Memoir回憶錄回忆录
父親与民國My Father and the Republic of China
Chen Xoung-Chi’s book about his father, an army signals officer, from the Xi’an Incident and the war against Japan to the civil war, his capture in 1949 and his escape. It closes with a chapter from the author’s family history, Drifting Dust Comes to Rest: poems for his father’s centenary and a search for the family’s roots in Nanyang.
陳昌智為父親寫的書。父親是陸軍通信軍官，書中從西安事變、對日抗戰，寫到國共內戰、1949年被俘與脫險。書末收錄作者家族史《陌塵落地》的一章：父親百年誕辰的紀念詩文，以及南陽尋根之行。
陈昌智为父亲写的书。父亲是陆军通信军官，书中从西安事变、对日抗战，写到国共内战、1949年被俘与脱险。书末收录作者家族史《陌塵落地》的一章：父亲百年诞辰的纪念诗文，以及南阳寻根之行。
簡介由 AI（Claude）譯自英文，尚未經作者審閱。
作者簡介
陳昌智先生，1940年7月7日生，祖籍中國河南省南陽。1962年畢業於中華民國國防部聯合勤務總司令部財務學校，曾任職於中華民國聯勤總司令部財務署、救國團基隆市及台北市團委會，以及巴拿馬的中文報紙《共和報》（LA REPUBLICA）。
陳先生是知名的報紙編輯，著有多部中文作品。本書《父親與民國》是他的最新著作，以紀念摯愛的先父陳其二先生；先父若仍在世，2018年便滿一百歲。
本書共有兩冊：上冊記述他父親在第二次世界大戰期間擔任中華民國陸軍通信兵團軍官的軍旅生涯，親眼目睹中國人民在日本侵華期間所受的慘痛苦難，以及1945年中國人民慶祝最後勝利的歡欣。
下冊一經作者完成並發表，將隨即刊登於本碧波網站。
2018年7月10日更新
下冊已經完成，收錄了更多關於作者父親的感人故事：國民黨軍隊與共產黨人民解放軍內戰期間的經歷；以及他為搶救一位被解放軍追擊至海邊的陸軍將領，遭解放軍短暫俘虜（不到48小時），以致日後在台灣的軍旅生涯屢受挫折。然而他的父親始終忠於國民黨，繼續光榮服務，是一位傑出的通信旅旅長，也是陸軍通信兵學校的優良教官。作者也記述了他兒子到河南老家的難忘之行，去尋訪那些他從小到大一直聽人說起的地方。
文筆優雅的陳昌智先生，寫出了多麼精彩的故事！
原 PDF 有 34 個字因字型缺字而無法顯示，本頁已依上下文補上，或有出入。
Contents目錄目录 (26)
- 《父親與民國》
- 前言：脈絡一貫 生生不息
- 第1篇：西安事變時的一位 通信軍官
- 第2篇：先父與淞滬會戰
- 第3篇：峨嵋山軍官訓練團的 中尉教官
- 第4篇：抗戰初期武漢的一條 過江電纜
- 第5篇：長沙焚城時的父親
- 第6篇：見證全民大遷徙
- 第7篇：桂林大轟炸時的父親
- 第8篇：重慶大轟炸及 隧道慘案
- 第9篇：抗戰勝利前 父親的軍中資歷
- 第10篇：抗戰勝利前之 中外情勢
- 第11篇：抗戰勝利普天同慶
- 《父親與民國》（下）
- 第12篇：勝利後東北的形勢
- 第13篇：遼瀋會戰 決定東北命運
- 第14篇：中共渡江戰役前的 大陸形勢
- 第15篇：國共內戰時期的 青島撤退
- 第16篇：國共內戰時期的 廣州棄守
- 第17篇：父親有被俘紀錄
- 《陌塵落地》第肆章 《緬懷遠方的父親》
- 前言：
- 第1篇：父親百年誕紀念詩文
- 第2篇：重逢觀善寺
- 第3篇：南陽尋根
- 伍：寫在陌麈落地卷尾(跋)
《父親與民國》
作者簡介：
陳昌智：1940年7月7日生，祖籍河南南陽。1962年畢業於聯勤財務學校財務科六期。曾服務於聯勤總部財務署、救國團基隆市及台北市團委會、巴拿馬華文《共和報LA REPUBLICA》。
前言：脈絡一貫 生生不息
繼我的第一本著作《日照紅樓》於2017年12月出版之後，另一本記述家人，在台灣生活了70年成長過程，取陶淵明田園詩，擇句《陌麈落地》為書名，約10萬字的散文集，也於2018年1月底完成初稿。
2018年1月9日(陰曆冬月11月23日)，係先父百年誕辰，高齡94歲的家母，正值病中，家人分別在台北、洛杉磯兩地，各做了一次追思彌撒，萬般思緒湧上心頭。有必要將先父的事蹟，付諸於文字，留下一點紀錄，有其脈絡一貫、生生不息的意義，作為家人慎終追遠的參考。也佐證父親與中華民國之間，互動的涓涓歷史，是國民革命軍戰史不可或缺的一部份，是一部中國近代史的回顧，也是一部錦繡河山的巡禮。
先父生於民國6年(1917年)，逝世於民國96年(2007年)享年90歲。民國24年(1935年)畢業於陸軍通信兵團教導大隊，民國30年(1941年)，以中尉通信兵排長軍職，進入黃埔軍校通信兵科17期，畢業後升為上尉連長。
我的父親抗戰時期曾經擔任峨嵋山軍官訓練團將官班《無線電野外通信作戰》課程的中尉教官，813淞滬戰役在蘇州寒山寺，殺死兩名剪斷電話總機電線的漢奸。在武漢架設過一條，由漢口至武昌間的，跨江江底電話電纜。
國共內戰期間，由於他的專業、果敢，紐轉了一次戰役的勝負。正因為他對國家忠貞不二，對同袍忠誠，廣州棄守陽江之役，他處事得宜，使劉安祺司令官，以及後來，高升中、上將的兩名同儕免於被俘，自已卻成了解放軍的俘虜。
父親因有《被俘紀錄》，升遷、受訓、出國，過程備受刁難。但父親豁達包容，不怨天不尤人，淡泊一生。身處一個非常時期，他又能怎樣。他是一位好父親、好丈夫、更是一位優異愛國的軍人。
2018年2月4日於洛杉磯。
第1篇：西安事變時的一位
通信軍官
民國22年(1933年)夏天，中華民國陸軍通信兵團，在全國各大都市，招考高中以上程度青年，為通信兵基礎軍官，修業兩年畢業，派部隊工作，培訓地點在江蘇省鎮江市。
民國24年(1935年)4月，先父從陸軍通信兵團教導大隊修業期滿，成為陸軍通信兵准尉通信員，分派至揚州擔任見習官，實習電話線架設、無線電機操作及收發報、電話總機接線及維修等工作。
民國25年(1936年)7月，通信兵團擴大編制，父親於該年10月，委任為第1團第3營少尉排附，奉令前往陝西潼關，配屬第17路軍總指揮部作業，當時總指揮官是楊虎城。(1）
當年父親赴任之路，由揚州到南京，搭津浦路火車北上徐州，再轉隴海路，順黃河南岸西行，經開封、洛陽，到達潼關。
豈料，隴海鐵路西段因內戰因素，火車至河南陜縣，終止西進。父親只好北渡黃河，到達山西平陸，再往芮城，最後抵達風陵渡，與潼關近在咫尺。兩天路程，卻走了六天。
風陵渡隔著黃河，對面就是潼關。始料未及，來往兩地的鐵橋，也被封鎖。這是自出發後第五天中午的事了，眼看報到的時限就到，父親急如星火，整個下午四處尋找渡船。有一位五十開外的船東家，在父親誠懇的請求下，答應次日清晨渡河，這天晚上父親在一家小旅館將就，徹夜未眠。(2)
翌日晨五時許，船東依時到達，岸邊一層厚霜，氣溫很低，隠約可以看見晨曦，遠處傳來間隙的鷄鳴聲。風吹向潼關，對岸處在一片漆黑之中。
當船隻接近對岸大約300公尺左右，當地駐軍向小船喊話，因係逆風，根本聽不清楚在喊些什麼，小船繼續向前行進。不料槍聲大作，一排排子彈在船身四週如雨點般落下。
父親坐在船頭，卻很沈著，到岸時發現船夫已中彈身亡。駐軍看到是一位國軍的年輕軍官，經說明緣由後，順利登岸。船夫遺體送回故里安葬，軍方支付了一筆，在當時看來，還算很豐厚的安家費。
當時陜西情勢相當混亂，正值國軍各次剿共行動之後。民國23年(1934年)，中共《中央蘇維埃政府》放棄瑞金，開始向西移，經遵義、大渡河、川西瀘定、大雪山等地，於1935年10月，撤守至陝北延安。
1935年11月，中共中央提出《放棄內戰，聯合抗日》主張。當時的西北剿共副總司令張學良，代行總司令蔣中正職務，和陜西綏靖公署主任，兼第17路軍總指揮官的楊虎城，竟公然允許中共軍在綏靖區內，作各項宣傳活動。
以東北軍為主幹的剿共部隊，營區內處處可聞，官士兵們唱流亡三部曲中的《松花江上》個個厭戰思鄉，附合《國共聯手抗日》主張。
民國25年(1936年)12月初，張學良和楊虎城佯稱所部不穏，請蔣委員長前往安撫。12月12日凌晨發動兵變，並軟禁蔣委員長於西安绥靖公署。張楊二人提出八項政治主張，但被蔣委員長嚴辭拒絕，軟禁長達半個月，史稱西安事變。蔣中正的《先安內後攘外》政策，成了《國共攜手共同抗日》，中國共産黨有了喘息的機會。(3)
1930年代的中國，電信事業已臻於先進國家之林，毫不誇口。二線以上都市，都設有電信局，運用亞、歐、美三洲海底電纜，進行電報業務至世界各國。同時也啓用載波電話，除了通往海外，在國內包括軍方在內，同軸電話電纜可以同時開通200路電話。軍事電話總機與各地電信局聯線，設有戰備專線。民間與軍方通話，必須透過軍方總機過濾，以確保軍事機密。通信兵是當時走在時代尖端的科技兵種。
父親奉調潼關，在西安事變前一個月，配屬於第7軍42師防區内的一座電話總機房內工作。軍長馮欽哉將軍，係蔣中正的嫡系，與其直屬長官楊虎城的理念相左，西安事變前後，曾兩度蒞臨總機房巡視，訓勉官兵堅守崗位。
1936年12月22日，蔣夫人宋美齡女士，由南京飛往西安。行前，一通《加級緊急電話》，由電信局專線轉至父親工作的電話總機，值班的正是我的父親。發話人及受話人則是蔣夫人和張學良。父親有緣能夠接駁這通電話，是他一生從事軍事通信工作中，津津樂道，值得記述的一件事。
事變結束前的幾天，父親在總機和收發報機旁，連續70多個小時，沒有離機。臉色蒼白、血壓降低、兩眼紅腫、充滿血絲。事後療養了十餘天，才逐漸恢復。民國30年(1941年)父親在重慶，獲頒一枚《參與西安事變有功人員紀念章》。(4，本篇完）
第2篇：先父與淞滬會戰
1937年8月13日，抗日戰爭史上最慘烈的淞滬會戰爆發，揭開了中國全面抗戰的序幕。淞滬會戰為期三個月，先父全程參與，經過兩次換防，一次由寶山馳往南翔，另一次由南翔轉進蘇州。
當年父親是陸軍通信兵第一團補充營的少尉排長，配屬88師，負責電話總機通話業務。兩次移防均在晚間進行，由於國軍車輛短缺，一般後勤作業只能雇用民間車輛支援。
軍方規定，夜間行駛的車輛嚴禁開燈及鳴按喇叭。因此司機的駕駛技術受到考驗，在公路上只能緩慢行進。
兩次換防所見略同，夜空一片潻黑，找不到一顆星星，車輛載著人員及沉重的通信器材，像一頭氣喘吁吁的老牛，緩步在公路上。(1）
駛經之處不時聽到咕咚咕咚聲，車輪底下更傳來哀嚎之聲。這咕咚咕咚聲是汽車輾過屍體時所發出的聲音，哀嚎聲則是來自敵我雙方的傷兵。
戰爭恐怖悚慄的氣氛，使人精神緊繃。在這樣一個場景之下，根本不允許你下車，去辨別車輪下的人誰死誰活，更别説用什麼方法，救他們一命，戰爭的慘烈可見一斑。
先父於戰役中期，9月20日凌晨，進駐南翔雲翔寺。到達後數小時內，立即執行總機通話業務，至10月28日轉進蘇州寒山寺，為期39天。期間日軍砲火波及電話線路中斷，多達20餘次。父親帶領排內弟兄，不畏槍林彈雨進行搶修，生死早已置之度外。在一人陣亡，六人輕重傷的情況下，換得線路暢通。通信兵在戰場上前仆後繼的忠烈精神，媲美一線戰鬥部隊，令人感佩。(2)
10月3日，日軍阻斷國軍右翼後路，於廟行、真如、南翔發動全面攻擊，激戰五晝夜，所見之處横屍遍野。日軍竟在水源、水井下毒，斷我軍民生機。雲翔寺孤懸受困，糧秣供應中斷，官兵已無米下炊，且飲水用盡。寺內兩匹戰馬的尿液，視為珍品，並與寺內僧侶分食南瓜充饑，之後數日竟無任何東西可食。
10月31日，國軍完全退出上海後，戰役中期結束，戰略上已牽制了日軍西進。隨之日軍恣意燒殺，以為報復，雲翔寺未能倖免，亦遭燒毀，僅存佛塔，父親則於三日前奉令撤離，移防蘇州。
蘇州城外楓橋邊的寒山寺，是父親在淞滬會戰中的第三個駐地，寺內一禪房被闢為通信指揮中心的電話總機房。大約是十一月中旬，一個週日的早上，蔣委員長打電話給湯恩伯。父親當時正在總機值班，通話不到一分鐘，突然電訊中斷。照說維護工作一向很好，不應出現這種情形，確實有點不正常。(3)
父親毫不遲疑地奔出室外，見一人在電線桿上持續剪斷電話線，下面還有一名助手接應。父親頃刻間掏出手槍，朝向兩人射去，沒想到槍法出奇準確，兩人當場斃命。
父親立即奔回室內，拿著接線工具，爬上電線桿，搶接電線。算算前後不到七分鐘，電話接通了。這真是要命的七分鐘，有加電影情節。如果當時不立刻處置，誤了軍機，後果不堪設想。
父親立即向湯恩伯將軍報告事情經過，湯將軍只說了一聲《知道了》命令立刻接通委員長電話。另一端蔣先生也問起為什麼斷了話，湯恩伯說明後，委員長說了兩聲：《很好，很好。》。
父親事後被告之，那兩個剪電線的人，是上海來的漢奸，站崗的衛兵也被刺成重傷。一週後，通信兵團給父親記了一個大功，稍後被派至漢口，接受新的任務。
先父陳其二，黃埔軍校通信兵科17期畢業，歷任排、連、營長及軍通信組組長、參謀、教官等職。2007年10月逝世於台北市，享年90歲。(4，本篇完)
第3篇：峨嵋山軍官訓練團的
中尉教官
民國23年（1934年)11月10日，國軍江西剿共，攻克瑞金，共軍大舉西進。次年(1935年)元月，蔣委員長趁勢飛抵重慶，整頓川政，指揮剿共軍事。7月，以軍事委員會名義，繼1933年7月3日成立廬山軍官訓練團後，為促進《川軍中央化》，在成都西南，樂山大佛以西的峨嵋山，成立峨嵋山軍官訓練團，蔣中正兼團長，劉湘為副團長，陳誠為教育長。
民國25年(1936年)12月西安事變，改變了《先安內後攘外》的形勢，川軍中央化更有其必要。國民政府積極開展峨嵋山軍官訓練團課程。甄選四川、西康、青海各省軍政人員，共4003人，前後共三期，接受訓練，全力投入抗日作戰。(1)
民國26年(1937年)11月，淞滬會戰結束後，先父陳其二，由蘇州奉調漢口，晉升為中尉排長。配屬於軍令部部本部工作，到任未到一個月，接獲時任軍事委員會軍官訓練團教育委員會委員，同時又是陸軍通信兵團總監的華振麟將軍的指令，由黃埔軍校通信兵科六期的學長王中校為領隊，會同八期的劉少校及先父三人，於一週內抵達峨嵋山報到。教授將官班《有、無線電野外通信》課程。
三人搭乘火車及汽車，兼程直奔峨嵋山軍官訓練團，旅途中勤作功課，父親反覆熟悉助講內容。至於華振麟將軍為何圈選父親，當時的反應是驚喜、惶恐又感戴莫名。(2)
在教官團裡，通信教官年紀最輕，軍階也低，父親的階級更是最低的一位。受訓學員及軍職教官，一律住宿營區。各軍長任大隊長，師長任中隊長，旅長任區部長。週六下午及週日，才能外出，星期天晚間回營點名。
父親擔任解說通信器材操作課程，包括電話總機、收發報機、手搖電話、無線電話，收發電報、旗語等等，課程不涉及戰術理論。
學員群星雲集，有楊森、劉文輝、夏之時、尹昌衡、鄧錫侯等人，以及旅長以上軍官。
抗戰時期的川軍，無役不從，四川子弟遍及抗日主要戰場，指揮官多數結業自峨嵋山軍官訓練團，贏得《無川不成軍，有川克日軍。》的讚譽。
父親晚年給我們兄弟姐妹講了一個故事：民國24年(1935年)，時任陸軍通信兵團團長的華振麟，到達培訓通信基礎軍官的教導大隊，慰勉師生，學生列隊接受點名，大隊長尹世鍇是華振麟保定軍校的同學，陪伴在側。
華振麟對父親的名字，頗感興趣。問道：誰給你取的名字啊。答：我的爺爺。問：有其一、其三嗎。答：其一、其四是堂兄弟，其三、其五是弟弟。
華團長看到名冊上，父親生於民國六年，是隊上最年輕的一位。問尹世鍇：這位同學表現如何。答：名列前矛。
後來，父親在西安事變及淞滬會戰中，表現優異。華振麟對父親，有了更加一層的認識。
當年，尹世鍇絕對不會想到，數年後，站在面前的這位學生，成了他的姪女婿。(3，本篇完)
第4篇：抗戰初期武漢的一條
過江電纜
民國27年(1938年)2月，先父自峨嵋山軍官訓練團，完成教學任務後，返回漢口正金銀行，軍令部部本部通信中心。
民國27年國民政府已遷都重慶，武漢三鎮成了對日抗戰的第一線，軍方的通信業務倍增。當時的通信兵團總監華振麟將軍，為因應作戰需求，急需舖設一條由漢口至武昌的電話線路，以疏解軍方利用民間電信局通話，數量快速增加的壓力。迫於形勢，這條線路要限期完成。(1)
民國27年4月間，由於先父在西安事變、八一三淞滬會戰，以及峨嵋山軍官訓練團期間，有優異的表現。華將軍挑選了我的父親，去執行這項艱鉅的任務。
接到命令的第二天，華將軍在通信兵第一團團部，召開工作會議，指示各項工程相關事項。包括民工、民船的徵召，水紋水流、潮汐漲落資料的蒐集，施工期間航運暢通的配合，電線電纜受壓能力的評估，經費的申請等等。
在各方人力物力充分的支援下，準備工作一週之內就達標完成。接下來，就是施工人員的工作了。
隨後父親跟召來的船夫，會同港務局的一位技正，勘查施工地點，認為從漢口的王家巷碼頭，到對岸武昌的曾家巷最為合適。經請示上級同意後，立即在第三天開始動工。(2)
漢口王家巷附近就是漢江的出口處，到武昌曾家巷大約有兩公里。長江自漢口以下，每逢夏季可通行萬噸級輪船，當時是四月中旬，尚未到航運尖峰時期，減少了一些架線的困擾。
為趕進度，漢口及武昌兩邊同時施工，每隔50公尺安置一艘漁船，下深水錨固定船位，不使船隻晃動。用粗竹桿加長各船桅桿，至5公尺左右，電纜在空中，由甲船桅桿串聯至乙船桅桿，小型船隻可在電纜之下，兩船之間，通行無阻。
施工最難處，是架設一條水下電纜，約有100公尺長，橫過江中最深處，在原有水道上，大型船艦照常通行。
父親雖有架設陸上電話線的豐富經驗，但是舖設水底電纜，就要考驗他的智慧了。
在港務單位的配合下，父親連同一名排附四名士官，加上六名潛水夫，六人在水面，六人在水底。先探勘水底地形地物，大致與地面相同，增加了父親工作的信心。於是將電纜拉下江底，由潛水夫固定在岩石上。父親背著氧氣筒，水上、水底作聯絡工作。
水底固樁的工作出奇的難，水流又急又冷，水底耽擱時間不能太久，六名潛水夫輪番下水，才能接續工作。(3)
一次失敗，再來一次，從失敗中得到經驗，更利用水流減緩時，加速工作。就這麼一段距離，足足施工了兩個白天，天氣溫暖，晴空萬里也是原因。最後港務局在各水道，設置限高警語，通告各船務公司，船隻通行注意事項。並派遣水警船，全天候警戒。
這條抗戰史上，橫跨長江漢口至武昌間的過江電話線，全程使用同軸電纜，同一時段可承載120條電話通話，足夠戰區內作戰時的載荷能量。基於戰略考量，軍方自行施工，達到快速、經濟、實用、利於拆除的目的。全部工程在全體同仁，精誠團結、堅決意志、奮鬥到底的精神下趕在限期內完成。(4)
經過總機連線、通話品質測試。軍令部、通信兵團相關人員會同軍事監察官，完美驗收。
次日，華振麟將軍陪同多位長官，蒞臨總機房。軍令部長徐永昌將軍，利用新電話線打電話給武昌某部指揮官，話質淸晰，相當滿意。華振麟當面嘉獎父親，在場宣告，他是要考驗他的學生，能否擔當重任。
這條線路，在抗戰初期，充分發揮了它的功能，1938年10月，武漢失守，八年對日抗戰第一期結束，這條電話電䌫奉令拆除。
先父陳其二，字仲影，河南南陽人，黃埔軍校通信兵科17期，歷任排、連、營長，軍通信組長，參謀，教官等職。2007年10月逝世於台北市，享年90歲。(5)
民國62年(1973年)華振麟八十壽辰，在台學生30餘人，在台北空軍新生社，為老師祝壽，當年舖設江底電纜的往事，也成了話題。
民國87年(1998年)父親與家母回上海探親，並前往武漢探望其胞弟陳其五，同登黃鶴樓眺望長江，六十年前的事情，一幕幕浮現眼前，前方漢口的王家巷碼頭，隱約可見。父親見景生情，返台後向我們兄弟姐妹道出了，當時他的感受，不禁感慨歎息：《滾滾長江東逝水，浪花淘盡英雄。是非成敗轉頭空，青山依舊在，幾度夕陽紅。》。(6，本篇完)
第5篇：長沙焚城時的父親
民國26年(1937年)7月7日至民國27年(1938年)10月27日武漢會戰結束，在抗日戰爭史上，屬第一期。此其間國民政府於1937年11月27日，由南京遷都重慶，是謂陪都。
1938年10月31日武漢全面撤守，父親於前一日隨通信兵第一團轉進湖南衡陽，派職於南嶽衡山軍事委員會9戰區，戰指中心通信指揮所工作。
蔣委員長於武漢撤守前數日，由武漢飛抵衡陽，住進南嶽官邸。10月25日，蔣由南嶽飛抵長沙，召開高層軍事會議。陳誠、何應欽、白崇禧、張治中、馮玉祥、張群、唐生智等人參加。指示陳誠，武漢失守，考慮焦土政策，焚城撤離。
蔣問張治中：敵人來了，你們長沙怎麼辦。張未作回答，蔣接著說：用火給燒掉，任何搬不走的物資全燒掉，絕對不能留給敵人。
10月31日，蔣委員長在南嶽發表《武漢撤離告全國軍民書》。湖南省主席張治中，訓令長沙城內，無論軍事機關、學校、商店、住宅、工廠，備妥包括汽油筒在內的各種易燃物品和引火材料，情況緊急時，以焦土焚城，對抗日軍。
當時第9戰區司令長官薜岳率領52軍、73軍、77師、195師等精鋭部隊，正在鄂南、湘北地區，與日軍作殊死戰鬥。南嶽衡山戰情中心，顯得格外忙碌。父親正逢其時，時任通信兵第一團四營中尉排長，就派遣在衡山戰情中心，電報電話總機房工作。(1)
11月12日近午夜，長沙城內有一軍醫院失火，又有一說是一間民間工廠失火，火勢兇猛，濃煙滾滾，照亮夜空。於是以訛傳訛，說日軍兵臨長沙城外三里。省主席張治中、警備司令酆悌、警察局長文重孚、警備二團團長徐琨等人，急如星火，亂了方寸。未經研判，竟執行焦土政策。
13日凌晨二時，長沙城內數百處同時放火，全市一片火海，混亂可想而知，民眾驚慌失措，未能即時疏散。造成史蹟文物財産鉅大損失，以及數萬民眾的傷亡。
長沙焚城與黃河花園口決堤，重慶防空洞事件，合稱抗戰史上三大慘案。在二次世界大戰史上，長沙與華沙、史達林格勒、廣島、長崎，並列五大毀壞都市。(2)
13日近中午，消息傳至官邸，蔣介石極為震驚，怒火沖天，電話至戰情中心，令值星官速傳酆悌，因外出公幹，未果。再傳張治中，亦然。父親全程接駁電話，神經緊繃至極。不到三個小時，蔣委員長已到長沙。
十二日當天，放火之前，戰情中心已掌握情報，十一日日軍攻陷岳陽，十二日中日兩軍對峙於新牆河之線，距離長沙約300公里，並電告相關單位知照，為何外傳僅3公里，又不查究竟，的確失職，不可原諒。誤燒長沙城，犯下嚴重缺失，而且貽笑國際。
委員長責令軍法審判：警備司令酆悌有期徒刑10年，警察局長文重孚有期徒刑7年。警備二團團長徐琨，放火未經批准，有期徒刑7年。但奉批《所判各員，瀆職殃民，一律槍決。張治中撤職查辦。》。(3）
1938年11月16日，長沙焚城第四天，蔣介石選派薛岳將軍，前往長沙任事，以填空群龍無首的場面。
歷史學家袁定華在其著作《抗日領袖蔣介石》一書中，11章4節有這麼一段文字，記述不堪回首的長沙大火：中國軍隊撤出武漢後，統帥部原本預定設在湖南長沙，不料就在其時發生了長沙大火，於是蔣委員長飛駐衡山，轉往重慶。
針對這段文字，引發了蔣委員長在長沙焚城前後，人究竟在哪裡的熱議。在長沙？在衡山？或是重慶。
父親有緣，長沙大火期間，他正在衡山戰情中心總機房，擔任値星官。在接駁蔣委員長的加急電話中，可以見證蔣公當時人在衡山。事件處理完畢後，與蔣夫人宋美齢，一起飛往重慶。(4)
2004年春節過後不久，我和妻前往洛杉磯郡蒙特利公園市，晉見一位尊長，黃埔軍校步科十期的徐遠威將軍。在其寓所與其家人，渡過了一個溫馨愉快的下午。大家聆聽了徐老伯的軍旅生涯，也談到了長沙焚城的軼事。涉獵到，是誰下的命令放火燒城，又是誰放的那第一把火。
這位退役中將，是中華民國前駐巴西代表，相當於大使職位的徐光普先生的尊翁，那年徐老伯已經九十一歲。身體硬朗，還能獨自搭乘飛機，來往於洛杉磯、台北之間。
下達燒城命令的人，可能是酆悌，更有可能是張治中。文重孚和徐琨是執行單位的首長，自然不是命令者。至於誰放了那第一把火，徐老伯提起了他的一位同期同學蘇遠鵬，此君與蔣緯國、王多年、陳衣凡，同屬黄埔步科十期同窗。當年是長沙警備二團的一位上尉連長，得到命令後帶領連上弟兄百餘人，兵分十餘路，到長沙城七百多條街道，縱火焚城，造成抗戰史上永遠的傷痛。
徐老伯是一位將軍書法家，尤精於仿唐僧人懷素的狂草。我當天求得墨寶一幅，當塲揮毫，蒼勁有力，字如其人。寫下《世事若流水 古懷是春風》，以誌追念。(5，本篇完)
第6篇：見證全民大遷徙
民國26年(1937年)7月17日，蔣介石委員長發表《最後關頭》演說，是謂《廬山抗戰宣言》，揭示《國人再沒有妥協的機會，如果放棄尺寸土地與主權，便是中華民族千古罪人。》。
同年8月13日，國軍主動在上海發起《淞滬會戰》，牽制了百萬日軍，打破了日本《西進中國，三月亡華》的迷夢。《以空間換取時間》成了抗日戰爭戰略上的最高指導原則。
民國27年(1938年)10月31日，武漢棄守，抗日戰爭第一階段結束。次月，日軍進侵湖南，在此背景之下，中華兒女在《抗戰第一》、《勝利第一》的終極目標下，從全國各省區，利用任何一種可以利用的交通工具，甚至負重步行，不畏艱險，餐風露宿，將人才、物資、文物，後撤至大後方，廣西、貴州、雲南、四川、西康、青海各地，在中華民族歴史上，是一次抵禦外侮的全民大遷徙。(1）
抗戰時期連四川的老農夫都知道，什麽是《焦土政策》，什麽是《以空間換取時間》。
抗戰的大後方，除西藏地方、蒙古地方不計外，西南6省：桂、黔、滇、蜀、康、青，面積223萬平方公里。西北3省：陜、甘、新面積228萬8千平方公里。大後方9省面積合計452萬8千平方公里，佔當時中國面積1100萬平方公里的百分之四十一，是日本四島總面積37萬8千平方公里的38倍。日本百萬大軍，如果擺在抗戰大後方，每平方公里才0．22人。國民政府的《以空間換取時間》的大戰略，絕對是正確的。(2)
在如此大形勢大環境之下，日軍侵華的戰爭手段有了修正，除了持續不斷在華北、華中、華南各省，與國軍作殊死戰，直到1945年夏初。日軍在華兵力，1940年曾增兵至200萬人。
1938年10月日軍攻陷武漢後，戰略上改採陸空恊同作戰，用轟炸方式逐步由東向西挺進。炸鐵路、炸橋梁、炸水庫、炸軍事設施、炸城市中心。1938年初，日本在華軍機，已達1500架。1938年12月，日機選擇湖南境內的湘黔鐵路和湘桂鐵路，進行轟炸。(3)
民國28年(1939年)元月，父親奉令隨通信兵第一團團夲部，後撤至桂林。服務的第四營第一連內，有三個有線電架設排，一個無線電排，作戰經驗一時之選。
兩座電話總機，十台收發報機，一百餘部電話皮機，三百多盤電話線及架設工具，隨同全連官兵，上了三個火車車廂。開始衡陽至桂林，全長490公里的移防路程。
抗戰時期的湘桂鐵路，起自湖南衡陽，經廣西全縣、桂林，止於柳州，全長650公里，在抗戰前期，發揮了鉅大的運輸功能。(4)
這列火車上，還各有一個工兵連、衛生連和高砲連。為了避開日本軍機襲擊，多半在夜晚行駛，視地形速度時快時慢，站站皆停，以便增掛車廂。各連連長，每站均聽取站長滙報，瞭解全線通車狀況，作為行車安全參考。
第二晚，車停黎家坪，有相當長的一段時間。消息傳來，祁陽城已被日機轟炸，數條街道已成火海。冷水灘至東安縣間的鐵路和橋梁，也被炸斷炸毀。
各連長綜合站長意見，冷水灘地勢隱密，遠比黎家坪安全，決議連夜趕往冷水灘。畢竟抗戰時期的軍需物資，極度珍貴，有《一滴汽油一滴血》，《一尺電線救一命》的說法。(5）
冷水灘當年是湘桂鐵路上的一個小站，湘江流經其東南，如今是湖南永州城北的一個區。城南的芝山區，瀟水在此與湘江會合，稱為瀟湘。在軍事戰略上，有極其重要的地位。冷水灘站，今已更名為永州站。
列車到達冷水灘，無線電排已聯繫上桂林的團本部。指令人員隨器材改搭湘江木船，經廣西全縣、興安，至桂林歸隊。(6)
列車調度後退，至一處碼頭最近處，由後勤留守處安排，零陵地區車船動員委員會支援的兩艘木船，已經靠岸。通信器材由車廂到船艙，卸裝一次完成。
正要搬動之時，碼頭得到緊急通知，即將到站的另一列火車，載運一批重要物資，要優先登船，經了解是故宮文物，這是軍事委員會的通令，必須遵行。
這批故宮博物院的國寶，是西遷北、中、南三路運輸的南路，由北平經上海、漢口、長沙、衡陽，運往桂林，再轉重慶。兩百多個大小不同的木箱，是全部故宮文物西遷近20萬件的一部份，由一個步兵連護送，全民支援，一路歷經風霜雪雨，載搭火車、汽車、輪船、江輪、牛車、馬馱、舢舨，甚至拉縴而行。
故宮文物是中華民族五千年來的文化結晶，國家遭逢空前危難之時，保護文物，全國同胞，責無旁貸。(7)
民國28年(1939年）至民國30年(1941年），亦即抗戰第一期結束，到1941年12月9日中華民國對日本宣戰期間，湘南境內全民大遷徙的路線有三條：一為湘桂鐵路，二為湘江水路，三為湘桂公路。
湘桂鐵路沿綫被日軍轟炸後，湘江及湘桂公路，立即繁忙起來。然而這兩條運輸線，水路安全及公路載重均不如鐵路。尤其在湖南冷水灘至廣西全縣(今已更名為全州縣)全長79公里湘江段行駛船隻，也是日軍轟炸目標。(8)
當時中華民國的空軍，已有9個大隊，下屬31個中隊，劃歸中央航空委員會，各型戰機多購自美國，總共也只有300餘架。面對幅員廣大的戰場，主要任務在配合地面部隊作戰，根本無法顧及後勤支援，也只能仰賴高砲部隊擔任後撤人員、物資，運輸途中的防空任務。因此滯留在冷水灘，準備改搭木船的這支高砲連，奉令分三梯次，擔任故宮文物，水上運輸防空警戒任務。(9)
在冷水灘的這個通信連，距離故宮文物運出四個小時之後，才上了船。順江而下過瀟水，轉西南，經湘桂省界的棗木舖，進入廣西境內邊界小鎮黃沙河，已是第四天清晨。
黃沙河在明清時代，是漕運關卡，也是船隻靠岸補給，裝卸貨物的地方。船靠了岸，官兵下船活動，停留三個小時後，續往全縣行駛。
小鎮步行20分鐘足可走完，只有一條大街，數條巷弄。展現眼前的是，悸怖驚心的場景，觸目皆是離鄉背井、流離顛沛、困苦勞頓的難民。(10）
這批難民為數至少有七、八百名之多，多半來自華南各省，少、中、壯年居多。鎮上僅有的兩家客棧，天天客滿，客房裏外皆見席地而坐，臥地就睏的旅客，幾乎騰不出一條通道。
臘月裡的湘桂邊界，氣溫仍低，屋簷下，街道旁，裹著棉被將就一夜的人，處處皆是。大樹下栓著與主人同行的騾馬，瘦得可見筋骨。三間小飯館，食物供不應求，顧客沒有選擇餘地，饑不擇食，能夠吃口熱食，已是天大享受。
有個令人心碎的事：大樹下有兩個籮筐，紙板上寫著《請善心人士 領養我的孩子》，背面有孩子的家庭背景和原鄉地址。
孩子的父母來自江西吉安，兩個月前從家鄉出發，搭乘了各種不同的交通工具，越往西走越難行，最後無車船可搭，唯有步行一途。家當和孩子放在兩個竹筐裡，夫妻輪流挑擔而行。在湘南丘陵的一條公路上，遇見一批難友，路上卻遭遇到日本軍機的低空掃射，母親慘死槍下。父親帶著孩子來到這個小鎭，病死之前託付難友，領養孩子。在這兵荒馬亂的時期，還有誰會去領養孩子呢。兩姐弟在籮筐裡，拼命地哭喊著，大家無能為力。
誠畏天命而悲人窮，老天爺開了眼，一位比利時籍的神父、三名修女，帶領30餘名孤兒，大的有十五、六歲，小的只有兩、三歲，一步一步，步履維艱地走進小鎮，這兩名籮筐裡的小姐弟，第二天由孤兒院裡的大哥哥大姊姊們背着，走向大後方桂林。(11)
木船當天傍晚，停靠湘江與灌陽河交滙處的全縣碼頭，午夜開船，官兵可上岸自由活動。
父親與同儕夜遊城景，多數商家已打烊休息，倒是路邊灘的生意很旺，陣陣烤地瓜，煮玉米、花生、毛豆的香味，撲鼻而來。水果灘以銷售柑、橘、沙田柚居多。
在街上巧遇一群談笑風聲的學生，來自長沙、衡陽的五所中學，由各校長帶隊，組成一個近300人的流亡學生團隊，由長沙出發，前往大後方繼續求學，團隊內還有十餘位就讀於國立長沙臨時大學的在校生，分別來自北京大學、清華大學、南開大學。流亡的路線大致與難民雷同，搭乘各種交通工具，包括步行。
學生隊伍到達桂林後，分兩路，北上重慶，南去昆明。大學生將趕在西南聯大第二學年開學前，到達昆明。中學生則分別進入西南各省22個國立中學。
抗戰時期蔣介石委員長一再提醒國人《國破家亡，什麼都可耽誤，就是不能耽誤學生們的功課》。1937年11月，西南聯大遷往長沙，次年轉進昆明，師生三百多人，由長沙步行至雲南，張治中委派黃師岳中將率重兵護送，安全到達，可見政府對教育的重視。
父親抗戰期間，由衡陽調往桂林途中，有緣遇到了故宮文物、軍需物資、兵員人才，運用各種方式，動員全民西進，充實戰力，抗戰第一，勝利第一，國家至上，民族至上。這就是我們最終贏得對日抗戰勝利的抗戰精神。(12，本篇完)
第7篇：桂林大轟炸時的父親
民國28年(1939年）1月下旬，父親到達桂林。巧的是，我的母親隨外婆及一妹一弟，於一個星期前，先行到達。當時我的父親還不認識我的母親，兩個月後經友人介紹在桂林訂婚。
1939年抗戰進入中期，國民政府在桂林的行營，發輝了重大的指揮功能，負責指揮長江以南第三、四、九各戰區作戰。同年華中、南各省的民間工廠及軍需工廠，多達100多家，遷來桂林。桂林除了是政治、軍事的重鎮之外，也是全國學術文化精英滙集的地方。
1939這一年，日本軍機開始向我大後方實施《疲勞轟炸》，單就桂林一地，抗戰期間，日機出動多達1218架次，所投炸彈多係燃燒彈，大轟炸前後有六次，桂林城一片火海，人員傷亡近10萬人，炸毀之民房商店、軍事設施，難以估計。(1)
父親到達桂林的第二天，全連官兵各就崗位，各有線電架設排，分配中型卡車一輛。無線電排則配屬一輛，功能極差，初次投入戰場，被國軍虜獲的日本豐田軍用小卡車。
桂林全城軍用電話總機，就有十餘座，路線分佈山區多於平地，維護、搶修，難度更甚於813淞滬戰役。
第三天是個大晴天，上午上班上學時間，空襲警報響起，空襲黃色球升起，數分鐘後緊急警報接續而來，紅色球升起。
大約有兩個大隊50餘架日本軍機，自東北方飛臨桂林上空，一次永遠不會忘記的場景，出現眼前。(2)
大轟炸近一個小時後，解除警報響起，七星岩、穿山岩兩處天然防空洞內，近兩萬名平民，拼命奔回家園。目覩灕江西岸，北自虞山公園，南到南溪公園，最繁華的桂林城區一片火海，白煙、黑煙、火舌交替，直衝雲端。
當時我們的戰機，根本沒有能力升空攔截，高射砲兵所使用的最新式德製75厘米、88厘米高射機槍，也只能發揮一些阻嚇能力。
1938年11月，廣州失守，三十年代中國作家巴金，來到桂林，日本軍機多次空襲桂林的經歷，歴歴在目。寫下了系列日軍轟炸桂林罪惡暴行的散文集，《桂林的受難》、《桂林的微雨》、《生死者》。深刻描繪出轟炸後的桂林景象。
我看見那些被炸後的殘破房屋，成了一堆瓦礫。看見頭髮和衣服還站在地上帶血的人皮，看見了排列在郊外街巷裏等待處理，無辜者的屍體。無法在火堆中，找到任何可用的東西。旅館樓房坍塌了，如山洪爆發的巨響之後，我聽見一個男子在廢墟上發出救命的聲音。(3）
搶修電話線是通信兵急迫的任務，那怕是空襲中也要出任務。軍事委員會委員長桂林行營，通往各戰區、各部隊的電話線路，必須24小時暢通，出了狀況，就是槍林彈雨，也要赴湯蹈火，置生死於不顧。
父親在執行任務中，上有敵機轟炸，地面部隊頻繁移動，哀鴻遍野、觸目驚心。電線桿上可見血肉模糊的殘缺手臂，水溝中橫七八豎身首異處的屍體。路邊一位哀號的母親，緊緊抱住被炸死的一對兒女。
任務中，父親遇見一位美聯社的戰地記者，不顧自身安危，捕捉戰爭畫面，通信兵冒死搶修電話線，也入了鏡頭。正是父親帶著弟兄，前往英國駐華使舘新聞處桂林分處，搶通電話的途中。父親心情激盪，看見一位外國新聞媒體工作者，不畏生死，克盡職守。想到自已的軍人身分，能在自已的國土裏，為保國護民，抵禦外侮，盡忠職守，也就心安理得了。這年四月，父親奉令調往重慶，接受新的任務。(4，本篇完)
第8篇：重慶大轟炸及
隧道慘案
1938年11月，抗戰進入第二期，日本對湘、桂，黔、川各省進行轟炸。12月26日，首次對陪都重慶實施戰略轟炸，沿著嘉陵江畔投彈三百餘枚，測試中國軍隊的作戰能力。陪都的軍事通信，受到嚴格考驗，層峯責令通信兵團，重新佈署兵力增至一個通信兵營。
1939年3月，父親奉令隨部隊，移防重慶。因湘桂鐵路桂林至柳州段，已被日軍炸毀，無法轉乘黔桂鐵路火車北上重慶，只有徒步行軍，過潯江入貴州，進四川。
