shanghai Japanese holding much of coastal China since 1937

Germany & Russia invade Poland – 30.9.39

1940
4.7.40 – Frank White in Kunming – begins 3 months journey to Kwanhsien, Szechwan

Missionaries still welcome in Szechwan
21.10.40 – Bishop Frank Houghton appointed G.D.

Population of Szechwan - 50-60 million
Dunkirk & Battle of Britain
Japan alliance with Axis powers

1941
March – F. White & G. Malins go out from Kwanhsien with 2 Chinese B.F.B.S. colporteurs for 1 week. Holy Spirit helps F.W. with language.
Left Kwanhsien 2.7.41. Arrived Ningkiang 21.8.41. Took 6 weeks to get to Ningkiang, Shensi November-December Conference at Sisiang – F.W. made Secretary – hard work. Geoff about to announce engagement. June C.I.M. Conference at Chentu.
June attack on Bible School at Kwanhsien
Seniors: Wendell & Ethel Phillips & Baby Kathleen

November Conference for Shensi Missionaries at Sisiang
Population of Ningkiang - 3,000

18.2.41 Aust’n troops arrive in Singapore
Japan in Indo China
7.12.41 Pearl Harbour – War in the Pacific – U.S. at war
25.12.41 Hongkong falls to Japan

1942
January – F.W. to Hangchung (Nancheng) as Local Secretary for Sth. Shensi for 6 months.
To Ningkiang, Shensi, alone after Phillips go on furlough.
Jul-Aug-D.V.B.S. F.W. with G. Malins @ Yanghsien
Late Aug to Ningkiang
Late Sept – F.W. has mumps – people kind.

November - Bishop & Mrs Houghton leave London 15.2.42 Singapore Falls

19.2.42 Darwin Bombed
8.3.42 Japanese land in New Guinea
31.5.42 Sydney Harbour torpedoed
30.10.42 Burma Railway begun

1943
F.W. based at Ningkiang
Ella Davidson nursing in Melbourne, waiting to go to China.
19 Dec. - F.W. announces intention to enlist for Military Service.

Bishop & Mrs. Houghton return to Chungking via India 25.8.43 –

Mountbatten – supreme Allied Commander S.E. Asia
14.9.43 Burma Railway – suffering
24.10.43 Penicillin first used on soldiers’ infections.
28.11.43 Churchill, Roosevelt & Chiang Kai-shek meet in Nth. Africa.

1944
31 Jan. – F.W. goes to Officers’ Mess in Chungking.

15 Jan. – Pastor Marcus Chen arrives in Chungking after 2 years in Japanese hands.

19.3.44 Burma Offensive
6.6.44 D-day Normandy

1945
Ella Davidson leaves Australia for China
25.12.45 Christmas on board S.S.Milbera enroute to China via India & Ceylon

F.W. returns to Chungking after Singapore – still there 16.12.45 Mission Headquarters Back To Shanghai.

Endless opportunities for advance of Christ thru’ building Chinese Church – G.D.’s policy

28.1.45 Burma Rd. to Kunming being cleared of Japanese.
3.5.45 Rangoon taken by British
6.8.45 A-bomb - Nagasaki
9.8.45 A-bomb – Hiroshima
15.8.45 – Japan surrenders
2.9.45 World War II ends
Nth. China occupied by Russians, Kuomintang & Chinese Communists.
5.9.54 Br. troops take Singapore
3.5M military & 10M civilians killed in China in WWII

1946
15th Jan. F.W. flies fr. Chungking to Hongkong for Australia.

16th Jan. – E.D. arrives Chungking
– to Loshan, Szechwan for Language School
June/July – 2nd Section Language Exam
August – E.D. to Lanchow
11th September F.W. arrives Shanghai from military furlough & hospital in Australia.
12th September – released from British Army
13th September – accepted back into C.I.M. – discuss with Bishop Houghton future companion and place of service. Wait for fortnight for Hubert Fisher to arrive.
10th October - F.W. & Mr. Fisher leave Shanghai
3rd December – F.W. & Mr. Fisher arrive at Fengsiang

1946-48 Kuomintang – Communist Civil War
19.8.46 Mao declares full-scale war on Chiang
16.10.46 – Chiang offers Mao peace plan

1947
January 1947 - F.W. & E.D. meet at Lanchow
21st January – E.D.’s letter announcing engagement
22nd January – F.W.’s letter announcing engagement
E.D. teaches students Bible & Hygiene – Yu Ming Chang
10th September - F.W. & E.D. married by Bishop Houghton at Shanghai Cathedral
Honeymoon – Hangchow – 1 week – fly to Chungking, by truck to Lanchow, Kansu (9 days drive) via Hanchung & return to Paoki, Shensi.