與其同時，我的外婆帶著我的母親，卻從桂林順灕江接栁江南下柳州，轉輾貴陽到達重慶，與我的父親會合。(1)
1939年3月下旬，父親跟著這支通信兵部隊，從桂林出發，北上龍勝到達三江，全長120公里，尚有汽車支援。
餘程至貴陽600公里，通信器材改由馬䭾，官兵步行。個人裝備：黃卡其布軍常服、長褲、布帽、S腰帶、倒U型背包、水壺、布綁腿、黑襪，膠鞋換成草鞋。
每天行軍12小時，每小時以8公里速度行進，隊伍縱深1公里，連長在前，副連長壓後，各持野戰無線電話，以掌握部隊狀況，每日固定與鄰近駐軍，以收發報機，報告部隊位置。(2)
貴州省的地勢平均為海拔一千公尺，西部高於東部，部隊行經的東南山區，也在五百公尺以上。在當時的時空環境之下，是廣西北上四川，避免日機轟炸，最快捷的一條通道。
入黔後，由從江縣，經榕江縣到都勻這一段，所經之處河流湍急而狹窄，又無航船之利，且山嶺起伏、平地極少、春雨綿綿，道路泥濘不堪。
日間行軍，夜間借住苗寨、侗寨，埋灶紥營。驚悚的是，半夜狼群覓食、攻擊營帳，必須獵殺才能阻嚇。
欣慰的是，苗侗各寨，居民善良，給予部隊諸多協助。沿途除了瀏覽雄偉山川，秀麗美景外，也見識了苗侗民族的奇風異俗，文化特色。
從江：苗族岜沙人，男性勇士帶刀帶槍，捍衛家鄕。岜沙男女，面向東方倒退行走，祭拜太陽。15歲成年，陰曆6月15日為情人節，舉辦鬥牛、拔河、盪鞦韆、搶婚嘉年華。
榕江：每年有侗族服裝表演，與雷山縣苗族雷同，以籚笙錦雞舞慶祝。榕江侗女，平日均穿著超級短裙，展現青春活力。
三都：屬水族，有自己的象形文字，用水暦。
丹寨：每年有沖洗樓板習俗，婚禮慶典，以板凳舞娛樂佳賓。
父親的這支行軍部隊，到達貴陽時，已經是第八天中午了。餘程到重慶這一段，全連改搭汽車入川。比起我的外婆和母親，早到十天。(3)
1939年4月中旬，父親抵達重慶，部隊隨即入駐嘉陵江南岸沙坪壩，近公園處的一座營區內。外婆和母親一家人，則在下旬到達，被安置在一處民宅區，與父親的營區相去不遠。
重慶位於嘉陵江與長江的會合處，形似半島，酷似一隻行進中的臘腸犬。嘉陵江自西北往東南流，長江自西南往東北流。地勢高出江面百餘公尺，城市沿金碧山，山巔而建，街道馬路上上下下，高低相連，故有山城之稱。城東、北、南三面，進出城門均須徒步三百級的石梯，如今已有環城公路。江岸坡度陡峻，沿山多天然洞穴，抗戰時期成了民眾躱空襲時的防空洞。當時重慶的人口，已達200萬人。(4）
父親進駐重慶沙坪壩營區後的第二天，接受通信兵第一團團本部，為期兩天的業務講習，課程包括：判讀重慶市區地勢圖、瞭解地下電纜配置、部隊番號駐地、戰指中心關係位置等等。
轄區有20個區縣，面積達一萬七千餘平方公里，團級以上部隊均設無線電台及電話總機各一座，電話線架設至陣地崗哨。
抗戰時期的中華民國陸軍通信兵部隊，已進入短波無線電接力時代，抗戰初期已啓用載波機、微波電台、有線電同軸電纜。中華民國在武器裝備上與日本相對落後，但國民政府投入大量資金，採購歐美先進通信器材、培訓通信技術人才，不遺餘力。國軍通信作戰能力，絕不亞於日本。
抗戰中期，國軍已擴大編制，成立了三個通信兵團。保障了戰略警報訊號和情報資訊的迅速傳遞，更成為軍事行動戰術指揮，不可或缺的重要手段。(5)
在四川，當地人稱老鼠為《耗子》，四川的耗子繁殖快、體壯碩、性兇惡，一隻大耗子有五、六斤重，老鼠咬死貓，在四川不是新聞。
1939年5月的頭一天晚上，重慶市發生了一件異常的老鼠大遷徙景觀。上萬隻老鼠，成群結隊逃離市區，搬往鄉下。
事隔一日，重慶市遭逢了一次人類戰爭史上，史無前例的《五三、五四》空中大屠殺事件。
1939年5月3日、4日兩天，日本軍機向重慶市區，作了一次《地獄式的轟炸》。5月3日，首批日機就有63架，接續兩天輪番轟炸，投下炸彈176枚，燃燒彈116枚，重慶市在一片火海之中。炸死3991人，傷2287人，毀屋4871棟，創下戰爭史上，一次空中屠殺，死傷超過6000人的空前紀錄，事件發生後，世界輿論嘩然，紛紛指責日軍惡行。(6)
執行轟炸任務的日本軍機，隸屬海軍航空隊，第二天由63架，增至72架。對重慶23．91平方公里的渝中半島，政治文化商業中心，進行連番轟炸，平均每平方公里落彈12枚。
轟炸機分三個梯隊，由半島尖端的朝天門廣場為起點，由東至西轟炸。第一梯隊逆時針，順嘉陵江沿岸，向西轟炸。第二梯隊順時針，由長江沿岸，向西南方轟炸。第三梯隊經市中心，跨越兩江隧道、石黃隧道至鵝嶺公園。整個半島沒有一條街，沒有落彈。
父親趁著解除警報空隙，帶領弟兄搶修電話線路，目覩每根電線桿上，都有斷臂殘肢。除了搶通電話外，還要處理殘屍。大田灣體育場內，遺體堆積如山，驚恐悸怖，觸目驚心。
中國1940年代作家老舍，經歴了這次大轟炸，與重慶市民徹夜奔逃，劫難之後，發現了一種新的精神在復活，在他的文學作品中，有如此描述：沒有哭啼，沒有叫駡，火光之前，大火之中，避難的市民靜靜地奔向公園。偶然有聲高喊，是服務員的《快快走》。偶然有陣鈴聲，是救火車的疾馳。沒有搶劫，沒有怨駡，這是紀律，這是團結，這是勇敢，這是五千年文化的教養，是在血與火中，表現出來的，無所侮的力量與氣度。(7)
五三、五四大轟炸後的重慶，已是殘垣斷壁，滿目瘡痍，市內的景象形態徹底改變。電力、電信系統嚴重受損，入夜後全城一片漆黑，長達半個月之久，電話線路近九成中斷。
百姓家自動將煤油燈放在家門口，方便行人及勤務人員通行，當時稱呼這種燈為《太平燈》。
外界信息靠口口相傳，中央日報、大公報、新華日報發行量加倍。中央廣播電台、軍中之聲，隨時插播新聞，直流收音機被搶購一空。
機關、銀行、公司、商店，也改變了上下班和營運時間，從上午七時至十時，下午四時至十時。
盡管生存艱難，但日軍的轟炸，沒有打垮重慶軍民的鬥志。營房炸毀了，克難營房隨即建起。商店被炸了，只要沒有被燒毀，第二天，《照常營業》的牌子，就掛了起來。
被炸掉，被燒毀的百貨商店、餐廳丶茶館，只要有一丁點可用之地，簡易竹製店面，兩三天後，就可原地建成，繼續營業。生産事業或地下化，或遷移郊區。炸不垮的重慶，屹立不搖的重慶，世界媒體競相報導，這就是我們的《抗戰精神》。(8）
帶着三個孩子，甫由桂林經柳州，北上貴陽，到達重慶的外婆，總算有了一個暫時棲身之地，不到一個禮拜，卻碰上了《五三．五四大轟炸》。
一家人有了上次在桂林躱警報的經驗，這一次就顯得相當從容，前置作業準備充足。從空襲警報、警急警報到解除警報，均遵照重慶市政府頒發的《遵行事項》行事。
解除警報一響，全家人跑出防空洞，直奔家門。家已在熊熊燃燒，想要搶救一些最基本的用品衣物，已不可能，最可惜的是，兩本頗有時日的照相簿，已成灰燼。
家沒有了，孩子哭了，外婆呆若木雞。當年只有七歲大的舅舅，急著問外婆：娘，錢包帶了沒有。
外婆恍過神來，看了看緊握在手上的小在袋，察看一下，回答：帶了。
全家人的所有財産，也只有那個小布袋裡的一些乾糧和有限的現金而已。這一次的大轟炸，無家可歸的巿民有兩萬人之多，疏散的民眾，多達25萬。
外婆領著孩子進了收容所，也聯絡上正在勤務中的父親。父親與外婆，連夜找到了外公的故舊，服務於後勤單位的鮑鐸上校。以失蹤官兵眷屬的名義，申請暫住南岸《官兵休假中心》的一間小房間內。(9)
外婆一家人窩居南岸官兵休假中心期間，父親奉令移防南岸立石溝何家莊園。莊園面積約一英畝，一分為二：朝南，背山坡，闢為營區。朝北，向長江，為連幢民宅。
當時的通信兵第一團團長孫伯超，是母親的大伯父尹世鍇保定軍校的同學。得知外婆處境後，當即派副官主任與莊園何老闆情商，順利住進何家大院。
這年10月9日，父母親在孫伯超團長證婚下，於重慶國際飯店結為夫妻。次年7月7日，我誕生於立石溝陸軍野戰醫院。
民國30年(1941年)6月5日，日機對重慶疲勞轟炸，持續五個小時，釀成死亡逾三千人的《大隧道窒息慘案》。(10)
民國27年(1938年）2月18日至民國32年(1943年)8月23日，日本陸、海軍航空部隊，遵從日本天皇及最高本部指令，對重慶地區展開轟炸作戰，為期5年6個月，史稱《重慶大轟炸》。
國民政府為應因日本軍機持續轟炸，減少生命財產損失，就重慶周邊地勢地形地質優勢，挖掘多處防空洞穴。其中位於渝中半島偏西近較場口，連接數條馬路，路口皆有出入口，可以容納近萬人，名為《十八梯隧道》的一座防空洞，規模最大。
民國30年(1941年)6月5日，晚間6時許，日軍出動24架戰鬥轟炸機，對重慶進行航空進攻作戰。此次行動，在戰術上作了修正：1，空襲時間拉長。2，輪番盤旋，並低空掃射，每梯次最多6至9架。3，轟炸防空洞周邊設施。(11）
重慶市政府對日本軍機空襲時之施放警報、人員疏散均有詳盡規定。敵機一起飛，我方情報人員立即通報機型、架數及飛行方向，越過宜昌施放空襲警報，到達萬縣施放緊急警報。從空襲警報到緊急警報，通常需要20分鐘，市民有充分時間，可以到達防空洞內。
6月5日的天氣晴朗高溫，午後有陣雨，近六時雨停，正是晚間用餐及餐後逛街乘涼時間，全市各區一反常態，空襲警報長鳴，隨即施放緊急警報，尤以商業中心民族路、民權路、鄒容路一帶，市民驚慌失措，狂奔附近防空隧道避難。一時之間《十八梯防空隧道》擁進上萬民眾。(12)
敵機約晚間七時飛臨重慶上空，在渝中半島閙區，重點投彈，不時低空盤旋掃射。半島上空始終保持6至9架，一波離去，一波再來，長達7個小時，至次日凌晨，以拉長空襲時間，達成其戰術上之要求。
這座十八梯公共防空隧道，因施工缺失，遲未驗收。由於襲擊突然，權宜緊急使用。一時上萬人湧入，立感空氣稀薄，嚴重缺氧。時間一小時一小時過去，首先兒童嬰兒不停啼哭，牆壁上的油燈，光線逐漸微弱，以致熄滅。氣氛頓時緊張，有人開始煩躁不安，舉止反常。
生還者敘述當時情形：頭腦發悶，大汗淋漓，身體漸漸疲軟，呼吸困難，似乎淹在熱水之中，左右的人不由自主的把自己的衣褲撕碎，好像精神失常，甚至互咬對方。傷心慘目不可卒睹，很多人掙扎到生命最後，含恨離開人間。
凌晨一時許，警報解除，身體尚能支持者，群體衝出洞口，又發生推擠踐踏事件，死傷不計其數。隧道內臉部扭曲者、手指抓地者、五官淌血者、皮膚破裂遍體鱗傷者，處處皆是。(13)
事件後，國民黨中央黨部、國民參政會、重慶市參議會聯合組成《大隧道窒息慘案審查委員會》，對慘案進行調查。
重慶市民對審查委員會的各次報告，頗為不滿。掩蓋死亡人數、管制消息報導、空襲警報接續緊急警報，瞬間施放交代不清、草率處理屍體、未能及時搶救尚有生命跡象者等等，備受指責。
《漢奸說》、《日本間諜說》、《防空洞工程舞弊說》，紛傳坊間。有人在各隧道放置照明燈，指引敵機轟炸，也成了話題。
綜合當時的《新民報》報導，窒息慘案除了死亡人數最多的十八梯隧道，逾三千人外，尚有石炭市大防空洞逾兩千人，演武廳洞子也有近兩千人，因此窒息萬人之說甚囂塵上。
為了平息民怨，國民政府將重慶市長吳國楨，衛戍總司令兼防空司令劉峙，隧道工程處處長吳國柄撤職查辦。
慘案發生後引起美國國會關注，1941年8月26日，羅斯福總統派馬格魯徳將軍，為首任《駐華美軍軍事顧問團》團長。三個月後的1941年12月8日，日軍偷襲珍珠港，太平洋戰爭爆發。次日，中華民國加入同盟國，對日宣戰。1942年1月，蔣介石在重慶就任同盟國中國戰區最高統帥，史迪威為參謀長。至此，抗戰進入第三階段，中華民國不再孤軍奮戰，1945年8月15日，日本宣佈無條件投降。(14，本篇完)
第9篇：抗戰勝利前
父親的軍中資歷
民國25年(1936年)8月，黃埔軍校十三期，在南京招生。父親甫自陸軍通信兵團教導大隊，修業兩年畢業。以准尉通信員身分，分發揚州實習，而錯過投考機會。嗣後，黃埔各期在成都、昆明、貴陽各地招生，均因職務需要，耽擱報考。
民國29年(1940年)5月，黃埔17期在成都招生，父親以中尉排長身分，直接甄選入學。次年6月，尚在修業期間，接奉命令晉升上尉，11月20日畢業於四川銅梁。隨即出任通信兵第六團教導大隊四中隊中隊長，培訓部隊中，嚴重缺員的通信兵士官，駐地在四川榮昌七寶岩。
抗戰時期的國軍任官派職，均由其任職單位，發佈委令出任。民國29年(1940年)10月1日，父親已是中尉排長，接奉國民政府軍事委員會，由委員長蔣中正簽署的任官令，核定父親敍任為陸軍通信兵少尉，除另案函送行政院轉請任命外，先令仰遵。造成任命與實際官階不符現象。
民國32年(1943年）5月，通六團教導大隊通信士官培訓班第二期結業，父親接奉由軍政部何應欽部長簽署的任職令，至此，國軍任官有了專責單位。
民國34年(1945年)3月，父親前往昆明，準備出任中國遠征軍新職，暫編20師中校參謀。任官令由滇黔綏靖公署主任龍雲簽署，此項任命因家庭因素並未到任。父親1950年到台灣後，在國防部核官減俸作業中，未被承認。
民國44年(1955年)1月1日起，中華民國三軍軍官之任命，均由總統任命。(夲篇完)
第10篇：抗戰勝利前之
中外情勢
嚴格來說中國對日抗戰，應該從民國20年(1931年)9月18日，瀋陽北大營事件開始，至民國34年(1945年）9月9日，在南京，日本向中國呈遞降書為止，整整打了14年。對中日兩國而言，日本以慘敗收場，而中國卻以《慘勝》結局。
最可悲的是，國共兄弟鬩牆，延續內戰到1949年，10月1日中華人民共和國在北京成立，12月10日中華民國政府由成都遷往台北，兩岸對峙至今，國家仍未統一。回顧抗戰這一頁血淚歴史，以及勝利前的國際情勢和中國處境，留給國人的什麼樣的啓示，真得要深刻反思。
1，1945年2月4日至11日，美國總統羅斯福、英國首相邱吉爾、蘇聯人民委員會主席史達林，在黑海克里米亞雅爾達密約，蘇聯爭取戰後在華利益，獲美、英同意，事後通知中國。
2，1945年4月12日，羅斯福總統逝世，由副總統杜魯門繼職。4月29日，義大利向同盟國投降。5月7日，德國投降。
3，1945年4月23日至6月11日，毛澤東主席在延安主持中國共產黨第七次全國黨員代表大會，明確地說：只有佔據了東北，即使其他所有的根據地都丟了，中國革命也有了好的前途。
4，1945年7月26日至8月2日，中美英三國在柏林舉行波茨坦會議，三國會商促令日本投降事宜。杜魯門、邱吉爾出席，蔣介石僅在宣言上簽字同意。
5，1945年8月6日，原子彈轟炸日本廣島，8月9日轟炸長崎。同日蘇聯對日宣戰，紅軍直取東北臚濱(今內蒙滿洲里）
6，1945年8月14日，中蘇友好條約在莫斯科簽訂，蘇聯給予國民政府復元後，物資與道義上的援助，進入東北之蘇聯紅軍可停留三個月，中國承認外蒙古獨立的問題，由公民投票決定。
7，1945年8月15日，日本向同盟國無條件投降。之前8月9日零時10分，蘇聯在東北境內已有紅軍百萬。中共第八路軍及增編部隊60萬人，兵臨東北候令接受東北。次日，朱德總司令，先後下達第一號及第二號，向東北進軍命令。遠在華北地區作戰的國軍劉玉章52軍及劉安祺71軍，未能及時趕到。
1945年8月下旬，國軍才陸續抵達東北，父親奉令派至陸軍通信兵第九團，出任團本部少校參謀，次年三月，攜眷抵達瀋陽履新。隨即國共內戰，在東北開打。(本篇完）
第11篇：抗戰勝利普天同慶
早在1945年7月，抗日戰爭已近尾聲，中國境內各戰區，僅有小戰役及接觸戰而已，中國部隊節節勝利。國軍四個方面軍及十一個戰區，捷報紛紛傳至重慶。
8月10日，也就是盟軍原子彈轟炸日本長崎、蘇聯對日宣戰的第二天，下午六時，一個大型樂團在重慶街頭，首先演奏出雄壯的勝利交響曲，貝多芬第三號交響曲英雄及抗戰歌曲。揭開了抗戰陪都重慶各界，慶祝抗戰勝利的序幕。(1)
與其同時，中央日報、大公報、新華日報，搶先全國其他都市發行號外，報導日本即將投降相關消息。數十萬份號外，瞬間搶購一空。人們情緒沸騰到極點，長期悶在心中的怨氣、怒火，完全盡情地發洩出來，有太多的人，激動地在哭泣。有東北老鄕流著涙唱着《松花江上》，隨後高喊：我們可以回家過年了。
爆竹聲、叫喊聲、汽笛聲，響徹雲霄。一群大中學校的學生帶領著大家，高唱抗戰歌曲《凱旋歌》、《旗正飄飄》、《義勇軍進行曲》、《長城謠》。抗戰涕涙愁何在，萬里江山夢亦疑，猶喜童心聞捷報，此夜重慶無人眠。
次日清晨，重慶全城大小商店，均以《慶祝抗戰勝利》、《日軍投降》等大幅標語貼於門前，紛紛燃放爆竹，一時間爆竹賣得缺貨。人們便利用鏜鑼、面盆等物，在馬路上不停敲打，邊敲打邊高呼《我們勝利了》、《我們勝利了》。
8月11日起，重慶市各機關、學校、部隊、營區，紛紛搭建牌樓，門口國旗飄揚。中央廣播電台、軍中之聲全天播音。各報館門前擠爆市民，都在等待日本宣佈投降的那一刻到來。(2)
1945年8月15日正午，日本天皇裕仁向日本全國頒發停戰詔書，接受波茨坦公告，實行無條件投降確定。數小時後，重慶中央廣播電台及軍中之聲，前後相隔10分鐘，播出了數日來全國同胞，期待已久振奮人心的好消息。每一顆心都在跳躍，每一個細胞都在沸騰。連結一千二百餘串的爆竹，在渝中半島商業中心，燃放起來，從東邊的小樑子一直燃燒到西邊的上清寺，長達半小時之久。街上人山人海，熱情奔放，相互擁抱，盛況不減8月10日當天。
接續國民政府蔣介石主席在中央廣播電台播音室，親自宣告《抗戰勝利告全國軍民及全世界人士書》，播音過程中，民眾一致鼓掌歡呼《中華民國萬歲》。
住在重慶鄉下的人士，成群結隊渡江跑到重慶，渡輪全天加班運輸，足足有兩萬人之多。駐渝美軍也全部出動，十數輛中小型吉普車，插滿中美國旗，緩緩巡行街市，紛紛跳下車來，用英語高呼《聯合國勝利萬歲》，喝著洋酒，翹起大拇指，用生硬的華語不停說著《中國抗戰勝利》、《頂好》。一群擦皮鞋的孩子們，丟掉背著的小箱子，跨上吉普車，與美國兵齊飲香檳，還會說兩句《OK》《OK》。
熱情洋溢的美國兵擁抱著天真的孩子們狂吻，高高舉起年輕貌美的女學生，歡樂的情緒，像似瘋狂。我的二姨，剛剛從軍中之聲播報新聞後下班，也被美軍高高舉起，嚇得花容失色。(3)
慶祝抗戰勝利的活動，每天都在全國各地持續進行，延續到9月9日南京受降。
8月17日，日本駐華派遣軍總司令岡村寧次聲明，日軍業已遵照麥克阿瑟統帥命令，完成停戰狀態，一俟停戰協定成立，立即依約實行。
8月19日，同盟國對日簽訂停戰協定，中華民國代表團軍事委員會軍令部長徐永昌上將，率團赴馬尼拉。
停戰協定簽署後，在華日軍向中華民國接洽投降的工作，正式開始。中國戰區最高統帥蔣中正，於前一日電令岡村寧次，派遣代表團到湖南芷江接受投降命令。
8月21日，大地氣清萬里無雲，芷江軍民晨曦中興起，在國歌聲中，升起國旗，天空中飛機翺翔，交相輝映。
日軍投降代表今井武夫少將，下午三時四十分，率團至陸軍總部，晉謁參謀長蕭毅肅將軍，接洽投降事宜，並接受總司令何應欽上將致岡村寧次備忘録。
蕭參謀長依據中國戰區最高統帥蔣委員長，8月18日致岡村寧次電令，要求今井武夫交出日本駐台灣及越南北緯18度以北地區內，所有日本陸海空軍戰鬪兵力部署及指揮系統表冊。
何應欽上將致岡村寧次備忘録，主要包括三點：1，日本陸海空軍及輔助部隊，應立即停止一切敵對行動，所有武器、彈藥、航空器材、車輛及一切交通通信工具、文獻檔案等，妥善保管不得移動，絕對保持原狀，聽候何總司令派員接收。2，中華民國陸軍總司令部，要先在南京設置一前進指揮所，日方應從速照辦，並妥為保護。3，交付受降日軍，我方軍事長官及其所轄各戰區指揮系統表，就地接受投降。
為使接洽便利起見，日軍應提供電台呼號波長及通報時間表一份，回南京後，立即轉岡村寧次遵行。(4)
8月27日，在美國總統杜魯門的斡旋下，美國政府派出專機至延安，毛澤東由美國駐華大使赫爾利陪同，到達重慶與蔣中正主席會面。毛澤東在重慶46天，杜魯門希望毛蔣的會面，能夠促成國共兩黨組成聯合政府，領導一個統一的中國，確保來之不易的抗戰成果，不會淪為內戰。
10月10日晚，毛蔣兩人與中外顯要，在重慶大梁子戲院欣賞平劇《群英會》，演畢毛起立振臂高呼《中華民國萬歲》，《蔣主席萬歲》。
毛澤東於10月11日飛回延安，向親信談到重慶談判時稱《那只是紙上的東西》。
第二年，國共內戰全面開打，1949年10月1日，中華人民共和國在北京成立，中華民國政府播遷台灣。
9月2日上午九時，二次大戰日本向盟國無條件投降，降書簽字儀式，在日本東京灣停泊的美國戰艦《密蘇里》號上舉行。中國代表軍令部長徐永昌上將，繼聯合國最高統帥麥克阿瑟元帥、美國代表尼米茲元帥之後，第三位在受降書上簽字。
9月9日上午九時，在日本向聯合國投降後一星期，中國戰區日軍投降簽字典禮，在南京中央軍校大禮堂舉行。代表中國戰區最高統帥蔣中正出席的陸軍總司令何應欽一級上將，接受日軍投降代表駐華日軍最高指揮官岡村寧次大將，呈遞的降書。中央政府並定九月九日為《勝利日》。
民國26年南京淪陷後不久，劫後餘生者曾在郊外廢墟中掘得一碑，上有劉伯溫題詩一首，字跡隱約可見，詩云：陣陣胡茄吹斷腸，人民到處泣流亡。苦辛耐得三千日，燕翼孫謀萬世昌。
從《七七事變》起，到《九九南京受降》止，恰合三千日之數。(5)
抗戰勝利前的1943年6月，陸軍通信兵第6團通信士官培訓班，整編為軍士訓練大隊，父親升任為第一隊少校隊長。
抗戰勝利後的1945年10月，奉調陸軍通信兵第9團任少校參謀，駐地在瀋陽。生效日為1946年4月1日，到職前暫留軍士訓練大隊，協辦招生事宜。
當時，國軍裁軍甚囂塵上，為何續辦招生，用意至為明顯。
1946年2月，父親擕眷離開四川，經武漢、南京、上海，赴東北上任。本擬撥冗由武漢轉往故里河南南陽探望，因東北情勢緊張，未能成行。
父親自1931年九一八事變後離開南陽，這年他14歳，自此再也沒有踏上這塊土地。2007年10月，父親以90歲高齡，終老於台北。不竟想起父親生前曾經提起的一首詩，艾青的《我愛這土地》：假如我是一隻鳥，我也應該用嘶啞的喉嚨歌唱。歌唱這被暴風雨打擊着的土地，這永遠洶湧着我們的悲憤的河流，這無止息地吹着的激怒的風，和那林間無比溫柔的黎明。然後我死了，連羽毛也腐爛在土地裡面。為什麼我的眼裡常含着涙水，因為我對這土地愛得深沉。為什麼我的眼裡常含着淚水，因為我對這土地愛得深沉。(6，本篇完)
《父親與民國》（下）
作者簡介：
陳昌智：1940年7月7日生，祖籍河南南陽。1962年畢業於聯勤財務學校財務科六期。曾服務於聯勤總部財務署、救國團基隆市及台北市團委會、巴拿馬華文《共和報LA REPUBLICA》。
第12篇：勝利後東北的形勢
民國30年(1941年)，中國對日孤軍奮戰，進入第四年。在歐洲，德國、義大利對英、法、蘇等國開闢了新戰場。蘇聯為了避免歐亞腹背受敵，日本也為了專注在華作戰，不與蘇聯衝突，相互保證中立，於1941年4月25日，在莫斯科簽訂《蘇日互不侵犯條約》，當日生效，為期五年。
蘇聯老謀深算，時局對他有利，戰後在華有利可圖。1945年4月5日，蘇聯人民委員會主席兼外交人民委員莫洛托夫，在莫斯科召見日本駐蘇大使佐藤，宣佈《蘇日互不侵犯條約》截止後不再續約。
五個月後的8月15日，日本宣佈投降前夕，蘇聯向日本宣戰，立即派兵進攻被日本關東軍佔領的中國東北，國軍第18集團軍(中共第8路軍)，兵臨東北外圍，抗戰一勝利，首先接收東北。(1)
1945年8月9日，蘇聯向日本宣戰當天，立即向朝鮮(今北韓)、庫頁島、中國東北，同時展開進攻。至8月15日，一週之內蘇軍勢如破竹。當時，日本已經準備投降，關東軍大部份調至華中、華南作戰，絕對無力抵擋蘇軍大規模攻勢，很快就佔領了東北三省，偽滿洲國的傀儡溥儀，也被俘虜。
蘇聯軍隊分別從遠東的海參威、伯力，西伯利亞的烏蘭烏德、伊爾庫次克等地，越過烏蘇里江、黑龍江及額爾古拉河進入東北。中國長春鐵路的暢通，給了蘇聯軍隊順利佔領東北，快速有利的條件。
中國長春鐵路以哈爾濱市為中心，分三段向北、東、南延伸。國共內戰期間，在戰略攻防上起了重要作用。
中國長春鐵路，簡稱中長鐵路，北段哈爾濱至臚濱(今內蒙滿洲里)全長935公里，東段哈爾濱至綏芬河(今黑龍江省境內，近俄羅斯興凱湖)548公里，南段哈爾濱至大連944公里。
民國35年(1946年)2月，父親攜眷前往瀋陽履新前，接奉由軍政部轉來的人事命令，調派父親自該年4月1日起，出任交通部交通警察總局，有線電通信大隊二中隊中隊長。比敘薦任六職等任用，原任通信兵第九團少校參謀一職，留職停薪。
交通部第二交通警察總局的業務職掌，就是維護中國長春鐵路的全線暢通。(2)
依據1945年8月14日簽訂的《中蘇友好條約》，蘇聯紅軍應在11月15日前，撤離東北。然而接受日本關東軍，軍需物資的移交作業，未能如期完成，拖延至次年3月才全面撤離。此其間正好給中共紅軍，在東北妥為佈署兵力的最佳機會。
1945年下半年，中共的前置作業是，阻止或突襲國軍搶先接收東北。自9月10日至11月15日，共發生了五次衝突戰。
國民政府東北行營主任熊式輝，在蘇聯施壓下，10月2日才赴瀋陽就任。而國軍第13軍、52軍先頭部隊，遲至10月27日才分別抵達營口和葫蘆島，即遭岸上共軍射擊。隨後杜聿明所轄的新一軍(孫立人)、新六軍、71軍(劉安祺）陸續登陸，東北内戰隨即開始。當時中共紅軍，已佔領了北緯44度，長春以北各大都市。
父親帶著家眷，於民國35年(1946年)3月下旬，由上海搭乘《中興號》海輪至葫蘆島上岸，巧遇日俘日僑登船，國軍正在執行遣俘遣僑作業。(3)
在對日抗戰的歷史上，遣俘遣僑作業，佔有很重要的一頁，中華民國站在一個戰勝國的位置，卻以《以德報怨》的胸懷，對待一個罪惡滔天的日本，歷史上是絕無僅有的事。在我的記憶裏，和父親數次的口述中，還原當時的場景。
葫蘆島位於遼西走廊遠東灣的西岸，與歷史名城興城為鄰，在北寕鐵路之上，是一個優質的深水港。在當年國共內戰甫起的形勢下，被國際紅十字會選為遣俘遣僑港口。
我們到達葫蘆島的下午，一隊近千人，由國府憲兵戒護下的日軍戰俘及日僑，被帶到碼頭。在聯合國及國際紅十字會官員見證下，中華民國政府列具名冊，將日俘日僑逐一點交給日本代表。
日俘軍階已被摘除，分不清是官是兵，走在前面。日僑扶老攜幼，跟隨在後。很有秩序地，走向交接區。無論日俘日僑，個個低頭，緩步行進，鴉雀無聲，隊伍中有蔣委員長戎裝肖像出現。(4)
我兒Anthony 有位交情匪淺的日本同事，談起他的爺爺當年在中國戰場上，為日軍當華語翻譯官的經歷。1945年二戰結束前兩個月，調職至哈爾濱。得知日本無條件投降消息時，先是驚恐，再是嚎哭，跟著就是沉思。過了不久，證實中國以德報怨，要遣返日俘日僑回國時，更流下了感激的眼淚。
1945年8月，蘇聯軍隊攻打到哈爾濱，大批日僑被追殺得四處逃竄，燒搶虜掠無惡不做。他的爺爺和奶奶，逃避至錦州，後來進了遣俘遣僑中心，等待遣返。當遣返船隻駛進鹿兒島港區時，情緒激動再度哭泣。(5)
我們到達葫蘆島的第二天，搭乘北寜鐵路的火車，經錦州到達瀋陽。由接待人員引導，進駐瀋陽市鐵西區交通部員工眷舍。原本是日本《南滿鐵路株式會社》的一座職工宿舍，佔地約兩英畝。
磚木合造結構，雙層牆窗，兩牆之間埋有暖氣管道，四排房舍，每排10戶，戶戶獨立大門，門高出地面一公尺，步入大門，石階而上，適應東北之大雪天氣。
宿舍四週以樹木代替圍牆，東西兩面種植櫻花樹，南北兩面為常綠松柏，閙中取靜環境優雅。三月底的東北，已見櫻花吐露苞芽。
父親安頓妻小後，於次週一，報到上班，隨即出差長春，順中長鐵路而上，考察沿線路站，通信作業狀況。
父親出差期間，我很快地就認識了鄰居的小朋友，為了好奇，一起鑽進了塌塌米地板下，不到一公尺高的地窖裏，卻有驚訝的發現。（6）
我們一行三個皆不足十歲的小朋友，少不更事。在充滿好奇及冒險心理的驅動下，鑚進一個長寛約40公分，木質鐡網的排氣窗內，是一個光線昏暗的地窖，能見度極低，一陣陣冷風逼來，讓人直打哆嗦。
窖內有許多大小不等的木箱，靠牆整齊排列，封釘住的大木箱，不知內裝何物。小木箱可以打開，裏面是瓷器藝品、盤碗、炊具、工具、日用品之類。
我發現了一面用白布漢字書寫的横幅，九個大字《二至五年我們會回來》。還有一個長實約20公分的紙板畫框，框沿繪有櫻花花邊，中間上方位置有一面日本軍旗。整個框面用毛筆寫了數行日文，不知什麽意思，我順手拿了這兩樣東西，爬出窖外。(7)
一週後父親出差回來，母親將這兩樣物件，交父親過目。對我這種行為，同樣與母親一樣得到一番訓斥，還好沒被體罰。
父親沒有將物件銷毀，反而將2公尺長50公分寛的《九字横幅》，四周車上一條紅色的邊，掛在客廳裏，顯然有警惕的作用。
每當提起這件事，就會想起民國40年(1951年)後，台灣街頭巷尾的一句提振國人士氣的標語《一年準備，二年反攻，四年掃蕩，五年成功。》與1945年日夲人留在東北的《二至五年我們會回來》橫幅標語，倒有十分相似。70多年過去了，倒帶歴史有何感想。(8)
父母親有意明白，那個繪有櫻花及日本軍旗畫框內，中文的意思。請教了一位同事的令尊，中日文造詣深厚，也是鄰居的甯老先生。才知道這是一首歌詞，內容是用來安慰逝去的神風特攻隊隊員的靈魂，激勵他們的後繼者，繼續為天皇效忠。
早在1274年及1281年，元世袓忽必烈兩次渡海，遠征日本途中，元朝艦隊突遭颶風襲擊，全軍覆沒。日本人相信這是老天爺遣派的《神風》救了日本。因此二戰末期為捍衛日本，派出的自殺飛機，取名為《神風特攻隊》。
2015年，洛杉磯僑界紀念抗戰勝利70週年的一項史蹟展覽中，我看到了歌詞的中譯：《櫻花肖人，非草非木，美麗蝴蝶，便是妻子。櫻花盛開，落英繽紛，隨風而去，永作芳魂。今晨飄飄，明日冉冉，櫻花櫻花，我將效汝。》。
這種亳無價值的死，只是一種對天皇的愚忠，無補於日本最後敗亡的命運。時至今日，戰爭的勝負，端看雙方尖端科技及無人飛機的戰術運用了，《神風特攻隊》已成歷史名詞。
二戰後的日本，能夠從廢墟中重建復興，有著半個世紀的繁華盛世，要歸功於人民的勤奮，力爭上游，善用環境。然而我們今日看日本，綜合國力評鑑，可以確信，日本在歷史的長河中，盛世不再。它將如櫻花一般速開速謝，隨風而去。日本最多也僅是一個社會和諧穩定，科技繼續成長，另一個歐洲的瑞士，列入二流國家而已。(9)
1945年8月至1946年上半年，東北的情勢險峻混亂，國民政府處於外交、內政、國防、經濟諸多困境之中，斡旋於美、蘇、中共之間。
蘇聯違反《中蘇友好條約》，軍隊遲至1946年3月，才撤離東北，日本關東軍在東北的軍備資源，已妥交中共，處處抵制國軍接收。
中國共産黨早國民黨一步，部隊開入東北，捷足先登佔據長春以北廣大地區。
美國密切關注東北情勢發展，對中國國民黨的執政表現，頗為不滿，頻頻施壓。
國民政府在處理戰後《舊金山合約與台灣主權歸屬》、《中日合約》簽署上，阻礙重重。
在此內外交迫的形勢下，國民政府為求國家的長治久安，及因應東北地區未來的發展，作了兩項重要決定，一是朝野一致支持，結束訓政時期，全面實施憲政。民國35年(1946年)12月25日，由海內外1200多名制憲國大代表，在南京決議通過，《中華民國憲法條文》。次年(民國36年)1月1日公佈分，同年12月25日施行。
另一項決定是將東北三省，劃分為九個行政區，原遼省分為遼寧、遼北、安東三省。原吉林省分為吉林、松江、合江三省。原黑龍江省分為黑龍江、嫩江、納入興安三省。
此其間，父親的工作責任區，中國長春鐵路瀋陽至長春段沿線，狀況頻頻。為維護通信暢通，付出相當大的人力物力，父親回家的次數也只有三次。(10)
四平市，舊稱四平街，地處松遼平原中心位置，原屬遼北省，今為吉林省地級首要都市，人口已達330萬。是中長鐵路、四洮鐵路(四平至洮安，全長383公里)、四梅鐵路(四平至梅河口，全長155公里)的交滙處。1946年時的人口僅有10萬人，但貨商雲集、工商企業繁盛，因位居交通要衝，成為軍事上必爭之地。
1946年3月13日，駐四平街蘇聯軍隊，全部撤離。中共紅軍(東北民主聯軍)隨即越過長春南下，東由北豐，西自鄭家屯(遼原)圍攻四平，國共四平街第一次會戰開始，雙方攻防半個月，美國出面調庭，停戰數日後，繼續開打。1946年4月至1947年5月，是謂四平街第二次會戰。
1946年10月間，父親受困於四平街，掌控四平街周邊鐵路，成為國共雙方攻防重點。(11)
第一次四平街會戰，國軍大獲全勝，將士用命乘勝追擊，1946年4月8日佔領長春。林彪主力30萬人，卻集中於四平街附近，企圖阻斷國軍繼續前進。杜聿明部迫於情勢，集中新一軍、新六軍、71軍發起攻擊，5月3日克服本溪，5月19日驅逐共軍於四平街之外。此時孫立人的新一軍，已攻打至松花江北岸，離哈爾濱不足100公里。6月6日，在馬歇爾的壓力下，蔣介石主席同意頒發第二次停戰令，休戰15天，共軍暫時得到喘息的機會，國軍的士氣卻大受打擊。第二次四平街會戰，在打打停停的狀況下，持續一年之久。父親也趁停戰空隙返家探望，為期也只能一兩天而已。
1947年5月，第三次四平街會戰開始。之前蔣介石曾告誡國軍：沒有四平街，就沒有東北。毛澤東也指示林彪：必須準備數萬人傷亡，化四平街為馬德里。1947年6月《四平攻堅戰》，慘烈程度被外國記者形容，四平街已成為《東方馬德里》。
毛澤東有意讓林彪的部隊，學習1936年7月至1939年4月，西班牙內戰時的持久戰，面對殘酷大戰的決心。(12）
國共第三次《四平攻堅戰》，雙方投入了97個師次，90多萬人次，中共軍傷亡4萬餘人，國軍傷亡更高達6萬多人。林彪30萬兵力，在四平、夲溪兩地各集結10萬大軍，並首次動用民兵，準備一舉奪回四平，毛澤東下令寸土必爭死守四平。
1948年3月，進入第四次會戰，東北情勢危殆，中長鐵路已斷續營運，瀋陽汲汲可危。父親奉令歸建陸軍通信兵第九團，出任少校副官室主任。
1948年4月5日，父親將妻兒送上一架C47型軍機，投奔青島我的外叔公、山東省日照縣流亡縣長尹鼎武。
1948年9月12日，遼瀋會戰點燃戰火，通九團團長聶英勸說父親一起投共，父親未從，午夜棄營，徒步半月走到北平。
原遼北省選出的立法委員，曾經擔任中華民國立法院長的梁肅戎，在其回憶録中提到：民國37年(1948年）3月，中共軍五波攻勢，進攻四平，組成百姓部隊，發動人海戰術，一波波驅趕前進，屍體堆積如山，共軍踏着死屍，攻下四平，在世界奪城戰爭中，實屬罕見。(13，本篇完)
第13篇：遼瀋會戰
決定東北命運
冗長的四平街奪城戰，國軍先盛後衰，像是洩了氣的皮球。北緯44度以南國軍據守的東北半壁江山，由面變成塊，由塊變成點。
四平街會戰後，毛澤東指令，必須在夏季結束前，徹底將國軍孤立於長春及瀋陽兩大城市之內，並立即拿下錦州，封死國軍撤入關內的任何機會。
1948年1月，出任東北剿匪總司令的衛立煌，此時卻被中共誘勸，並謂《到哪裡都能為人民服務》。衛立煌卻從命，盡一切可能按兵不動，不與共軍正面接觸，使國軍高級將領無所適從，蔣介石在東北的戰略計劃，無從施展。(1)
1948年4月18日，林彪(黃埔軍校步科四期)向毛澤東建議，探取兵不血刃的圍困長春行動，獲得毛的同意。6月25日起，中共軍以8個師、一個砲兵團，10萬人的兵力，團團圍住長春。阻隔國軍補給，消耗城內糧食供應，圍城三月，已無屯糧，更嚴重的是無水可飲，不讓饑民出逃，20萬人饑渴而死，生命意志力強烈者，被迫喝死人腦殻水而活。
1948年9月，國軍重新佈署，東北剿匪副總司令兼錦州指揮所主任范漢傑，指揮6兵團兩個軍7個師，10萬兵力固守錦州，10月10日至28日遼瀋會戰期間，國共雙方超過20萬人，在錦州至錦西之間的塔山地區，進行激烈攻防戰，血流成河。國軍力不從心，近5萬人，自葫蘆島撤離，前往青島。(2)
共軍貫徹其《圍點打援》戰法，錦州攻堅戰奏效，殲滅國軍超過5萬人，共軍亦傷亡兩萬五千人。
1948年9月間，國軍只剩下瀋陽、長春、錦州三座大城，及連接三個城市300公里之內的鐡路城市。
遼瀋會戰期間，父親服務的陸軍通信兵第九團團長聶英投共，父親棄營，步行至北平。長春於10月21日失陷，鄭洞國將軍被俘。同一天，廖耀湘機動軍團，在長春與瀋陽間，被撃潰。11月2日，瀋陽失守，三天後，國軍在東北全面失控，中共佔據東北全境。(3，本篇完)
第14篇：中共渡江戰役前的
大陸形勢
民國37年(1948年)3月29日至5月1日，由全國各省區及海外選出的第一屆國民大會代表2961席，出席率約八成的情況下，在南京選出蔣中正、李宗仁為中華民國第一任總統副總統。
當時瀋陽街頭，在國民大會開幕日，紛紛燃放爆竹及拉起橫幅慶賀，父親給我上了第一堂公民課。距離4月5日，母親帶著子女飛往青島，僅一週時間。
1948年9月12日至11月12日，為期62天的遼瀋戰役，國軍氣勢已衰，期間通信兵第九團團長聶英投共，父親在瀋陽淪陷前步行至北平。
遼瀋戰役尚未結束，為期66天的徐蚌會戰開打(1948年11月 6日至次年1月10日）黃百韜、邱清泉殉國。同時，為期64天的平津戰役戰火燃起(1948年11月29日至次年1月31日)傅作義投共。
在北平的父親輾轉到達青島，與妻兒團聚，出任第11綏靖區劉安祺將軍所屬54師少校通信兵參謀。(1）
1948年12月，徐蚌會戰持續進行中，李宗仁及程潛（日本士官學校畢業，陸軍一級上將，抗戰時期第一戰區司令長官，曾競選中華民國第一任副總統)與共軍展開全面和談。當時共軍士氣如虹，和談毫無進展，認為和談未遂，蔣中正是最大的絆腳石，輿論逼迫蔣下野，李宗仁代理總統職務，蔣退避奉化溪口。
1949年2月1日，北平失守，中共決心發動渡江戰役，在北平成立《總前敵委員會》成員包括第二野戰軍司令員劉伯承、政委鄧小平，第三野戰軍司令員陳毅、副司令員粟裕、副政委譚震林等。
對於缺乏空軍的中共來說，在五月開始的長江洪汛期前，發動渡江戰役，是唯一的選擇。遂在安徽省鳯陽縣近郊的孫家圩子，成立前進指揮所。
2016年3月，我與妻由次子Anderson 陪同，前往蚌埠探親，停留期間遊覧了這座佔地約一英畝，鮮為人知，但在中共解放戰爭中佔有重要位置的前進指揮基地。(2)
渡江指揮所的地理位置相當適中，距離鳳陽20公里。東有津浦鐵路，南下浦口，隔長江面對南京。西有淮南鐵路，南下合肥，直達長江北岸的裕溪口。
渡江作戰開始於1949年4月 20日，止於6月2日，共計44天，縝密計劃長達三個月，動員兵力100萬，國軍以70萬精鋭部隊抵禦。期間經過武漢、南昌、南京、上海諸戰役，及郎溪、廣德圍殲戰(兩地均在長江以南，安徽省東南）。
1949年4月20日下午6時，下達攻擊令，三野第7、第9兵團組成的中線集團率先渡江，一小時後第一梯隊登上荻港以西約25公里的江中小島，第二梯隊跟上，再攻江中其他各島。21日拿下長江南岸的銅陵，解放軍首次跨過長江。次日，順銅蕪鐵路(安徽銅陵至安徽蕪湖)北上，直襲南京。4月24日南京失守，國府遷都廣州，5月26日進上海城，6月2日登陸長江口崇明島，渡江作戰結束。國軍長江防線，西起武漢，東至上海，全部棄守。解放軍勢力，已達整個華東。(3)
1949年1月31日，平津戰役結束後，共軍擬一舉攻下膠東第11綏靖區，劉安祺所屬的五萬精兵。當時母親帶領子女，已避難至上海真如鄉下。
二月上旬，情報顯示，共軍包括民兵在內，約有一個旅的兵力，向青島近郊仙家寨，試探國軍虛實，父親正在54師。劉安祺指令有活閻王之稱的808團黃團長迎戰，父親在事前已辦妥通信作業。並集合所屬各單位首長及作戰參謀觀戰。
共軍於凌晨發起攻撃，民兵在前主力在後，作戰面靜若寒蟬。共軍雖已進入射擊範圍，但黃團長按兵不動。時間一分一秒過去，大家神經緊繃。當共軍逼近攻堅位置，黃團長一聲令下，機槍聲、步槍聲、手榴彈爆炸聲、迫撃砲聲、揚聲器之殺敵聲，同時發作。探照燈照得戰場，有如白晝。共軍無一人越雷池一步，全部被殱滅。
這是解放軍渡江戰役前，一次全軍覆沒的潰敗。這次殲滅戰後，父親調第11綏靖區作戰處少校通信參謀，進行青島撤退參謀作業。母親帶著子女，趕在上海淪陷前，於4月中折返青島。1949年6月3日，國軍完美撤離青島，前往台灣。(4，夲篇完)
第15篇：國共內戰時期的
青島撤退
民國37年(1948年)11月下旬至次年二月，中共華北野戰軍和東北野戰軍，以兩個軍團的兵力，與中華民國國軍在天津、北平激戰。傅作義指揮60萬大軍，於1949年1月14日，拼鬥29小時後，天津失守。隨後20餘萬國軍，在北平陷入苦戰，傅作義投共，1月31日共軍入城，次日北平陷共。塘沽守軍5萬餘人，由海上撤至青島，與劉安祺軍團會合。
與此同時，中共二野及三野的部隊，以徐州為中心，作戰面北起臨城，東到海州，西從商邱，南達淮南，與國軍精鋭55萬對峙。1949年1月10日，中共軍涉水強渡石展莊，戰況激烈血流成河，死屍填平三丈寛戰濠，共軍踏屍而過，黃伯韜、邱清泉兩將軍，壯烈殉國，是謂徐蚌會戰，中共稱淮海戰役。至此，中共軍已取得淮河以北絕對優勢，長江以北的青島，則是下一輪攻陷目標。(1)
民國37年(1948年)上半年，在青島的劉安祺軍團，進行一次大整編。包括32軍(軍長為趙琳)、50軍(軍長為胡家驥)、36師、54師、84師，人數在10萬人以上，隸屬11綏靖區。
先父陳其二，黃埔軍校通信兵科17期，54師整編後，調升50軍第四科，派軍團司令部作戰處，擔任中校編階之少校通信參謀。處內有同等階參謀張國英、倪世英等人。
1949年陰曆新年過後不久，大約是二月初的一個星期五上午，劉安祺司令官召集各級部隊長，舉行擴大軍事會議。開會時間上午十時，地點青島仙家寨司令部會議室。
開會前10分鐘，各出列席人員全部到齊。會議時間已過15分鐘，不見劉安祺出現，卻接到一通電話，司令座車路上拋錨，通知會議延後一小時。於是各員在附近活動，舒展筋骨。天曉得就在此時，一連兩發砲彈，正好落在會場，造成兩重傷七輕傷的不幸事件，劉安祺躲過了一劫。(2)
會議改了期，第一時間劉安祺召見先父，劈頭第一句就問：陳參謀，你吒（音：乍)搞的，我差點沒命呢。為啥咱們的一舉一動，共產黨弄得一清二楚呢？你倒説一說。
先父回答：有兩種可能，一是我們的通信密碼落入敵手，已能破密。二是我們內部有了匪諜。
劉安祺說：兩種可能都不排除，你不可以改密碼嗎？
回：我可以改，但密碼是國防部頒發的，我不能擅自更改。
劉安祺動火了，爆了粗口：去他奶奶的，什麼國防部不國防部的，將在外 君命有所不受，你懂嗎？你給我改！要多少時間，你說。
回：至少要一整天。劉：我給你兩天時間，後天此時交卷。言後拂袖而去。
這一天，我的父親通宵達旦，用他自己的方法，將常用字、普通字分類，或單字、或軍事俗語、或部隊番號，作了關鍵性的更改。並沒有費太多的時間，就完成了。經過反覆核對，認為確實沒有問題了，於次日下午簽報劉司令官。
經批可後，以極機密文件處理，先父陪同一位保防官，將新密碼，以專車送達各部隊電台。同時全軍啟動《迅雷演習》，徹底做好《保密防諜，人人有責》的保防工作。訓令全軍官兵，洩密者視同作戰抗命處理。
軍中常聽到一句話《通信有如部隊的靈魂，一旦失靈潰敗全軍。》這份經過更改的密碼，並沒有向國防部備案。自啟用後，一直到青島撤退，共軍始終沒有辦法破密，一直沿用至1949年10月中旬的國共陽江戰役。
自徐蚌會戰後，1949年2月至6月間，青島前線國共交戰頻繁，接觸戰近百次之多，國軍將士用命，共軍始終未能跨進青島防區，給順利撤退工作，提供了有利條件。(3)
1949年1月，天津、北平相繼失陷後，共軍擬渡黃河，經膠濟鐵路直取青島。但青島依山傍海，形勢險固，易守難攻，又面對國軍精鋭部隊駐守，如要攻陷青島，必將付出慘痛代價。於是越過青島，另闢戰場，渡長江先取南京，再奪上海。
始料未及，共軍渡江勢如破竹，4月21日就攻下長江南岸的安徽銅陵。24日南京失守，並在城內大肆張貼宣傳海報，即將成立中華人民共和國，國民政府南遷廣州。
南京陷共後，青島在戰略上已失堅守價值，中央決議保全實力，放棄青島，隨即積極進行撤離作業。5月26日共軍攻進上海，兩天後上海易手，更加速了青島撤退的必要性和急迫性。
5月22日，上海情勢緊急，招商局旗下的一隻15艘龐大船隊，奉令駛進膠州灣東南方的青島港各個碼頭。駐軍立即嚴密戒備，電話線架設到船邊，各船座艙進駐電台。按作業計劃，不分晝夜，糧秣、彈藥、器材先行上船，後續是衛生、政工、軍需、軍法、兵工等單位人員，再次是軍眷。最後是裝騎、工兵、憲兵、通信、運輸、步兵等作戰部隊。作業精密程度連炊事兵的鍋、碗、瓢、盆一起上船。(4)
最後一波上船的是一個步兵旅和一座電台，一面打仗一面撤退，旅長姓李，台長姓傅。接應的船隻是海牛輪，也是載運國軍最後駛離青島港的一艘船。在此之前，船隊已於數小時前駛離青島。指揮艦設在海宿輪上，行駛在居中位置。國軍的兩艘陽字號驅逐艦，在海面上，砲口對準岸邊，掩護最後一支部隊撤離上船。當天是6月3日星期五，陰曆是五月初七清晨。當年隨軍撤離青島的人，都不會忘記，這年的端午節是在船上渡過的。
經過六天的海上航行，部隊到達基隆港和高雄港。這支有著鋼鐵般紀律的精鋭部隊，並沒有駐留台灣，整補後，於6月下旬派往另一個戰鬥據點。大部份兵力移防廣州和湛江，32軍調往海南島。
1960年代，美國維吉尼亞軍校，曾把青島撤退列為戰爭史的教材，並指出《一次完美的撤退，勝過一次完美的攻擊》。那位通信參謀官，更改密碼的事，也是教材中的一部份。(5，本篇完)
第16篇：國共內戰時期的
廣州棄守
1949年6月3日，完美的青島撤退，給士氣委靡不振的國軍，注入了一劑強心針。
從當年七至十月間的國軍兵力佈署來看，廣東及海南全境，桂、黔、川、滇諸省大部份，甘、湘、贛各省一部份。浙江沿海島嶼舟山、大陳、一江山，福建的金門、馬祖、東引、烏坵。東沙、中沙群島，以及南沙太平島，均在國軍掌控之中。新疆、西藏地方，更在共軍搖控之外。
就整體政治環境來看，蔣介石總統以下野之身、中國國民黨總裁身分，仍然主持黨政軍各項會議，提供復興建言。
6月15日，當時國民政府已遷廣州，中共在北京召開政治協商會議之籌組會議，毛澤東當選常務委員會主席，積極籌備召開《中國人民政治協商會議》和成立《中華人民共和國》相關事宜。
七月，中共一野向大西北進軍，蘭州失守。二野長途跋涉，而西南地區進攻。三野目標，奪取浙江沿海島嶼。
八月五日，美國發表1054頁的《美國與中國的關係》白皮書，表明對中華民國執政黨中國國民黨的不滿，對國民政府十分不利。
九月二十一日，中共《中國人民政治協商會議第一屆全體大會》在北京召開，通過《中國人民政治協商會議組織法》及《中華人民共和國中央人民政府組織法》，選舉毛澤東為中央人民政府主席，朱德、宋慶齡為副主席。
九月二十二日至三十日，董必武在第一屆中國人民政治協商會議上作《中央政府組織法草案特點》報告，討論新政權成立後，中央、省市縣、自治區，政務執行注意事項。十月一日，中共舉行開國大典，毛澤東在北京天安門上，宣佈中華人民共和國成立。
面對局勢的急速丕變，紀律嚴明，裝備精良的劉安祺軍團，却以孤臣孽子的心情，不畏險惡，團結一心，沉著應戰，固守廣州防區。並與國軍粵系部隊、桂系部隊，互動頻繁。其間與解放軍的接觸戰，成了城市攻防戰。(1)
八月中旬，一次至關重要，為期兩天的國軍軍事會議在廣州召開。包括余漢謀、張發奎、胡宗南、湯恩伯、陳濟棠諸將軍在內，近50名官員出席，研討嶺南防務及因應對策，主攻、主守、主撤者均有。8月24日，蔣介石召見顧祝同、余漢謀、劉安祺，了解當時情勢，囑咐作妥各項因應措施。
1949年8月，解放軍已攻克江西贛州、瑞金，準備再取廣東。第二野戰軍第4兵團、第四野戰軍，隨即以七個軍的兵力佈署粵北及廣西邊境。中共四野，根據中共中央軍委會解放華南統一佈署指令，以第4、第15兵團和兩廣縱隊，共22萬兵力，由第4兵團司令員陳賡指揮，葉劍英為第一書記，於九月底前，在湘、贛、粵邊界，集結完成。(2)
在國軍兵力佈署方面，隸屬於華南軍政長官公署余漢謀的部隊，有15萬人，分別佈防在曲江至廣州粵漢鐵路沿綫，英德、清遠、佛岡、增城等地。粵東的汕頭、潮安、梅縣地區，有兩個軍。雷州半島的湛江，有一個軍。廣州防區則有劉安祺軍團的一個軍兩個師。
10月2日，解放軍挾著新中國成立之鋭氣，下達攻擊命令，分三路出擊廣東。目標粵漢鐵路以東，龍江以西，4萬4千平方公里區域，約佔五分之一個廣東省面積。國軍誓死捍衛，仍然不敵猛烈攻擊，第三天攻克南雄和樂昌。
10月7日，右路4兵團攻下粵漢鐵路線上的大城曲江，9日越滇水攻克英德。
中路15兵團，也於9日佔領曲江東南方120公里處的翁源，然後越滃水，直下新豐。
左路也在10日順龍江而下，奪下河源，直取博羅。至此解放軍已兵臨廣州防區外圍300公里。其氣勢之旺，有如1975年4月，北越共軍南下西貢，統一越南一般。(3)
廣東全境地勢起伏，丘陵散列，與廣西合稱嶺南丘陵，邊緣山巒環繞，均向內側傾斜，如此地形，有利於共軍攻城掠地。
八月國軍軍事會議之後，由劉安祺兵團主導，擬具一項《殱敵於境外，誘敵於境內，固守廣州城》的作戰計劃。佈防粵北滇水東岸，隴水南岸，白水、湟水西岸，武水、北江居中的天然屏障。始料未及，共軍自攻擊發起日，一週之內攻破防線。迫於形勢，國民政府擬循青島模式，自海上撤退。無奈有利條件已不復存在，決定《棄守廣州，部隊西移》。(4)
10月1日以後的廣州城，軍隊與民間有兩種截然不同的景象。國軍加強戰備，另一方則是歌舞昇平紙醉金迷，十里洋場燈紅酒綠，茶市銀樓生意鼎盛，港幣美鈔流通互滙，一片繁華景象。
家居廣州城西南，今龍溪大道東段百子大樓軍眷村。百子大樓以圍牆分割，南為營區，國軍808團的一個營，駐紮營內，每日晚點名，雄壯嘹亮的黃埔軍校校歌和義勇軍進行曲，響徹雲霄遠播鄰里。10月10日後，未聞歌聲。國共兩軍卻在廣州城外蘆苞、官窯附近，展開激戰。這支部隊一直沒有回營，卻成了國軍西撤的先頭部隊。
十二日下午，父親突然返家，已購妥妻小次日清晨開往湛江的船票。傍晚倉皇中，上了船，父親趕回部隊。(5)
十二日深夜，國軍一支機械化攻撃部隊，連同一個工兵營，配以無線電台，由南海經九江，往陽江方面挺進，以掃除路上障礙。未料公路沿線，所有大小橋樑，全遭破壞，因此部隊前進速度緩慢下來，工兵營搭橋鋪路，疲於奔命。
十三日破曉前，部隊只推進到開平附近。此時廣州城內的駐軍開始撤離，軍眷婦孺一律上車，尾隨在後。中午時分，炸毀海珠大橋，最後一個步兵營，撤離廣州。東路及中路解放軍分別佔據清遠、花縣、從化、增城。
十四日，解放軍進了廣州，隨即整合西進，經鶴山追撃國軍，次日中午，已至恩平。
國軍大部隊西撤，沿途障礙重重，縱深拉長至80公里。無奈共軍由恩平至陽江段，在公路以北，沿途佈陣，守株待兔，並在漠陽江西岸，設下重兵，阻斷國軍越江。
解放軍陣式已定，一聲令下，有如切香腸一般，將劉安祺五萬精銳衝散，形成局部殱滅，國軍未能越過陽江。國軍只有808團的一個營突圍成功。戰役之下，連累軍眷婦孺，家破人亡，妻離子散，真是無語問蒼天。在國軍戰史上，稱此次戰役為《陽江戰役》，前後不過六天。清理戰場長達半月之久，國軍的美式裝備，武器、彈藥、車輛，散落在恩陽公路上、河邊旁。父親坐鎮的一部，與劉司令官一直保持聯絡的電台載波車，也在其中。(6）
劉安祺成了光桿司令，帶領數名軍、士官，往陽江海邊奔去，包括作戰參謀張國英、工兵營長倪世英、通信參謀陳其二(筆者父親)、情報官何治齊、電台台長傅興中，及一名侍從官、兩名士官。
當年陽江港僅是一個漁港，地勢如一畚箕，箕口面海。劉安祺的一雙鞋子都跑掉了，赤著腳，蹲在海灘上，兩眼呆滯，狀極狼狽。幸好兩位略懂粵語的士官，事先徴得一艘漁船，候在岸邊。劉安祺急呼：陳參謀，叱辦！叱辦！
先父回應：研判附近應該會有海軍巡弋，正在聯絡中。 此時已近午夜，天上還有稀疏的星星，海浪夾著海風一波波衝向海邊。
遠方山頭傳來強力揚聲器的喊話聲：劉安祺，你們已經被包圍了，逃不掉的，趕快繳械投降。
隨後又播放了一段軍歌，劉安祺似乎有點精神恍惚，說道：叱搞的，我們的部隊在晚點名?張國英回答：是八路軍在播放義勇軍進行曲。
劉安祺回過神來：叱！共產黨也唱這首歌。此情此景，真有一種項羽圍困在垓下的悽涼。
陳參謀一聲《聯絡上了》，大夥一陣歡呼後流下激動的淚水。海軍的一艘軍艦正候在陽江港外，急忙上了小船。基於安全快速，避免超載，陳參謀、何情報官、傅台長及兩名士官留了下來。張國英撂下一句話：回頭馬上接你們。
五人望穿秋水苦等海邊，小船再也沒有回頭。劉安祺脫險，解放軍追兵已到，先父成了俘虜。(7，本篇完)
第17篇：父親有被俘紀錄
1949年10月廣州棄守，國軍西撤。解放軍二野及四野兵團，夾撃劉安祺五萬精鋭，於恩平至陽江，縱深80餘公里的公路上。劉安祺見大勢已去，令情報官何治齊，急召先父與其會合。
情況危急時刻，父親與電台台長傅興中，將載波車棄置漠陽江邊。個人裝備全部丟棄，卻帶了一部收發報機、一盒備用真空管，口袋裏裝著一本極機密的國軍作戰部隊通信聯絡呼號密碼。
父親與劉安祺會合後，由何情報官帶領，直奔陽江三丫灣海邊，伺機脫身。
由於收發報機、真空管，及呼號密碼全部發輝功能，劉安祺、張國英登上外海巡弋軍艦，危急中脫險，父親卻成了解放軍的一名俘虜。(1)
解放軍未抵達前，已將收發報機、真空管、呼號密碼簿消毀，棄於海灣礁石之內。五名被俘官兵，心情複雜，毫無抗拒，束手被擒，被令摘除軍階，被帶往一村落曬穀場內，已是次日凌晨，被俘官兵百餘人，多數面孔熟悉。
經過一整天《學習醒腦課程》，交代官職經歴、軍中學歷、參加過的戰役等等。還教唱了一首沒有歌譜，一句句跟著唱的歌曲《解放區的天空》。
為了防範俘虜逃脫，被趕往一處水深及腰的大池塘內，等待次日遣俘後送。(2)
時近午夜，池塘裏的俘虜，抵不過連日來的疲憊，居然能站在水中，一個個沉睡。情報官何治齊靜悄悄的移步至父親面前，輕輕地推了推父親，低聲說道：逃。
正在沉思妻兒安危中的父親，回過神來。何治齊補了一句：你跟著我行動。
一個箭步，躱過衛兵視線，跳上池岸，衝入樹叢之中。
父親問道：下一步怎麼辦？何答：到陽江城買船票，走人啊。錢呢？老何答：你摸摸你的束腰帶。
父親才恍然明白，是指與妻兒話別那天晚上，母親親手縫合在一條束腰帶裡，交給父親的兩錠金塊。
破曉前，兩人趕到陽江城內的一家民宅內，換上了便服，用過早餐後，直奔一家船公司，用這兩塊金錠，換了兩張當天上午前往香港的船票，入夜之前到了香港。
在前長官一位旅港華僑翟姓退役少將的協助下，順利入境。父親隨後轉往海南島，在海口與妻兒團圓，次年元月母親帶著孩子到了台灣，兩個月後，父親隨32軍到了基隆。何情報官由香港逕赴高雄，也在台灣會見了妻兒。(3）
民國39年(1950年)3月1日，蔣中正先生在台復行視事，行使總統職務。隨後三軍部隊進行整編，父親原服務單位，陸軍第50軍番號延續，歸建後派軍官隊為附員。
隨即有一連串國軍人事政策上的裁定，自民國39年10月 1日起，接續有官籍申報、黨籍申報、被俘紀錄申報，及軍士官全面核階任職。
在官籍申報方面，由滇黔綏靖公署長官龍雲簽署的20師中校參謀任職令，不予承認。民國39年1月任命陸軍第32軍司令部中校參謀一職，經申覆後，准予保留。但在全面核階減俸作業中，降為少校。
在黨籍申報方面，父親曾於民國24年12月，在掦州參加中國國民黨，申報時附軍堅字黨證號碼，被批覆為：國民黨中央黨部查無底案。
在交代被俘時間、地點、經過方面，父親自然是誠實申報。(4)
父親自報到歸建後，經過重重交代過濾，軍官隊的附員，紛紛有了正職，唯獨一些有被俘紀錄的人，尚在等候派職。
父親黃埔15期的學長，陸軍第50軍通信組組長常成輔上校，在其力保下，等待了一年兩個月後，民國40年(1951年)5月10日，陸軍第50軍司令部代電：調派父親以附員原級，代理通信營副營長之職，兩個月後的7月1日眞除。同日總統的任官令到達，核定為陸軍通信兵少校，授予軍籍號碼。
父親擔任通信營副營長，長達3年3個月，時間之長，實屬罕見。期間輔佐李姓營長，連續兩年，榮獲陸軍全軍各通信營，年度績效考評，由第四名升至第一名。
民國43年(1954年)10月1日，國防部令派父親為陸軍第一軍通信組少校參謀官，輔佐業務繁重的組長常成輔。
自民國39年7月，降階為少校，民國44年5月，再度升回中校，除了大陸年資外，在台灣，在優越的考評下，肩扛一朵梅花(少校)達六年之久，未能晉升，實屬例外。(5)
民國43年(1954年）10月，在一項列行的年度人事升遷評議會中，通信組長常成輔很情緒化的指出：陳參謀工作績效優異，有目共睹，我用身家性命來擔保他的忠誠度。
呈報陸軍總部的年度升遷名冊中，有了父親的名字。次年1月1日，父親晉升為陸軍通信兵中校。5月1日，國防部任職令到達，調升父親為成軍後第二任陸軍第781通信營中校營長。之前一月，重新入籍中國國民黨的國徴字黨證，也頒發到位。(6)
民國43年(1954年)12月2日，中華民國與美利堅合眾國簽訂《中美共同防禦條約》。緣引此項條約，國防部甄選三軍各機關、學校、部隊，各級將、校、尉級軍官，赴美接受三個月至半年不等的軍事專業研習。
民國44年(1955年）7月，父親接任通信營營長不久，接獲陸軍總部轉自國防部的通令，嚇然發現，陸軍作戰部隊各級主管首批赴美研習人員名單內，有常成輔及父親大名。這對我的父親來說，確實是一個遲來的正義。（7）
陸軍第781通信營，是一支機動獨立，可以配屬於任何軍級以上作業的通信部隊。由原陸軍第50軍通信營，以美國陸軍編制、美式裝備，擴編而成，配屬陸軍第一軍作業。層峯屢屢賦予重要任務。父親在當時的環境氛圍下，能夠擔任營長，確實不易。
赴美研習日期，由美方決定。研習期間，恰逢年度裝備檢查，接踵而至的是國民政府遷台後，首次三軍協同作戰演習，為後續的中美聯合軍演預作準備。國防部選定781通信營，擔綱軍演通信作業。
在此關鍵時刻，赴美受訓名單中，一個軍內卻有兩名通信主管，由生手暫代恐誤了大事。軍長蕭鋭將軍建議，常組長、陳營長中，擇一赴訓。呈報陸軍總部，父親改列第二期名單中。(8)
民國40年(1951年)5月1日，美國軍事援華顧問團在台北成立，首任團長蔡斯少將履新。
民國41年(1952年)3月間，一位有著美國陸軍通信兵科身分的軍事顧問Herbert少校，來到苗栗鎮中山路上的一座通信營克難營房內，進行瞭解。對官兵們生活的艱苦，薪水的微薄，通信器材有效的使用，專業技術運作的純熟，留下深刻印象。對父親輔佐營長，短期之內積效立見的才華，頗為欣賞。當著翻譯官的面對父親說：有機會，可以到美國學點新東西。
民國44年(1955年)11月，常成輔組長通過體檢、面談、綜合評比，順利前往位於美國喬治亞州Fort Gordon市郊的美國陸軍通信兵學校United States Army Signal Corps(USASC)接受為期六個月的研習。(9)
民國43年(1954年)，中華民國陸軍通信兵部隊，陸續更換為美國新式裝備。人工操縱電話交換總機，已進入自動化。無線電收發報機，週頻範圍已達短波波段，相當一座小型廣播電台，安裝在自走式載波車內。
獨立通信營內，有一個無線電連、兩個有線電架設連、一個營部連。官兵逾800人，各型車輛近200輛，包括父親在內，近七成官兵取得駕駛執照。苗栗鎮中山路上的克難營房，已不敷使用。
民國44年(1955年)，陸軍第781通信營及陸軍第一軍司令部，於6月底前，完成遷移作業。司令部進駐台中干城營區，通信營搬進台中市三民路營房，其間正逢父親接任營長。
民國44年(1955年)12月，陸軍各部隊實施裝備檢查，常成輔組長已赴美國陸軍通信兵學校研習。(10)
民國44年(1955年)12月底，國防部年度裝備檢查，陸軍第781通信營，不負眾望輕騎過關，榮獲陸軍全軍各兵科獨立作戰營第一名。
民國45年元月，父親奉令代理陸軍第一軍通信組組長職務，同時接奉陸軍總部轉自國防部參謀總部指令，責成首次三軍協同作戰演習，陸軍通信支援作業，由第一軍通信組擬具作業計劃，第781通信營執行任務。父親面臨自陸軍通信兵團軍官教導大隊畢業後，投入抗日戰爭、國共內戰，20年來，最大的挑戰。(11)
父親接獲指令後，於台中干城營房，集合通信組組內各參謀及通信營各連連長、副連長，召開聯席會議。就整個演習，本身責任劃分部份，進行瞭解。
經過半個多月，日以繼夜的研討，多次沙盤推演，一套包括紅、藍兩軍對峙，781通信營協調三棲作戰的演習計劃，終於完成。
經呈報陸軍總部，計劃書同意備查，並令積極準備演習工作。(12）
二月下旬春節甫過，國防部參謀總部下達演習動員命令。781通信營所屬兩個有線電架設連，一個無線電連，32輛架線車，12輛電台載波車，分別進駐楊梅高山頂、嘉義學甲、台南仁德、鳳山步校、屏東佳冬各營區。執行演習期間，地面各兵種部隊，通信暢通之任務。
演習前數日，父親穿梭各營區，慰勉駐營弟兄，爭取最高榮譽。政府遷台後，規模最大一次的三軍聯合軍演，成績斐然，圓滿成功。陸軍總部評比所屬參演部隊，781通信營名列前矛，父親記大功一次，團體及個人均列年度考核。(13)
三月裡的杜鵑花，色彩絢爛，瑰麗壯觀，蔓延整個苗栗將軍山麓，不時傳至眷村，杜鵑鳥的啼聲。
第二梯次軍官赴美培訓的甄選作業開始。當年是個物資匱乏，民生貧困的年代，軍人待遇微薄，軍眷生活清貧。如能雀屏中選，順利成行，除了有利升遷，更可改善妻小生活品質。
當時父親一個月的薪水，新台幣800元，加上主官加給200元，合計1000元，維持一個八口之家的生計，確實難為，母親只有從事副業，闖渡難關。
按當時滙率，美金一元可兌換新台幣42元，赴美培訓軍官，美國軍方比照美軍標準，月支津貼美金200元，相當新台幣8400元，抵國軍一個中校營長，八個半月的薪水。(14)
是三月裡的一個星期二上午，父親來到台北陸軍第801總醫院，接受體檢及面談後，兩項結果交付審查。數日後，陸軍總部《核定各兵科赴美研習軍官名單》最速件公文，到達第一軍司令部，名單中並無父親名字。卻在附件落選名單中發現父親，註記欄註明《該員曾有被俘紀錄，有砂眼、足癬之症》。
事後第一個週末，父親自台中返回苗栗家中，如往常一樣，與妻兒談笑自若，好像沒有發生過什麼事情一般。(15)
台灣的砂眼症，在日據時代後20年，西部沿海地區罹患率高達百分之百，其他地區也有百分之五十至八十，民國60年代才逐漸絕跡。
民國39年(1950年）9月，我唸苗栗鎮大同國小四年級，班上50名同學，全部患有砂眼，每天點用聯合國支援的四環黴素藥膏，連續三年至畢業。當年的軍營中，官兵罹患砂眼者，三人之中就有兩人，國防部軍醫系統，應有紀錄。
腳癬俗稱香港腳，很難根絕。台灣天氣潮濕，國軍日日操演，十之八九均有不同程度的感染。
顯然當年父親患有砂眼、腳癬，不足以構成甄選赴美退訓的要件，根本原因出在《曾有被俘紀錄》。（16)
《後漢書．孝靈帝紀》記載：求取地方縣令等官員，視轄區面積、人口、貪富論價，並開放投標。賣官買官在中國歷史上，算不上是什麼新鮮事，歴朝歴代幾乎都有。
姑且不論，民國四十年代，有無行賄、獲取利益之實。且看中華民國第10、第11兩任總統陳水扁任內（2000－2008)賣官買官，見諸報端確有其事。晉升少將、中將各有價碼，為甄選條件薄弱、摘星慾望強烈、從惡如流者，無疑開了一扇順暢直通的大門。(17)
父親赴台北甄選之前，心中已有定見，是否入選，必須走完程序。施賄取利，如真有其事，可以效尤，亦要清如水明如鏡，堅持廉潔，不忘祖訓。
《有被俘紀錄》列為忠誠赤膽、思想考核的主軸，立律如此粗糙，觀念如此陳腐，做法如此矯枉過正，不知埋沒多少國之良才，我為黨國可惜，也為我的父親，堅守原則的風骨喝采。
我的父親被俘不過50小時，共產黨就能把一個人，洗了腦嗎？我的父親一生豁達開朗、樂觀泰然。退訓公文接獲後，面對母親，還唱了一段京劇：夫人，往後妳要更加辛苦了。(18)
民國45年6月初，第一軍接奉陸軍總部轉自國防部參謀總部的嘉獎令：表揚陸軍第781通信營，連續三年榮獲全陸軍裝檢及實戰演練優等或第一名。並於三軍協同演習期間，通信組、通信營相互支援，演習計劃周詳，執行完美無缺。責令陸軍第781通信營，代表陸軍通信部隊，參加中華民國四十五年雙十國慶閲兵大典。軍通信組組長常成輔，參謀作業周全，赴美派訓成績優良，呈報總統召見獲准，日期另行通知。
通信營、通信組官兵，於六月第二個星期六中午，在台中通信營營區，聯合舉辦端午佳節聚餐，為殊榮歡慶，並為常組長洗塵。(19)
常組長在端節聚餐會中說：陳營長民國40年5月，由50軍軍部附員，調升通信營少校副營長。民國43年7月，轉任第一軍通信組少校參謀，民國44年5月，出任第781通信營中校營長，迄今5年1個月。
他與我們通信營、通信組的弟兄們，一起生活、一起工作，住的是克難營房，吃的是青菜蘿蔔，在惡劣的環境下不畏艱苦，工作積效始終是全軍前茅。在我赴美受訓期間，他代理我的職務，在他的策劃下，通信組參謀作業周詳，通信營落實執行，在三軍聯合軍演中，完美無缺，達成任務。
今天，本人能夠獲得總統召見，是全體弟兄們共同努力的結果。在此，我要向我的學弟陳營長，付出的辛勞，表示感謝。(20)
父親參加中華民國四十五年國慶閲兵大典，接受總統校閲，可說是戎馬倥傯三十餘年，最大一次的榮耀。一名中校營長，立於指揮車上，引領全營三分之二官兵近五百人，分乘一百餘輛各式架線車、載波車、通信器材車，以壯大的軍容，通過閱兵台，羽扇綸巾、英姿煥發，這年他39歲。
值得稱許的是，這次閱兵大典，由軍中之聲台北軍中廣播電台，負責實況轉播，全國各地電台聯播。主播人則是我的姑姑，畢業於政工幹校第一期的陳其荃中尉。口齒清晰、地道國語、反應靈敏，事前充分的準備，頗受各界好評。兄妹兩人同在一個重要場合，分擔重任，一時傳為佳話。
國慶閲兵過後，常成輔接受總統召見歸來，與同儕歡聚，聊起召見經過。一口河南濃腔的他說道：引進總統府時有些緊張，等待召見時，還算鎭定，但叫到名字時，直打哆嗦，還冒冷汗。心想，可真邪門，總統也是人，我怕個啥。心裡直唸，我的媽啊，咋辦，咋辦。引起哄堂大笑。(21)
民國45年12月15日，父親接奉陸軍總部人事命令，調陸軍通信兵學校野外訓練部教官，民國46年1月1日生效。陸軍第781通信營長一職，由陸軍總部第五署第五組中校通信兵訓練官魏某接任。距離父親於民國44年5月1日，任職該營營長，僅1年8個月。
按正常人事作業，除特殊原因外，各部隊、機關、學校，主官之任職調離，以兩年為原則，工作積效優異者，可續延一年至兩年。
調職命令來得突兀，實在想不出有什麽合理的說詞，莫非又是《有被俘紀錄》在作怪。
軍人以服從為天職，父親二話不說，心有定見，趁升旗典禮，向全營官兵宣布，並令營部連，趕辦移交手續。(22)
父親在通信營，同袍同澤甘苦相共，長達六年，一旦離別依依不捨。惜別晚會溫馨感人，全營官兵列隊相送，互道珍重再見，後會有期。
至親革命伙伴，連長孔祥萬、排長胡仲甫、通材修護官翟連陞、老士官花玉山、駕駛兵孫家茂，代表全營官兵，一路相送至苗栗家中。
兩天後，父親隻身前往宜蘭通信兵學校報到，他的直屬長官卻是，陸軍通信兵團教導大隊4期、黃埔軍校通信兵科17期的同學費炳泰上校。(23)
陸軍通信兵學校，不但是抗戰時期，代訓黃埔軍校通信兵科第17、18、19各期的教育搖籃。遷台後，更是父親兩度入學接受高級班4期，代訓陸軍通信署通信指揮官訓練班7期的軍事專業學府。有幸擔任母校教官，備感榮幸。
對有實戰經驗的父親來說，這項任命，應是心手相應、勝任愉快。更何況，早在峨嵋山軍官訓練團時，就以中尉軍階，面對諸將官，教授野外通信作戰課程，培養出的穏重教者風範。
父親除了在教室授課外，還要帶領學生野外臨場體驗。宜蘭東北近郊一處臨海村落，名為新社村，地形地物，小路、村舍、曬豰場、池塘、小樹林，酷似父親當年被俘的另一個場景。(24)
父親將一生的作戰經驗與教材結合，從中外著名的戰役中，闡述未能掌控通信，造成重大損失的後果。1812年拿破崙攻打莫斯科，1870年普法戰爭，1941年日本偷襲珍珠港，都是實例。
父親親繪教學圖表、簡報，得自於藝術字的造詣，抗戰時期在四川榮昌，擔任通信士官訓練大隊隊職官時，就嶄露頭角。在通校的第一年，就被學員評選為優良教官。
民國47年8月，台海情勢緊張，陸軍總部責令通信兵學校，派出一個包括父親在內的三人小組，都是有實戰經驗的教官，前往金門，至駐軍各師通信連，講授教戰通信。
當時，趙家驤、吉星文、章傑、張國英，同為金防部副司令官。8月23日，司令官胡璉召集晚餐會報，前三位在頭一天的砲戰中陣亡。張國英是個福將，仕途順遂，官至陸軍二級上將副國防部長。(25)
父親在通信兵學校任職9年6個月，兩個單位，野外訓練部及測驗考核組。除了野外通信課程外，還傳授無線電中繼作業、通信兵群有線電作業、行政通信勤務課程。
在測驗考核組期間，撰擬各科試題，每卷是非題20題、選擇題四選一30題，每題兩分，建成32套題庫。自製快速評分卡片，及各試卷一體通用的答案卡。評分既省時省力，又可節省大量紙張消耗。在那個電腦只有概念的年代，可說是一種創舉。
民國50、51、52連續三年，父親再度獲選優良教官。
民國53年，陸軍各兵種專科學校，在陸軍總部舉辦教學觀摩會，父親是通信兵學校的代表之一，看見了久違的劉安祺總司令。
老弟，咋搞得(怎麼搞的)，為啥還是中校。劉老總有些驚訝。
父親長嘆一聲：哎，自我陽江被俘之後，遺憾迄今未能與總司令互動，謝謝你的關心。(26)
國軍的人事升遷，大陸時期執行混亂，階級不符年齡，各軍種皆有，不到30歲的將軍有之。國民政府遷台後，採編制年資制度。各軍事院校畢業生，少尉任官，一年半後，不受編制限制晉升中尉。
人事部門定期評審年資，調整編階佔缺，以備來年晉升。
父親擔任通校教官，第二年年底，中校年資屆滿，自應列入升遷考慮，但遲遲未予調整。
民國50年，父親晉階中校已満七年，畢業於黃埔軍校通信兵科18期，父親的學弟顧天錦，耐不住地向父親建議：學長，想個辦法活動一下，去佔個缺啊。事過兩年，再度建言。父親依舊回答：我已無法可想。
個性改變命運，堅持原則的固執，讓他軍服上的兩朵梅花，戴了11年6個月。未到屆齡，自動申請退伍。數月後，國防部退伍令到達，民國54年7月1日生效。三十餘年半生戎馬，劃下句點。一次核發退伍金新台幣57039元，兩年眷補代金16440元，合計73479元。以2017年台灣的物價指數計算，想在台北市購買一棟一千萬元左右的國宅，僅能買到一間廁所而已。
父親回到家裡的第一句話就是：這是我一生中最愉快的一天，也是我自民國39年3月抵台後，心情最複雜的一天。人生是一連串的戰鬥，而每一步的進程，又都是人生新事業的起點。孩子們，繼續為黨國奮鬥。
那年我家有四名中國國民黨黨員，四個妹妹未到入黨年齡，我是中華民國陸軍財務中尉，民國59年(1970年）弟弟是救國團總部編審，負責繪製各地青年活動中心建築設計，兄弟兩人不負父命，一直為黨國奉獻數十年。(27），(本篇完)，2018年6月17日父親節，於洛杉磯。
《陌塵落地》第肆章
《緬懷遠方的父親》
前言：
民國94年(2005年)4月4日至7月2日，我與妻赴台北，探望年邁的雙親，父親正在病中，在家療養。茶餘飯後，一家人圍坐父親四週，傾聽他按着時序，講述他的故事。
父親命我記下筆記，如有可能寫些他的生平軼事，留點紀錄，百年之後可讓孩子們，慎終追遠，追思懷念。
2006年4月，小兒Anderson 赴Sun Microsystems公司任職，我與妻赴科羅拉多州Broomfield小鎮，心兒寓所停留兩個月。
兩層樓的租屋，離公司不遠，建於小山之上，視野廣闊，遠方落磯山脈盡收眼底，草原綠茵初綻，一望無垠。數小湖置於草原之上，水鳥、大雁棲於湖邊樹下。更見四月飄雪，真是一次驚喜的邂逅。
怡人的湖光山色，讓人目不暇接。每晚落日之前，我與妻兒三人，繞山間步道一週。散步歸來，品味茗茶，醞釀文思，開始書寫父親軼事。(1)
抗戰時期，外婆常給我講故事，也給我講唐詩。第一首詩不是李白的靜夜思《床前明月光，疑是地上霜。》而是金昌緒的春怨《打起黃鶯兒 莫教枝上啼。啼時驚妾夢 ，不得到遼西。》，這與外婆的際遇有關。
母親和她的五姑，也常給我講家鄕的故事，一個大時代動盪的故事。
2005年赴台期間，父親也給家人講了他自己的故事。諸多故事，猶言在耳。
來到科羅拉多州小鎮，想要寫故事。來自於我，十九年擔任報社編撰的勇氣，讓我一篇篇寫下去，長達八年，近30萬字，詩詞72首。
民國106年(丁酉年)陰暦11月21日，是父親百年誕辰，之前兩年，精簡校對初稿，打字入了電腦。月前更補充資料，完成《父親與民國》的篇章。並撰寫長詩一首，七言一百二十句，描述父親的一生，以作永誌紀念。(2，完）
第1篇：父親百年誕紀念詩文
1：山靈水秀隱諸葛，
2：南陽碧玉生紫煙。
3：雉堞宏偉開封府，
4：青澀俊秀一少年。
5：負笈從戎鎮江城，
6：習技受業北固山。
7：楊州商女亡國恨，