15.2.47 Chiang Blames Civil War on U.S. not supplying arms to Kuomintang.
1.7.47 C.K.S. Orders Mobilisation Of Nationalists Troops vs. Communists.

1948
March – letter from Fensiang, Shensi.
- Ella White – D.V.B.S. at Fensiang
- Frank White – Evangelistic Campaign at T’sai Chia P’o
Wednesday 31st March – moved to T’sai Chia P’o
Friday 16th April – Hire builders
3rd week April & 1st week May – go to Sian for Mission Business & Doctor’s visit.
Thursday 29th April – adverse medical reports to H.Q.
Sunday 23rd May – first Sunday Services at T.C.P.
Tuesday 25th May Elder K’ang - rumours of Communists coming. Letter asking to find Mr Fisher and evacuate.
Wednesday 26th May – evacuate from T.C.P.
Thursday 27th May – evening at Kweichen – half way to Paoki – military train to Paoki – iron bin
Midnight Paoki – Colonel Lui
Friday 28th May – truck Mennonite missionaries – left 4pm to Bible School. 11.30pm drove away
Saturday 29th May – truck only went 20 miles by dawn
Sunday 30th May - Kwangyuan, big Szechwan border town – C.I.M. hospitality
Monday 31st May – boarded river boat – Jialingjaing River
Wednesday 2nd June – arrived Paoning in afternoon
Thursday 3rd June – wrote letter from Paoning
Tuesday 24th August - Marion born

C.I.M. Policy to ‘Hold On’ Siege of Jinzhou

21.5.48 C.K.S. re-elected President
30.10.48 C.K.S. recognises loss of Manchuria to Communists
Chiang on run despite massive U.S. aid.

1949
Tuesday 17th May – telegram to Paoning to proceed to Chungking
Thursday 19th May - board river boat for Nanchang
Sunday 22nd May a.m. - arrive Nanchang – telegram “Sail 28th from Hongkong”.
Monday 23rd May – Hua-kan overland to Hochuan– 100 miles in 2 days.
Wednesday 25th May - River Steam Launch to Chungking
Thursday 26th May – 9 hour plane trip to Hongkong
Monday 30th May – sail from Hongkong for Brisbane
Date of Arrival in Brisbane uncertain

Tension & concern for safety of Missionaries with tighter Communist hold.

22.1.49 Communist take Peking
C.K.S. retires
20.4.49 Communists shell 2 British warships on Yangtse, killing 26
26.5.49 Shanghai falls
30.9.49 Mao elected Chairman of C.C.P.
1.10.49 People’s Republic Of China Proclaimed. Chou En-lai Premier & Foreign Minister
U.S.S.R. recognises new state.
Communists take Szechwan by end of year
8.12.49 Chiang Kai-shek to Taiwan

1950
C.I.M. General Director – insomnia. Still ‘Hold On’ policy.

15.2.50 Russia & China form common front
Land reform.
21.10.50 China invades Tibet
27.11.50 China enters Korean War to July 1953

1951
C.I.M. General Director to Australia to recuperate.
Christians imperilled by presence of foreigners.
Withdrawal imperative!
November - Bishop Houghton replaced by J.O.Sanders as G.D.

ONE FINAL CHAPTER

2010-02-24T18:54:00.000-08:00

“We are such stuff
As dreams are made on …”
- William Shakespeare

“Although so many years have elapsed since Captain White’s appointment was announced, we should be very happy to see you at an Investiture at Buckingham Palace.”