8：周郎顧曲引驚鑑。
9：百樂門內勁歌舞，
10：外灘豫園會花前。
11：黃河九曲十八彎，
12：強渡巨河見潼關。
13：領袖西安蒙劫難，
14：三夜四晝未合眠。
15：蘆溝曉月干戈起，
16：日寇淞滬放狂言。
17：夜奔南翔屍遍野，
18：寒山寺外斃漢奸。
19：赤壁武漢長江水，
20：跨江架線連兩岸。
21：兵刃洞庭映湘水，
22：長沙城內紅通天。
23：南嶽蜿蜒八百里，
24：巍峨奇險似華山。
25：衆星雲集峨嵋山，
26：通信中尉執教鞭。
27：桂山獨秀七星岩，
28：相會桂林訂姻緣。
29：黃埔歌聲振人心，
30：帶職進修技超前。
31：鸞鳳和鳴知相惜，
32：結髪夫妻嘉陵邊。
33：花溪浣紗映花紅，
34：千里跡遍川桂黔。
35：石馬依舊柳絮飛，
36：鷄鳴鍾山遍秦淮。
37：回首下關生死別，
38：忠烈千秋萬古存。
39：瀋陽飄雪霏霏日，
40：北大營前柳條月。
41：國共激戰大平原，
42：通信九團參謀官。
43：蓬萊揚帆連嶗山，
44：青島秀麗冠東海。
45：蔥緑無垠花扶疏，
46：別墅紅樓在林間。
47：通信指揮建奇功，
48：完美棄守膠州灣。
49：湛江藍天柳營新，
50：南疆碧空曉氣清。
51：赤坎紅樓七星嶺，
52：椰林婆娑映月星。
53：碧血黃花烈千秋，
54：珠江唱晚彩雲間。
55：霓虹映波珠海岸，
56：清風搖曳荔枝灣。
57：運籌帷幄固羊城，
58：旦夕之危在眼前。
59：環顧全局迫撤離，
60：敗兵殘將漠河邊。
61：電訊搜尋海中艦，
62：安祺脫險陽江岸。
63：淪為囹圄階下俘，
64：池潢水中兩晝夜。
65：身困曹營心在漢，
66：機智脫困香江顯。
67：輾轉海南合家歡，
68：儋耳萬寧五指山。
69：三亞榆林有美景，
70：扼控南海東京灣。
71：粵劇粵曲有心得，
72：帝女花伴春江月。
73：幽邈海上有仙山，
74：唐山跨海過台灣。
75：慈湖澄湖竹子湖，
76：雪山玉山阿里山。
77：大甲大肚濁水溪，
78：碧潭明潭珊瑚潭。
79：阿美山地文化村，
80：清水斷崖知本泉。
81：港都愛河深夜雨，
82：淡江夕照彩虹忛。
83：初臨寶島難中難，
84：披荊斬棘六十年。
85：臥懷他鄉是故鄉，
86：鄉音未改習俗改。
87：被俘之名受牽累，
88：白色迫害又一頁。
89：一營之長得不易，
90：上司擔當力保薦。
91：參謀作業拔頭籌，
92：優冠全軍連三年。
93：國慶統帥校三軍，
94：指揮車上扇綸巾。
95：甄選求學美國行，
96：不從賄賂未成行。
97：晨曦國旗歌聲揚，
98：立委怒訴醒夢驚。
99：轉持教鞭赴通校，
100：桃李三千滿軍旅。
101：校際考評優全軍，
102：優良教官獲保舉。
103：乙巳夏初解甲日，
104：轉戰商場徒虛名。
105：兒女圍膝獲新知，
106：文史光纖超導體。
107：顔氏家訓責勵行，
108：中華經典勉記心。
109：蘇軾天祥顔真卿，
110：蕭邦梵谷達文西。
111：兒孫滿堂逐開顔，
112：子孝妻賢足堪慰。
113：九十高齡蒙主召，
114：大直福山兒為鄰。
115：一生傲骨垂丹青，
116：浩然沛乎塞蒼冥。
117：盡劫祈度泯恩仇，
118：遺願兩岸創雙贏。
119：寶島青山多嬌媚，
120：長伴英靈恒古存。
《註釋》
1，諸葛：即武侯孔明，隱居 河南南陽西南七里之臥龍岡，山明水秀，代出偉人。
2，南陽盛產玉石，能生紫煙祥瑞之氣，父親生於南陽。
3，雉堞：城牆之意。開封為中國六大古都之一，城牆建築宏偉。
4，青澀：少年求學年代。
5，負笈從戎：背著書包去投考軍校。
6，北固山：位於江蘇省鎮江市東北長江之濱，遙對金、焦兩山，形勢險要。南宋詞人辛棄疾有《何處望神州？滿眼風光北固樓。千古興亡多少事，悠悠；不盡長江流。》之句。父親就讀之陸軍通信兵團教導大隊，在北固山下。
7，揚州：位於江蘇省高郵湖之南，長江之北。隋煬帝南遊時，曾建行宮於此，京杭運河流經城東。城內有名勝瘦西湖，湖畔楊柳垂岸，鶯蹄碧波，燕逐東風，風景如詩如畫。父親學成，實習於此，沉緬於京劇及紹興戲。其長官以杜牧詩《商女不知亡國恨，隔江猶唱後庭花。》斥之，隨即不再涉足戲院，專心工作。
8，周郎顧曲：喻喜愛戲曲之人。三國時周瑜，精通戲曲音律，有闕音必顧之。
9，百樂門：抗戰之前，就是上海的火紅夜總會，係父親與紅粉知己，常約會的地方。
10，外灘、豫園均為上海旅遊景點。
11，黃河自綏遠省(今內蒙古自治區)南流，至陜西、山西成天然省界，在陜西潼關東折，流向河南。此段河道彎曲，水流急湍。
12，父親首個派職單位在潼關，報到當日黃河濃霧，軍令難違，由山西風陵渡搭乘小船，逆風強渡黃河。
13，14：民國25年(1936年)12月，蔣介石委員長蒙難於西安。遭軟禁於綏靖公署，達半月之久後脫險，史稱西安事變。父親守在電話總機旁執行勤務，四天三夜未曾合眼。
15，16：民國26年(1937年)7月7日，七七事變爆發於河北宛平城外，永定河上之蘆溝橋(今屬北京市)，橋上有乾隆皇帝親題《蘆溝曉月》四字。
1937年8月13日，八一三淞滬會戰起，日本放出三月亡華狂言。
17，18：淞滬會戰，中日激戰長達三個月，戰史罕見，雙方傷亡慘重，近20萬。父親奉令通信馳援南翔，公路上棄屍遍野。
戰爭後期，電話總機移駐蘇州寒山寺內。某日，蔣委員長與湯恩伯將軍通話中，電話線突遭割斷。父親迅速處理，擊斃兩名漢奸。
19，20：民國27年(1938年)初，駐防漢口，常工作於文、武赤壁兩地。文赤壁即蘇軾當年所遊之赤壁，作《念奴嬌》及《前後赤壁賦》而得名(今湖北省黃岡市)。
武赤壁係三國時期，周瑜擊敗曹操大軍於此，原名蒲圻(今更名為赤壁)。
民國27年初春，奉令架設漢口至武昌間，跨江電話電䌫，完成艱鉅任務。
21，22：民國27年孟秋，奉調至湖南南嶽衡山，後不久，中日大戰於洞庭湖及湘水。
民國27年11月12日，長沙焚城，於衡山指揮所，接駁委員長與張治中、酆悌等人電話。
23，24：衡山與泰山、恆山、嵩山、華山合稱五嶽，因位於五嶽之南，故稱南嶽。
華山位於陜西潼關西南60公里，高2200公尺，為五嶽之西嶽。駐防潼關期間，華山也在工作地點之內。
25，26：峨嵋山位於四川省樂山市之西，為中國四大佛教勝地之一。深潭飛瀑、蒼松翠柏、綠竹幽林，集美景之大成。抗日戰爭期間，國民政府在此設軍官訓練團，楊森、劉湘、俞濟時，劉峙等人，曾在此受訓，可稱眾將星雲集。
1937年12月，擔任峨嵋山軍官訓練團中尉教官，教授包括將官班在內的《野外無線電通信》課程。授課期間，蔣委員長曾兩度蒞臨教室巡視。
27，28：桂山、獨秀山、七星岩，均係廣西桂林名山，景物之美冠絕天下，山水掩映，鬼斧神工，《桂林山水甲天下》名不虛傳。
民國28年(1939年)2月，與家母相識於桂林，山水為媒，互訂姻緣。
29，30：民國29年（1940年)4月，以中尉排長軍階，入學黃埔軍校通信兵科17期，修業兩年，期滿晉升上尉。
31：民國28年(1939年)10月，結婚於重慶國際飯店。
32：嘉陵江，源於隴南，入陝西穿越大巴山入四川，貫穿重慶與長江會合。嘉陵江南岸，是我的出生地。
33，34：花溪位於重慶市東南，巴縣境內，旅遊勝地南溫泉，立於花溪之畔。青山夾谷，花紅兩岸，風景清幽，溪可泛舟，鄉女常浣紗其間，是父母常遊之地。
抗戰時期，父親因防地異動，跡遍川(四川)、桂(廣西）、黔(貴州)各省。
35，36：民國34年(1945年）8月，抗戰勝利，是年肖鷄，還都南京。鷄鳴報曉遍及秦淮河，響徹紫金山。
南京有鷄鳴寺，乃金陵名剎之一，此處可遠眺長江，俯瞰玄武湖，金陵全景盡收眼底。
紫金山又名鍾山，山間時有紫氣，岡巒起伏，氣象萬千，中山陵即在此山中。
秦淮即秦淮河，六朝以還，煙花蒼萃，兩岸雕樑畫棟，遊船笙歌，通宵達旦，紙醉金迷，多少風流韻事，盡在秦淮一區。
鍾山之下有明孝陵，乃明太祖朱元璋安息之地，陵前御河御道，林木參天，御道長近千米，道旁有巨大文官武臣石像、石馬、石象、石麒麟，柳絮揚飛，綠葉成蔭。久違八年，再度重逢，景物依舊，人事已非。
37，38：民國26年(1937年)12月，南京淪陷前數日，父親的岳父，畢業於濟南高師學堂的尹季和，時任陸軍通信兵團第一團獨立營中尉書記官，話別妻小於下關，從此天人永隔，外祖父殉國。再逢金陵，哀慟絞心，一束黃花，清香遙祭。滾滾長江水，往事成追憶。
民國37年國民政府頒發榮哀狀，褒揚外祖父陣亡忠貞，殊堪矜式，哀榮永誌。
39，40：民國35年冬，瀋陽大雪紛飛，父親攜眷冬遊清故宮，日寇已降，國土重光。並至瀋陽近郊柳條溝、北大營憑弔。民國20年(1931年)9月18日，日本砲轟東北軍駐地北大營，掀起侵華戰爭序幕。一曲《松花江上》，故址依舊，不禁唏噓。
41，42：民國36年(1947年)，國共內戰在大東北松遼平原，全面展開。孟冬，父親由交通部第二交通警察總局有線電通信大隊，歸建陸軍通信兵第九團，任少校參謀官，參與四平街戰役及遼瀋會戰，支援杜聿明、廖耀湘兵團作戰。
1948年春，解放軍東北野戰軍，於遼西、瀋陽、長春地區，取得優勢。瀋陽失守前，通九團團長聶英，變節投共，父親急奔北平，轉赴青島。
43，44，45，46：嶗山又稱勞山，位於青島市東方約20公里，高1130公尺，為佛教名山，峰巒重重，風光綺麗。東南方約40公里海中，有一《塔連島》，秦始皇認其為蓬萊仙島。白居易長恨歌內有《忽聞海上有仙山 ，山在虛無縹緲間。》即指此處。
青島市東臨黃海，西濱膠州灣，為一半島。綠蔭夾道，花木扶疏，美景如畫，公園處處可見。別墅建於山麓之上，紅牆小樓嵌於綠叢之中。海濱浴場盛名遠播，為避暑勝地。2008年北京奧運，帆船及風帆比賽場地，就在附近海面。
47，48：民國38年(1949年)1月，徐蚌會戰(淮海戰役)後，戰火延燒至青島外圍。十一綏靖區司令官劉安祺，在一次軍事會議中，險遭不測，國軍軍情，共軍瞭如指掌。劉司令官以《將在外 軍令有所不受》提示父親更改國防部，部頒通信密碼。自此解放軍始終未能解密，國軍順利完成青島撤退。
1949年6月的青島撤守，作業精密，指揮有序，在國軍戰史上堪稱為《最完美的撤離》。國軍各軍事院校及美國維吉尼亞軍校，曾把這次軍事行動，列為教材。通信參謀更改軍用密碼之事，亦列其中。
49，50，51，52：湛江舊名廣州灣，位於雷州半島東北，係一優良軍港及商港水深港闊，碧海藍天。青島撤退後，部隊移防於此，進駐海灣兩岸原法國軍營，一為西營，一為東營。
湛江屏障中國南疆，地勢險要，市區綠樹成蔭，景色宜人，破曉旭日，空氣清新，碧波蕩漾。
七星嶺、赤坎古城，均為湛江近郊名勝景點，山巖峭壁，白雲悠悠，令人心曠神怡。
海岸椰樹隨風搖曳，椰林叢叢，夜空裏，走在湛江海濱大道上，滿天繁星，極具浪漫之情。部隊在此僅有數月停留，因另有任務，陸續於八月前，轉赴廣州。(續）
53，54，55，56：黃花岡位於廣州市北郊白雲山前，係辛亥廣州起義死難七十二烈士墓地所在，大理石砌成，氣勢恢宏莊嚴，令人肅然起敬。
珠江亦稱粵江，因下游流經海珠石而得名，貫穿廣州市區，有如南京之秦淮河，巴黎之塞納河，入夜皓月當空，令人流連忘返，情侶雙雙，處處笙歌。
廣州珠海長堤沿珠江而建，入夜霓虹映波，畫舫來往江上，舫上歌聲悅耳，音遠迴盪，車水馬龍，十里洋場。
荔枝灣係廣州城西一天然湖，荔樹夾岸，綠葉成蔭。盛夏荔枝成熟，遊人爭相摘購，饒富情趣。傍晚時分，清風搖曳，灣上彩船穿梭，船娘搖槳其上，遊客撥櫓而行，吟歌相對，有如置身杭州西子湖上。
57，58：國共內戰至1949年上半年，國民政府已失去大半江山，廣州為南方最大都市，又是當年北伐中原之根據地，政府調派原十一綏靖區青島防區精銳部隊，駐防廣州。運籌帷幄，整編桂粵部隊，組成一強大攻擊力量，積極做好收復失土之準備。
然而事與願違，國軍部隊派系紛紜，各據山頭，廣州精師，孤軍奮戰。1949年10月1日，中華人民共和國成立，局勢急轉直下，10月上旬，解放軍直逼廣州。
59，60：國民政府環顧全局，迫於形勢保存實力，決定撤離廣州，10月13日廣州失守。前一日倉促間，將妻小送上一艘不到千噸的鐵殻船離穗，經陽江、湛江，抵達海口，自己則隨軍行動。
部隊由陸路西撒，經鶴山、恩平、陽江、電白前往湛江。沿途大小橋樑30餘座，全遭破壞。五萬精兵受阻於公路，縱深近百公里，陽江一役，國軍潰敗於漠河之岸。隨徹軍眷，哀鴻遍野。
61，62，63：司令官劉安祺狀極狼狽，與隨員數人，奔至陽江海岸，頗有項羽被困垓下之悽涼。父親以行動電台，與近海國軍巡弋艦艇聯絡，歴兩小時終獲回音。司令官及作戰參謀張國英，倉皇登上一艘僅能載重四至五人小船，奔向海中軍艦。小船一去不返，父親與兩位同儕，岸邊苦等，望穿秋水，終成解放軍俘虜。
64，65，66：五十餘名被俘國軍官兵，解除武裝，趕入一池塘內。次日入夜後，黎明前，父親與情報官何治齊，機智逃脫衛兵監視，奔向陽江城內。幸得母親交付之兩粒金錠，購得兩張船票，安抵香港。得前長官港僑翟姓退將相助，順利入境，並資助盤纏，轉船到達海口。67，68：民國38年(1949年）11月初，在海口南方50公里東山小鎮，與妻小團聚。廣州一別海南重逢，雖不及一月，確有恍如隔世的感覺。次月，派任為陸軍第32軍中校參謀。
蘇軾曾有《四州環一島，百洞蟠其中。》，《黎山有幽子》等詩句。黎山即海南島內的五指山，屹立於瓊(海口)、萬(萬寧）、崖(崖縣）、儋(儋縣)四州之內。黎民多聚居於此，有獨特的文化習俗，均為當年國軍駐防之地。
69，70：海南島位處廣東省西南，以瓊州海峽與雷州半島相隔。西臨東京灣與越南相望，南扼西沙、南沙群島，戰略地位重要。
榆林位於海南島南端，水深港闊，為一天然良港，又以軍港著稱，更是遠洋漁業基地，越帶風情，全在榆林顯現。
三亞地處榆林以西20公里，椰林、陽光、沙灘、海風、衝浪、綠樹丶花卉，有著夏威夷、普吉島峇里島一般美景。
71，72：駐軍有一通信連，連長係父親同學，連部駐紥在海口市一戲院內，每日下午至午夜，有廣東戲上演，不乏名角演出。父親是戲迷，還喜歡唱戲，曾多次票戲京劇法門寺中的劉瑾，及趙氏孤兒中的程嬰，也喜歡紹興戲，到了海南島很自然也喜愛上粵劇。戲院老闆三、五天就約父親帶著妻小去看廣東大戲，過足戲癮。粵劇常配以粵曲，《帝女花》係著名戲碼，春江月即粵曲中的《春江花月夜》。
73，74：明朝古書《順風相送》中記載，明朝初期官員下西洋的航海紀錄，提及台灣及附近相關島嶼。早在秦始皇時期，海中的瀛洲，指的就是台灣。秦始皇曾派徐福，前往東方海上三座仙山蓬萊、方丈和瀛洲。三國時，孫權所征討的夷州，指的也是台灣。
唐代中葉即有漢人移民《平湖》，今澎湖。明朝嘉靖年間，於澎湖設置巡檢。
明末鄭成功驅逐荷蘭人，大批移民，隨鄭成功移居台灣，所謂唐山，係指中國來的移民。
清康熙年間置台灣府，雍正至嘉慶時期，投入大批人力財才，開發台灣。光緒20年（1984年)中日甲午戰爭，中國戰敗，次年清廷簽訂馬關條約，台灣割讓日本。
民國34年(1945年）抗戰勝利，台灣光復。民國38年（1949年)，中華人民共和國成立，300萬軍民，隨國民政府播遷台灣，又是中國史上另一次大規模移民行動。
父親隨軍攜眷，遷徙台灣，在台生活了57年，早已成為台灣人了，母親帶領一家人，在台近70年，原鄉、故鄕、僑鄉，已經分不清了。
75，76：台灣，位於中國大陸棚東南，東海之中，以台灣海峽與大陸福建相望。包括澎湖、釣魚台兩群島，綠島、蘭嶼、龜山、彭佳嶼、小琉球等小島，面積3萬6千平方公里，2017年人口統計2350萬。民國38年(1949年)12月，中華民國中央政府播遷首府台北市，迄今70年。島內山峰連雲，綿延不絕。河川、湖泊、平原、丘陵秀麗，公路、鐵路四通八達。雨量充沛，四季變化，暖熱冷涼。
慈湖位於桃園縣大溪鎮郊，為蔣介石陵寢所在，青山綠水，山明水秀，氣象萬千。
澄湖，即澄清湖，位於南部高雄市境內，有台灣西湖之稱。
竹子湖，在台北市近郊陽明山西北，綠樹紅櫻，秋楓似火，遍山漫谷。
雪山為台灣第二高山，3931公尺，主峰在北部宜蘭、苗栗兩縣境內，翠柏蒼松，高聳巍峨。
玉山為台灣第一高山，3997公尺，主峰在南投、嘉義兩縣境內，玉山國家公園橫跨南投、花蓮兩縣，融合森林、山谷、巖崖、湖泊成一體。
阿里山在嘉義縣境內，阿里山國家公園，四季早晚各有不同之奇美雲海。日出晚霞，成就了多元的動、植物生態。山內峽谷、峭壁、懸崖、瀑布處處可見。
77，78：大甲溪、大肚溪、濁水溪均為台灣中南部主要河川，濁水溪為台灣第一大河。各河水力豐沛，水勢急湍，全無航行之利，由於地勢東高西低，都向台灣海峽流注。
碧潭在新北市新店區內，新店溪中游，水深潭廣，泛舟搖槳，亭台樓閣掩映於幽林碧水之中。
明潭即日月潭，位於南投縣魚池鄉內，海拔760公尺，湖周35公里。北有日潭，南有月潭，故稱日月潭。四季花開，景物如畫，置身其中，有如仙境。
珊瑚潭，位於台南市境内，又名烏山頭水庫，嘉南平原灌溉之水源，形似珊瑚而得名，潭中有一小島，可登島瀏覧，一片翠綠，雲水相映，景色令人心曠神怡。
79，80：阿美山地文化村，在東部花蓮縣南。阿美族為台灣原住民最大族裔，每年八月在此地舉行豐年祭，可觀賞山地歌舞，享受山地美食。
清水斷崖，在花蓮市北，長約21公里，為斷層海岸，最高處海拔2000公尺，東部蘇花公路行經此路段，在800公尺的絕壁上行駛，危崖削壁，面對太平洋海岸，地勢雄偉壯觀。2018年2月5日，台九線蘇花公路改善工程，蘇澳至東澳段已通車。
知本溫泉，位於台東市西南知本溪畔，溫泉依山傍水，山境清幽，綠意盎然，附近有白玉瀑布，瀑高百餘公尺。
81，82：高雄市係一港口都市，台灣第二大城，市內有一人工河川《愛河》。河岸花木扶疏，入夜霓虹映波，情侶雙雙，迎面和風，夜雨中漫步，讓人流連忘返。
淡江即淡水河，為台灣北部第一大河，淡江夕照是美景之一，揚帆點點，漁舟唱晚，山色倒影，無限詩情畫意。
83，84，85，86：民國39年(1950年)1月，母親帶著四個孩子，先行抵台，兩個月後，父親隨軍移防台灣。政府百端待舉，家庭縮衣節食，當年的年均國民所得不到美金五十元，物資嚴重短缺，生活極度貧困。這年幣制改革，啓用大陸運台黃金作準備，首發新台幣兩億元，暫時穏定即將失控的經濟。
2007年10月，父親謝世，披荊斬棘六十年，渡過無數風雨飄搖的日子，積三代之力，奉獻台灣這塊土地，我們這一家，是千萬個家庭中的一個例子。
兩岸開放探親後，父母親曾五度返回故里，僅是短暫的相聚。台灣早就是我們的故鄉了，父母親鄉音未改，生活習慣已完全入境隨俗了。
87，88：政府遷台初期，為反攻復國而整軍經武、充實戰力。軍中尤其重視官兵的思想教育，忠誠度列為考核要項，沒有國民黨黨籍者、內戰期間有被俘紀錄者，晉官升級成了障礙。為了減輕軍費支出，對大陸時期的任官，實施降級減俸。
89，90，91，92：在《大陸來台軍士官全面補辦核階任職條例作業》下，父親被核降為少校附員。後在冗員中擇優調用，1951年5月，以原階代理陸軍第50軍通信營副營長，雨月後真除。該年全軍各營級單位績效考核，通信營突飛猛進，為全軍之冠。任內輔佐營長，功不可沒。但受《有被俘紀錄》之拖累，當了三年副營長。
1954年6月，在直屬長官力保推薦下，有了轉機，調升為中校編階，軍通信組首席少校參謀官。任內連續兩年，榮獲國防部年度通信業務考核，全陸軍第一名。
1955年5月，更調升為陸軍第781通信營，中校獨立營營長，兼代陸軍第一軍通信組組長，組長常上校赴美國陸軍通校深造。
93，94，95，96：通信組常組長赴美進修期間，父親接奉陸軍總部指令，為國軍在台首次三軍聯合作戰演習，研擬陸軍通信部隊指參作業辦法，報准執行。結果演習不負使命，獲國防部傳令記功嘉許。並贏得陸軍第781通信營，代表全國通信部隊，參加民國45年雙十國慶閲兵大典之榮譽。
三軍聯合軍演結束後，進行第二梯次，各兵種校級軍官赴美進修甄選，父親名列其中。赴台北陸軍801總醫院，接受體檢及面談，兩項結果交付審查。數日後，陸軍總部公文到達，以《該員有被俘紀錄，有砂眼、足癬之症》為由，未能成行。
父親赴台北甄選之前，已有定見，是否入選必須走完程序。施賄取利，雖可效尤，但必須堅持廉潔，不忘祖訓，心中清如水，明如鏡。
民國45年(1956年)隻十國慶閲兵大典，父親率領500官兵，近百輛各式架線車、無線電載波車、移動式電話總機、通信器材車，在軍旗、營長旗的引導下，站在指揮車上，通過閲兵台，向大閲官三軍統帥蔣中正總統致敬，大閱官也回以軍禮。可謂英姿煥發，羽扇綸巾。
97，98，99：民國44年(1955年)底，通信營進駐台中市三民路觀善寺原址。每日清晨舉行升旗典禮，唱國歌、奏國旗歌、升國旗，過路行人均肅立致敬。有一立法委員，曾任駐泰國大使八年，被國歌聲驚醒，投訴軍部要求改進。某日，副軍長蒞營暸解，父親據實報告。指示國歌照唱、國旗照升，掦聲器音量加大，方向對準立委官邸。
民國46年(1957年)1月，父親擔任營長僅一年八個月，無預警接奉調職宜蘭陸軍通信兵學校，擔任教官，有違部隊主官，至少任職兩年輪調之常態，況且父親績效優異。莫非又是冷飯熱炒，被俘紀錄作怪，或許另有隱情。軍人以服從為天職，父親立即辦理移交走人。結束三年副營長、近兩年營長，與袍澤弟兄，朝夕相處同甘共苦的日子。
離別之日，全營官兵列隊相送，依依不捨，真情感人，繼任者備感壓力。
軍司令部一次全軍擴大會報中，軍長怒斥繼任營長：你比起前任陳營長，不及其十分之一。
當然言過其實，可見父親在長官心目中的地位。
100，101，102：自民國27年(1938年)擔任峨嵋山軍官訓練團中尉教官以來，19年後重執教鞭，可謂駕輕就熟。
在校期間，曾數度代理主官職務，始終未獲真除。父親心知肚明，被俘紀錄纒身，又能奈何。對當年軍中矯枉過正、思想腐朽、立律草率的作法，自嘆生不逢時，白色迫害又增一例。
任教官長達九年期間，專注新知汲取，研讀美軍教本，溶於教學課程，提升教學品質。設計考題，編撰成套題庫，採一體適用之答案卡、評分閲卷快速準確，創全國軍事院校之先河。一心一意授課解惑，對於升遷早已置之度外，即無怨言，反而積極樂觀。四度接受優良教師表揚，授課之班隊如過江之鯽，學生、學員九年之內，至少三千。
103：累積諸多優良考評，本應做職務上之調整，或調升，或佔缺，然而人事部門視若無睹。父親不做有違原則之事，其性格決定了他的命運，民國54年(1965年)7月，未到退役年齡，報請提前退伍獲准，結束了32年的軍旅生活。
104：父親一次領了退伍金新台幣七萬餘元，加上母親經營副業的一點積蓄，東湊西湊，以20萬元資金，經山東日照鄕親，台北市議員尹毅的介紹，認識了大同公司董事長林挺生，投資家庭電器買賣，當了生意人。
1970年，世紀以來最大石油危機，威脅大衆生計，全球經濟停滯，生意清淡，門可羅雀。於是另創新機，除繼續推銷家電產品外，並且參加軍中各項電氣工程投標。
然而粥少僧多，曾有一項工程，多達十數家投標者。圍標、綁標、不擇手段，屢見不鮮，開了眼界。甚至有不計成本而得標者，大惑不解。但此君自有妙計，保證工程順利完工驗收，真不知何方神聖。
父親常讀孫子兵法，什麽《致人而不致於人》、《不戰而屈人之兵》等等。用在商場上，卻一籌莫展。感嘆軍人的事業，只能發揮在戰場上嗎？然而自己的事業戰場，卻是跌跌撞撞。
我們做子女的，對父親的仕途艱辛，歸個性？歸命運？有太多的想像空間。
105，106，107，108：父親是一位喜歡閲讀的人，上個世紀六十年代，光纖通信、半導體、生物科技，正在研發之中，父親就向子女灌輸暸解。
舉凡楚辭、唐宋詩詞、明清小品、三國、水滸、音樂、美術等，都是談話內容。
南北朝時代，顔之推所著《顏氏家訓》，更是父親責示子女熟記的治家寶典。
109，110：父親常以中外歴史名人偉人故事，策勉子女。蘇軾、文天祥、顔真卿、蕭邦、梵谷、達文西，為其推崇者。
蘇軾：(1036－1101)字子瞻，號東波，北宋眉州眉山人，其詩詞、論文，筆力縱橫，氣勢磅礴，但仕途坎坷。
文天祥：(1236－1282)，字宋瑞，南宋吉州廬陵(今江西吉安)人，賦性忠耿，遇事慷慨敢言，為一代忠臣良將，常遭佞臣權貴妒恨。1278年廣東海豐之役，抵抗元朝大軍，兵敗被俘，獄中作《正氣歌》。
顔真卿：(709－784），唐代大書法家，陝西西安人。為人耿直，正氣凜然，其書法筆力雄健，沉穩端莊，正如其人，望之儼然，即之也溫。
蕭邦：(Chopin，1810－1849)，波蘭鋼琴家、作曲家，一生多半在法國渡過，對其祖國波蘭，有無限的熱愛。在19世紀前半期的浪漫主義音樂家中，獨樹一幟，有《鋼琴詩人》雅稱。
梵谷：(Van Gogh, Vicent 1853－1890)出生於荷蘭，是西洋後期印象派畫家中的代表人物，一生命運坎坷。他的畫作，死後才被發現，有其極為重要的藝術價值。
達文西：(Vinci Leonardo da 1452-1519)文藝復興時期義大利三大藝術家之一，與米蓋朗基羅、拉斐爾齊名。不但是一位偉大的畫家，也是地質學家、工程師、解剖學家和數學家。
111，112：禮記中記載《孝子之事親也，樂其心，不違其志。》，明儒學案中説《自古聖賢，盛德大業，未有不由學而成者。》父親一再提醒，殷切教誨，專心致志，盛德立業，不違父母意願。
113，114，115，116：綜觀父親一生，二十年求學修業，三十年軍旅奔波，十五年商賈營生，二十五年淡然平和養生靜心。雖與妻兒離多聚少，但我們在父親身上，霑雨取露，恩重如山。
2006年7月，次子陳勇，英年早逝，父親身心俱疲，不時呼喚愛兒，老淚縱橫，生平首見。
2007年10月3日，病危送台北榮民總醫院，妻女輪番照顧，不離視線。10月9日病情穩定，堅持回家休息，中午時分到家後，家人隨侍在側，並無多言，環視室內一景一物，注視基督苦像，室外萬里晴空，緊握母親雙手，直呼：我好幸福，我好幸福。
下午三時，病情轉危，救護車抵達時，父親面帶笑容，安息在母親懷裏，此日正逢結婚68週年紀念。
父親葬於台北市大直福山天主教墓園，與愛子同一塋穴，父子左右為鄰。
老兵不死只是凋零，這一位一生堅持原則，一身傲骨的軍人，對其黨國忠貞不二，偉大的節操，永垂青史，留芳百世。
117，118：父親生前，一再叮嚀子女，要做一個堂堂正正的中國人，期待兩岸劫波盡渡，共創雙贏。時以頌讀鲁迅《題三義塔》詩句以表心願：渡盡劫波兄弟在，相逢一笑泯恩仇。
119，120：父親晚年曾四度與母親回鄉探親，僅作短暫停留，自已的家卻在台灣。常看電視旅遊節目《大陸尋奇》、《台灣腳逛大陸》，藉螢光幕來捕捉大陸時期的記憶。時刻回憶，近60年來，去過的台灣名勝古蹟。寶島青山碧水、藍天和雲，山川如此嬌美。哲人其萎，陌麈落地，這塊錦繡大地，將永遠伴隨父親千秋永世。
2017年，丁酉陰曆11月23日，父親百年誕辰於洛杉磯。2018年6月濃縮精簡。
第2篇：重逢觀善寺
民國45年，父親時任陸軍第781通信營中校營長，駐防在台中市三民路上的觀善寺內，佔地近八百坪。寺院建於日據時代昭和16年(1941年)，酷似日本神社，光復後主殿一度改建，國軍租借為營區。
寺內每日依舊梵音伴唱，花開鳥鳴，清香裊繞。這年暑假，我與弟弟陳勇，曾在寺內投宿兩夜，並參加部隊升旗典禮，留下深刻印象。
事隔53年後的2009年6月，弟弟與父親已相繼過世，我與妻回台探親。該月19日，與母親、大妹亭如四人，搭高鐵列車，自台北抵達台中車站，租一計程車，作了台中半日遊，路經當年父親帶我們去看《七小福》電影的地方、運河邊的那家山東餃子館舊址、台中公園、以及觀善寺。
近60年的滄桑歲月，經兩次改建的觀善寺，在都市更新計劃的推動下，院址已成商業樓房，道路拓寬佔用寺院用地，當年場景已成追憶，惆悵之情油然而生。因主體建築，緊臨馬路屹立不搖，顯現一股蒼勁之美，而感到欣慰。
觀善寺見證了中日兩國的興亡盛衰歴史，我們佇立殿前，回憶父親當年在此，主帥在營，逸氣豪情的英姿氣概，久久不忍離去。次日作七律《重逢觀善寺》一首，永誌追念。
梵音伴唱柳營歌，
校尉作息鐘鼓揚。
觀盡歴史盛衰事，
善集從長綿延長。
寺立中台七十年，
廟院清煙依舊香。
數十寒暑秋風雨，
凡麈未盡情難忘。
一縷暮陽照斜廊，
倚闌佇立空惆悵。
羽扇綸巾音猶在，
逸氣豪情長思量。
第3篇：南陽尋根
1976年秋天，美國黑人作家亞歷克斯．哈利(Alex Haley 1921-1992），寫了一部家史小說《根》，《Roots:The Saga of an American Family》，作者經過12年的考證研究，追溯到他的祖先，六代以上的昆塔·肯特，一個從非洲西岸被白人人口販子，擄獲至北美洲當奴隸的故事。
1986年，正在讀小學五年級的小兒Anderson，被故事情節吸引，用了一個禮拜的時間，一口氣讀完這部小説。
次年，Anderson 從巴拿馬運河區聖瑪麗小學，以第二名成績畢業，兌現回台探望爺爺奶奶的承諾。(1)
在台兩個月期間，除了到國語日報社，從注音符號學起，補習中文外，台北市內、近郊好玩的地方都去了，可口的小吃也都嚐了，感受到爺爺奶奶、叔叔姑姑們對他的那份關愛。
而最高興的事是，傾聽爺爺打仗的故事、移民到台灣的故事、原鄉河南南陽的故事。Anderson 離開台灣那年，剛滿四歲。
2014年12月，美國福特汽車公司外派Anderson至上海浦東亞太總部服務，為期三年。到了中國大陸，出差的機會多了，國內、國外各佔一半。原鄉河南南陽，近在咫尺，就是無緣前往。
多年尋根的心願，直到任期最後半年，才得實現。2017年7月21日，一個星期五，下班後獨自搭乘中國南方航空班機，由浦東機場逕飛南陽，看見了爺爺口述中的原鄉。(2)
行前我給Anderson一些書面資料，包括河南南陽陳姓的根源：2014年最新百家姓排名，陳氏名列第五。陳氏宗親是舜帝後裔，在《世界陳氏宗親總會會歌》中，就有《皇皇舜日，天下為公。》的句子。
河南南陽陳氏祖先，原居晉陝一帶，五胡亂華之初，正逢三國鼎立(西元220年－280年)，由北方南遷至河南。陳氏祖先遷移南陽，人口最多之時，當在隋末唐初。
參考《孔子世家譜》續修工作協會所述，孔子後裔已繁衍至80代。如果從隋末唐初算起，南陽陳氏延綿至今，小兒Anderson可歸屬為第64世孫，自然需要經過學術研考上的佐證。（3)
上海至南陽飛行約兩小時可達，機場在城東，遠離市區，基本設施齊全，有發展空間。
出了機場搭上計程車，向西行，跨白河大橋，下榻旅館。沿途Anderson 與司機師傅有段對話。
Anderson 首先發話：南陽還不錯啊，不像一個三線城市。
師傅答：有啥不錯，一直是個窮地方。
問：南陽有什麼出產呢？答：啥都不出，就出窮人。(Anderson 不禁笑了起來)
問：南陽有什麽名勝古蹟呢？答：這倒是有，值得一看。可以去武侯祠、醫聖祠、內鄉縣衙、關帝廟、南陽漢畫館、蝙蝠洞。
看來這位師傅，率直、老實、憨厚。經了解係酒店簽約計程車駕駛，當即預約，未來兩日請其擔任導遊。師傅欣然接受，一聲河南土話《中》。
經酒店介紹，附近有一麵食舘可進晚餐，菜單洋洋灑灑，驚喜有《麵疙瘩》可食，這可是爺爺當年在家鄕最愛吃的食物。細品慢嚐，一碗下肚，不但味美，滿口麵香，更有一種沁人心脾、激情不已的感受。(4)
次日清晨六時，出租車已在酒店門前等候，首站城南卧龍崗。三國時代著名政治家、軍事家諸葛亮，曽《躬耕南陽》於此。魏晉時建武侯祠，香火盛於唐宋，歷經元明清三代而不衰。現存之建築，清光緒年間重建。
大殿內有巨尊諸葛亮石雕塑像一座，羽扇綸巾、端坐凝思，盡顯一代韜略宗師的英姿風範。祠內存有300餘座，諸葛亮事蹟碑刻題記。
未及七時，車行經武侯祠後巷，不見任何旅客，卻見綠樹成蔭，一整排精雕黑瓦，置於紅色圍牆之上，幽境長徑，古意盎然。旭陽透過綠樹，樹葉投影於紅牆。
時間停留剎那，Anderson 拍下南陽尋根首張照片。始料未及，卻成了我的著作《日照紅樓》的設計封面。(5)
在前往第二個景點的路上，車師傅話可多了：別看咱們南陽這個窮地方，在歷史上還有點名氣。除了有個諸葛亮外，還是醫聖張仲景，天文學家、發明家，官拜太史令、侍中、尚書張衡的故鄉。也是東漢光武帝劉秀，中興漢室，首先起義的地方。
師傅滔滔不決繼續說：十幾年前，咱們的各級領導，有眼光，想發展觀光。向中央求助大搞建設，還有點成績，有了個飛機場。俺也趕個時髦，學會開計程車。每天接送觀光客，有了一個最起碼的收入，老婆孩子可以吃點好的了，穿的也不賴了。老大是女兒，去年上了南陽師範，畢業後就可當中學老師了。俺和俺老婆挺滿足的，所謂《知足常樂》是嗎。Anderson聽得津津有味，對這次尋根之旅，有了更深一層的了解。(6)
次站來到武侯祠附近，臥龍路南的南陽漢畫館，建於民國24年(1935年)，1959年重建，佔地6萬平方公尺，是現今中國一個專門收藏、陳列、研究漢代畫像石刻的專題藝術博物館。
再按順時針方向，到達城北宛城區石橋鎮張衡墓園，周長80公尺，冢高8公尺，綠樹成蔭，松柏長青，磚砌甬道平坦，行經其上肅穆莊嚴。墓前立碑三座，始於明嘉靖40年(1561年)，記述張衡一生在科學、學術、天文學家上的成就。
續往東南，行至醫聖祠，位於城東溫涼河畔仲景路上，是東漢傑出醫學家張仲景的紀念地。祠內鑲嵌自伏羲氏以來，歷代名醫117幅彩繪畫像，是目前中國容量最多最大的名醫畫像寶庫。
溫涼河是一條縱貫南陽城的溪流，在現今的仲景路與工農路之間，經過長時間的都市更新，河面縮小，但清澈依舊。南流入白河處，有一濱河公園，花木扶疏、小橋流水、曲徑通幽，為市民遊客遊憩之處。
Anderson 路經公園，未入其內，但憶起爺爺給他講起的一段故事。(7)
南陽陳氏家族，明世宗嘉靖年間（1522－1566），進駐南陽城東約百里，趙河之濱的賒旗鎮(今更名為社旗鎮)，清乾隆年間(1736－1795)再遷至南陽城東，白河之濱。經百年耕讀經營，由十甲荒地，累積財富至百畝良田，購得商業一條街。地契房契，保存至國民政府遷台前。
Anderson 佇立於陳氏家族崛起之地，白河之濱，源遠流長，滾滾河水，緬懷先祖創業之艱難，守業之不易。
時至黃昏，路經南陽府衙，已過開放時間。府前廣場一條街，商店華燈初上，霓虹閃爍，路邊攤販分據道路兩旁，井然有序，各種夜市食品、物品，一應俱全。逢此良縁，又是一次意外收獲。(8)
在酒店客房經理的建議下，次日一早，前往市郊東北方約20公里的方城縣《七峰山森林公園》。
七峰山在伏牛山南麓，淮河水系澧河上游，地跨長江、淮河兩大流域。主景區面積40平方公里，被譽為長城之祖的楚長城遺址，就在區內。
有代步工具可上山頂，Anderson 選擇足接地氣，徒步登山，約一小時到達。遠眺壯麗山河，心曠神怡。
至大關口，驚艷楚長城盡收眼底，有一《天下第一古長城》石勒題詞，豎立隘口。係中國長城學會名譽會長羅哲文所題。
楚長城建於戰國時代，比起秦始皇(西元前221－206)萬里長城，早400餘年，當即拍下多幀照片，留作紀念。
原鄕的浮雲，原鄉的大地，原鄉憨厚的百姓，原鄕源遠流長的歴史，一起湧上心頭。
沒有任何事任何人，可以摧毀這塊土地。在中國大地上的人們，善於從苦難中生存，他們知道屈服，在大風來臨之時躬身，但他們永不毀滅，反而崛起。Anderson 有如此強烈的感受。(9)
離開七峰山景區已近中午，隨即前往宛城區民主路上的南陽府衙，已見遊客如織。
南陽府衙建於南宋咸淳七年(1271年)，歴經元、明、清，199任知府。光緒23年(1897年)重修。民國2年(1913年)南陽府改為南陽縣，府署故址更名為縣公署。2001年6月，中華人民共和國國務院，列為全國重點文物保護單位。是秦始皇設置郡縣制度以來，現存唯一最完整的郡縣實體建築。即有北京故宮的縮影，更具南陽歴史文化名城之象徵，有其藝術、科技、歴史、文化上的珍貴價值。
南陽府衙正門高敞，右側勒石之上有一鳴冤鼓，兩尊石獅各立左右兩側。左側石獅背馱一小獅，意趣盎然。哪隻為公，哪隻為母，答案不一。
衙門左右旗杆石上有對聯一幅，上聰是：看階前草綠苔青無非生意。下聯是：聽牆外鵑啼鵲噪恐有冤民。
進入正堂，見巨幅日鶴同輝彩繪壁畫，及知府判審案桌，面對大廳，莊嚴肅穆。堂內柱梁之間斗拱銜接，正面中央柱梁之上，有三幅橫匾，似明代書法家衡山居士文徵明(1470－1559)之筆蹟。由下而上依次為《明鏡高懸》、《化被群黎》及兩個特大字《公廉》。
正堂左右各有內外兩座，近五公尺高之石柱，內柱上聯為：《刑賞本無私是是非非敢信不違民志》，下聯為《毀譽何足計明明白白但求無愧我心》。南陽府衙不僅宏偉壯觀廓柱上之對聯更是全國鮮見，幾乎柱柱有聯。(10)
參觀了南陽府衙，Anderson 對中國歴代的司法體系，有了一些概念。為政者的心態，左右法律判決的公正，是其缺點，有了偏見就有冤案，脫離不了人治的範疇。
我則以北魏時期，一位愛護百姓、自奉儉樸、有政治才能的清官韓麒麟(433－488)所言《刑罰所以止惡，仁者不得已而為之。》以及晚清中興名臣、湖北巡撫胡林翼(1812－1861)銘言《吏治之壞，由於官氣太重，不得知有民情。》給予補充。反應在現今某些國家，司法已人治化，也不為過。(11)
我爺爺陳又韶的二哥陳繼韶，清光緒年間隨父經營玉石生意，頗有成就。
南陽東北約八公里的獨山，已列為省級森林公園，盛產玉石，也稱獨山玉，更有南陽翡翠之稱，是用於玉雕的上等材料，媲美湖北鄖縣的綠松石。獨山玉與新疆的和田玉(和闐玉)、陜西西安的藍田玉、遼寧岫岩縣的岫玉，合稱中國四大名玉。
我的大爺爺陳辭詔，曾是南陽紡織界的翹楚，生意做到上海、武漢。家族在伏牛山麓野蠶産地，有桑田數十畝。南陽絲綢盛名遠播，至今不衰。(12)
1965年11月13日，中華人民共和國國務院核定南陽專區為13縣(市)，包括：南陽市，南陽、南召、鎮平、內鄉、淅川、鄧州、新野、唐河、桐柏、方城、西峽、社旗等縣。面積2萬6千6百平方公里，人口1100萬，在河南省18個省轄市中，面積最大人口也最多。目前是河南省僅次於鄭州、洛陽、排名第三的都市，超越開封。高速公路、鐵路暢通各縣市，白河、唐河可航民船，對都會區各項發展，深具潛力。
兩天兩夜的尋根之旅，即將結束。車過白河大橋，橋底的河水，滾滾流向南方，南陽機場不遠了。
司機師傅與Anderson 有段對話，師傅問：老闆(他稱呼Anderson)，我聽你的口音不像是上海人，我好奇，啥地方不去，偏偏要到咱們這個窮地方來，為啥啊。
答：我在上海工作，出生在台灣，我是美籍華人。為了慕名而來南陽。
問：你對南陽的印象如何呢？
答：並非《這裡啥都不出，只出窮人。》兩人哈哈大笑起來。
南陽這塊土地上，生活著世界上最古老的一群文明人。堅韌的生命力，在苦難中成長，成長本身就滋生孕育着幸福。
飛機在夕陽下衝向白雲，原郷在視線中，逐漸遠去，看了看在七峰山上，收集在小瓶子裏的泥土，Anderson 心中相當踏實。(13，本篇完)
伍：寫在陌麈落地卷尾(跋)
民國38年(1949年)10月13日，解放軍進廣州城的前一天，父親倉卒間，將妻小送上一艘不到千噸的鐵殻船上，前往時在湛江的內弟(我的舅舅)。
次日廣州淪陷，劉安祺軍團兵敗於陽江漠河之濱。劉司令官脫險，父親被俘兩晝夜後，逃脫監視，輾轉香港到達海南，在東山小鎮與妻小團聚，恍如隔世。(1)
畢竟父親能夠平安到達海南，是上蒼的恩賜。我的爺爺和父親，有着國民黨的背景，被俘脫逃是父親唯一的選擇。
正因爲父親有被俘的紀錄，在那個白色迫害的年代裡，我們與一般軍眷家庭，受制於客觀環境，而顯得無奈。
我們經歷過無數風雨飄搖的日子，從反攻大陸到政黨輪替。我們在台灣這塊土地上，足足生活了70年。
民國96年(2007年)父親過世，生前叮嚀，盡心竭力將我們在台灣，數十年來的生活情形，書寫出來。從家史的角度，用說故事的方式，見證這段歴史。希望透過這本書，對那些有過類似經歷的人，找尋到自己的故事。(2）
民國98年(2009年)5月，與妻赴台探親，並出席入學財務學校50週年同學會。返回洛杉磯後，開始啓筆書寫父親叮嚀的這本書。距離父親去世，已有一年九個月，其間一直在醖釀文思，不知如何開頭。
在台期間，同學贈送我一本舊版連橫所著《台灣通史》，讀後頗有感觸，於是伏案燈下，寫出首篇一千一百字《篳路藍縷啓山林》的開頭文章。
至到民國102年(2013年)5月，歴時四年，完成與本書《陌麈落地》同名的首章初稿，近11萬字。敘述了一些國民政府遷台後的經國之事，也仿傚方志撰寫之精神，談了一些市井小調，以及我在台灣生活了足足30年的心路歷程。其中第29篇《老兵在台70年》近七千字，第30篇《戰地風雲憶金門》一萬兩千字。
心中有一意願，這本坊間軼事，數十年後，還可喚起在台灣這塊土地上生活的人們，對先民篳路藍縷，開荒拓士的艱苦精神，緬懷追念。(3）
父親生前交給我三本長12吋、寛9吋的塑膠檔案夾，從民國24年（1935年)4月，陸軍通信兵團教導大隊，修業兩年期滿的畢業證書，到民國54年(1965年）7月1日生效的國防部退伍令。依照時序排列，包括升遷、派職、就學、功獎、表揚、同學録、結婚證書。其中一本是民國24年至26年間，爺爺用毛筆寫給父親的親筆信，十一封，約六千字。
2006年4月，我與妻旅次科羅拉多州洛磯山麓小鎮Broomfield，每日閲讀、寫作，漫步緑野幽徑，小河小湖之間。翻閲父親一生經歷，雖為一名國軍校級軍官，卻對中國國民黨，對中華民國，矢志忠誠，鞠躬盡瘁，無怨無悔。萌生以叙事、寫景、抒情之方式，旌表父親一生功德。
2013年5月，繼完成《陌麈落地》首章之後，續寫次章《父親與民國》，歷時兩年，完成五萬字初稿。次年，接續撰寫《緬懷遠方的父親》，父親百年誕辰紀念，一百二十句七言長詩含註解一首。2018年6月，增添紀念文兩篇。7月7日，《陌塵落地》一書完成之日，尾補跋文一篇，如上述。
行筆至此，我有一種時不我待的急迫心情，正如陶潛《雜詩》其一最後一段所述：盛年不重來，一日難再晨。及時當勉勵，歲月不待人。
晚年，我對寫作這件事，積極執著，因我別無選擇，是一種自我的警勉。
誠摯地感謝，新聞界的舒立彥先生、企業界的沙牧天先生、文化界的唐英宗先生、醫界的鍾召民女士、兩岸教育界的王瑩、王陽光女士。諸多前輩及摯友們給我的鼓勵，有勇氣完成這部《陌麈落地》15萬字的著作。
2018年7月10日於洛杉磯
简介由 AI（Claude）译自英文，尚未经作者审阅。
作者简介
陈昌智先生，1940年7月7日生，祖籍中国河南省南阳。1962年毕业于中华民国国防部联合勤务总司令部财务学校，曾任职于中华民国联勤总司令部财务署、救国团基隆市及台北市团委会，以及巴拿马的中文报纸《共和报》（LA REPUBLICA）。
陈先生是知名的报纸编辑，著有多部中文作品。本书《父亲与民国》是他的最新著作，以纪念挚爱的先父陈其二先生；先父若仍在世，2018年便满一百岁。
本书共有两册：上册记述他父亲在第二次世界大战期间担任中华民国陆军通信兵团军官的军旅生涯，亲眼目睹中国人民在日本侵华期间所受的惨痛苦难，以及1945年中国人民庆祝最后胜利的欢欣。
下册一经作者完成并发表，将随即刊登于本碧波网站。
2018年7月10日更新
下册已经完成，收录了更多关于作者父亲的感人故事：国民党军队与共产党人民解放军内战期间的经历；以及他为抢救一位被解放军追击至海边的陆军将领，遭解放军短暂俘虏（不到48小时），以致日后在台湾的军旅生涯屡受挫折。然而他的父亲始终忠于国民党，继续光荣服务，是一位杰出的通信旅旅长，也是陆军通信兵学校的优秀教官。作者也记述了他儿子到河南老家的难忘之行，去寻访那些他从小到大一直听人说起的地方。
文笔优雅的陈昌智先生，写出了多么精彩的故事！
原 PDF 有 34 个字因字体缺字而无法显示，本页已根据上下文补上，可能有出入。
本文保留原文的繁体字。
Contents目錄目录 (26)
- 《父親與民國》
- 前言：脈絡一貫 生生不息
- 第1篇：西安事變時的一位 通信軍官
- 第2篇：先父與淞滬會戰
- 第3篇：峨嵋山軍官訓練團的 中尉教官
- 第4篇：抗戰初期武漢的一條 過江電纜
- 第5篇：長沙焚城時的父親
- 第6篇：見證全民大遷徙
- 第7篇：桂林大轟炸時的父親
- 第8篇：重慶大轟炸及 隧道慘案
- 第9篇：抗戰勝利前 父親的軍中資歷
- 第10篇：抗戰勝利前之 中外情勢
- 第11篇：抗戰勝利普天同慶
- 《父親與民國》（下）
- 第12篇：勝利後東北的形勢
- 第13篇：遼瀋會戰 決定東北命運
- 第14篇：中共渡江戰役前的 大陸形勢
- 第15篇：國共內戰時期的 青島撤退
- 第16篇：國共內戰時期的 廣州棄守
- 第17篇：父親有被俘紀錄
- 《陌塵落地》第肆章 《緬懷遠方的父親》
- 前言：
- 第1篇：父親百年誕紀念詩文
- 第2篇：重逢觀善寺
- 第3篇：南陽尋根
- 伍：寫在陌麈落地卷尾(跋)
《父親與民國》
作者簡介：
陳昌智：1940年7月7日生，祖籍河南南陽。1962年畢業於聯勤財務學校財務科六期。曾服務於聯勤總部財務署、救國團基隆市及台北市團委會、巴拿馬華文《共和報LA REPUBLICA》。
前言：脈絡一貫 生生不息
繼我的第一本著作《日照紅樓》於2017年12月出版之後，另一本記述家人，在台灣生活了70年成長過程，取陶淵明田園詩，擇句《陌麈落地》為書名，約10萬字的散文集，也於2018年1月底完成初稿。
2018年1月9日(陰曆冬月11月23日)，係先父百年誕辰，高齡94歲的家母，正值病中，家人分別在台北、洛杉磯兩地，各做了一次追思彌撒，萬般思緒湧上心頭。有必要將先父的事蹟，付諸於文字，留下一點紀錄，有其脈絡一貫、生生不息的意義，作為家人慎終追遠的參考。也佐證父親與中華民國之間，互動的涓涓歷史，是國民革命軍戰史不可或缺的一部份，是一部中國近代史的回顧，也是一部錦繡河山的巡禮。
先父生於民國6年(1917年)，逝世於民國96年(2007年)享年90歲。民國24年(1935年)畢業於陸軍通信兵團教導大隊，民國30年(1941年)，以中尉通信兵排長軍職，進入黃埔軍校通信兵科17期，畢業後升為上尉連長。
我的父親抗戰時期曾經擔任峨嵋山軍官訓練團將官班《無線電野外通信作戰》課程的中尉教官，813淞滬戰役在蘇州寒山寺，殺死兩名剪斷電話總機電線的漢奸。在武漢架設過一條，由漢口至武昌間的，跨江江底電話電纜。
國共內戰期間，由於他的專業、果敢，紐轉了一次戰役的勝負。正因為他對國家忠貞不二，對同袍忠誠，廣州棄守陽江之役，他處事得宜，使劉安祺司令官，以及後來，高升中、上將的兩名同儕免於被俘，自已卻成了解放軍的俘虜。
父親因有《被俘紀錄》，升遷、受訓、出國，過程備受刁難。但父親豁達包容，不怨天不尤人，淡泊一生。身處一個非常時期，他又能怎樣。他是一位好父親、好丈夫、更是一位優異愛國的軍人。
2018年2月4日於洛杉磯。
第1篇：西安事變時的一位
通信軍官
民國22年(1933年)夏天，中華民國陸軍通信兵團，在全國各大都市，招考高中以上程度青年，為通信兵基礎軍官，修業兩年畢業，派部隊工作，培訓地點在江蘇省鎮江市。
民國24年(1935年)4月，先父從陸軍通信兵團教導大隊修業期滿，成為陸軍通信兵准尉通信員，分派至揚州擔任見習官，實習電話線架設、無線電機操作及收發報、電話總機接線及維修等工作。
民國25年(1936年)7月，通信兵團擴大編制，父親於該年10月，委任為第1團第3營少尉排附，奉令前往陝西潼關，配屬第17路軍總指揮部作業，當時總指揮官是楊虎城。(1）
當年父親赴任之路，由揚州到南京，搭津浦路火車北上徐州，再轉隴海路，順黃河南岸西行，經開封、洛陽，到達潼關。
豈料，隴海鐵路西段因內戰因素，火車至河南陜縣，終止西進。父親只好北渡黃河，到達山西平陸，再往芮城，最後抵達風陵渡，與潼關近在咫尺。兩天路程，卻走了六天。
風陵渡隔著黃河，對面就是潼關。始料未及，來往兩地的鐵橋，也被封鎖。這是自出發後第五天中午的事了，眼看報到的時限就到，父親急如星火，整個下午四處尋找渡船。有一位五十開外的船東家，在父親誠懇的請求下，答應次日清晨渡河，這天晚上父親在一家小旅館將就，徹夜未眠。(2)
翌日晨五時許，船東依時到達，岸邊一層厚霜，氣溫很低，隠約可以看見晨曦，遠處傳來間隙的鷄鳴聲。風吹向潼關，對岸處在一片漆黑之中。
當船隻接近對岸大約300公尺左右，當地駐軍向小船喊話，因係逆風，根本聽不清楚在喊些什麼，小船繼續向前行進。不料槍聲大作，一排排子彈在船身四週如雨點般落下。
父親坐在船頭，卻很沈著，到岸時發現船夫已中彈身亡。駐軍看到是一位國軍的年輕軍官，經說明緣由後，順利登岸。船夫遺體送回故里安葬，軍方支付了一筆，在當時看來，還算很豐厚的安家費。
當時陜西情勢相當混亂，正值國軍各次剿共行動之後。民國23年(1934年)，中共《中央蘇維埃政府》放棄瑞金，開始向西移，經遵義、大渡河、川西瀘定、大雪山等地，於1935年10月，撤守至陝北延安。
1935年11月，中共中央提出《放棄內戰，聯合抗日》主張。當時的西北剿共副總司令張學良，代行總司令蔣中正職務，和陜西綏靖公署主任，兼第17路軍總指揮官的楊虎城，竟公然允許中共軍在綏靖區內，作各項宣傳活動。
以東北軍為主幹的剿共部隊，營區內處處可聞，官士兵們唱流亡三部曲中的《松花江上》個個厭戰思鄉，附合《國共聯手抗日》主張。
民國25年(1936年)12月初，張學良和楊虎城佯稱所部不穏，請蔣委員長前往安撫。12月12日凌晨發動兵變，並軟禁蔣委員長於西安绥靖公署。張楊二人提出八項政治主張，但被蔣委員長嚴辭拒絕，軟禁長達半個月，史稱西安事變。蔣中正的《先安內後攘外》政策，成了《國共攜手共同抗日》，中國共産黨有了喘息的機會。(3)
1930年代的中國，電信事業已臻於先進國家之林，毫不誇口。二線以上都市，都設有電信局，運用亞、歐、美三洲海底電纜，進行電報業務至世界各國。同時也啓用載波電話，除了通往海外，在國內包括軍方在內，同軸電話電纜可以同時開通200路電話。軍事電話總機與各地電信局聯線，設有戰備專線。民間與軍方通話，必須透過軍方總機過濾，以確保軍事機密。通信兵是當時走在時代尖端的科技兵種。
父親奉調潼關，在西安事變前一個月，配屬於第7軍42師防區内的一座電話總機房內工作。軍長馮欽哉將軍，係蔣中正的嫡系，與其直屬長官楊虎城的理念相左，西安事變前後，曾兩度蒞臨總機房巡視，訓勉官兵堅守崗位。
1936年12月22日，蔣夫人宋美齡女士，由南京飛往西安。行前，一通《加級緊急電話》，由電信局專線轉至父親工作的電話總機，值班的正是我的父親。發話人及受話人則是蔣夫人和張學良。父親有緣能夠接駁這通電話，是他一生從事軍事通信工作中，津津樂道，值得記述的一件事。
事變結束前的幾天，父親在總機和收發報機旁，連續70多個小時，沒有離機。臉色蒼白、血壓降低、兩眼紅腫、充滿血絲。事後療養了十餘天，才逐漸恢復。民國30年(1941年)父親在重慶，獲頒一枚《參與西安事變有功人員紀念章》。(4，本篇完）
第2篇：先父與淞滬會戰
1937年8月13日，抗日戰爭史上最慘烈的淞滬會戰爆發，揭開了中國全面抗戰的序幕。淞滬會戰為期三個月，先父全程參與，經過兩次換防，一次由寶山馳往南翔，另一次由南翔轉進蘇州。
當年父親是陸軍通信兵第一團補充營的少尉排長，配屬88師，負責電話總機通話業務。兩次移防均在晚間進行，由於國軍車輛短缺，一般後勤作業只能雇用民間車輛支援。
軍方規定，夜間行駛的車輛嚴禁開燈及鳴按喇叭。因此司機的駕駛技術受到考驗，在公路上只能緩慢行進。
兩次換防所見略同，夜空一片潻黑，找不到一顆星星，車輛載著人員及沉重的通信器材，像一頭氣喘吁吁的老牛，緩步在公路上。(1）
駛經之處不時聽到咕咚咕咚聲，車輪底下更傳來哀嚎之聲。這咕咚咕咚聲是汽車輾過屍體時所發出的聲音，哀嚎聲則是來自敵我雙方的傷兵。
戰爭恐怖悚慄的氣氛，使人精神緊繃。在這樣一個場景之下，根本不允許你下車，去辨別車輪下的人誰死誰活，更别説用什麼方法，救他們一命，戰爭的慘烈可見一斑。
先父於戰役中期，9月20日凌晨，進駐南翔雲翔寺。到達後數小時內，立即執行總機通話業務，至10月28日轉進蘇州寒山寺，為期39天。期間日軍砲火波及電話線路中斷，多達20餘次。父親帶領排內弟兄，不畏槍林彈雨進行搶修，生死早已置之度外。在一人陣亡，六人輕重傷的情況下，換得線路暢通。通信兵在戰場上前仆後繼的忠烈精神，媲美一線戰鬥部隊，令人感佩。(2)
10月3日，日軍阻斷國軍右翼後路，於廟行、真如、南翔發動全面攻擊，激戰五晝夜，所見之處横屍遍野。日軍竟在水源、水井下毒，斷我軍民生機。雲翔寺孤懸受困，糧秣供應中斷，官兵已無米下炊，且飲水用盡。寺內兩匹戰馬的尿液，視為珍品，並與寺內僧侶分食南瓜充饑，之後數日竟無任何東西可食。
10月31日，國軍完全退出上海後，戰役中期結束，戰略上已牽制了日軍西進。隨之日軍恣意燒殺，以為報復，雲翔寺未能倖免，亦遭燒毀，僅存佛塔，父親則於三日前奉令撤離，移防蘇州。
蘇州城外楓橋邊的寒山寺，是父親在淞滬會戰中的第三個駐地，寺內一禪房被闢為通信指揮中心的電話總機房。大約是十一月中旬，一個週日的早上，蔣委員長打電話給湯恩伯。父親當時正在總機值班，通話不到一分鐘，突然電訊中斷。照說維護工作一向很好，不應出現這種情形，確實有點不正常。(3)
父親毫不遲疑地奔出室外，見一人在電線桿上持續剪斷電話線，下面還有一名助手接應。父親頃刻間掏出手槍，朝向兩人射去，沒想到槍法出奇準確，兩人當場斃命。
父親立即奔回室內，拿著接線工具，爬上電線桿，搶接電線。算算前後不到七分鐘，電話接通了。這真是要命的七分鐘，有加電影情節。如果當時不立刻處置，誤了軍機，後果不堪設想。
父親立即向湯恩伯將軍報告事情經過，湯將軍只說了一聲《知道了》命令立刻接通委員長電話。另一端蔣先生也問起為什麼斷了話，湯恩伯說明後，委員長說了兩聲：《很好，很好。》。
父親事後被告之，那兩個剪電線的人，是上海來的漢奸，站崗的衛兵也被刺成重傷。一週後，通信兵團給父親記了一個大功，稍後被派至漢口，接受新的任務。
先父陳其二，黃埔軍校通信兵科17期畢業，歷任排、連、營長及軍通信組組長、參謀、教官等職。2007年10月逝世於台北市，享年90歲。(4，本篇完)
第3篇：峨嵋山軍官訓練團的
中尉教官
民國23年（1934年)11月10日，國軍江西剿共，攻克瑞金，共軍大舉西進。次年(1935年)元月，蔣委員長趁勢飛抵重慶，整頓川政，指揮剿共軍事。7月，以軍事委員會名義，繼1933年7月3日成立廬山軍官訓練團後，為促進《川軍中央化》，在成都西南，樂山大佛以西的峨嵋山，成立峨嵋山軍官訓練團，蔣中正兼團長，劉湘為副團長，陳誠為教育長。
民國25年(1936年)12月西安事變，改變了《先安內後攘外》的形勢，川軍中央化更有其必要。國民政府積極開展峨嵋山軍官訓練團課程。甄選四川、西康、青海各省軍政人員，共4003人，前後共三期，接受訓練，全力投入抗日作戰。(1)
民國26年(1937年)11月，淞滬會戰結束後，先父陳其二，由蘇州奉調漢口，晉升為中尉排長。配屬於軍令部部本部工作，到任未到一個月，接獲時任軍事委員會軍官訓練團教育委員會委員，同時又是陸軍通信兵團總監的華振麟將軍的指令，由黃埔軍校通信兵科六期的學長王中校為領隊，會同八期的劉少校及先父三人，於一週內抵達峨嵋山報到。教授將官班《有、無線電野外通信》課程。
三人搭乘火車及汽車，兼程直奔峨嵋山軍官訓練團，旅途中勤作功課，父親反覆熟悉助講內容。至於華振麟將軍為何圈選父親，當時的反應是驚喜、惶恐又感戴莫名。(2)
在教官團裡，通信教官年紀最輕，軍階也低，父親的階級更是最低的一位。受訓學員及軍職教官，一律住宿營區。各軍長任大隊長，師長任中隊長，旅長任區部長。週六下午及週日，才能外出，星期天晚間回營點名。
父親擔任解說通信器材操作課程，包括電話總機、收發報機、手搖電話、無線電話，收發電報、旗語等等，課程不涉及戰術理論。
學員群星雲集，有楊森、劉文輝、夏之時、尹昌衡、鄧錫侯等人，以及旅長以上軍官。
抗戰時期的川軍，無役不從，四川子弟遍及抗日主要戰場，指揮官多數結業自峨嵋山軍官訓練團，贏得《無川不成軍，有川克日軍。》的讚譽。
父親晚年給我們兄弟姐妹講了一個故事：民國24年(1935年)，時任陸軍通信兵團團長的華振麟，到達培訓通信基礎軍官的教導大隊，慰勉師生，學生列隊接受點名，大隊長尹世鍇是華振麟保定軍校的同學，陪伴在側。
華振麟對父親的名字，頗感興趣。問道：誰給你取的名字啊。答：我的爺爺。問：有其一、其三嗎。答：其一、其四是堂兄弟，其三、其五是弟弟。
華團長看到名冊上，父親生於民國六年，是隊上最年輕的一位。問尹世鍇：這位同學表現如何。答：名列前矛。
後來，父親在西安事變及淞滬會戰中，表現優異。華振麟對父親，有了更加一層的認識。
當年，尹世鍇絕對不會想到，數年後，站在面前的這位學生，成了他的姪女婿。(3，本篇完)
第4篇：抗戰初期武漢的一條
過江電纜
民國27年(1938年)2月，先父自峨嵋山軍官訓練團，完成教學任務後，返回漢口正金銀行，軍令部部本部通信中心。
民國27年國民政府已遷都重慶，武漢三鎮成了對日抗戰的第一線，軍方的通信業務倍增。當時的通信兵團總監華振麟將軍，為因應作戰需求，急需舖設一條由漢口至武昌的電話線路，以疏解軍方利用民間電信局通話，數量快速增加的壓力。迫於形勢，這條線路要限期完成。(1)
民國27年4月間，由於先父在西安事變、八一三淞滬會戰，以及峨嵋山軍官訓練團期間，有優異的表現。華將軍挑選了我的父親，去執行這項艱鉅的任務。
接到命令的第二天，華將軍在通信兵第一團團部，召開工作會議，指示各項工程相關事項。包括民工、民船的徵召，水紋水流、潮汐漲落資料的蒐集，施工期間航運暢通的配合，電線電纜受壓能力的評估，經費的申請等等。
在各方人力物力充分的支援下，準備工作一週之內就達標完成。接下來，就是施工人員的工作了。
隨後父親跟召來的船夫，會同港務局的一位技正，勘查施工地點，認為從漢口的王家巷碼頭，到對岸武昌的曾家巷最為合適。經請示上級同意後，立即在第三天開始動工。(2)
漢口王家巷附近就是漢江的出口處，到武昌曾家巷大約有兩公里。長江自漢口以下，每逢夏季可通行萬噸級輪船，當時是四月中旬，尚未到航運尖峰時期，減少了一些架線的困擾。
為趕進度，漢口及武昌兩邊同時施工，每隔50公尺安置一艘漁船，下深水錨固定船位，不使船隻晃動。用粗竹桿加長各船桅桿，至5公尺左右，電纜在空中，由甲船桅桿串聯至乙船桅桿，小型船隻可在電纜之下，兩船之間，通行無阻。
施工最難處，是架設一條水下電纜，約有100公尺長，橫過江中最深處，在原有水道上，大型船艦照常通行。
父親雖有架設陸上電話線的豐富經驗，但是舖設水底電纜，就要考驗他的智慧了。
在港務單位的配合下，父親連同一名排附四名士官，加上六名潛水夫，六人在水面，六人在水底。先探勘水底地形地物，大致與地面相同，增加了父親工作的信心。於是將電纜拉下江底，由潛水夫固定在岩石上。父親背著氧氣筒，水上、水底作聯絡工作。
水底固樁的工作出奇的難，水流又急又冷，水底耽擱時間不能太久，六名潛水夫輪番下水，才能接續工作。(3)
一次失敗，再來一次，從失敗中得到經驗，更利用水流減緩時，加速工作。就這麼一段距離，足足施工了兩個白天，天氣溫暖，晴空萬里也是原因。最後港務局在各水道，設置限高警語，通告各船務公司，船隻通行注意事項。並派遣水警船，全天候警戒。
這條抗戰史上，橫跨長江漢口至武昌間的過江電話線，全程使用同軸電纜，同一時段可承載120條電話通話，足夠戰區內作戰時的載荷能量。基於戰略考量，軍方自行施工，達到快速、經濟、實用、利於拆除的目的。全部工程在全體同仁，精誠團結、堅決意志、奮鬥到底的精神下趕在限期內完成。(4)
經過總機連線、通話品質測試。軍令部、通信兵團相關人員會同軍事監察官，完美驗收。
次日，華振麟將軍陪同多位長官，蒞臨總機房。軍令部長徐永昌將軍，利用新電話線打電話給武昌某部指揮官，話質淸晰，相當滿意。華振麟當面嘉獎父親，在場宣告，他是要考驗他的學生，能否擔當重任。
這條線路，在抗戰初期，充分發揮了它的功能，1938年10月，武漢失守，八年對日抗戰第一期結束，這條電話電䌫奉令拆除。
先父陳其二，字仲影，河南南陽人，黃埔軍校通信兵科17期，歷任排、連、營長，軍通信組長，參謀，教官等職。2007年10月逝世於台北市，享年90歲。(5)
民國62年(1973年)華振麟八十壽辰，在台學生30餘人，在台北空軍新生社，為老師祝壽，當年舖設江底電纜的往事，也成了話題。
民國87年(1998年)父親與家母回上海探親，並前往武漢探望其胞弟陳其五，同登黃鶴樓眺望長江，六十年前的事情，一幕幕浮現眼前，前方漢口的王家巷碼頭，隱約可見。父親見景生情，返台後向我們兄弟姐妹道出了，當時他的感受，不禁感慨歎息：《滾滾長江東逝水，浪花淘盡英雄。是非成敗轉頭空，青山依舊在，幾度夕陽紅。》。(6，本篇完)
第5篇：長沙焚城時的父親
民國26年(1937年)7月7日至民國27年(1938年)10月27日武漢會戰結束，在抗日戰爭史上，屬第一期。此其間國民政府於1937年11月27日，由南京遷都重慶，是謂陪都。
1938年10月31日武漢全面撤守，父親於前一日隨通信兵第一團轉進湖南衡陽，派職於南嶽衡山軍事委員會9戰區，戰指中心通信指揮所工作。
蔣委員長於武漢撤守前數日，由武漢飛抵衡陽，住進南嶽官邸。10月25日，蔣由南嶽飛抵長沙，召開高層軍事會議。陳誠、何應欽、白崇禧、張治中、馮玉祥、張群、唐生智等人參加。指示陳誠，武漢失守，考慮焦土政策，焚城撤離。
蔣問張治中：敵人來了，你們長沙怎麼辦。張未作回答，蔣接著說：用火給燒掉，任何搬不走的物資全燒掉，絕對不能留給敵人。
10月31日，蔣委員長在南嶽發表《武漢撤離告全國軍民書》。湖南省主席張治中，訓令長沙城內，無論軍事機關、學校、商店、住宅、工廠，備妥包括汽油筒在內的各種易燃物品和引火材料，情況緊急時，以焦土焚城，對抗日軍。
當時第9戰區司令長官薜岳率領52軍、73軍、77師、195師等精鋭部隊，正在鄂南、湘北地區，與日軍作殊死戰鬥。南嶽衡山戰情中心，顯得格外忙碌。父親正逢其時，時任通信兵第一團四營中尉排長，就派遣在衡山戰情中心，電報電話總機房工作。(1)
11月12日近午夜，長沙城內有一軍醫院失火，又有一說是一間民間工廠失火，火勢兇猛，濃煙滾滾，照亮夜空。於是以訛傳訛，說日軍兵臨長沙城外三里。省主席張治中、警備司令酆悌、警察局長文重孚、警備二團團長徐琨等人，急如星火，亂了方寸。未經研判，竟執行焦土政策。
13日凌晨二時，長沙城內數百處同時放火，全市一片火海，混亂可想而知，民眾驚慌失措，未能即時疏散。造成史蹟文物財産鉅大損失，以及數萬民眾的傷亡。
長沙焚城與黃河花園口決堤，重慶防空洞事件，合稱抗戰史上三大慘案。在二次世界大戰史上，長沙與華沙、史達林格勒、廣島、長崎，並列五大毀壞都市。(2)
13日近中午，消息傳至官邸，蔣介石極為震驚，怒火沖天，電話至戰情中心，令值星官速傳酆悌，因外出公幹，未果。再傳張治中，亦然。父親全程接駁電話，神經緊繃至極。不到三個小時，蔣委員長已到長沙。
十二日當天，放火之前，戰情中心已掌握情報，十一日日軍攻陷岳陽，十二日中日兩軍對峙於新牆河之線，距離長沙約300公里，並電告相關單位知照，為何外傳僅3公里，又不查究竟，的確失職，不可原諒。誤燒長沙城，犯下嚴重缺失，而且貽笑國際。
委員長責令軍法審判：警備司令酆悌有期徒刑10年，警察局長文重孚有期徒刑7年。警備二團團長徐琨，放火未經批准，有期徒刑7年。但奉批《所判各員，瀆職殃民，一律槍決。張治中撤職查辦。》。(3）
1938年11月16日，長沙焚城第四天，蔣介石選派薛岳將軍，前往長沙任事，以填空群龍無首的場面。
歷史學家袁定華在其著作《抗日領袖蔣介石》一書中，11章4節有這麼一段文字，記述不堪回首的長沙大火：中國軍隊撤出武漢後，統帥部原本預定設在湖南長沙，不料就在其時發生了長沙大火，於是蔣委員長飛駐衡山，轉往重慶。
針對這段文字，引發了蔣委員長在長沙焚城前後，人究竟在哪裡的熱議。在長沙？在衡山？或是重慶。
父親有緣，長沙大火期間，他正在衡山戰情中心總機房，擔任値星官。在接駁蔣委員長的加急電話中，可以見證蔣公當時人在衡山。事件處理完畢後，與蔣夫人宋美齢，一起飛往重慶。(4)
2004年春節過後不久，我和妻前往洛杉磯郡蒙特利公園市，晉見一位尊長，黃埔軍校步科十期的徐遠威將軍。在其寓所與其家人，渡過了一個溫馨愉快的下午。大家聆聽了徐老伯的軍旅生涯，也談到了長沙焚城的軼事。涉獵到，是誰下的命令放火燒城，又是誰放的那第一把火。
這位退役中將，是中華民國前駐巴西代表，相當於大使職位的徐光普先生的尊翁，那年徐老伯已經九十一歲。身體硬朗，還能獨自搭乘飛機，來往於洛杉磯、台北之間。
下達燒城命令的人，可能是酆悌，更有可能是張治中。文重孚和徐琨是執行單位的首長，自然不是命令者。至於誰放了那第一把火，徐老伯提起了他的一位同期同學蘇遠鵬，此君與蔣緯國、王多年、陳衣凡，同屬黄埔步科十期同窗。當年是長沙警備二團的一位上尉連長，得到命令後帶領連上弟兄百餘人，兵分十餘路，到長沙城七百多條街道，縱火焚城，造成抗戰史上永遠的傷痛。
徐老伯是一位將軍書法家，尤精於仿唐僧人懷素的狂草。我當天求得墨寶一幅，當塲揮毫，蒼勁有力，字如其人。寫下《世事若流水 古懷是春風》，以誌追念。(5，本篇完)
第6篇：見證全民大遷徙
民國26年(1937年)7月17日，蔣介石委員長發表《最後關頭》演說，是謂《廬山抗戰宣言》，揭示《國人再沒有妥協的機會，如果放棄尺寸土地與主權，便是中華民族千古罪人。》。
同年8月13日，國軍主動在上海發起《淞滬會戰》，牽制了百萬日軍，打破了日本《西進中國，三月亡華》的迷夢。《以空間換取時間》成了抗日戰爭戰略上的最高指導原則。
民國27年(1938年)10月31日，武漢棄守，抗日戰爭第一階段結束。次月，日軍進侵湖南，在此背景之下，中華兒女在《抗戰第一》、《勝利第一》的終極目標下，從全國各省區，利用任何一種可以利用的交通工具，甚至負重步行，不畏艱險，餐風露宿，將人才、物資、文物，後撤至大後方，廣西、貴州、雲南、四川、西康、青海各地，在中華民族歴史上，是一次抵禦外侮的全民大遷徙。(1）
抗戰時期連四川的老農夫都知道，什麽是《焦土政策》，什麽是《以空間換取時間》。
抗戰的大後方，除西藏地方、蒙古地方不計外，西南6省：桂、黔、滇、蜀、康、青，面積223萬平方公里。西北3省：陜、甘、新面積228萬8千平方公里。大後方9省面積合計452萬8千平方公里，佔當時中國面積1100萬平方公里的百分之四十一，是日本四島總面積37萬8千平方公里的38倍。日本百萬大軍，如果擺在抗戰大後方，每平方公里才0．22人。國民政府的《以空間換取時間》的大戰略，絕對是正確的。(2)
在如此大形勢大環境之下，日軍侵華的戰爭手段有了修正，除了持續不斷在華北、華中、華南各省，與國軍作殊死戰，直到1945年夏初。日軍在華兵力，1940年曾增兵至200萬人。
1938年10月日軍攻陷武漢後，戰略上改採陸空恊同作戰，用轟炸方式逐步由東向西挺進。炸鐵路、炸橋梁、炸水庫、炸軍事設施、炸城市中心。1938年初，日本在華軍機，已達1500架。1938年12月，日機選擇湖南境內的湘黔鐵路和湘桂鐵路，進行轟炸。(3)
民國28年(1939年)元月，父親奉令隨通信兵第一團團夲部，後撤至桂林。服務的第四營第一連內，有三個有線電架設排，一個無線電排，作戰經驗一時之選。
兩座電話總機，十台收發報機，一百餘部電話皮機，三百多盤電話線及架設工具，隨同全連官兵，上了三個火車車廂。開始衡陽至桂林，全長490公里的移防路程。
抗戰時期的湘桂鐵路，起自湖南衡陽，經廣西全縣、桂林，止於柳州，全長650公里，在抗戰前期，發揮了鉅大的運輸功能。(4)
這列火車上，還各有一個工兵連、衛生連和高砲連。為了避開日本軍機襲擊，多半在夜晚行駛，視地形速度時快時慢，站站皆停，以便增掛車廂。各連連長，每站均聽取站長滙報，瞭解全線通車狀況，作為行車安全參考。
第二晚，車停黎家坪，有相當長的一段時間。消息傳來，祁陽城已被日機轟炸，數條街道已成火海。冷水灘至東安縣間的鐵路和橋梁，也被炸斷炸毀。
各連長綜合站長意見，冷水灘地勢隱密，遠比黎家坪安全，決議連夜趕往冷水灘。畢竟抗戰時期的軍需物資，極度珍貴，有《一滴汽油一滴血》，《一尺電線救一命》的說法。(5）
冷水灘當年是湘桂鐵路上的一個小站，湘江流經其東南，如今是湖南永州城北的一個區。城南的芝山區，瀟水在此與湘江會合，稱為瀟湘。在軍事戰略上，有極其重要的地位。冷水灘站，今已更名為永州站。
列車到達冷水灘，無線電排已聯繫上桂林的團本部。指令人員隨器材改搭湘江木船，經廣西全縣、興安，至桂林歸隊。(6)
列車調度後退，至一處碼頭最近處，由後勤留守處安排，零陵地區車船動員委員會支援的兩艘木船，已經靠岸。通信器材由車廂到船艙，卸裝一次完成。
正要搬動之時，碼頭得到緊急通知，即將到站的另一列火車，載運一批重要物資，要優先登船，經了解是故宮文物，這是軍事委員會的通令，必須遵行。
這批故宮博物院的國寶，是西遷北、中、南三路運輸的南路，由北平經上海、漢口、長沙、衡陽，運往桂林，再轉重慶。兩百多個大小不同的木箱，是全部故宮文物西遷近20萬件的一部份，由一個步兵連護送，全民支援，一路歷經風霜雪雨，載搭火車、汽車、輪船、江輪、牛車、馬馱、舢舨，甚至拉縴而行。
故宮文物是中華民族五千年來的文化結晶，國家遭逢空前危難之時，保護文物，全國同胞，責無旁貸。(7)
民國28年(1939年）至民國30年(1941年），亦即抗戰第一期結束，到1941年12月9日中華民國對日本宣戰期間，湘南境內全民大遷徙的路線有三條：一為湘桂鐵路，二為湘江水路，三為湘桂公路。
湘桂鐵路沿綫被日軍轟炸後，湘江及湘桂公路，立即繁忙起來。然而這兩條運輸線，水路安全及公路載重均不如鐵路。尤其在湖南冷水灘至廣西全縣(今已更名為全州縣)全長79公里湘江段行駛船隻，也是日軍轟炸目標。(8)
當時中華民國的空軍，已有9個大隊，下屬31個中隊，劃歸中央航空委員會，各型戰機多購自美國，總共也只有300餘架。面對幅員廣大的戰場，主要任務在配合地面部隊作戰，根本無法顧及後勤支援，也只能仰賴高砲部隊擔任後撤人員、物資，運輸途中的防空任務。因此滯留在冷水灘，準備改搭木船的這支高砲連，奉令分三梯次，擔任故宮文物，水上運輸防空警戒任務。(9)
在冷水灘的這個通信連，距離故宮文物運出四個小時之後，才上了船。順江而下過瀟水，轉西南，經湘桂省界的棗木舖，進入廣西境內邊界小鎮黃沙河，已是第四天清晨。
黃沙河在明清時代，是漕運關卡，也是船隻靠岸補給，裝卸貨物的地方。船靠了岸，官兵下船活動，停留三個小時後，續往全縣行駛。
小鎮步行20分鐘足可走完，只有一條大街，數條巷弄。展現眼前的是，悸怖驚心的場景，觸目皆是離鄉背井、流離顛沛、困苦勞頓的難民。(10）
這批難民為數至少有七、八百名之多，多半來自華南各省，少、中、壯年居多。鎮上僅有的兩家客棧，天天客滿，客房裏外皆見席地而坐，臥地就睏的旅客，幾乎騰不出一條通道。
臘月裡的湘桂邊界，氣溫仍低，屋簷下，街道旁，裹著棉被將就一夜的人，處處皆是。大樹下栓著與主人同行的騾馬，瘦得可見筋骨。三間小飯館，食物供不應求，顧客沒有選擇餘地，饑不擇食，能夠吃口熱食，已是天大享受。
有個令人心碎的事：大樹下有兩個籮筐，紙板上寫著《請善心人士 領養我的孩子》，背面有孩子的家庭背景和原鄉地址。
孩子的父母來自江西吉安，兩個月前從家鄉出發，搭乘了各種不同的交通工具，越往西走越難行，最後無車船可搭，唯有步行一途。家當和孩子放在兩個竹筐裡，夫妻輪流挑擔而行。在湘南丘陵的一條公路上，遇見一批難友，路上卻遭遇到日本軍機的低空掃射，母親慘死槍下。父親帶著孩子來到這個小鎭，病死之前託付難友，領養孩子。在這兵荒馬亂的時期，還有誰會去領養孩子呢。兩姐弟在籮筐裡，拼命地哭喊著，大家無能為力。
誠畏天命而悲人窮，老天爺開了眼，一位比利時籍的神父、三名修女，帶領30餘名孤兒，大的有十五、六歲，小的只有兩、三歲，一步一步，步履維艱地走進小鎮，這兩名籮筐裡的小姐弟，第二天由孤兒院裡的大哥哥大姊姊們背着，走向大後方桂林。(11)
木船當天傍晚，停靠湘江與灌陽河交滙處的全縣碼頭，午夜開船，官兵可上岸自由活動。
父親與同儕夜遊城景，多數商家已打烊休息，倒是路邊灘的生意很旺，陣陣烤地瓜，煮玉米、花生、毛豆的香味，撲鼻而來。水果灘以銷售柑、橘、沙田柚居多。