Thus wrote Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Matheson from Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood at St James’s Palace, London on 2nd June 2009. There is a little bit of Hyacinth Bucket in most women of my age, and I found myself wondering if the Postman had noticed the Palace stamp on the envelope!

My husband, Stuart Andrews, and I were of one mind. There was no question: we had to go! It would mean selling my car, but that was an easy decision to make. Two cars in a household of two was a luxury we had lived without before and could do so again. I was permitted three guests to accompany me to the Palace and I chose my husband, our elder son Stu who lives in Sydney, and our elder daughter Katy who lives in Northern Ireland. I apologised to our younger daughter Laura and younger son Duncan that they could not be included, but they were overwhelmingly supportive and generous in their attitude, eager to enjoy the quest vicariously.

The preparations began. Friends and family joined in, in all sorts of ways, helping to outfit us for the visit. Katy organized a Moss Brothers Suit in Ballymena for her big brother and found a stunning outfit for herself. We decided Stuart’s suit was equal to the occasion and bought a new shirt and tie for him. I chose a navy silk Chinese gown with a wool jacket and I made a matching hat. Our grandchildren collected emu feathers at the Tamworth Animal Park to pin to my hat with my mother’s silver Chinese broach. My friend Judy Allanson provided a kangaroo leather handbag made in Tamworth.

...

... a large sheet of manila card clasped with red corners in a cardboard backing. It is beautifully inscribed and signed by King George VI and his mother Queen Mary. It reads:

George the Sixth by the grace of God of Great Britain, Ireland and the British Dominions beyond the Seas, King, Defender of the Faith, emperor of India and Sovereign of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire to Our trusty and well-beloved Francis William Fielding White Esquire temporary Captain in our Indian Army
Greeting
Whereas We have thought fit to nominate and appoint you to be an Additional Member of the Military Division of Our said Most Excellent Order of the British Empire We do by these presents grant unto you the Dignity of an Additional Member of Our said Order and hereby authorise you to have hold and enjoy the said Dignity and Rank of an Additional Member of Our aforesaid Order together with all and singular the privileges thereunto belonging or appertaining.

Given at Our Court at Saint James’s under Our Sign Manual and the Seal of Our said Order, this Sixth day of June 1946 in the Tenth year of Our Reign
By the Sovereign’s Command
Mary R
Grand Master
Grant of the dignity of an Additional Member of the Military Division of the Order of the British Empire to Captain (temporary) Francis William Fielding White, I.A.

At the bottom, in the right hand corner is written in pencil: “Untraceable ‘48”.

On receiving this, I was asked if I would care to speak to reporters from the Associated Press. This I was happy to do, and the next day the following Press Release appeared on the A.P. website:

Missionary's girl collects award
The Queen has presented an MBE more than 60 years after it was awarded by her father, George the Sixth.
In the disruption following the end of the Second World War palace officials could not trace Captain Francis White and in 1948, after two years, they gave up the search.
Captain White was a missionary in China who was enlisted to work behind enemy lines, probably as an intelligence agent. When the war ended he and his family had to leave the country quickly and made their home in Australia.
He died in 2001 and never spoke fully to his family about what he did in the years he spent in the country.
It was only when researching the family history that his daughter, Marion Andrews, discovered that he had been given the honour for "gallant and distinguished service in Burma", but news of it had never reached him.
She collected the long-forgotten insignia and the original citation which is marked in pencil "untraceable" at Buckingham Palace.
Mrs Andrews, who was born in China but now lives in New South Wales in Australia, said: "He knew there was a medal he hadn't got but he never mentioned it was anything like this. I think if he had had an inkling he would have told us about it.
"I think he would have been quietly pleased."
Copyright © 2009 The Press Association. All rights reserved.

...

Stuart and I did complete our odyssey a month later when we travelled by train to Winchester to visit our friends at the Gurkha Museum. What a warm welcome we were given there! The Archivist, Gavin Edgerly-Harris and the Secretary of the Gurkha Welfare Association, Simon Lord gave up their whole day to us, taking us on an exclusive tour of the Museum – a rare treat, taking us to lunch at a warm old pub and showing us beautiful wet Winchester.