在街上巧遇一群談笑風聲的學生，來自長沙、衡陽的五所中學，由各校長帶隊，組成一個近300人的流亡學生團隊，由長沙出發，前往大後方繼續求學，團隊內還有十餘位就讀於國立長沙臨時大學的在校生，分別來自北京大學、清華大學、南開大學。流亡的路線大致與難民雷同，搭乘各種交通工具，包括步行。
學生隊伍到達桂林後，分兩路，北上重慶，南去昆明。大學生將趕在西南聯大第二學年開學前，到達昆明。中學生則分別進入西南各省22個國立中學。
抗戰時期蔣介石委員長一再提醒國人《國破家亡，什麼都可耽誤，就是不能耽誤學生們的功課》。1937年11月，西南聯大遷往長沙，次年轉進昆明，師生三百多人，由長沙步行至雲南，張治中委派黃師岳中將率重兵護送，安全到達，可見政府對教育的重視。
父親抗戰期間，由衡陽調往桂林途中，有緣遇到了故宮文物、軍需物資、兵員人才，運用各種方式，動員全民西進，充實戰力，抗戰第一，勝利第一，國家至上，民族至上。這就是我們最終贏得對日抗戰勝利的抗戰精神。(12，本篇完)
第7篇：桂林大轟炸時的父親
民國28年(1939年）1月下旬，父親到達桂林。巧的是，我的母親隨外婆及一妹一弟，於一個星期前，先行到達。當時我的父親還不認識我的母親，兩個月後經友人介紹在桂林訂婚。
1939年抗戰進入中期，國民政府在桂林的行營，發輝了重大的指揮功能，負責指揮長江以南第三、四、九各戰區作戰。同年華中、南各省的民間工廠及軍需工廠，多達100多家，遷來桂林。桂林除了是政治、軍事的重鎮之外，也是全國學術文化精英滙集的地方。
1939這一年，日本軍機開始向我大後方實施《疲勞轟炸》，單就桂林一地，抗戰期間，日機出動多達1218架次，所投炸彈多係燃燒彈，大轟炸前後有六次，桂林城一片火海，人員傷亡近10萬人，炸毀之民房商店、軍事設施，難以估計。(1)
父親到達桂林的第二天，全連官兵各就崗位，各有線電架設排，分配中型卡車一輛。無線電排則配屬一輛，功能極差，初次投入戰場，被國軍虜獲的日本豐田軍用小卡車。
桂林全城軍用電話總機，就有十餘座，路線分佈山區多於平地，維護、搶修，難度更甚於813淞滬戰役。
第三天是個大晴天，上午上班上學時間，空襲警報響起，空襲黃色球升起，數分鐘後緊急警報接續而來，紅色球升起。
大約有兩個大隊50餘架日本軍機，自東北方飛臨桂林上空，一次永遠不會忘記的場景，出現眼前。(2)
大轟炸近一個小時後，解除警報響起，七星岩、穿山岩兩處天然防空洞內，近兩萬名平民，拼命奔回家園。目覩灕江西岸，北自虞山公園，南到南溪公園，最繁華的桂林城區一片火海，白煙、黑煙、火舌交替，直衝雲端。
當時我們的戰機，根本沒有能力升空攔截，高射砲兵所使用的最新式德製75厘米、88厘米高射機槍，也只能發揮一些阻嚇能力。
1938年11月，廣州失守，三十年代中國作家巴金，來到桂林，日本軍機多次空襲桂林的經歷，歴歴在目。寫下了系列日軍轟炸桂林罪惡暴行的散文集，《桂林的受難》、《桂林的微雨》、《生死者》。深刻描繪出轟炸後的桂林景象。
我看見那些被炸後的殘破房屋，成了一堆瓦礫。看見頭髮和衣服還站在地上帶血的人皮，看見了排列在郊外街巷裏等待處理，無辜者的屍體。無法在火堆中，找到任何可用的東西。旅館樓房坍塌了，如山洪爆發的巨響之後，我聽見一個男子在廢墟上發出救命的聲音。(3）
搶修電話線是通信兵急迫的任務，那怕是空襲中也要出任務。軍事委員會委員長桂林行營，通往各戰區、各部隊的電話線路，必須24小時暢通，出了狀況，就是槍林彈雨，也要赴湯蹈火，置生死於不顧。
父親在執行任務中，上有敵機轟炸，地面部隊頻繁移動，哀鴻遍野、觸目驚心。電線桿上可見血肉模糊的殘缺手臂，水溝中橫七八豎身首異處的屍體。路邊一位哀號的母親，緊緊抱住被炸死的一對兒女。
任務中，父親遇見一位美聯社的戰地記者，不顧自身安危，捕捉戰爭畫面，通信兵冒死搶修電話線，也入了鏡頭。正是父親帶著弟兄，前往英國駐華使舘新聞處桂林分處，搶通電話的途中。父親心情激盪，看見一位外國新聞媒體工作者，不畏生死，克盡職守。想到自已的軍人身分，能在自已的國土裏，為保國護民，抵禦外侮，盡忠職守，也就心安理得了。這年四月，父親奉令調往重慶，接受新的任務。(4，本篇完)
第8篇：重慶大轟炸及
隧道慘案
1938年11月，抗戰進入第二期，日本對湘、桂，黔、川各省進行轟炸。12月26日，首次對陪都重慶實施戰略轟炸，沿著嘉陵江畔投彈三百餘枚，測試中國軍隊的作戰能力。陪都的軍事通信，受到嚴格考驗，層峯責令通信兵團，重新佈署兵力增至一個通信兵營。
1939年3月，父親奉令隨部隊，移防重慶。因湘桂鐵路桂林至柳州段，已被日軍炸毀，無法轉乘黔桂鐵路火車北上重慶，只有徒步行軍，過潯江入貴州，進四川。
與其同時，我的外婆帶著我的母親，卻從桂林順灕江接栁江南下柳州，轉輾貴陽到達重慶，與我的父親會合。(1)
1939年3月下旬，父親跟著這支通信兵部隊，從桂林出發，北上龍勝到達三江，全長120公里，尚有汽車支援。
餘程至貴陽600公里，通信器材改由馬䭾，官兵步行。個人裝備：黃卡其布軍常服、長褲、布帽、S腰帶、倒U型背包、水壺、布綁腿、黑襪，膠鞋換成草鞋。
每天行軍12小時，每小時以8公里速度行進，隊伍縱深1公里，連長在前，副連長壓後，各持野戰無線電話，以掌握部隊狀況，每日固定與鄰近駐軍，以收發報機，報告部隊位置。(2)
貴州省的地勢平均為海拔一千公尺，西部高於東部，部隊行經的東南山區，也在五百公尺以上。在當時的時空環境之下，是廣西北上四川，避免日機轟炸，最快捷的一條通道。
入黔後，由從江縣，經榕江縣到都勻這一段，所經之處河流湍急而狹窄，又無航船之利，且山嶺起伏、平地極少、春雨綿綿，道路泥濘不堪。
日間行軍，夜間借住苗寨、侗寨，埋灶紥營。驚悚的是，半夜狼群覓食、攻擊營帳，必須獵殺才能阻嚇。
欣慰的是，苗侗各寨，居民善良，給予部隊諸多協助。沿途除了瀏覽雄偉山川，秀麗美景外，也見識了苗侗民族的奇風異俗，文化特色。
從江：苗族岜沙人，男性勇士帶刀帶槍，捍衛家鄕。岜沙男女，面向東方倒退行走，祭拜太陽。15歲成年，陰曆6月15日為情人節，舉辦鬥牛、拔河、盪鞦韆、搶婚嘉年華。
榕江：每年有侗族服裝表演，與雷山縣苗族雷同，以籚笙錦雞舞慶祝。榕江侗女，平日均穿著超級短裙，展現青春活力。
三都：屬水族，有自己的象形文字，用水暦。
丹寨：每年有沖洗樓板習俗，婚禮慶典，以板凳舞娛樂佳賓。
父親的這支行軍部隊，到達貴陽時，已經是第八天中午了。餘程到重慶這一段，全連改搭汽車入川。比起我的外婆和母親，早到十天。(3)
1939年4月中旬，父親抵達重慶，部隊隨即入駐嘉陵江南岸沙坪壩，近公園處的一座營區內。外婆和母親一家人，則在下旬到達，被安置在一處民宅區，與父親的營區相去不遠。
重慶位於嘉陵江與長江的會合處，形似半島，酷似一隻行進中的臘腸犬。嘉陵江自西北往東南流，長江自西南往東北流。地勢高出江面百餘公尺，城市沿金碧山，山巔而建，街道馬路上上下下，高低相連，故有山城之稱。城東、北、南三面，進出城門均須徒步三百級的石梯，如今已有環城公路。江岸坡度陡峻，沿山多天然洞穴，抗戰時期成了民眾躱空襲時的防空洞。當時重慶的人口，已達200萬人。(4）
父親進駐重慶沙坪壩營區後的第二天，接受通信兵第一團團本部，為期兩天的業務講習，課程包括：判讀重慶市區地勢圖、瞭解地下電纜配置、部隊番號駐地、戰指中心關係位置等等。
轄區有20個區縣，面積達一萬七千餘平方公里，團級以上部隊均設無線電台及電話總機各一座，電話線架設至陣地崗哨。
抗戰時期的中華民國陸軍通信兵部隊，已進入短波無線電接力時代，抗戰初期已啓用載波機、微波電台、有線電同軸電纜。中華民國在武器裝備上與日本相對落後，但國民政府投入大量資金，採購歐美先進通信器材、培訓通信技術人才，不遺餘力。國軍通信作戰能力，絕不亞於日本。
抗戰中期，國軍已擴大編制，成立了三個通信兵團。保障了戰略警報訊號和情報資訊的迅速傳遞，更成為軍事行動戰術指揮，不可或缺的重要手段。(5)
在四川，當地人稱老鼠為《耗子》，四川的耗子繁殖快、體壯碩、性兇惡，一隻大耗子有五、六斤重，老鼠咬死貓，在四川不是新聞。
1939年5月的頭一天晚上，重慶市發生了一件異常的老鼠大遷徙景觀。上萬隻老鼠，成群結隊逃離市區，搬往鄉下。
事隔一日，重慶市遭逢了一次人類戰爭史上，史無前例的《五三、五四》空中大屠殺事件。
1939年5月3日、4日兩天，日本軍機向重慶市區，作了一次《地獄式的轟炸》。5月3日，首批日機就有63架，接續兩天輪番轟炸，投下炸彈176枚，燃燒彈116枚，重慶市在一片火海之中。炸死3991人，傷2287人，毀屋4871棟，創下戰爭史上，一次空中屠殺，死傷超過6000人的空前紀錄，事件發生後，世界輿論嘩然，紛紛指責日軍惡行。(6)
執行轟炸任務的日本軍機，隸屬海軍航空隊，第二天由63架，增至72架。對重慶23．91平方公里的渝中半島，政治文化商業中心，進行連番轟炸，平均每平方公里落彈12枚。
轟炸機分三個梯隊，由半島尖端的朝天門廣場為起點，由東至西轟炸。第一梯隊逆時針，順嘉陵江沿岸，向西轟炸。第二梯隊順時針，由長江沿岸，向西南方轟炸。第三梯隊經市中心，跨越兩江隧道、石黃隧道至鵝嶺公園。整個半島沒有一條街，沒有落彈。
父親趁著解除警報空隙，帶領弟兄搶修電話線路，目覩每根電線桿上，都有斷臂殘肢。除了搶通電話外，還要處理殘屍。大田灣體育場內，遺體堆積如山，驚恐悸怖，觸目驚心。
中國1940年代作家老舍，經歴了這次大轟炸，與重慶市民徹夜奔逃，劫難之後，發現了一種新的精神在復活，在他的文學作品中，有如此描述：沒有哭啼，沒有叫駡，火光之前，大火之中，避難的市民靜靜地奔向公園。偶然有聲高喊，是服務員的《快快走》。偶然有陣鈴聲，是救火車的疾馳。沒有搶劫，沒有怨駡，這是紀律，這是團結，這是勇敢，這是五千年文化的教養，是在血與火中，表現出來的，無所侮的力量與氣度。(7)
五三、五四大轟炸後的重慶，已是殘垣斷壁，滿目瘡痍，市內的景象形態徹底改變。電力、電信系統嚴重受損，入夜後全城一片漆黑，長達半個月之久，電話線路近九成中斷。
百姓家自動將煤油燈放在家門口，方便行人及勤務人員通行，當時稱呼這種燈為《太平燈》。
外界信息靠口口相傳，中央日報、大公報、新華日報發行量加倍。中央廣播電台、軍中之聲，隨時插播新聞，直流收音機被搶購一空。
機關、銀行、公司、商店，也改變了上下班和營運時間，從上午七時至十時，下午四時至十時。
盡管生存艱難，但日軍的轟炸，沒有打垮重慶軍民的鬥志。營房炸毀了，克難營房隨即建起。商店被炸了，只要沒有被燒毀，第二天，《照常營業》的牌子，就掛了起來。
被炸掉，被燒毀的百貨商店、餐廳丶茶館，只要有一丁點可用之地，簡易竹製店面，兩三天後，就可原地建成，繼續營業。生産事業或地下化，或遷移郊區。炸不垮的重慶，屹立不搖的重慶，世界媒體競相報導，這就是我們的《抗戰精神》。(8）
帶着三個孩子，甫由桂林經柳州，北上貴陽，到達重慶的外婆，總算有了一個暫時棲身之地，不到一個禮拜，卻碰上了《五三．五四大轟炸》。
一家人有了上次在桂林躱警報的經驗，這一次就顯得相當從容，前置作業準備充足。從空襲警報、警急警報到解除警報，均遵照重慶市政府頒發的《遵行事項》行事。
解除警報一響，全家人跑出防空洞，直奔家門。家已在熊熊燃燒，想要搶救一些最基本的用品衣物，已不可能，最可惜的是，兩本頗有時日的照相簿，已成灰燼。
家沒有了，孩子哭了，外婆呆若木雞。當年只有七歲大的舅舅，急著問外婆：娘，錢包帶了沒有。
外婆恍過神來，看了看緊握在手上的小在袋，察看一下，回答：帶了。
全家人的所有財産，也只有那個小布袋裡的一些乾糧和有限的現金而已。這一次的大轟炸，無家可歸的巿民有兩萬人之多，疏散的民眾，多達25萬。
外婆領著孩子進了收容所，也聯絡上正在勤務中的父親。父親與外婆，連夜找到了外公的故舊，服務於後勤單位的鮑鐸上校。以失蹤官兵眷屬的名義，申請暫住南岸《官兵休假中心》的一間小房間內。(9)
外婆一家人窩居南岸官兵休假中心期間，父親奉令移防南岸立石溝何家莊園。莊園面積約一英畝，一分為二：朝南，背山坡，闢為營區。朝北，向長江，為連幢民宅。
當時的通信兵第一團團長孫伯超，是母親的大伯父尹世鍇保定軍校的同學。得知外婆處境後，當即派副官主任與莊園何老闆情商，順利住進何家大院。
這年10月9日，父母親在孫伯超團長證婚下，於重慶國際飯店結為夫妻。次年7月7日，我誕生於立石溝陸軍野戰醫院。
民國30年(1941年)6月5日，日機對重慶疲勞轟炸，持續五個小時，釀成死亡逾三千人的《大隧道窒息慘案》。(10)
民國27年(1938年）2月18日至民國32年(1943年)8月23日，日本陸、海軍航空部隊，遵從日本天皇及最高本部指令，對重慶地區展開轟炸作戰，為期5年6個月，史稱《重慶大轟炸》。
國民政府為應因日本軍機持續轟炸，減少生命財產損失，就重慶周邊地勢地形地質優勢，挖掘多處防空洞穴。其中位於渝中半島偏西近較場口，連接數條馬路，路口皆有出入口，可以容納近萬人，名為《十八梯隧道》的一座防空洞，規模最大。
民國30年(1941年)6月5日，晚間6時許，日軍出動24架戰鬥轟炸機，對重慶進行航空進攻作戰。此次行動，在戰術上作了修正：1，空襲時間拉長。2，輪番盤旋，並低空掃射，每梯次最多6至9架。3，轟炸防空洞周邊設施。(11）
重慶市政府對日本軍機空襲時之施放警報、人員疏散均有詳盡規定。敵機一起飛，我方情報人員立即通報機型、架數及飛行方向，越過宜昌施放空襲警報，到達萬縣施放緊急警報。從空襲警報到緊急警報，通常需要20分鐘，市民有充分時間，可以到達防空洞內。
6月5日的天氣晴朗高溫，午後有陣雨，近六時雨停，正是晚間用餐及餐後逛街乘涼時間，全市各區一反常態，空襲警報長鳴，隨即施放緊急警報，尤以商業中心民族路、民權路、鄒容路一帶，市民驚慌失措，狂奔附近防空隧道避難。一時之間《十八梯防空隧道》擁進上萬民眾。(12)
敵機約晚間七時飛臨重慶上空，在渝中半島閙區，重點投彈，不時低空盤旋掃射。半島上空始終保持6至9架，一波離去，一波再來，長達7個小時，至次日凌晨，以拉長空襲時間，達成其戰術上之要求。
這座十八梯公共防空隧道，因施工缺失，遲未驗收。由於襲擊突然，權宜緊急使用。一時上萬人湧入，立感空氣稀薄，嚴重缺氧。時間一小時一小時過去，首先兒童嬰兒不停啼哭，牆壁上的油燈，光線逐漸微弱，以致熄滅。氣氛頓時緊張，有人開始煩躁不安，舉止反常。
生還者敘述當時情形：頭腦發悶，大汗淋漓，身體漸漸疲軟，呼吸困難，似乎淹在熱水之中，左右的人不由自主的把自己的衣褲撕碎，好像精神失常，甚至互咬對方。傷心慘目不可卒睹，很多人掙扎到生命最後，含恨離開人間。
凌晨一時許，警報解除，身體尚能支持者，群體衝出洞口，又發生推擠踐踏事件，死傷不計其數。隧道內臉部扭曲者、手指抓地者、五官淌血者、皮膚破裂遍體鱗傷者，處處皆是。(13)
事件後，國民黨中央黨部、國民參政會、重慶市參議會聯合組成《大隧道窒息慘案審查委員會》，對慘案進行調查。
重慶市民對審查委員會的各次報告，頗為不滿。掩蓋死亡人數、管制消息報導、空襲警報接續緊急警報，瞬間施放交代不清、草率處理屍體、未能及時搶救尚有生命跡象者等等，備受指責。
《漢奸說》、《日本間諜說》、《防空洞工程舞弊說》，紛傳坊間。有人在各隧道放置照明燈，指引敵機轟炸，也成了話題。
綜合當時的《新民報》報導，窒息慘案除了死亡人數最多的十八梯隧道，逾三千人外，尚有石炭市大防空洞逾兩千人，演武廳洞子也有近兩千人，因此窒息萬人之說甚囂塵上。
為了平息民怨，國民政府將重慶市長吳國楨，衛戍總司令兼防空司令劉峙，隧道工程處處長吳國柄撤職查辦。
慘案發生後引起美國國會關注，1941年8月26日，羅斯福總統派馬格魯徳將軍，為首任《駐華美軍軍事顧問團》團長。三個月後的1941年12月8日，日軍偷襲珍珠港，太平洋戰爭爆發。次日，中華民國加入同盟國，對日宣戰。1942年1月，蔣介石在重慶就任同盟國中國戰區最高統帥，史迪威為參謀長。至此，抗戰進入第三階段，中華民國不再孤軍奮戰，1945年8月15日，日本宣佈無條件投降。(14，本篇完)
第9篇：抗戰勝利前
父親的軍中資歷
民國25年(1936年)8月，黃埔軍校十三期，在南京招生。父親甫自陸軍通信兵團教導大隊，修業兩年畢業。以准尉通信員身分，分發揚州實習，而錯過投考機會。嗣後，黃埔各期在成都、昆明、貴陽各地招生，均因職務需要，耽擱報考。
民國29年(1940年)5月，黃埔17期在成都招生，父親以中尉排長身分，直接甄選入學。次年6月，尚在修業期間，接奉命令晉升上尉，11月20日畢業於四川銅梁。隨即出任通信兵第六團教導大隊四中隊中隊長，培訓部隊中，嚴重缺員的通信兵士官，駐地在四川榮昌七寶岩。
抗戰時期的國軍任官派職，均由其任職單位，發佈委令出任。民國29年(1940年)10月1日，父親已是中尉排長，接奉國民政府軍事委員會，由委員長蔣中正簽署的任官令，核定父親敍任為陸軍通信兵少尉，除另案函送行政院轉請任命外，先令仰遵。造成任命與實際官階不符現象。
民國32年(1943年）5月，通六團教導大隊通信士官培訓班第二期結業，父親接奉由軍政部何應欽部長簽署的任職令，至此，國軍任官有了專責單位。
民國34年(1945年)3月，父親前往昆明，準備出任中國遠征軍新職，暫編20師中校參謀。任官令由滇黔綏靖公署主任龍雲簽署，此項任命因家庭因素並未到任。父親1950年到台灣後，在國防部核官減俸作業中，未被承認。
民國44年(1955年)1月1日起，中華民國三軍軍官之任命，均由總統任命。(夲篇完)
第10篇：抗戰勝利前之
中外情勢
嚴格來說中國對日抗戰，應該從民國20年(1931年)9月18日，瀋陽北大營事件開始，至民國34年(1945年）9月9日，在南京，日本向中國呈遞降書為止，整整打了14年。對中日兩國而言，日本以慘敗收場，而中國卻以《慘勝》結局。
最可悲的是，國共兄弟鬩牆，延續內戰到1949年，10月1日中華人民共和國在北京成立，12月10日中華民國政府由成都遷往台北，兩岸對峙至今，國家仍未統一。回顧抗戰這一頁血淚歴史，以及勝利前的國際情勢和中國處境，留給國人的什麼樣的啓示，真得要深刻反思。
1，1945年2月4日至11日，美國總統羅斯福、英國首相邱吉爾、蘇聯人民委員會主席史達林，在黑海克里米亞雅爾達密約，蘇聯爭取戰後在華利益，獲美、英同意，事後通知中國。
2，1945年4月12日，羅斯福總統逝世，由副總統杜魯門繼職。4月29日，義大利向同盟國投降。5月7日，德國投降。
3，1945年4月23日至6月11日，毛澤東主席在延安主持中國共產黨第七次全國黨員代表大會，明確地說：只有佔據了東北，即使其他所有的根據地都丟了，中國革命也有了好的前途。
4，1945年7月26日至8月2日，中美英三國在柏林舉行波茨坦會議，三國會商促令日本投降事宜。杜魯門、邱吉爾出席，蔣介石僅在宣言上簽字同意。
5，1945年8月6日，原子彈轟炸日本廣島，8月9日轟炸長崎。同日蘇聯對日宣戰，紅軍直取東北臚濱(今內蒙滿洲里）
6，1945年8月14日，中蘇友好條約在莫斯科簽訂，蘇聯給予國民政府復元後，物資與道義上的援助，進入東北之蘇聯紅軍可停留三個月，中國承認外蒙古獨立的問題，由公民投票決定。
7，1945年8月15日，日本向同盟國無條件投降。之前8月9日零時10分，蘇聯在東北境內已有紅軍百萬。中共第八路軍及增編部隊60萬人，兵臨東北候令接受東北。次日，朱德總司令，先後下達第一號及第二號，向東北進軍命令。遠在華北地區作戰的國軍劉玉章52軍及劉安祺71軍，未能及時趕到。
1945年8月下旬，國軍才陸續抵達東北，父親奉令派至陸軍通信兵第九團，出任團本部少校參謀，次年三月，攜眷抵達瀋陽履新。隨即國共內戰，在東北開打。(本篇完）
第11篇：抗戰勝利普天同慶
早在1945年7月，抗日戰爭已近尾聲，中國境內各戰區，僅有小戰役及接觸戰而已，中國部隊節節勝利。國軍四個方面軍及十一個戰區，捷報紛紛傳至重慶。
8月10日，也就是盟軍原子彈轟炸日本長崎、蘇聯對日宣戰的第二天，下午六時，一個大型樂團在重慶街頭，首先演奏出雄壯的勝利交響曲，貝多芬第三號交響曲英雄及抗戰歌曲。揭開了抗戰陪都重慶各界，慶祝抗戰勝利的序幕。(1)
與其同時，中央日報、大公報、新華日報，搶先全國其他都市發行號外，報導日本即將投降相關消息。數十萬份號外，瞬間搶購一空。人們情緒沸騰到極點，長期悶在心中的怨氣、怒火，完全盡情地發洩出來，有太多的人，激動地在哭泣。有東北老鄕流著涙唱着《松花江上》，隨後高喊：我們可以回家過年了。
爆竹聲、叫喊聲、汽笛聲，響徹雲霄。一群大中學校的學生帶領著大家，高唱抗戰歌曲《凱旋歌》、《旗正飄飄》、《義勇軍進行曲》、《長城謠》。抗戰涕涙愁何在，萬里江山夢亦疑，猶喜童心聞捷報，此夜重慶無人眠。
次日清晨，重慶全城大小商店，均以《慶祝抗戰勝利》、《日軍投降》等大幅標語貼於門前，紛紛燃放爆竹，一時間爆竹賣得缺貨。人們便利用鏜鑼、面盆等物，在馬路上不停敲打，邊敲打邊高呼《我們勝利了》、《我們勝利了》。
8月11日起，重慶市各機關、學校、部隊、營區，紛紛搭建牌樓，門口國旗飄揚。中央廣播電台、軍中之聲全天播音。各報館門前擠爆市民，都在等待日本宣佈投降的那一刻到來。(2)
1945年8月15日正午，日本天皇裕仁向日本全國頒發停戰詔書，接受波茨坦公告，實行無條件投降確定。數小時後，重慶中央廣播電台及軍中之聲，前後相隔10分鐘，播出了數日來全國同胞，期待已久振奮人心的好消息。每一顆心都在跳躍，每一個細胞都在沸騰。連結一千二百餘串的爆竹，在渝中半島商業中心，燃放起來，從東邊的小樑子一直燃燒到西邊的上清寺，長達半小時之久。街上人山人海，熱情奔放，相互擁抱，盛況不減8月10日當天。
接續國民政府蔣介石主席在中央廣播電台播音室，親自宣告《抗戰勝利告全國軍民及全世界人士書》，播音過程中，民眾一致鼓掌歡呼《中華民國萬歲》。
住在重慶鄉下的人士，成群結隊渡江跑到重慶，渡輪全天加班運輸，足足有兩萬人之多。駐渝美軍也全部出動，十數輛中小型吉普車，插滿中美國旗，緩緩巡行街市，紛紛跳下車來，用英語高呼《聯合國勝利萬歲》，喝著洋酒，翹起大拇指，用生硬的華語不停說著《中國抗戰勝利》、《頂好》。一群擦皮鞋的孩子們，丟掉背著的小箱子，跨上吉普車，與美國兵齊飲香檳，還會說兩句《OK》《OK》。
熱情洋溢的美國兵擁抱著天真的孩子們狂吻，高高舉起年輕貌美的女學生，歡樂的情緒，像似瘋狂。我的二姨，剛剛從軍中之聲播報新聞後下班，也被美軍高高舉起，嚇得花容失色。(3)
慶祝抗戰勝利的活動，每天都在全國各地持續進行，延續到9月9日南京受降。
8月17日，日本駐華派遣軍總司令岡村寧次聲明，日軍業已遵照麥克阿瑟統帥命令，完成停戰狀態，一俟停戰協定成立，立即依約實行。
8月19日，同盟國對日簽訂停戰協定，中華民國代表團軍事委員會軍令部長徐永昌上將，率團赴馬尼拉。
停戰協定簽署後，在華日軍向中華民國接洽投降的工作，正式開始。中國戰區最高統帥蔣中正，於前一日電令岡村寧次，派遣代表團到湖南芷江接受投降命令。
8月21日，大地氣清萬里無雲，芷江軍民晨曦中興起，在國歌聲中，升起國旗，天空中飛機翺翔，交相輝映。
日軍投降代表今井武夫少將，下午三時四十分，率團至陸軍總部，晉謁參謀長蕭毅肅將軍，接洽投降事宜，並接受總司令何應欽上將致岡村寧次備忘録。
蕭參謀長依據中國戰區最高統帥蔣委員長，8月18日致岡村寧次電令，要求今井武夫交出日本駐台灣及越南北緯18度以北地區內，所有日本陸海空軍戰鬪兵力部署及指揮系統表冊。
何應欽上將致岡村寧次備忘録，主要包括三點：1，日本陸海空軍及輔助部隊，應立即停止一切敵對行動，所有武器、彈藥、航空器材、車輛及一切交通通信工具、文獻檔案等，妥善保管不得移動，絕對保持原狀，聽候何總司令派員接收。2，中華民國陸軍總司令部，要先在南京設置一前進指揮所，日方應從速照辦，並妥為保護。3，交付受降日軍，我方軍事長官及其所轄各戰區指揮系統表，就地接受投降。
為使接洽便利起見，日軍應提供電台呼號波長及通報時間表一份，回南京後，立即轉岡村寧次遵行。(4)
8月27日，在美國總統杜魯門的斡旋下，美國政府派出專機至延安，毛澤東由美國駐華大使赫爾利陪同，到達重慶與蔣中正主席會面。毛澤東在重慶46天，杜魯門希望毛蔣的會面，能夠促成國共兩黨組成聯合政府，領導一個統一的中國，確保來之不易的抗戰成果，不會淪為內戰。
10月10日晚，毛蔣兩人與中外顯要，在重慶大梁子戲院欣賞平劇《群英會》，演畢毛起立振臂高呼《中華民國萬歲》，《蔣主席萬歲》。
毛澤東於10月11日飛回延安，向親信談到重慶談判時稱《那只是紙上的東西》。
第二年，國共內戰全面開打，1949年10月1日，中華人民共和國在北京成立，中華民國政府播遷台灣。
9月2日上午九時，二次大戰日本向盟國無條件投降，降書簽字儀式，在日本東京灣停泊的美國戰艦《密蘇里》號上舉行。中國代表軍令部長徐永昌上將，繼聯合國最高統帥麥克阿瑟元帥、美國代表尼米茲元帥之後，第三位在受降書上簽字。
9月9日上午九時，在日本向聯合國投降後一星期，中國戰區日軍投降簽字典禮，在南京中央軍校大禮堂舉行。代表中國戰區最高統帥蔣中正出席的陸軍總司令何應欽一級上將，接受日軍投降代表駐華日軍最高指揮官岡村寧次大將，呈遞的降書。中央政府並定九月九日為《勝利日》。
民國26年南京淪陷後不久，劫後餘生者曾在郊外廢墟中掘得一碑，上有劉伯溫題詩一首，字跡隱約可見，詩云：陣陣胡茄吹斷腸，人民到處泣流亡。苦辛耐得三千日，燕翼孫謀萬世昌。
從《七七事變》起，到《九九南京受降》止，恰合三千日之數。(5)
抗戰勝利前的1943年6月，陸軍通信兵第6團通信士官培訓班，整編為軍士訓練大隊，父親升任為第一隊少校隊長。
抗戰勝利後的1945年10月，奉調陸軍通信兵第9團任少校參謀，駐地在瀋陽。生效日為1946年4月1日，到職前暫留軍士訓練大隊，協辦招生事宜。
當時，國軍裁軍甚囂塵上，為何續辦招生，用意至為明顯。
1946年2月，父親擕眷離開四川，經武漢、南京、上海，赴東北上任。本擬撥冗由武漢轉往故里河南南陽探望，因東北情勢緊張，未能成行。
父親自1931年九一八事變後離開南陽，這年他14歳，自此再也沒有踏上這塊土地。2007年10月，父親以90歲高齡，終老於台北。不竟想起父親生前曾經提起的一首詩，艾青的《我愛這土地》：假如我是一隻鳥，我也應該用嘶啞的喉嚨歌唱。歌唱這被暴風雨打擊着的土地，這永遠洶湧着我們的悲憤的河流，這無止息地吹着的激怒的風，和那林間無比溫柔的黎明。然後我死了，連羽毛也腐爛在土地裡面。為什麼我的眼裡常含着涙水，因為我對這土地愛得深沉。為什麼我的眼裡常含着淚水，因為我對這土地愛得深沉。(6，本篇完)
《父親與民國》（下）
作者簡介：
陳昌智：1940年7月7日生，祖籍河南南陽。1962年畢業於聯勤財務學校財務科六期。曾服務於聯勤總部財務署、救國團基隆市及台北市團委會、巴拿馬華文《共和報LA REPUBLICA》。
第12篇：勝利後東北的形勢
民國30年(1941年)，中國對日孤軍奮戰，進入第四年。在歐洲，德國、義大利對英、法、蘇等國開闢了新戰場。蘇聯為了避免歐亞腹背受敵，日本也為了專注在華作戰，不與蘇聯衝突，相互保證中立，於1941年4月25日，在莫斯科簽訂《蘇日互不侵犯條約》，當日生效，為期五年。
蘇聯老謀深算，時局對他有利，戰後在華有利可圖。1945年4月5日，蘇聯人民委員會主席兼外交人民委員莫洛托夫，在莫斯科召見日本駐蘇大使佐藤，宣佈《蘇日互不侵犯條約》截止後不再續約。
五個月後的8月15日，日本宣佈投降前夕，蘇聯向日本宣戰，立即派兵進攻被日本關東軍佔領的中國東北，國軍第18集團軍(中共第8路軍)，兵臨東北外圍，抗戰一勝利，首先接收東北。(1)
1945年8月9日，蘇聯向日本宣戰當天，立即向朝鮮(今北韓)、庫頁島、中國東北，同時展開進攻。至8月15日，一週之內蘇軍勢如破竹。當時，日本已經準備投降，關東軍大部份調至華中、華南作戰，絕對無力抵擋蘇軍大規模攻勢，很快就佔領了東北三省，偽滿洲國的傀儡溥儀，也被俘虜。
蘇聯軍隊分別從遠東的海參威、伯力，西伯利亞的烏蘭烏德、伊爾庫次克等地，越過烏蘇里江、黑龍江及額爾古拉河進入東北。中國長春鐵路的暢通，給了蘇聯軍隊順利佔領東北，快速有利的條件。
中國長春鐵路以哈爾濱市為中心，分三段向北、東、南延伸。國共內戰期間，在戰略攻防上起了重要作用。
中國長春鐵路，簡稱中長鐵路，北段哈爾濱至臚濱(今內蒙滿洲里)全長935公里，東段哈爾濱至綏芬河(今黑龍江省境內，近俄羅斯興凱湖)548公里，南段哈爾濱至大連944公里。
民國35年(1946年)2月，父親攜眷前往瀋陽履新前，接奉由軍政部轉來的人事命令，調派父親自該年4月1日起，出任交通部交通警察總局，有線電通信大隊二中隊中隊長。比敘薦任六職等任用，原任通信兵第九團少校參謀一職，留職停薪。
交通部第二交通警察總局的業務職掌，就是維護中國長春鐵路的全線暢通。(2)
依據1945年8月14日簽訂的《中蘇友好條約》，蘇聯紅軍應在11月15日前，撤離東北。然而接受日本關東軍，軍需物資的移交作業，未能如期完成，拖延至次年3月才全面撤離。此其間正好給中共紅軍，在東北妥為佈署兵力的最佳機會。
1945年下半年，中共的前置作業是，阻止或突襲國軍搶先接收東北。自9月10日至11月15日，共發生了五次衝突戰。
國民政府東北行營主任熊式輝，在蘇聯施壓下，10月2日才赴瀋陽就任。而國軍第13軍、52軍先頭部隊，遲至10月27日才分別抵達營口和葫蘆島，即遭岸上共軍射擊。隨後杜聿明所轄的新一軍(孫立人)、新六軍、71軍(劉安祺）陸續登陸，東北内戰隨即開始。當時中共紅軍，已佔領了北緯44度，長春以北各大都市。
父親帶著家眷，於民國35年(1946年)3月下旬，由上海搭乘《中興號》海輪至葫蘆島上岸，巧遇日俘日僑登船，國軍正在執行遣俘遣僑作業。(3)
在對日抗戰的歷史上，遣俘遣僑作業，佔有很重要的一頁，中華民國站在一個戰勝國的位置，卻以《以德報怨》的胸懷，對待一個罪惡滔天的日本，歷史上是絕無僅有的事。在我的記憶裏，和父親數次的口述中，還原當時的場景。
葫蘆島位於遼西走廊遠東灣的西岸，與歷史名城興城為鄰，在北寕鐵路之上，是一個優質的深水港。在當年國共內戰甫起的形勢下，被國際紅十字會選為遣俘遣僑港口。
我們到達葫蘆島的下午，一隊近千人，由國府憲兵戒護下的日軍戰俘及日僑，被帶到碼頭。在聯合國及國際紅十字會官員見證下，中華民國政府列具名冊，將日俘日僑逐一點交給日本代表。
日俘軍階已被摘除，分不清是官是兵，走在前面。日僑扶老攜幼，跟隨在後。很有秩序地，走向交接區。無論日俘日僑，個個低頭，緩步行進，鴉雀無聲，隊伍中有蔣委員長戎裝肖像出現。(4)
我兒Anthony 有位交情匪淺的日本同事，談起他的爺爺當年在中國戰場上，為日軍當華語翻譯官的經歷。1945年二戰結束前兩個月，調職至哈爾濱。得知日本無條件投降消息時，先是驚恐，再是嚎哭，跟著就是沉思。過了不久，證實中國以德報怨，要遣返日俘日僑回國時，更流下了感激的眼淚。
1945年8月，蘇聯軍隊攻打到哈爾濱，大批日僑被追殺得四處逃竄，燒搶虜掠無惡不做。他的爺爺和奶奶，逃避至錦州，後來進了遣俘遣僑中心，等待遣返。當遣返船隻駛進鹿兒島港區時，情緒激動再度哭泣。(5)
我們到達葫蘆島的第二天，搭乘北寜鐵路的火車，經錦州到達瀋陽。由接待人員引導，進駐瀋陽市鐵西區交通部員工眷舍。原本是日本《南滿鐵路株式會社》的一座職工宿舍，佔地約兩英畝。
磚木合造結構，雙層牆窗，兩牆之間埋有暖氣管道，四排房舍，每排10戶，戶戶獨立大門，門高出地面一公尺，步入大門，石階而上，適應東北之大雪天氣。
宿舍四週以樹木代替圍牆，東西兩面種植櫻花樹，南北兩面為常綠松柏，閙中取靜環境優雅。三月底的東北，已見櫻花吐露苞芽。
父親安頓妻小後，於次週一，報到上班，隨即出差長春，順中長鐵路而上，考察沿線路站，通信作業狀況。
父親出差期間，我很快地就認識了鄰居的小朋友，為了好奇，一起鑽進了塌塌米地板下，不到一公尺高的地窖裏，卻有驚訝的發現。（6）
我們一行三個皆不足十歲的小朋友，少不更事。在充滿好奇及冒險心理的驅動下，鑚進一個長寛約40公分，木質鐡網的排氣窗內，是一個光線昏暗的地窖，能見度極低，一陣陣冷風逼來，讓人直打哆嗦。
窖內有許多大小不等的木箱，靠牆整齊排列，封釘住的大木箱，不知內裝何物。小木箱可以打開，裏面是瓷器藝品、盤碗、炊具、工具、日用品之類。
我發現了一面用白布漢字書寫的横幅，九個大字《二至五年我們會回來》。還有一個長實約20公分的紙板畫框，框沿繪有櫻花花邊，中間上方位置有一面日本軍旗。整個框面用毛筆寫了數行日文，不知什麽意思，我順手拿了這兩樣東西，爬出窖外。(7)
一週後父親出差回來，母親將這兩樣物件，交父親過目。對我這種行為，同樣與母親一樣得到一番訓斥，還好沒被體罰。
父親沒有將物件銷毀，反而將2公尺長50公分寛的《九字横幅》，四周車上一條紅色的邊，掛在客廳裏，顯然有警惕的作用。
每當提起這件事，就會想起民國40年(1951年)後，台灣街頭巷尾的一句提振國人士氣的標語《一年準備，二年反攻，四年掃蕩，五年成功。》與1945年日夲人留在東北的《二至五年我們會回來》橫幅標語，倒有十分相似。70多年過去了，倒帶歴史有何感想。(8)
父母親有意明白，那個繪有櫻花及日本軍旗畫框內，中文的意思。請教了一位同事的令尊，中日文造詣深厚，也是鄰居的甯老先生。才知道這是一首歌詞，內容是用來安慰逝去的神風特攻隊隊員的靈魂，激勵他們的後繼者，繼續為天皇效忠。
早在1274年及1281年，元世袓忽必烈兩次渡海，遠征日本途中，元朝艦隊突遭颶風襲擊，全軍覆沒。日本人相信這是老天爺遣派的《神風》救了日本。因此二戰末期為捍衛日本，派出的自殺飛機，取名為《神風特攻隊》。
2015年，洛杉磯僑界紀念抗戰勝利70週年的一項史蹟展覽中，我看到了歌詞的中譯：《櫻花肖人，非草非木，美麗蝴蝶，便是妻子。櫻花盛開，落英繽紛，隨風而去，永作芳魂。今晨飄飄，明日冉冉，櫻花櫻花，我將效汝。》。
這種亳無價值的死，只是一種對天皇的愚忠，無補於日本最後敗亡的命運。時至今日，戰爭的勝負，端看雙方尖端科技及無人飛機的戰術運用了，《神風特攻隊》已成歷史名詞。
二戰後的日本，能夠從廢墟中重建復興，有著半個世紀的繁華盛世，要歸功於人民的勤奮，力爭上游，善用環境。然而我們今日看日本，綜合國力評鑑，可以確信，日本在歷史的長河中，盛世不再。它將如櫻花一般速開速謝，隨風而去。日本最多也僅是一個社會和諧穩定，科技繼續成長，另一個歐洲的瑞士，列入二流國家而已。(9)
1945年8月至1946年上半年，東北的情勢險峻混亂，國民政府處於外交、內政、國防、經濟諸多困境之中，斡旋於美、蘇、中共之間。
蘇聯違反《中蘇友好條約》，軍隊遲至1946年3月，才撤離東北，日本關東軍在東北的軍備資源，已妥交中共，處處抵制國軍接收。
中國共産黨早國民黨一步，部隊開入東北，捷足先登佔據長春以北廣大地區。
美國密切關注東北情勢發展，對中國國民黨的執政表現，頗為不滿，頻頻施壓。
國民政府在處理戰後《舊金山合約與台灣主權歸屬》、《中日合約》簽署上，阻礙重重。
在此內外交迫的形勢下，國民政府為求國家的長治久安，及因應東北地區未來的發展，作了兩項重要決定，一是朝野一致支持，結束訓政時期，全面實施憲政。民國35年(1946年)12月25日，由海內外1200多名制憲國大代表，在南京決議通過，《中華民國憲法條文》。次年(民國36年)1月1日公佈分，同年12月25日施行。
另一項決定是將東北三省，劃分為九個行政區，原遼省分為遼寧、遼北、安東三省。原吉林省分為吉林、松江、合江三省。原黑龍江省分為黑龍江、嫩江、納入興安三省。
此其間，父親的工作責任區，中國長春鐵路瀋陽至長春段沿線，狀況頻頻。為維護通信暢通，付出相當大的人力物力，父親回家的次數也只有三次。(10)
四平市，舊稱四平街，地處松遼平原中心位置，原屬遼北省，今為吉林省地級首要都市，人口已達330萬。是中長鐵路、四洮鐵路(四平至洮安，全長383公里)、四梅鐵路(四平至梅河口，全長155公里)的交滙處。1946年時的人口僅有10萬人，但貨商雲集、工商企業繁盛，因位居交通要衝，成為軍事上必爭之地。
1946年3月13日，駐四平街蘇聯軍隊，全部撤離。中共紅軍(東北民主聯軍)隨即越過長春南下，東由北豐，西自鄭家屯(遼原)圍攻四平，國共四平街第一次會戰開始，雙方攻防半個月，美國出面調庭，停戰數日後，繼續開打。1946年4月至1947年5月，是謂四平街第二次會戰。
1946年10月間，父親受困於四平街，掌控四平街周邊鐵路，成為國共雙方攻防重點。(11)
第一次四平街會戰，國軍大獲全勝，將士用命乘勝追擊，1946年4月8日佔領長春。林彪主力30萬人，卻集中於四平街附近，企圖阻斷國軍繼續前進。杜聿明部迫於情勢，集中新一軍、新六軍、71軍發起攻擊，5月3日克服本溪，5月19日驅逐共軍於四平街之外。此時孫立人的新一軍，已攻打至松花江北岸，離哈爾濱不足100公里。6月6日，在馬歇爾的壓力下，蔣介石主席同意頒發第二次停戰令，休戰15天，共軍暫時得到喘息的機會，國軍的士氣卻大受打擊。第二次四平街會戰，在打打停停的狀況下，持續一年之久。父親也趁停戰空隙返家探望，為期也只能一兩天而已。
1947年5月，第三次四平街會戰開始。之前蔣介石曾告誡國軍：沒有四平街，就沒有東北。毛澤東也指示林彪：必須準備數萬人傷亡，化四平街為馬德里。1947年6月《四平攻堅戰》，慘烈程度被外國記者形容，四平街已成為《東方馬德里》。
毛澤東有意讓林彪的部隊，學習1936年7月至1939年4月，西班牙內戰時的持久戰，面對殘酷大戰的決心。(12）
國共第三次《四平攻堅戰》，雙方投入了97個師次，90多萬人次，中共軍傷亡4萬餘人，國軍傷亡更高達6萬多人。林彪30萬兵力，在四平、夲溪兩地各集結10萬大軍，並首次動用民兵，準備一舉奪回四平，毛澤東下令寸土必爭死守四平。
1948年3月，進入第四次會戰，東北情勢危殆，中長鐵路已斷續營運，瀋陽汲汲可危。父親奉令歸建陸軍通信兵第九團，出任少校副官室主任。
1948年4月5日，父親將妻兒送上一架C47型軍機，投奔青島我的外叔公、山東省日照縣流亡縣長尹鼎武。
1948年9月12日，遼瀋會戰點燃戰火，通九團團長聶英勸說父親一起投共，父親未從，午夜棄營，徒步半月走到北平。
原遼北省選出的立法委員，曾經擔任中華民國立法院長的梁肅戎，在其回憶録中提到：民國37年(1948年）3月，中共軍五波攻勢，進攻四平，組成百姓部隊，發動人海戰術，一波波驅趕前進，屍體堆積如山，共軍踏着死屍，攻下四平，在世界奪城戰爭中，實屬罕見。(13，本篇完)
第13篇：遼瀋會戰
決定東北命運
冗長的四平街奪城戰，國軍先盛後衰，像是洩了氣的皮球。北緯44度以南國軍據守的東北半壁江山，由面變成塊，由塊變成點。
四平街會戰後，毛澤東指令，必須在夏季結束前，徹底將國軍孤立於長春及瀋陽兩大城市之內，並立即拿下錦州，封死國軍撤入關內的任何機會。
1948年1月，出任東北剿匪總司令的衛立煌，此時卻被中共誘勸，並謂《到哪裡都能為人民服務》。衛立煌卻從命，盡一切可能按兵不動，不與共軍正面接觸，使國軍高級將領無所適從，蔣介石在東北的戰略計劃，無從施展。(1)
1948年4月18日，林彪(黃埔軍校步科四期)向毛澤東建議，探取兵不血刃的圍困長春行動，獲得毛的同意。6月25日起，中共軍以8個師、一個砲兵團，10萬人的兵力，團團圍住長春。阻隔國軍補給，消耗城內糧食供應，圍城三月，已無屯糧，更嚴重的是無水可飲，不讓饑民出逃，20萬人饑渴而死，生命意志力強烈者，被迫喝死人腦殻水而活。
1948年9月，國軍重新佈署，東北剿匪副總司令兼錦州指揮所主任范漢傑，指揮6兵團兩個軍7個師，10萬兵力固守錦州，10月10日至28日遼瀋會戰期間，國共雙方超過20萬人，在錦州至錦西之間的塔山地區，進行激烈攻防戰，血流成河。國軍力不從心，近5萬人，自葫蘆島撤離，前往青島。(2)
共軍貫徹其《圍點打援》戰法，錦州攻堅戰奏效，殲滅國軍超過5萬人，共軍亦傷亡兩萬五千人。
1948年9月間，國軍只剩下瀋陽、長春、錦州三座大城，及連接三個城市300公里之內的鐡路城市。
遼瀋會戰期間，父親服務的陸軍通信兵第九團團長聶英投共，父親棄營，步行至北平。長春於10月21日失陷，鄭洞國將軍被俘。同一天，廖耀湘機動軍團，在長春與瀋陽間，被撃潰。11月2日，瀋陽失守，三天後，國軍在東北全面失控，中共佔據東北全境。(3，本篇完)
第14篇：中共渡江戰役前的
大陸形勢
民國37年(1948年)3月29日至5月1日，由全國各省區及海外選出的第一屆國民大會代表2961席，出席率約八成的情況下，在南京選出蔣中正、李宗仁為中華民國第一任總統副總統。
當時瀋陽街頭，在國民大會開幕日，紛紛燃放爆竹及拉起橫幅慶賀，父親給我上了第一堂公民課。距離4月5日，母親帶著子女飛往青島，僅一週時間。
1948年9月12日至11月12日，為期62天的遼瀋戰役，國軍氣勢已衰，期間通信兵第九團團長聶英投共，父親在瀋陽淪陷前步行至北平。
遼瀋戰役尚未結束，為期66天的徐蚌會戰開打(1948年11月 6日至次年1月10日）黃百韜、邱清泉殉國。同時，為期64天的平津戰役戰火燃起(1948年11月29日至次年1月31日)傅作義投共。
在北平的父親輾轉到達青島，與妻兒團聚，出任第11綏靖區劉安祺將軍所屬54師少校通信兵參謀。(1）
1948年12月，徐蚌會戰持續進行中，李宗仁及程潛（日本士官學校畢業，陸軍一級上將，抗戰時期第一戰區司令長官，曾競選中華民國第一任副總統)與共軍展開全面和談。當時共軍士氣如虹，和談毫無進展，認為和談未遂，蔣中正是最大的絆腳石，輿論逼迫蔣下野，李宗仁代理總統職務，蔣退避奉化溪口。
1949年2月1日，北平失守，中共決心發動渡江戰役，在北平成立《總前敵委員會》成員包括第二野戰軍司令員劉伯承、政委鄧小平，第三野戰軍司令員陳毅、副司令員粟裕、副政委譚震林等。
對於缺乏空軍的中共來說，在五月開始的長江洪汛期前，發動渡江戰役，是唯一的選擇。遂在安徽省鳯陽縣近郊的孫家圩子，成立前進指揮所。
2016年3月，我與妻由次子Anderson 陪同，前往蚌埠探親，停留期間遊覧了這座佔地約一英畝，鮮為人知，但在中共解放戰爭中佔有重要位置的前進指揮基地。(2)
渡江指揮所的地理位置相當適中，距離鳳陽20公里。東有津浦鐵路，南下浦口，隔長江面對南京。西有淮南鐵路，南下合肥，直達長江北岸的裕溪口。
渡江作戰開始於1949年4月 20日，止於6月2日，共計44天，縝密計劃長達三個月，動員兵力100萬，國軍以70萬精鋭部隊抵禦。期間經過武漢、南昌、南京、上海諸戰役，及郎溪、廣德圍殲戰(兩地均在長江以南，安徽省東南）。
1949年4月20日下午6時，下達攻擊令，三野第7、第9兵團組成的中線集團率先渡江，一小時後第一梯隊登上荻港以西約25公里的江中小島，第二梯隊跟上，再攻江中其他各島。21日拿下長江南岸的銅陵，解放軍首次跨過長江。次日，順銅蕪鐵路(安徽銅陵至安徽蕪湖)北上，直襲南京。4月24日南京失守，國府遷都廣州，5月26日進上海城，6月2日登陸長江口崇明島，渡江作戰結束。國軍長江防線，西起武漢，東至上海，全部棄守。解放軍勢力，已達整個華東。(3)
1949年1月31日，平津戰役結束後，共軍擬一舉攻下膠東第11綏靖區，劉安祺所屬的五萬精兵。當時母親帶領子女，已避難至上海真如鄉下。
二月上旬，情報顯示，共軍包括民兵在內，約有一個旅的兵力，向青島近郊仙家寨，試探國軍虛實，父親正在54師。劉安祺指令有活閻王之稱的808團黃團長迎戰，父親在事前已辦妥通信作業。並集合所屬各單位首長及作戰參謀觀戰。
共軍於凌晨發起攻撃，民兵在前主力在後，作戰面靜若寒蟬。共軍雖已進入射擊範圍，但黃團長按兵不動。時間一分一秒過去，大家神經緊繃。當共軍逼近攻堅位置，黃團長一聲令下，機槍聲、步槍聲、手榴彈爆炸聲、迫撃砲聲、揚聲器之殺敵聲，同時發作。探照燈照得戰場，有如白晝。共軍無一人越雷池一步，全部被殱滅。
這是解放軍渡江戰役前，一次全軍覆沒的潰敗。這次殲滅戰後，父親調第11綏靖區作戰處少校通信參謀，進行青島撤退參謀作業。母親帶著子女，趕在上海淪陷前，於4月中折返青島。1949年6月3日，國軍完美撤離青島，前往台灣。(4，夲篇完)
第15篇：國共內戰時期的
青島撤退
民國37年(1948年)11月下旬至次年二月，中共華北野戰軍和東北野戰軍，以兩個軍團的兵力，與中華民國國軍在天津、北平激戰。傅作義指揮60萬大軍，於1949年1月14日，拼鬥29小時後，天津失守。隨後20餘萬國軍，在北平陷入苦戰，傅作義投共，1月31日共軍入城，次日北平陷共。塘沽守軍5萬餘人，由海上撤至青島，與劉安祺軍團會合。
與此同時，中共二野及三野的部隊，以徐州為中心，作戰面北起臨城，東到海州，西從商邱，南達淮南，與國軍精鋭55萬對峙。1949年1月10日，中共軍涉水強渡石展莊，戰況激烈血流成河，死屍填平三丈寛戰濠，共軍踏屍而過，黃伯韜、邱清泉兩將軍，壯烈殉國，是謂徐蚌會戰，中共稱淮海戰役。至此，中共軍已取得淮河以北絕對優勢，長江以北的青島，則是下一輪攻陷目標。(1)
民國37年(1948年)上半年，在青島的劉安祺軍團，進行一次大整編。包括32軍(軍長為趙琳)、50軍(軍長為胡家驥)、36師、54師、84師，人數在10萬人以上，隸屬11綏靖區。
先父陳其二，黃埔軍校通信兵科17期，54師整編後，調升50軍第四科，派軍團司令部作戰處，擔任中校編階之少校通信參謀。處內有同等階參謀張國英、倪世英等人。
1949年陰曆新年過後不久，大約是二月初的一個星期五上午，劉安祺司令官召集各級部隊長，舉行擴大軍事會議。開會時間上午十時，地點青島仙家寨司令部會議室。
開會前10分鐘，各出列席人員全部到齊。會議時間已過15分鐘，不見劉安祺出現，卻接到一通電話，司令座車路上拋錨，通知會議延後一小時。於是各員在附近活動，舒展筋骨。天曉得就在此時，一連兩發砲彈，正好落在會場，造成兩重傷七輕傷的不幸事件，劉安祺躲過了一劫。(2)
會議改了期，第一時間劉安祺召見先父，劈頭第一句就問：陳參謀，你吒（音：乍)搞的，我差點沒命呢。為啥咱們的一舉一動，共產黨弄得一清二楚呢？你倒説一說。
先父回答：有兩種可能，一是我們的通信密碼落入敵手，已能破密。二是我們內部有了匪諜。
劉安祺說：兩種可能都不排除，你不可以改密碼嗎？
回：我可以改，但密碼是國防部頒發的，我不能擅自更改。
劉安祺動火了，爆了粗口：去他奶奶的，什麼國防部不國防部的，將在外 君命有所不受，你懂嗎？你給我改！要多少時間，你說。
回：至少要一整天。劉：我給你兩天時間，後天此時交卷。言後拂袖而去。
這一天，我的父親通宵達旦，用他自己的方法，將常用字、普通字分類，或單字、或軍事俗語、或部隊番號，作了關鍵性的更改。並沒有費太多的時間，就完成了。經過反覆核對，認為確實沒有問題了，於次日下午簽報劉司令官。
經批可後，以極機密文件處理，先父陪同一位保防官，將新密碼，以專車送達各部隊電台。同時全軍啟動《迅雷演習》，徹底做好《保密防諜，人人有責》的保防工作。訓令全軍官兵，洩密者視同作戰抗命處理。
軍中常聽到一句話《通信有如部隊的靈魂，一旦失靈潰敗全軍。》這份經過更改的密碼，並沒有向國防部備案。自啟用後，一直到青島撤退，共軍始終沒有辦法破密，一直沿用至1949年10月中旬的國共陽江戰役。
自徐蚌會戰後，1949年2月至6月間，青島前線國共交戰頻繁，接觸戰近百次之多，國軍將士用命，共軍始終未能跨進青島防區，給順利撤退工作，提供了有利條件。(3)
1949年1月，天津、北平相繼失陷後，共軍擬渡黃河，經膠濟鐵路直取青島。但青島依山傍海，形勢險固，易守難攻，又面對國軍精鋭部隊駐守，如要攻陷青島，必將付出慘痛代價。於是越過青島，另闢戰場，渡長江先取南京，再奪上海。
始料未及，共軍渡江勢如破竹，4月21日就攻下長江南岸的安徽銅陵。24日南京失守，並在城內大肆張貼宣傳海報，即將成立中華人民共和國，國民政府南遷廣州。
南京陷共後，青島在戰略上已失堅守價值，中央決議保全實力，放棄青島，隨即積極進行撤離作業。5月26日共軍攻進上海，兩天後上海易手，更加速了青島撤退的必要性和急迫性。
5月22日，上海情勢緊急，招商局旗下的一隻15艘龐大船隊，奉令駛進膠州灣東南方的青島港各個碼頭。駐軍立即嚴密戒備，電話線架設到船邊，各船座艙進駐電台。按作業計劃，不分晝夜，糧秣、彈藥、器材先行上船，後續是衛生、政工、軍需、軍法、兵工等單位人員，再次是軍眷。最後是裝騎、工兵、憲兵、通信、運輸、步兵等作戰部隊。作業精密程度連炊事兵的鍋、碗、瓢、盆一起上船。(4)
最後一波上船的是一個步兵旅和一座電台，一面打仗一面撤退，旅長姓李，台長姓傅。接應的船隻是海牛輪，也是載運國軍最後駛離青島港的一艘船。在此之前，船隊已於數小時前駛離青島。指揮艦設在海宿輪上，行駛在居中位置。國軍的兩艘陽字號驅逐艦，在海面上，砲口對準岸邊，掩護最後一支部隊撤離上船。當天是6月3日星期五，陰曆是五月初七清晨。當年隨軍撤離青島的人，都不會忘記，這年的端午節是在船上渡過的。
經過六天的海上航行，部隊到達基隆港和高雄港。這支有著鋼鐵般紀律的精鋭部隊，並沒有駐留台灣，整補後，於6月下旬派往另一個戰鬥據點。大部份兵力移防廣州和湛江，32軍調往海南島。
1960年代，美國維吉尼亞軍校，曾把青島撤退列為戰爭史的教材，並指出《一次完美的撤退，勝過一次完美的攻擊》。那位通信參謀官，更改密碼的事，也是教材中的一部份。(5，本篇完)
第16篇：國共內戰時期的
廣州棄守
1949年6月3日，完美的青島撤退，給士氣委靡不振的國軍，注入了一劑強心針。
從當年七至十月間的國軍兵力佈署來看，廣東及海南全境，桂、黔、川、滇諸省大部份，甘、湘、贛各省一部份。浙江沿海島嶼舟山、大陳、一江山，福建的金門、馬祖、東引、烏坵。東沙、中沙群島，以及南沙太平島，均在國軍掌控之中。新疆、西藏地方，更在共軍搖控之外。
就整體政治環境來看，蔣介石總統以下野之身、中國國民黨總裁身分，仍然主持黨政軍各項會議，提供復興建言。
6月15日，當時國民政府已遷廣州，中共在北京召開政治協商會議之籌組會議，毛澤東當選常務委員會主席，積極籌備召開《中國人民政治協商會議》和成立《中華人民共和國》相關事宜。
七月，中共一野向大西北進軍，蘭州失守。二野長途跋涉，而西南地區進攻。三野目標，奪取浙江沿海島嶼。
八月五日，美國發表1054頁的《美國與中國的關係》白皮書，表明對中華民國執政黨中國國民黨的不滿，對國民政府十分不利。
九月二十一日，中共《中國人民政治協商會議第一屆全體大會》在北京召開，通過《中國人民政治協商會議組織法》及《中華人民共和國中央人民政府組織法》，選舉毛澤東為中央人民政府主席，朱德、宋慶齡為副主席。
九月二十二日至三十日，董必武在第一屆中國人民政治協商會議上作《中央政府組織法草案特點》報告，討論新政權成立後，中央、省市縣、自治區，政務執行注意事項。十月一日，中共舉行開國大典，毛澤東在北京天安門上，宣佈中華人民共和國成立。
面對局勢的急速丕變，紀律嚴明，裝備精良的劉安祺軍團，却以孤臣孽子的心情，不畏險惡，團結一心，沉著應戰，固守廣州防區。並與國軍粵系部隊、桂系部隊，互動頻繁。其間與解放軍的接觸戰，成了城市攻防戰。(1)
八月中旬，一次至關重要，為期兩天的國軍軍事會議在廣州召開。包括余漢謀、張發奎、胡宗南、湯恩伯、陳濟棠諸將軍在內，近50名官員出席，研討嶺南防務及因應對策，主攻、主守、主撤者均有。8月24日，蔣介石召見顧祝同、余漢謀、劉安祺，了解當時情勢，囑咐作妥各項因應措施。
1949年8月，解放軍已攻克江西贛州、瑞金，準備再取廣東。第二野戰軍第4兵團、第四野戰軍，隨即以七個軍的兵力佈署粵北及廣西邊境。中共四野，根據中共中央軍委會解放華南統一佈署指令，以第4、第15兵團和兩廣縱隊，共22萬兵力，由第4兵團司令員陳賡指揮，葉劍英為第一書記，於九月底前，在湘、贛、粵邊界，集結完成。(2)
在國軍兵力佈署方面，隸屬於華南軍政長官公署余漢謀的部隊，有15萬人，分別佈防在曲江至廣州粵漢鐵路沿綫，英德、清遠、佛岡、增城等地。粵東的汕頭、潮安、梅縣地區，有兩個軍。雷州半島的湛江，有一個軍。廣州防區則有劉安祺軍團的一個軍兩個師。
10月2日，解放軍挾著新中國成立之鋭氣，下達攻擊命令，分三路出擊廣東。目標粵漢鐵路以東，龍江以西，4萬4千平方公里區域，約佔五分之一個廣東省面積。國軍誓死捍衛，仍然不敵猛烈攻擊，第三天攻克南雄和樂昌。
10月7日，右路4兵團攻下粵漢鐵路線上的大城曲江，9日越滇水攻克英德。
中路15兵團，也於9日佔領曲江東南方120公里處的翁源，然後越滃水，直下新豐。
左路也在10日順龍江而下，奪下河源，直取博羅。至此解放軍已兵臨廣州防區外圍300公里。其氣勢之旺，有如1975年4月，北越共軍南下西貢，統一越南一般。(3)
廣東全境地勢起伏，丘陵散列，與廣西合稱嶺南丘陵，邊緣山巒環繞，均向內側傾斜，如此地形，有利於共軍攻城掠地。
八月國軍軍事會議之後，由劉安祺兵團主導，擬具一項《殱敵於境外，誘敵於境內，固守廣州城》的作戰計劃。佈防粵北滇水東岸，隴水南岸，白水、湟水西岸，武水、北江居中的天然屏障。始料未及，共軍自攻擊發起日，一週之內攻破防線。迫於形勢，國民政府擬循青島模式，自海上撤退。無奈有利條件已不復存在，決定《棄守廣州，部隊西移》。(4)
10月1日以後的廣州城，軍隊與民間有兩種截然不同的景象。國軍加強戰備，另一方則是歌舞昇平紙醉金迷，十里洋場燈紅酒綠，茶市銀樓生意鼎盛，港幣美鈔流通互滙，一片繁華景象。
家居廣州城西南，今龍溪大道東段百子大樓軍眷村。百子大樓以圍牆分割，南為營區，國軍808團的一個營，駐紮營內，每日晚點名，雄壯嘹亮的黃埔軍校校歌和義勇軍進行曲，響徹雲霄遠播鄰里。10月10日後，未聞歌聲。國共兩軍卻在廣州城外蘆苞、官窯附近，展開激戰。這支部隊一直沒有回營，卻成了國軍西撤的先頭部隊。
十二日下午，父親突然返家，已購妥妻小次日清晨開往湛江的船票。傍晚倉皇中，上了船，父親趕回部隊。(5)
十二日深夜，國軍一支機械化攻撃部隊，連同一個工兵營，配以無線電台，由南海經九江，往陽江方面挺進，以掃除路上障礙。未料公路沿線，所有大小橋樑，全遭破壞，因此部隊前進速度緩慢下來，工兵營搭橋鋪路，疲於奔命。
十三日破曉前，部隊只推進到開平附近。此時廣州城內的駐軍開始撤離，軍眷婦孺一律上車，尾隨在後。中午時分，炸毀海珠大橋，最後一個步兵營，撤離廣州。東路及中路解放軍分別佔據清遠、花縣、從化、增城。
十四日，解放軍進了廣州，隨即整合西進，經鶴山追撃國軍，次日中午，已至恩平。
國軍大部隊西撤，沿途障礙重重，縱深拉長至80公里。無奈共軍由恩平至陽江段，在公路以北，沿途佈陣，守株待兔，並在漠陽江西岸，設下重兵，阻斷國軍越江。
解放軍陣式已定，一聲令下，有如切香腸一般，將劉安祺五萬精銳衝散，形成局部殱滅，國軍未能越過陽江。國軍只有808團的一個營突圍成功。戰役之下，連累軍眷婦孺，家破人亡，妻離子散，真是無語問蒼天。在國軍戰史上，稱此次戰役為《陽江戰役》，前後不過六天。清理戰場長達半月之久，國軍的美式裝備，武器、彈藥、車輛，散落在恩陽公路上、河邊旁。父親坐鎮的一部，與劉司令官一直保持聯絡的電台載波車，也在其中。(6）
劉安祺成了光桿司令，帶領數名軍、士官，往陽江海邊奔去，包括作戰參謀張國英、工兵營長倪世英、通信參謀陳其二(筆者父親)、情報官何治齊、電台台長傅興中，及一名侍從官、兩名士官。
當年陽江港僅是一個漁港，地勢如一畚箕，箕口面海。劉安祺的一雙鞋子都跑掉了，赤著腳，蹲在海灘上，兩眼呆滯，狀極狼狽。幸好兩位略懂粵語的士官，事先徴得一艘漁船，候在岸邊。劉安祺急呼：陳參謀，叱辦！叱辦！
先父回應：研判附近應該會有海軍巡弋，正在聯絡中。 此時已近午夜，天上還有稀疏的星星，海浪夾著海風一波波衝向海邊。
遠方山頭傳來強力揚聲器的喊話聲：劉安祺，你們已經被包圍了，逃不掉的，趕快繳械投降。
隨後又播放了一段軍歌，劉安祺似乎有點精神恍惚，說道：叱搞的，我們的部隊在晚點名?張國英回答：是八路軍在播放義勇軍進行曲。
劉安祺回過神來：叱！共產黨也唱這首歌。此情此景，真有一種項羽圍困在垓下的悽涼。
陳參謀一聲《聯絡上了》，大夥一陣歡呼後流下激動的淚水。海軍的一艘軍艦正候在陽江港外，急忙上了小船。基於安全快速，避免超載，陳參謀、何情報官、傅台長及兩名士官留了下來。張國英撂下一句話：回頭馬上接你們。
五人望穿秋水苦等海邊，小船再也沒有回頭。劉安祺脫險，解放軍追兵已到，先父成了俘虜。(7，本篇完)
第17篇：父親有被俘紀錄
1949年10月廣州棄守，國軍西撤。解放軍二野及四野兵團，夾撃劉安祺五萬精鋭，於恩平至陽江，縱深80餘公里的公路上。劉安祺見大勢已去，令情報官何治齊，急召先父與其會合。
情況危急時刻，父親與電台台長傅興中，將載波車棄置漠陽江邊。個人裝備全部丟棄，卻帶了一部收發報機、一盒備用真空管，口袋裏裝著一本極機密的國軍作戰部隊通信聯絡呼號密碼。
父親與劉安祺會合後，由何情報官帶領，直奔陽江三丫灣海邊，伺機脫身。
由於收發報機、真空管，及呼號密碼全部發輝功能，劉安祺、張國英登上外海巡弋軍艦，危急中脫險，父親卻成了解放軍的一名俘虜。(1)
解放軍未抵達前，已將收發報機、真空管、呼號密碼簿消毀，棄於海灣礁石之內。五名被俘官兵，心情複雜，毫無抗拒，束手被擒，被令摘除軍階，被帶往一村落曬穀場內，已是次日凌晨，被俘官兵百餘人，多數面孔熟悉。
經過一整天《學習醒腦課程》，交代官職經歴、軍中學歷、參加過的戰役等等。還教唱了一首沒有歌譜，一句句跟著唱的歌曲《解放區的天空》。
為了防範俘虜逃脫，被趕往一處水深及腰的大池塘內，等待次日遣俘後送。(2)
時近午夜，池塘裏的俘虜，抵不過連日來的疲憊，居然能站在水中，一個個沉睡。情報官何治齊靜悄悄的移步至父親面前，輕輕地推了推父親，低聲說道：逃。
正在沉思妻兒安危中的父親，回過神來。何治齊補了一句：你跟著我行動。
一個箭步，躱過衛兵視線，跳上池岸，衝入樹叢之中。
父親問道：下一步怎麼辦？何答：到陽江城買船票，走人啊。錢呢？老何答：你摸摸你的束腰帶。
父親才恍然明白，是指與妻兒話別那天晚上，母親親手縫合在一條束腰帶裡，交給父親的兩錠金塊。
破曉前，兩人趕到陽江城內的一家民宅內，換上了便服，用過早餐後，直奔一家船公司，用這兩塊金錠，換了兩張當天上午前往香港的船票，入夜之前到了香港。
在前長官一位旅港華僑翟姓退役少將的協助下，順利入境。父親隨後轉往海南島，在海口與妻兒團圓，次年元月母親帶著孩子到了台灣，兩個月後，父親隨32軍到了基隆。何情報官由香港逕赴高雄，也在台灣會見了妻兒。(3）
民國39年(1950年)3月1日，蔣中正先生在台復行視事，行使總統職務。隨後三軍部隊進行整編，父親原服務單位，陸軍第50軍番號延續，歸建後派軍官隊為附員。
隨即有一連串國軍人事政策上的裁定，自民國39年10月 1日起，接續有官籍申報、黨籍申報、被俘紀錄申報，及軍士官全面核階任職。
在官籍申報方面，由滇黔綏靖公署長官龍雲簽署的20師中校參謀任職令，不予承認。民國39年1月任命陸軍第32軍司令部中校參謀一職，經申覆後，准予保留。但在全面核階減俸作業中，降為少校。
在黨籍申報方面，父親曾於民國24年12月，在掦州參加中國國民黨，申報時附軍堅字黨證號碼，被批覆為：國民黨中央黨部查無底案。
在交代被俘時間、地點、經過方面，父親自然是誠實申報。(4)
父親自報到歸建後，經過重重交代過濾，軍官隊的附員，紛紛有了正職，唯獨一些有被俘紀錄的人，尚在等候派職。
父親黃埔15期的學長，陸軍第50軍通信組組長常成輔上校，在其力保下，等待了一年兩個月後，民國40年(1951年)5月10日，陸軍第50軍司令部代電：調派父親以附員原級，代理通信營副營長之職，兩個月後的7月1日眞除。同日總統的任官令到達，核定為陸軍通信兵少校，授予軍籍號碼。
父親擔任通信營副營長，長達3年3個月，時間之長，實屬罕見。期間輔佐李姓營長，連續兩年，榮獲陸軍全軍各通信營，年度績效考評，由第四名升至第一名。
民國43年(1954年)10月1日，國防部令派父親為陸軍第一軍通信組少校參謀官，輔佐業務繁重的組長常成輔。
自民國39年7月，降階為少校，民國44年5月，再度升回中校，除了大陸年資外，在台灣，在優越的考評下，肩扛一朵梅花(少校)達六年之久，未能晉升，實屬例外。(5)
民國43年(1954年）10月，在一項列行的年度人事升遷評議會中，通信組長常成輔很情緒化的指出：陳參謀工作績效優異，有目共睹，我用身家性命來擔保他的忠誠度。
呈報陸軍總部的年度升遷名冊中，有了父親的名字。次年1月1日，父親晉升為陸軍通信兵中校。5月1日，國防部任職令到達，調升父親為成軍後第二任陸軍第781通信營中校營長。之前一月，重新入籍中國國民黨的國徴字黨證，也頒發到位。(6)
民國43年(1954年)12月2日，中華民國與美利堅合眾國簽訂《中美共同防禦條約》。緣引此項條約，國防部甄選三軍各機關、學校、部隊，各級將、校、尉級軍官，赴美接受三個月至半年不等的軍事專業研習。
民國44年(1955年）7月，父親接任通信營營長不久，接獲陸軍總部轉自國防部的通令，嚇然發現，陸軍作戰部隊各級主管首批赴美研習人員名單內，有常成輔及父親大名。這對我的父親來說，確實是一個遲來的正義。（7）
陸軍第781通信營，是一支機動獨立，可以配屬於任何軍級以上作業的通信部隊。由原陸軍第50軍通信營，以美國陸軍編制、美式裝備，擴編而成，配屬陸軍第一軍作業。層峯屢屢賦予重要任務。父親在當時的環境氛圍下，能夠擔任營長，確實不易。
赴美研習日期，由美方決定。研習期間，恰逢年度裝備檢查，接踵而至的是國民政府遷台後，首次三軍協同作戰演習，為後續的中美聯合軍演預作準備。國防部選定781通信營，擔綱軍演通信作業。
在此關鍵時刻，赴美受訓名單中，一個軍內卻有兩名通信主管，由生手暫代恐誤了大事。軍長蕭鋭將軍建議，常組長、陳營長中，擇一赴訓。呈報陸軍總部，父親改列第二期名單中。(8)
民國40年(1951年)5月1日，美國軍事援華顧問團在台北成立，首任團長蔡斯少將履新。
民國41年(1952年)3月間，一位有著美國陸軍通信兵科身分的軍事顧問Herbert少校，來到苗栗鎮中山路上的一座通信營克難營房內，進行瞭解。對官兵們生活的艱苦，薪水的微薄，通信器材有效的使用，專業技術運作的純熟，留下深刻印象。對父親輔佐營長，短期之內積效立見的才華，頗為欣賞。當著翻譯官的面對父親說：有機會，可以到美國學點新東西。
民國44年(1955年)11月，常成輔組長通過體檢、面談、綜合評比，順利前往位於美國喬治亞州Fort Gordon市郊的美國陸軍通信兵學校United States Army Signal Corps(USASC)接受為期六個月的研習。(9)
民國43年(1954年)，中華民國陸軍通信兵部隊，陸續更換為美國新式裝備。人工操縱電話交換總機，已進入自動化。無線電收發報機，週頻範圍已達短波波段，相當一座小型廣播電台，安裝在自走式載波車內。
獨立通信營內，有一個無線電連、兩個有線電架設連、一個營部連。官兵逾800人，各型車輛近200輛，包括父親在內，近七成官兵取得駕駛執照。苗栗鎮中山路上的克難營房，已不敷使用。
民國44年(1955年)，陸軍第781通信營及陸軍第一軍司令部，於6月底前，完成遷移作業。司令部進駐台中干城營區，通信營搬進台中市三民路營房，其間正逢父親接任營長。
民國44年(1955年)12月，陸軍各部隊實施裝備檢查，常成輔組長已赴美國陸軍通信兵學校研習。(10)
民國44年(1955年)12月底，國防部年度裝備檢查，陸軍第781通信營，不負眾望輕騎過關，榮獲陸軍全軍各兵科獨立作戰營第一名。
民國45年元月，父親奉令代理陸軍第一軍通信組組長職務，同時接奉陸軍總部轉自國防部參謀總部指令，責成首次三軍協同作戰演習，陸軍通信支援作業，由第一軍通信組擬具作業計劃，第781通信營執行任務。父親面臨自陸軍通信兵團軍官教導大隊畢業後，投入抗日戰爭、國共內戰，20年來，最大的挑戰。(11)
父親接獲指令後，於台中干城營房，集合通信組組內各參謀及通信營各連連長、副連長，召開聯席會議。就整個演習，本身責任劃分部份，進行瞭解。
經過半個多月，日以繼夜的研討，多次沙盤推演，一套包括紅、藍兩軍對峙，781通信營協調三棲作戰的演習計劃，終於完成。
經呈報陸軍總部，計劃書同意備查，並令積極準備演習工作。(12）
二月下旬春節甫過，國防部參謀總部下達演習動員命令。781通信營所屬兩個有線電架設連，一個無線電連，32輛架線車，12輛電台載波車，分別進駐楊梅高山頂、嘉義學甲、台南仁德、鳳山步校、屏東佳冬各營區。執行演習期間，地面各兵種部隊，通信暢通之任務。
演習前數日，父親穿梭各營區，慰勉駐營弟兄，爭取最高榮譽。政府遷台後，規模最大一次的三軍聯合軍演，成績斐然，圓滿成功。陸軍總部評比所屬參演部隊，781通信營名列前矛，父親記大功一次，團體及個人均列年度考核。(13)
三月裡的杜鵑花，色彩絢爛，瑰麗壯觀，蔓延整個苗栗將軍山麓，不時傳至眷村，杜鵑鳥的啼聲。
第二梯次軍官赴美培訓的甄選作業開始。當年是個物資匱乏，民生貧困的年代，軍人待遇微薄，軍眷生活清貧。如能雀屏中選，順利成行，除了有利升遷，更可改善妻小生活品質。
當時父親一個月的薪水，新台幣800元，加上主官加給200元，合計1000元，維持一個八口之家的生計，確實難為，母親只有從事副業，闖渡難關。
按當時滙率，美金一元可兌換新台幣42元，赴美培訓軍官，美國軍方比照美軍標準，月支津貼美金200元，相當新台幣8400元，抵國軍一個中校營長，八個半月的薪水。(14)
是三月裡的一個星期二上午，父親來到台北陸軍第801總醫院，接受體檢及面談後，兩項結果交付審查。數日後，陸軍總部《核定各兵科赴美研習軍官名單》最速件公文，到達第一軍司令部，名單中並無父親名字。卻在附件落選名單中發現父親，註記欄註明《該員曾有被俘紀錄，有砂眼、足癬之症》。
事後第一個週末，父親自台中返回苗栗家中，如往常一樣，與妻兒談笑自若，好像沒有發生過什麼事情一般。(15)
台灣的砂眼症，在日據時代後20年，西部沿海地區罹患率高達百分之百，其他地區也有百分之五十至八十，民國60年代才逐漸絕跡。
民國39年(1950年）9月，我唸苗栗鎮大同國小四年級，班上50名同學，全部患有砂眼，每天點用聯合國支援的四環黴素藥膏，連續三年至畢業。當年的軍營中，官兵罹患砂眼者，三人之中就有兩人，國防部軍醫系統，應有紀錄。
腳癬俗稱香港腳，很難根絕。台灣天氣潮濕，國軍日日操演，十之八九均有不同程度的感染。
顯然當年父親患有砂眼、腳癬，不足以構成甄選赴美退訓的要件，根本原因出在《曾有被俘紀錄》。（16)
《後漢書．孝靈帝紀》記載：求取地方縣令等官員，視轄區面積、人口、貪富論價，並開放投標。賣官買官在中國歷史上，算不上是什麼新鮮事，歴朝歴代幾乎都有。
姑且不論，民國四十年代，有無行賄、獲取利益之實。且看中華民國第10、第11兩任總統陳水扁任內（2000－2008)賣官買官，見諸報端確有其事。晉升少將、中將各有價碼，為甄選條件薄弱、摘星慾望強烈、從惡如流者，無疑開了一扇順暢直通的大門。(17)
父親赴台北甄選之前，心中已有定見，是否入選，必須走完程序。施賄取利，如真有其事，可以效尤，亦要清如水明如鏡，堅持廉潔，不忘祖訓。
《有被俘紀錄》列為忠誠赤膽、思想考核的主軸，立律如此粗糙，觀念如此陳腐，做法如此矯枉過正，不知埋沒多少國之良才，我為黨國可惜，也為我的父親，堅守原則的風骨喝采。
我的父親被俘不過50小時，共產黨就能把一個人，洗了腦嗎？我的父親一生豁達開朗、樂觀泰然。退訓公文接獲後，面對母親，還唱了一段京劇：夫人，往後妳要更加辛苦了。(18)
民國45年6月初，第一軍接奉陸軍總部轉自國防部參謀總部的嘉獎令：表揚陸軍第781通信營，連續三年榮獲全陸軍裝檢及實戰演練優等或第一名。並於三軍協同演習期間，通信組、通信營相互支援，演習計劃周詳，執行完美無缺。責令陸軍第781通信營，代表陸軍通信部隊，參加中華民國四十五年雙十國慶閲兵大典。軍通信組組長常成輔，參謀作業周全，赴美派訓成績優良，呈報總統召見獲准，日期另行通知。
通信營、通信組官兵，於六月第二個星期六中午，在台中通信營營區，聯合舉辦端午佳節聚餐，為殊榮歡慶，並為常組長洗塵。(19)
常組長在端節聚餐會中說：陳營長民國40年5月，由50軍軍部附員，調升通信營少校副營長。民國43年7月，轉任第一軍通信組少校參謀，民國44年5月，出任第781通信營中校營長，迄今5年1個月。
他與我們通信營、通信組的弟兄們，一起生活、一起工作，住的是克難營房，吃的是青菜蘿蔔，在惡劣的環境下不畏艱苦，工作積效始終是全軍前茅。在我赴美受訓期間，他代理我的職務，在他的策劃下，通信組參謀作業周詳，通信營落實執行，在三軍聯合軍演中，完美無缺，達成任務。
今天，本人能夠獲得總統召見，是全體弟兄們共同努力的結果。在此，我要向我的學弟陳營長，付出的辛勞，表示感謝。(20)
父親參加中華民國四十五年國慶閲兵大典，接受總統校閲，可說是戎馬倥傯三十餘年，最大一次的榮耀。一名中校營長，立於指揮車上，引領全營三分之二官兵近五百人，分乘一百餘輛各式架線車、載波車、通信器材車，以壯大的軍容，通過閱兵台，羽扇綸巾、英姿煥發，這年他39歲。
值得稱許的是，這次閱兵大典，由軍中之聲台北軍中廣播電台，負責實況轉播，全國各地電台聯播。主播人則是我的姑姑，畢業於政工幹校第一期的陳其荃中尉。口齒清晰、地道國語、反應靈敏，事前充分的準備，頗受各界好評。兄妹兩人同在一個重要場合，分擔重任，一時傳為佳話。
國慶閲兵過後，常成輔接受總統召見歸來，與同儕歡聚，聊起召見經過。一口河南濃腔的他說道：引進總統府時有些緊張，等待召見時，還算鎭定，但叫到名字時，直打哆嗦，還冒冷汗。心想，可真邪門，總統也是人，我怕個啥。心裡直唸，我的媽啊，咋辦，咋辦。引起哄堂大笑。(21)
民國45年12月15日，父親接奉陸軍總部人事命令，調陸軍通信兵學校野外訓練部教官，民國46年1月1日生效。陸軍第781通信營長一職，由陸軍總部第五署第五組中校通信兵訓練官魏某接任。距離父親於民國44年5月1日，任職該營營長，僅1年8個月。
按正常人事作業，除特殊原因外，各部隊、機關、學校，主官之任職調離，以兩年為原則，工作積效優異者，可續延一年至兩年。
調職命令來得突兀，實在想不出有什麽合理的說詞，莫非又是《有被俘紀錄》在作怪。
軍人以服從為天職，父親二話不說，心有定見，趁升旗典禮，向全營官兵宣布，並令營部連，趕辦移交手續。(22)
父親在通信營，同袍同澤甘苦相共，長達六年，一旦離別依依不捨。惜別晚會溫馨感人，全營官兵列隊相送，互道珍重再見，後會有期。
至親革命伙伴，連長孔祥萬、排長胡仲甫、通材修護官翟連陞、老士官花玉山、駕駛兵孫家茂，代表全營官兵，一路相送至苗栗家中。
兩天後，父親隻身前往宜蘭通信兵學校報到，他的直屬長官卻是，陸軍通信兵團教導大隊4期、黃埔軍校通信兵科17期的同學費炳泰上校。(23)
陸軍通信兵學校，不但是抗戰時期，代訓黃埔軍校通信兵科第17、18、19各期的教育搖籃。遷台後，更是父親兩度入學接受高級班4期，代訓陸軍通信署通信指揮官訓練班7期的軍事專業學府。有幸擔任母校教官，備感榮幸。
對有實戰經驗的父親來說，這項任命，應是心手相應、勝任愉快。更何況，早在峨嵋山軍官訓練團時，就以中尉軍階，面對諸將官，教授野外通信作戰課程，培養出的穏重教者風範。
父親除了在教室授課外，還要帶領學生野外臨場體驗。宜蘭東北近郊一處臨海村落，名為新社村，地形地物，小路、村舍、曬豰場、池塘、小樹林，酷似父親當年被俘的另一個場景。(24)
父親將一生的作戰經驗與教材結合，從中外著名的戰役中，闡述未能掌控通信，造成重大損失的後果。1812年拿破崙攻打莫斯科，1870年普法戰爭，1941年日本偷襲珍珠港，都是實例。
父親親繪教學圖表、簡報，得自於藝術字的造詣，抗戰時期在四川榮昌，擔任通信士官訓練大隊隊職官時，就嶄露頭角。在通校的第一年，就被學員評選為優良教官。
民國47年8月，台海情勢緊張，陸軍總部責令通信兵學校，派出一個包括父親在內的三人小組，都是有實戰經驗的教官，前往金門，至駐軍各師通信連，講授教戰通信。