When we first arrived, we were welcomed by the Curator, Major Gerald Davies, the Honorary Secretary Major Pat Robeson as well as Field-Marshall Sir John Chapple and his wife. There was a bit of confusion because Sir John Chapple was arriving for a formal dinner, and the Curator needed to be free to welcome him not long after we arrived. However, it all worked out well because the Field Marshal was keen to meet us and talk about my father’s war service, so we all ended up crowded into the Curator’s office, talking animatedly across the room. Two Gurkha Orderlies brought us a cup of tea, and in all the coming and going we had photos taken. It was while I was balancing a cup of tea that the Curator handed me something all the men present seemed to consider very valuable. Mr. Edgerly-Harris told me they had to ask permission higher up in order to give it to me, and that I had better sit down to read it.

It is a photocopy of old typewriting on very thin paper, so that the marks from one side show through to the other on the photocopy. There are spots and dots in awkward places – a document with character! When I was unflustered enough to read it, this is what it said:

ACTION FOR WHICH COMMENDED: 

For outstanding devotion to duty in the face of adverse conditions.

In  August 1943 an R.A.F. service from INDIA to KUNMING in CHINA was  inaugurated, whence supplies for the MILITARY MISSION had to be  transferred by road convoy to CHUNGKING and the Forward Area involving  long distances over extremely bad roads.

Experience  with these convoys made it clear that each convoy required a British  Officer escort, with a knowledge of Chinese and the conditions of the  country.

Captain  WHITE, who was at the time working as a missionary in CHINA, promptly  volunteered for this arduous duty and, for over twelve months, by his  enthusiasm and devotion to duty, succeeded in maintaining a regular  convoy service and delivered supplies at their destinations in a highly  efficient manner. This was achieved in spite of almost impossible road  conditions through areas infested with bandits and with old  unserviceable vehicles which had long been condemned but could not be  replaced owing to the closure of the BURMA ROAD. 

As  a direct result of the efficiency and devotion to duty with which this  officer carried out his difficult task, supplies were regularly  delivered to the scattered units of the BRITISH MILITARY MISSION and  other British organisations in China.

Signed:

Major-General,

Commander,

Headquarters,

British Troops in China.

E.C. Hayes

Outside Westminster Cathedral on Remembrance Day 11.11.2009.

Cushion worked by China Martyr Edith Sherwood (1854-1900) and kept at St Paul's Cathedral.

MY CHINA MYSTERY

2009-07-10T23:44:00.000-07:00

CONTENTS:

PROLOGUE

CHAPTER 1 – SHANGHAI – OCTOBER 1939

CHAPTER 2 – TALI – NOVEMBER 1939 TO JULY 1940

CHAPTER 3 – KWANHSIEN – OCTOBER 1940 – JULY 1941

CHAPTER 4 – NINGKIANG – AUGUST 1941 – NOVEMBER 1941

CHAPTER 5 – NANCHENG – NOVEMBER 1941 – AUGUST 1942

CHAPTER 6 – NINGKIANG – AUGUST 1942 – JANUARY 1943

CHAPTER 7 – CHUNGKING – BRITISH MILITARY MISSION
– FEBRUARY 1943 – SEPTEMBER 1946

CHAPTER 8 – FIRST BOAT TO CHINA – JULY 1945 – I.M.D.

CHAPTER 9 – RETURN TO SHANGHAI – SEPTEMBER 1946 - FWFW

CHAPTER 10 – LANCHOW – OCTOBER 1946 – IMD

CHAPTER 11 – FENGSHIEN – DECEMBER 1946 – FWFW

CHAPTER 12 – JANUARY 1946 – THEY MET ON THE GREAT WALL

CHAPTER 13 – SEPTEMBER 1947 – SHANGHAI WEDDING

CHAPTER 14 – FENGSIANG – NOVEMBER 1947

CHAPTER 15 – T’SAI CHAI P’O – MARCH 1948

CHAPTER 16 – EVACUATE TO SZECHWAN – MAY 1948

CHAPTER 17 – PAONING – JUNE 1948

CHAPTER 18 – THE JOURNEY HOME – JULY 1949

CHAPTER 19 – THE RELUCTANT EXODUS

CHAPTER 20 – WHAT NEXT?

EPILOGUE