當時，趙家驤、吉星文、章傑、張國英，同為金防部副司令官。8月23日，司令官胡璉召集晚餐會報，前三位在頭一天的砲戰中陣亡。張國英是個福將，仕途順遂，官至陸軍二級上將副國防部長。(25)
父親在通信兵學校任職9年6個月，兩個單位，野外訓練部及測驗考核組。除了野外通信課程外，還傳授無線電中繼作業、通信兵群有線電作業、行政通信勤務課程。
在測驗考核組期間，撰擬各科試題，每卷是非題20題、選擇題四選一30題，每題兩分，建成32套題庫。自製快速評分卡片，及各試卷一體通用的答案卡。評分既省時省力，又可節省大量紙張消耗。在那個電腦只有概念的年代，可說是一種創舉。
民國50、51、52連續三年，父親再度獲選優良教官。
民國53年，陸軍各兵種專科學校，在陸軍總部舉辦教學觀摩會，父親是通信兵學校的代表之一，看見了久違的劉安祺總司令。
老弟，咋搞得(怎麼搞的)，為啥還是中校。劉老總有些驚訝。
父親長嘆一聲：哎，自我陽江被俘之後，遺憾迄今未能與總司令互動，謝謝你的關心。(26)
國軍的人事升遷，大陸時期執行混亂，階級不符年齡，各軍種皆有，不到30歲的將軍有之。國民政府遷台後，採編制年資制度。各軍事院校畢業生，少尉任官，一年半後，不受編制限制晉升中尉。
人事部門定期評審年資，調整編階佔缺，以備來年晉升。
父親擔任通校教官，第二年年底，中校年資屆滿，自應列入升遷考慮，但遲遲未予調整。
民國50年，父親晉階中校已満七年，畢業於黃埔軍校通信兵科18期，父親的學弟顧天錦，耐不住地向父親建議：學長，想個辦法活動一下，去佔個缺啊。事過兩年，再度建言。父親依舊回答：我已無法可想。
個性改變命運，堅持原則的固執，讓他軍服上的兩朵梅花，戴了11年6個月。未到屆齡，自動申請退伍。數月後，國防部退伍令到達，民國54年7月1日生效。三十餘年半生戎馬，劃下句點。一次核發退伍金新台幣57039元，兩年眷補代金16440元，合計73479元。以2017年台灣的物價指數計算，想在台北市購買一棟一千萬元左右的國宅，僅能買到一間廁所而已。
父親回到家裡的第一句話就是：這是我一生中最愉快的一天，也是我自民國39年3月抵台後，心情最複雜的一天。人生是一連串的戰鬥，而每一步的進程，又都是人生新事業的起點。孩子們，繼續為黨國奮鬥。
那年我家有四名中國國民黨黨員，四個妹妹未到入黨年齡，我是中華民國陸軍財務中尉，民國59年(1970年）弟弟是救國團總部編審，負責繪製各地青年活動中心建築設計，兄弟兩人不負父命，一直為黨國奉獻數十年。(27），(本篇完)，2018年6月17日父親節，於洛杉磯。
《陌塵落地》第肆章
《緬懷遠方的父親》
前言：
民國94年(2005年)4月4日至7月2日，我與妻赴台北，探望年邁的雙親，父親正在病中，在家療養。茶餘飯後，一家人圍坐父親四週，傾聽他按着時序，講述他的故事。
父親命我記下筆記，如有可能寫些他的生平軼事，留點紀錄，百年之後可讓孩子們，慎終追遠，追思懷念。
2006年4月，小兒Anderson 赴Sun Microsystems公司任職，我與妻赴科羅拉多州Broomfield小鎮，心兒寓所停留兩個月。
兩層樓的租屋，離公司不遠，建於小山之上，視野廣闊，遠方落磯山脈盡收眼底，草原綠茵初綻，一望無垠。數小湖置於草原之上，水鳥、大雁棲於湖邊樹下。更見四月飄雪，真是一次驚喜的邂逅。
怡人的湖光山色，讓人目不暇接。每晚落日之前，我與妻兒三人，繞山間步道一週。散步歸來，品味茗茶，醞釀文思，開始書寫父親軼事。(1)
抗戰時期，外婆常給我講故事，也給我講唐詩。第一首詩不是李白的靜夜思《床前明月光，疑是地上霜。》而是金昌緒的春怨《打起黃鶯兒 莫教枝上啼。啼時驚妾夢 ，不得到遼西。》，這與外婆的際遇有關。
母親和她的五姑，也常給我講家鄕的故事，一個大時代動盪的故事。
2005年赴台期間，父親也給家人講了他自己的故事。諸多故事，猶言在耳。
來到科羅拉多州小鎮，想要寫故事。來自於我，十九年擔任報社編撰的勇氣，讓我一篇篇寫下去，長達八年，近30萬字，詩詞72首。
民國106年(丁酉年)陰暦11月21日，是父親百年誕辰，之前兩年，精簡校對初稿，打字入了電腦。月前更補充資料，完成《父親與民國》的篇章。並撰寫長詩一首，七言一百二十句，描述父親的一生，以作永誌紀念。(2，完）
第1篇：父親百年誕紀念詩文
1：山靈水秀隱諸葛，
2：南陽碧玉生紫煙。
3：雉堞宏偉開封府，
4：青澀俊秀一少年。
5：負笈從戎鎮江城，
6：習技受業北固山。
7：楊州商女亡國恨，
8：周郎顧曲引驚鑑。
9：百樂門內勁歌舞，
10：外灘豫園會花前。
11：黃河九曲十八彎，
12：強渡巨河見潼關。
13：領袖西安蒙劫難，
14：三夜四晝未合眠。
15：蘆溝曉月干戈起，
16：日寇淞滬放狂言。
17：夜奔南翔屍遍野，
18：寒山寺外斃漢奸。
19：赤壁武漢長江水，
20：跨江架線連兩岸。
21：兵刃洞庭映湘水，
22：長沙城內紅通天。
23：南嶽蜿蜒八百里，
24：巍峨奇險似華山。
25：衆星雲集峨嵋山，
26：通信中尉執教鞭。
27：桂山獨秀七星岩，
28：相會桂林訂姻緣。
29：黃埔歌聲振人心，
30：帶職進修技超前。
31：鸞鳳和鳴知相惜，
32：結髪夫妻嘉陵邊。
33：花溪浣紗映花紅，
34：千里跡遍川桂黔。
35：石馬依舊柳絮飛，
36：鷄鳴鍾山遍秦淮。
37：回首下關生死別，
38：忠烈千秋萬古存。
39：瀋陽飄雪霏霏日，
40：北大營前柳條月。
41：國共激戰大平原，
42：通信九團參謀官。
43：蓬萊揚帆連嶗山，
44：青島秀麗冠東海。
45：蔥緑無垠花扶疏，
46：別墅紅樓在林間。
47：通信指揮建奇功，
48：完美棄守膠州灣。
49：湛江藍天柳營新，
50：南疆碧空曉氣清。
51：赤坎紅樓七星嶺，
52：椰林婆娑映月星。
53：碧血黃花烈千秋，
54：珠江唱晚彩雲間。
55：霓虹映波珠海岸，
56：清風搖曳荔枝灣。
57：運籌帷幄固羊城，
58：旦夕之危在眼前。
59：環顧全局迫撤離，
60：敗兵殘將漠河邊。
61：電訊搜尋海中艦，
62：安祺脫險陽江岸。
63：淪為囹圄階下俘，
64：池潢水中兩晝夜。
65：身困曹營心在漢，
66：機智脫困香江顯。
67：輾轉海南合家歡，
68：儋耳萬寧五指山。
69：三亞榆林有美景，
70：扼控南海東京灣。
71：粵劇粵曲有心得，
72：帝女花伴春江月。
73：幽邈海上有仙山，
74：唐山跨海過台灣。
75：慈湖澄湖竹子湖，
76：雪山玉山阿里山。
77：大甲大肚濁水溪，
78：碧潭明潭珊瑚潭。
79：阿美山地文化村，
80：清水斷崖知本泉。
81：港都愛河深夜雨，
82：淡江夕照彩虹忛。
83：初臨寶島難中難，
84：披荊斬棘六十年。
85：臥懷他鄉是故鄉，
86：鄉音未改習俗改。
87：被俘之名受牽累，
88：白色迫害又一頁。
89：一營之長得不易，
90：上司擔當力保薦。
91：參謀作業拔頭籌，
92：優冠全軍連三年。
93：國慶統帥校三軍，
94：指揮車上扇綸巾。
95：甄選求學美國行，
96：不從賄賂未成行。
97：晨曦國旗歌聲揚，
98：立委怒訴醒夢驚。
99：轉持教鞭赴通校，
100：桃李三千滿軍旅。
101：校際考評優全軍，
102：優良教官獲保舉。
103：乙巳夏初解甲日，
104：轉戰商場徒虛名。
105：兒女圍膝獲新知，
106：文史光纖超導體。
107：顔氏家訓責勵行，
108：中華經典勉記心。
109：蘇軾天祥顔真卿，
110：蕭邦梵谷達文西。
111：兒孫滿堂逐開顔，
112：子孝妻賢足堪慰。
113：九十高齡蒙主召，
114：大直福山兒為鄰。
115：一生傲骨垂丹青，
116：浩然沛乎塞蒼冥。
117：盡劫祈度泯恩仇，
118：遺願兩岸創雙贏。
119：寶島青山多嬌媚，
120：長伴英靈恒古存。
《註釋》
1，諸葛：即武侯孔明，隱居 河南南陽西南七里之臥龍岡，山明水秀，代出偉人。
2，南陽盛產玉石，能生紫煙祥瑞之氣，父親生於南陽。
3，雉堞：城牆之意。開封為中國六大古都之一，城牆建築宏偉。
4，青澀：少年求學年代。
5，負笈從戎：背著書包去投考軍校。
6，北固山：位於江蘇省鎮江市東北長江之濱，遙對金、焦兩山，形勢險要。南宋詞人辛棄疾有《何處望神州？滿眼風光北固樓。千古興亡多少事，悠悠；不盡長江流。》之句。父親就讀之陸軍通信兵團教導大隊，在北固山下。
7，揚州：位於江蘇省高郵湖之南，長江之北。隋煬帝南遊時，曾建行宮於此，京杭運河流經城東。城內有名勝瘦西湖，湖畔楊柳垂岸，鶯蹄碧波，燕逐東風，風景如詩如畫。父親學成，實習於此，沉緬於京劇及紹興戲。其長官以杜牧詩《商女不知亡國恨，隔江猶唱後庭花。》斥之，隨即不再涉足戲院，專心工作。
8，周郎顧曲：喻喜愛戲曲之人。三國時周瑜，精通戲曲音律，有闕音必顧之。
9，百樂門：抗戰之前，就是上海的火紅夜總會，係父親與紅粉知己，常約會的地方。
10，外灘、豫園均為上海旅遊景點。
11，黃河自綏遠省(今內蒙古自治區)南流，至陜西、山西成天然省界，在陜西潼關東折，流向河南。此段河道彎曲，水流急湍。
12，父親首個派職單位在潼關，報到當日黃河濃霧，軍令難違，由山西風陵渡搭乘小船，逆風強渡黃河。
13，14：民國25年(1936年)12月，蔣介石委員長蒙難於西安。遭軟禁於綏靖公署，達半月之久後脫險，史稱西安事變。父親守在電話總機旁執行勤務，四天三夜未曾合眼。
15，16：民國26年(1937年)7月7日，七七事變爆發於河北宛平城外，永定河上之蘆溝橋(今屬北京市)，橋上有乾隆皇帝親題《蘆溝曉月》四字。
1937年8月13日，八一三淞滬會戰起，日本放出三月亡華狂言。
17，18：淞滬會戰，中日激戰長達三個月，戰史罕見，雙方傷亡慘重，近20萬。父親奉令通信馳援南翔，公路上棄屍遍野。
戰爭後期，電話總機移駐蘇州寒山寺內。某日，蔣委員長與湯恩伯將軍通話中，電話線突遭割斷。父親迅速處理，擊斃兩名漢奸。
19，20：民國27年(1938年)初，駐防漢口，常工作於文、武赤壁兩地。文赤壁即蘇軾當年所遊之赤壁，作《念奴嬌》及《前後赤壁賦》而得名(今湖北省黃岡市)。
武赤壁係三國時期，周瑜擊敗曹操大軍於此，原名蒲圻(今更名為赤壁)。
民國27年初春，奉令架設漢口至武昌間，跨江電話電䌫，完成艱鉅任務。
21，22：民國27年孟秋，奉調至湖南南嶽衡山，後不久，中日大戰於洞庭湖及湘水。
民國27年11月12日，長沙焚城，於衡山指揮所，接駁委員長與張治中、酆悌等人電話。
23，24：衡山與泰山、恆山、嵩山、華山合稱五嶽，因位於五嶽之南，故稱南嶽。
華山位於陜西潼關西南60公里，高2200公尺，為五嶽之西嶽。駐防潼關期間，華山也在工作地點之內。
25，26：峨嵋山位於四川省樂山市之西，為中國四大佛教勝地之一。深潭飛瀑、蒼松翠柏、綠竹幽林，集美景之大成。抗日戰爭期間，國民政府在此設軍官訓練團，楊森、劉湘、俞濟時，劉峙等人，曾在此受訓，可稱眾將星雲集。
1937年12月，擔任峨嵋山軍官訓練團中尉教官，教授包括將官班在內的《野外無線電通信》課程。授課期間，蔣委員長曾兩度蒞臨教室巡視。
27，28：桂山、獨秀山、七星岩，均係廣西桂林名山，景物之美冠絕天下，山水掩映，鬼斧神工，《桂林山水甲天下》名不虛傳。
民國28年(1939年)2月，與家母相識於桂林，山水為媒，互訂姻緣。
29，30：民國29年（1940年)4月，以中尉排長軍階，入學黃埔軍校通信兵科17期，修業兩年，期滿晉升上尉。
31：民國28年(1939年)10月，結婚於重慶國際飯店。
32：嘉陵江，源於隴南，入陝西穿越大巴山入四川，貫穿重慶與長江會合。嘉陵江南岸，是我的出生地。
33，34：花溪位於重慶市東南，巴縣境內，旅遊勝地南溫泉，立於花溪之畔。青山夾谷，花紅兩岸，風景清幽，溪可泛舟，鄉女常浣紗其間，是父母常遊之地。
抗戰時期，父親因防地異動，跡遍川(四川)、桂(廣西）、黔(貴州)各省。
35，36：民國34年(1945年）8月，抗戰勝利，是年肖鷄，還都南京。鷄鳴報曉遍及秦淮河，響徹紫金山。
南京有鷄鳴寺，乃金陵名剎之一，此處可遠眺長江，俯瞰玄武湖，金陵全景盡收眼底。
紫金山又名鍾山，山間時有紫氣，岡巒起伏，氣象萬千，中山陵即在此山中。
秦淮即秦淮河，六朝以還，煙花蒼萃，兩岸雕樑畫棟，遊船笙歌，通宵達旦，紙醉金迷，多少風流韻事，盡在秦淮一區。
鍾山之下有明孝陵，乃明太祖朱元璋安息之地，陵前御河御道，林木參天，御道長近千米，道旁有巨大文官武臣石像、石馬、石象、石麒麟，柳絮揚飛，綠葉成蔭。久違八年，再度重逢，景物依舊，人事已非。
37，38：民國26年(1937年)12月，南京淪陷前數日，父親的岳父，畢業於濟南高師學堂的尹季和，時任陸軍通信兵團第一團獨立營中尉書記官，話別妻小於下關，從此天人永隔，外祖父殉國。再逢金陵，哀慟絞心，一束黃花，清香遙祭。滾滾長江水，往事成追憶。
民國37年國民政府頒發榮哀狀，褒揚外祖父陣亡忠貞，殊堪矜式，哀榮永誌。
39，40：民國35年冬，瀋陽大雪紛飛，父親攜眷冬遊清故宮，日寇已降，國土重光。並至瀋陽近郊柳條溝、北大營憑弔。民國20年(1931年)9月18日，日本砲轟東北軍駐地北大營，掀起侵華戰爭序幕。一曲《松花江上》，故址依舊，不禁唏噓。
41，42：民國36年(1947年)，國共內戰在大東北松遼平原，全面展開。孟冬，父親由交通部第二交通警察總局有線電通信大隊，歸建陸軍通信兵第九團，任少校參謀官，參與四平街戰役及遼瀋會戰，支援杜聿明、廖耀湘兵團作戰。
1948年春，解放軍東北野戰軍，於遼西、瀋陽、長春地區，取得優勢。瀋陽失守前，通九團團長聶英，變節投共，父親急奔北平，轉赴青島。
43，44，45，46：嶗山又稱勞山，位於青島市東方約20公里，高1130公尺，為佛教名山，峰巒重重，風光綺麗。東南方約40公里海中，有一《塔連島》，秦始皇認其為蓬萊仙島。白居易長恨歌內有《忽聞海上有仙山 ，山在虛無縹緲間。》即指此處。
青島市東臨黃海，西濱膠州灣，為一半島。綠蔭夾道，花木扶疏，美景如畫，公園處處可見。別墅建於山麓之上，紅牆小樓嵌於綠叢之中。海濱浴場盛名遠播，為避暑勝地。2008年北京奧運，帆船及風帆比賽場地，就在附近海面。
47，48：民國38年(1949年)1月，徐蚌會戰(淮海戰役)後，戰火延燒至青島外圍。十一綏靖區司令官劉安祺，在一次軍事會議中，險遭不測，國軍軍情，共軍瞭如指掌。劉司令官以《將在外 軍令有所不受》提示父親更改國防部，部頒通信密碼。自此解放軍始終未能解密，國軍順利完成青島撤退。
1949年6月的青島撤守，作業精密，指揮有序，在國軍戰史上堪稱為《最完美的撤離》。國軍各軍事院校及美國維吉尼亞軍校，曾把這次軍事行動，列為教材。通信參謀更改軍用密碼之事，亦列其中。
49，50，51，52：湛江舊名廣州灣，位於雷州半島東北，係一優良軍港及商港水深港闊，碧海藍天。青島撤退後，部隊移防於此，進駐海灣兩岸原法國軍營，一為西營，一為東營。
湛江屏障中國南疆，地勢險要，市區綠樹成蔭，景色宜人，破曉旭日，空氣清新，碧波蕩漾。
七星嶺、赤坎古城，均為湛江近郊名勝景點，山巖峭壁，白雲悠悠，令人心曠神怡。
海岸椰樹隨風搖曳，椰林叢叢，夜空裏，走在湛江海濱大道上，滿天繁星，極具浪漫之情。部隊在此僅有數月停留，因另有任務，陸續於八月前，轉赴廣州。(續）
53，54，55，56：黃花岡位於廣州市北郊白雲山前，係辛亥廣州起義死難七十二烈士墓地所在，大理石砌成，氣勢恢宏莊嚴，令人肅然起敬。
珠江亦稱粵江，因下游流經海珠石而得名，貫穿廣州市區，有如南京之秦淮河，巴黎之塞納河，入夜皓月當空，令人流連忘返，情侶雙雙，處處笙歌。
廣州珠海長堤沿珠江而建，入夜霓虹映波，畫舫來往江上，舫上歌聲悅耳，音遠迴盪，車水馬龍，十里洋場。
荔枝灣係廣州城西一天然湖，荔樹夾岸，綠葉成蔭。盛夏荔枝成熟，遊人爭相摘購，饒富情趣。傍晚時分，清風搖曳，灣上彩船穿梭，船娘搖槳其上，遊客撥櫓而行，吟歌相對，有如置身杭州西子湖上。
57，58：國共內戰至1949年上半年，國民政府已失去大半江山，廣州為南方最大都市，又是當年北伐中原之根據地，政府調派原十一綏靖區青島防區精銳部隊，駐防廣州。運籌帷幄，整編桂粵部隊，組成一強大攻擊力量，積極做好收復失土之準備。
然而事與願違，國軍部隊派系紛紜，各據山頭，廣州精師，孤軍奮戰。1949年10月1日，中華人民共和國成立，局勢急轉直下，10月上旬，解放軍直逼廣州。
59，60：國民政府環顧全局，迫於形勢保存實力，決定撤離廣州，10月13日廣州失守。前一日倉促間，將妻小送上一艘不到千噸的鐵殻船離穗，經陽江、湛江，抵達海口，自己則隨軍行動。
部隊由陸路西撒，經鶴山、恩平、陽江、電白前往湛江。沿途大小橋樑30餘座，全遭破壞。五萬精兵受阻於公路，縱深近百公里，陽江一役，國軍潰敗於漠河之岸。隨徹軍眷，哀鴻遍野。
61，62，63：司令官劉安祺狀極狼狽，與隨員數人，奔至陽江海岸，頗有項羽被困垓下之悽涼。父親以行動電台，與近海國軍巡弋艦艇聯絡，歴兩小時終獲回音。司令官及作戰參謀張國英，倉皇登上一艘僅能載重四至五人小船，奔向海中軍艦。小船一去不返，父親與兩位同儕，岸邊苦等，望穿秋水，終成解放軍俘虜。
64，65，66：五十餘名被俘國軍官兵，解除武裝，趕入一池塘內。次日入夜後，黎明前，父親與情報官何治齊，機智逃脫衛兵監視，奔向陽江城內。幸得母親交付之兩粒金錠，購得兩張船票，安抵香港。得前長官港僑翟姓退將相助，順利入境，並資助盤纏，轉船到達海口。67，68：民國38年(1949年）11月初，在海口南方50公里東山小鎮，與妻小團聚。廣州一別海南重逢，雖不及一月，確有恍如隔世的感覺。次月，派任為陸軍第32軍中校參謀。
蘇軾曾有《四州環一島，百洞蟠其中。》，《黎山有幽子》等詩句。黎山即海南島內的五指山，屹立於瓊(海口)、萬(萬寧）、崖(崖縣）、儋(儋縣)四州之內。黎民多聚居於此，有獨特的文化習俗，均為當年國軍駐防之地。
69，70：海南島位處廣東省西南，以瓊州海峽與雷州半島相隔。西臨東京灣與越南相望，南扼西沙、南沙群島，戰略地位重要。
榆林位於海南島南端，水深港闊，為一天然良港，又以軍港著稱，更是遠洋漁業基地，越帶風情，全在榆林顯現。
三亞地處榆林以西20公里，椰林、陽光、沙灘、海風、衝浪、綠樹丶花卉，有著夏威夷、普吉島峇里島一般美景。
71，72：駐軍有一通信連，連長係父親同學，連部駐紥在海口市一戲院內，每日下午至午夜，有廣東戲上演，不乏名角演出。父親是戲迷，還喜歡唱戲，曾多次票戲京劇法門寺中的劉瑾，及趙氏孤兒中的程嬰，也喜歡紹興戲，到了海南島很自然也喜愛上粵劇。戲院老闆三、五天就約父親帶著妻小去看廣東大戲，過足戲癮。粵劇常配以粵曲，《帝女花》係著名戲碼，春江月即粵曲中的《春江花月夜》。
73，74：明朝古書《順風相送》中記載，明朝初期官員下西洋的航海紀錄，提及台灣及附近相關島嶼。早在秦始皇時期，海中的瀛洲，指的就是台灣。秦始皇曾派徐福，前往東方海上三座仙山蓬萊、方丈和瀛洲。三國時，孫權所征討的夷州，指的也是台灣。
唐代中葉即有漢人移民《平湖》，今澎湖。明朝嘉靖年間，於澎湖設置巡檢。
明末鄭成功驅逐荷蘭人，大批移民，隨鄭成功移居台灣，所謂唐山，係指中國來的移民。
清康熙年間置台灣府，雍正至嘉慶時期，投入大批人力財才，開發台灣。光緒20年（1984年)中日甲午戰爭，中國戰敗，次年清廷簽訂馬關條約，台灣割讓日本。
民國34年(1945年）抗戰勝利，台灣光復。民國38年（1949年)，中華人民共和國成立，300萬軍民，隨國民政府播遷台灣，又是中國史上另一次大規模移民行動。
父親隨軍攜眷，遷徙台灣，在台生活了57年，早已成為台灣人了，母親帶領一家人，在台近70年，原鄉、故鄕、僑鄉，已經分不清了。
75，76：台灣，位於中國大陸棚東南，東海之中，以台灣海峽與大陸福建相望。包括澎湖、釣魚台兩群島，綠島、蘭嶼、龜山、彭佳嶼、小琉球等小島，面積3萬6千平方公里，2017年人口統計2350萬。民國38年(1949年)12月，中華民國中央政府播遷首府台北市，迄今70年。島內山峰連雲，綿延不絕。河川、湖泊、平原、丘陵秀麗，公路、鐵路四通八達。雨量充沛，四季變化，暖熱冷涼。
慈湖位於桃園縣大溪鎮郊，為蔣介石陵寢所在，青山綠水，山明水秀，氣象萬千。
澄湖，即澄清湖，位於南部高雄市境內，有台灣西湖之稱。
竹子湖，在台北市近郊陽明山西北，綠樹紅櫻，秋楓似火，遍山漫谷。
雪山為台灣第二高山，3931公尺，主峰在北部宜蘭、苗栗兩縣境內，翠柏蒼松，高聳巍峨。
玉山為台灣第一高山，3997公尺，主峰在南投、嘉義兩縣境內，玉山國家公園橫跨南投、花蓮兩縣，融合森林、山谷、巖崖、湖泊成一體。
阿里山在嘉義縣境內，阿里山國家公園，四季早晚各有不同之奇美雲海。日出晚霞，成就了多元的動、植物生態。山內峽谷、峭壁、懸崖、瀑布處處可見。
77，78：大甲溪、大肚溪、濁水溪均為台灣中南部主要河川，濁水溪為台灣第一大河。各河水力豐沛，水勢急湍，全無航行之利，由於地勢東高西低，都向台灣海峽流注。
碧潭在新北市新店區內，新店溪中游，水深潭廣，泛舟搖槳，亭台樓閣掩映於幽林碧水之中。
明潭即日月潭，位於南投縣魚池鄉內，海拔760公尺，湖周35公里。北有日潭，南有月潭，故稱日月潭。四季花開，景物如畫，置身其中，有如仙境。
珊瑚潭，位於台南市境内，又名烏山頭水庫，嘉南平原灌溉之水源，形似珊瑚而得名，潭中有一小島，可登島瀏覧，一片翠綠，雲水相映，景色令人心曠神怡。
79，80：阿美山地文化村，在東部花蓮縣南。阿美族為台灣原住民最大族裔，每年八月在此地舉行豐年祭，可觀賞山地歌舞，享受山地美食。
清水斷崖，在花蓮市北，長約21公里，為斷層海岸，最高處海拔2000公尺，東部蘇花公路行經此路段，在800公尺的絕壁上行駛，危崖削壁，面對太平洋海岸，地勢雄偉壯觀。2018年2月5日，台九線蘇花公路改善工程，蘇澳至東澳段已通車。
知本溫泉，位於台東市西南知本溪畔，溫泉依山傍水，山境清幽，綠意盎然，附近有白玉瀑布，瀑高百餘公尺。
81，82：高雄市係一港口都市，台灣第二大城，市內有一人工河川《愛河》。河岸花木扶疏，入夜霓虹映波，情侶雙雙，迎面和風，夜雨中漫步，讓人流連忘返。
淡江即淡水河，為台灣北部第一大河，淡江夕照是美景之一，揚帆點點，漁舟唱晚，山色倒影，無限詩情畫意。
83，84，85，86：民國39年(1950年)1月，母親帶著四個孩子，先行抵台，兩個月後，父親隨軍移防台灣。政府百端待舉，家庭縮衣節食，當年的年均國民所得不到美金五十元，物資嚴重短缺，生活極度貧困。這年幣制改革，啓用大陸運台黃金作準備，首發新台幣兩億元，暫時穏定即將失控的經濟。
2007年10月，父親謝世，披荊斬棘六十年，渡過無數風雨飄搖的日子，積三代之力，奉獻台灣這塊土地，我們這一家，是千萬個家庭中的一個例子。
兩岸開放探親後，父母親曾五度返回故里，僅是短暫的相聚。台灣早就是我們的故鄉了，父母親鄉音未改，生活習慣已完全入境隨俗了。
87，88：政府遷台初期，為反攻復國而整軍經武、充實戰力。軍中尤其重視官兵的思想教育，忠誠度列為考核要項，沒有國民黨黨籍者、內戰期間有被俘紀錄者，晉官升級成了障礙。為了減輕軍費支出，對大陸時期的任官，實施降級減俸。
89，90，91，92：在《大陸來台軍士官全面補辦核階任職條例作業》下，父親被核降為少校附員。後在冗員中擇優調用，1951年5月，以原階代理陸軍第50軍通信營副營長，雨月後真除。該年全軍各營級單位績效考核，通信營突飛猛進，為全軍之冠。任內輔佐營長，功不可沒。但受《有被俘紀錄》之拖累，當了三年副營長。
1954年6月，在直屬長官力保推薦下，有了轉機，調升為中校編階，軍通信組首席少校參謀官。任內連續兩年，榮獲國防部年度通信業務考核，全陸軍第一名。
1955年5月，更調升為陸軍第781通信營，中校獨立營營長，兼代陸軍第一軍通信組組長，組長常上校赴美國陸軍通校深造。
93，94，95，96：通信組常組長赴美進修期間，父親接奉陸軍總部指令，為國軍在台首次三軍聯合作戰演習，研擬陸軍通信部隊指參作業辦法，報准執行。結果演習不負使命，獲國防部傳令記功嘉許。並贏得陸軍第781通信營，代表全國通信部隊，參加民國45年雙十國慶閲兵大典之榮譽。
三軍聯合軍演結束後，進行第二梯次，各兵種校級軍官赴美進修甄選，父親名列其中。赴台北陸軍801總醫院，接受體檢及面談，兩項結果交付審查。數日後，陸軍總部公文到達，以《該員有被俘紀錄，有砂眼、足癬之症》為由，未能成行。
父親赴台北甄選之前，已有定見，是否入選必須走完程序。施賄取利，雖可效尤，但必須堅持廉潔，不忘祖訓，心中清如水，明如鏡。
民國45年(1956年)隻十國慶閲兵大典，父親率領500官兵，近百輛各式架線車、無線電載波車、移動式電話總機、通信器材車，在軍旗、營長旗的引導下，站在指揮車上，通過閲兵台，向大閲官三軍統帥蔣中正總統致敬，大閱官也回以軍禮。可謂英姿煥發，羽扇綸巾。
97，98，99：民國44年(1955年)底，通信營進駐台中市三民路觀善寺原址。每日清晨舉行升旗典禮，唱國歌、奏國旗歌、升國旗，過路行人均肅立致敬。有一立法委員，曾任駐泰國大使八年，被國歌聲驚醒，投訴軍部要求改進。某日，副軍長蒞營暸解，父親據實報告。指示國歌照唱、國旗照升，掦聲器音量加大，方向對準立委官邸。
民國46年(1957年)1月，父親擔任營長僅一年八個月，無預警接奉調職宜蘭陸軍通信兵學校，擔任教官，有違部隊主官，至少任職兩年輪調之常態，況且父親績效優異。莫非又是冷飯熱炒，被俘紀錄作怪，或許另有隱情。軍人以服從為天職，父親立即辦理移交走人。結束三年副營長、近兩年營長，與袍澤弟兄，朝夕相處同甘共苦的日子。
離別之日，全營官兵列隊相送，依依不捨，真情感人，繼任者備感壓力。
軍司令部一次全軍擴大會報中，軍長怒斥繼任營長：你比起前任陳營長，不及其十分之一。
當然言過其實，可見父親在長官心目中的地位。
100，101，102：自民國27年(1938年)擔任峨嵋山軍官訓練團中尉教官以來，19年後重執教鞭，可謂駕輕就熟。
在校期間，曾數度代理主官職務，始終未獲真除。父親心知肚明，被俘紀錄纒身，又能奈何。對當年軍中矯枉過正、思想腐朽、立律草率的作法，自嘆生不逢時，白色迫害又增一例。
任教官長達九年期間，專注新知汲取，研讀美軍教本，溶於教學課程，提升教學品質。設計考題，編撰成套題庫，採一體適用之答案卡、評分閲卷快速準確，創全國軍事院校之先河。一心一意授課解惑，對於升遷早已置之度外，即無怨言，反而積極樂觀。四度接受優良教師表揚，授課之班隊如過江之鯽，學生、學員九年之內，至少三千。
103：累積諸多優良考評，本應做職務上之調整，或調升，或佔缺，然而人事部門視若無睹。父親不做有違原則之事，其性格決定了他的命運，民國54年(1965年)7月，未到退役年齡，報請提前退伍獲准，結束了32年的軍旅生活。
104：父親一次領了退伍金新台幣七萬餘元，加上母親經營副業的一點積蓄，東湊西湊，以20萬元資金，經山東日照鄕親，台北市議員尹毅的介紹，認識了大同公司董事長林挺生，投資家庭電器買賣，當了生意人。
1970年，世紀以來最大石油危機，威脅大衆生計，全球經濟停滯，生意清淡，門可羅雀。於是另創新機，除繼續推銷家電產品外，並且參加軍中各項電氣工程投標。
然而粥少僧多，曾有一項工程，多達十數家投標者。圍標、綁標、不擇手段，屢見不鮮，開了眼界。甚至有不計成本而得標者，大惑不解。但此君自有妙計，保證工程順利完工驗收，真不知何方神聖。
父親常讀孫子兵法，什麽《致人而不致於人》、《不戰而屈人之兵》等等。用在商場上，卻一籌莫展。感嘆軍人的事業，只能發揮在戰場上嗎？然而自己的事業戰場，卻是跌跌撞撞。
我們做子女的，對父親的仕途艱辛，歸個性？歸命運？有太多的想像空間。
105，106，107，108：父親是一位喜歡閲讀的人，上個世紀六十年代，光纖通信、半導體、生物科技，正在研發之中，父親就向子女灌輸暸解。
舉凡楚辭、唐宋詩詞、明清小品、三國、水滸、音樂、美術等，都是談話內容。
南北朝時代，顔之推所著《顏氏家訓》，更是父親責示子女熟記的治家寶典。
109，110：父親常以中外歴史名人偉人故事，策勉子女。蘇軾、文天祥、顔真卿、蕭邦、梵谷、達文西，為其推崇者。
蘇軾：(1036－1101)字子瞻，號東波，北宋眉州眉山人，其詩詞、論文，筆力縱橫，氣勢磅礴，但仕途坎坷。
文天祥：(1236－1282)，字宋瑞，南宋吉州廬陵(今江西吉安)人，賦性忠耿，遇事慷慨敢言，為一代忠臣良將，常遭佞臣權貴妒恨。1278年廣東海豐之役，抵抗元朝大軍，兵敗被俘，獄中作《正氣歌》。
顔真卿：(709－784），唐代大書法家，陝西西安人。為人耿直，正氣凜然，其書法筆力雄健，沉穩端莊，正如其人，望之儼然，即之也溫。
蕭邦：(Chopin，1810－1849)，波蘭鋼琴家、作曲家，一生多半在法國渡過，對其祖國波蘭，有無限的熱愛。在19世紀前半期的浪漫主義音樂家中，獨樹一幟，有《鋼琴詩人》雅稱。
梵谷：(Van Gogh, Vicent 1853－1890)出生於荷蘭，是西洋後期印象派畫家中的代表人物，一生命運坎坷。他的畫作，死後才被發現，有其極為重要的藝術價值。
達文西：(Vinci Leonardo da 1452-1519)文藝復興時期義大利三大藝術家之一，與米蓋朗基羅、拉斐爾齊名。不但是一位偉大的畫家，也是地質學家、工程師、解剖學家和數學家。
111，112：禮記中記載《孝子之事親也，樂其心，不違其志。》，明儒學案中説《自古聖賢，盛德大業，未有不由學而成者。》父親一再提醒，殷切教誨，專心致志，盛德立業，不違父母意願。
113，114，115，116：綜觀父親一生，二十年求學修業，三十年軍旅奔波，十五年商賈營生，二十五年淡然平和養生靜心。雖與妻兒離多聚少，但我們在父親身上，霑雨取露，恩重如山。
2006年7月，次子陳勇，英年早逝，父親身心俱疲，不時呼喚愛兒，老淚縱橫，生平首見。
2007年10月3日，病危送台北榮民總醫院，妻女輪番照顧，不離視線。10月9日病情穩定，堅持回家休息，中午時分到家後，家人隨侍在側，並無多言，環視室內一景一物，注視基督苦像，室外萬里晴空，緊握母親雙手，直呼：我好幸福，我好幸福。
下午三時，病情轉危，救護車抵達時，父親面帶笑容，安息在母親懷裏，此日正逢結婚68週年紀念。
父親葬於台北市大直福山天主教墓園，與愛子同一塋穴，父子左右為鄰。
老兵不死只是凋零，這一位一生堅持原則，一身傲骨的軍人，對其黨國忠貞不二，偉大的節操，永垂青史，留芳百世。
117，118：父親生前，一再叮嚀子女，要做一個堂堂正正的中國人，期待兩岸劫波盡渡，共創雙贏。時以頌讀鲁迅《題三義塔》詩句以表心願：渡盡劫波兄弟在，相逢一笑泯恩仇。
119，120：父親晚年曾四度與母親回鄉探親，僅作短暫停留，自已的家卻在台灣。常看電視旅遊節目《大陸尋奇》、《台灣腳逛大陸》，藉螢光幕來捕捉大陸時期的記憶。時刻回憶，近60年來，去過的台灣名勝古蹟。寶島青山碧水、藍天和雲，山川如此嬌美。哲人其萎，陌麈落地，這塊錦繡大地，將永遠伴隨父親千秋永世。
2017年，丁酉陰曆11月23日，父親百年誕辰於洛杉磯。2018年6月濃縮精簡。
第2篇：重逢觀善寺
民國45年，父親時任陸軍第781通信營中校營長，駐防在台中市三民路上的觀善寺內，佔地近八百坪。寺院建於日據時代昭和16年(1941年)，酷似日本神社，光復後主殿一度改建，國軍租借為營區。
寺內每日依舊梵音伴唱，花開鳥鳴，清香裊繞。這年暑假，我與弟弟陳勇，曾在寺內投宿兩夜，並參加部隊升旗典禮，留下深刻印象。
事隔53年後的2009年6月，弟弟與父親已相繼過世，我與妻回台探親。該月19日，與母親、大妹亭如四人，搭高鐵列車，自台北抵達台中車站，租一計程車，作了台中半日遊，路經當年父親帶我們去看《七小福》電影的地方、運河邊的那家山東餃子館舊址、台中公園、以及觀善寺。
近60年的滄桑歲月，經兩次改建的觀善寺，在都市更新計劃的推動下，院址已成商業樓房，道路拓寬佔用寺院用地，當年場景已成追憶，惆悵之情油然而生。因主體建築，緊臨馬路屹立不搖，顯現一股蒼勁之美，而感到欣慰。
觀善寺見證了中日兩國的興亡盛衰歴史，我們佇立殿前，回憶父親當年在此，主帥在營，逸氣豪情的英姿氣概，久久不忍離去。次日作七律《重逢觀善寺》一首，永誌追念。
梵音伴唱柳營歌，
校尉作息鐘鼓揚。
觀盡歴史盛衰事，
善集從長綿延長。
寺立中台七十年，
廟院清煙依舊香。
數十寒暑秋風雨，
凡麈未盡情難忘。
一縷暮陽照斜廊，
倚闌佇立空惆悵。
羽扇綸巾音猶在，
逸氣豪情長思量。
第3篇：南陽尋根
1976年秋天，美國黑人作家亞歷克斯．哈利(Alex Haley 1921-1992），寫了一部家史小說《根》，《Roots:The Saga of an American Family》，作者經過12年的考證研究，追溯到他的祖先，六代以上的昆塔·肯特，一個從非洲西岸被白人人口販子，擄獲至北美洲當奴隸的故事。
1986年，正在讀小學五年級的小兒Anderson，被故事情節吸引，用了一個禮拜的時間，一口氣讀完這部小説。
次年，Anderson 從巴拿馬運河區聖瑪麗小學，以第二名成績畢業，兌現回台探望爺爺奶奶的承諾。(1)
在台兩個月期間，除了到國語日報社，從注音符號學起，補習中文外，台北市內、近郊好玩的地方都去了，可口的小吃也都嚐了，感受到爺爺奶奶、叔叔姑姑們對他的那份關愛。
而最高興的事是，傾聽爺爺打仗的故事、移民到台灣的故事、原鄉河南南陽的故事。Anderson 離開台灣那年，剛滿四歲。
2014年12月，美國福特汽車公司外派Anderson至上海浦東亞太總部服務，為期三年。到了中國大陸，出差的機會多了，國內、國外各佔一半。原鄉河南南陽，近在咫尺，就是無緣前往。
多年尋根的心願，直到任期最後半年，才得實現。2017年7月21日，一個星期五，下班後獨自搭乘中國南方航空班機，由浦東機場逕飛南陽，看見了爺爺口述中的原鄉。(2)
行前我給Anderson一些書面資料，包括河南南陽陳姓的根源：2014年最新百家姓排名，陳氏名列第五。陳氏宗親是舜帝後裔，在《世界陳氏宗親總會會歌》中，就有《皇皇舜日，天下為公。》的句子。
河南南陽陳氏祖先，原居晉陝一帶，五胡亂華之初，正逢三國鼎立(西元220年－280年)，由北方南遷至河南。陳氏祖先遷移南陽，人口最多之時，當在隋末唐初。
參考《孔子世家譜》續修工作協會所述，孔子後裔已繁衍至80代。如果從隋末唐初算起，南陽陳氏延綿至今，小兒Anderson可歸屬為第64世孫，自然需要經過學術研考上的佐證。（3)
上海至南陽飛行約兩小時可達，機場在城東，遠離市區，基本設施齊全，有發展空間。
出了機場搭上計程車，向西行，跨白河大橋，下榻旅館。沿途Anderson 與司機師傅有段對話。
Anderson 首先發話：南陽還不錯啊，不像一個三線城市。
師傅答：有啥不錯，一直是個窮地方。
問：南陽有什麼出產呢？答：啥都不出，就出窮人。(Anderson 不禁笑了起來)
問：南陽有什麽名勝古蹟呢？答：這倒是有，值得一看。可以去武侯祠、醫聖祠、內鄉縣衙、關帝廟、南陽漢畫館、蝙蝠洞。
看來這位師傅，率直、老實、憨厚。經了解係酒店簽約計程車駕駛，當即預約，未來兩日請其擔任導遊。師傅欣然接受，一聲河南土話《中》。
經酒店介紹，附近有一麵食舘可進晚餐，菜單洋洋灑灑，驚喜有《麵疙瘩》可食，這可是爺爺當年在家鄕最愛吃的食物。細品慢嚐，一碗下肚，不但味美，滿口麵香，更有一種沁人心脾、激情不已的感受。(4)
次日清晨六時，出租車已在酒店門前等候，首站城南卧龍崗。三國時代著名政治家、軍事家諸葛亮，曽《躬耕南陽》於此。魏晉時建武侯祠，香火盛於唐宋，歷經元明清三代而不衰。現存之建築，清光緒年間重建。
大殿內有巨尊諸葛亮石雕塑像一座，羽扇綸巾、端坐凝思，盡顯一代韜略宗師的英姿風範。祠內存有300餘座，諸葛亮事蹟碑刻題記。
未及七時，車行經武侯祠後巷，不見任何旅客，卻見綠樹成蔭，一整排精雕黑瓦，置於紅色圍牆之上，幽境長徑，古意盎然。旭陽透過綠樹，樹葉投影於紅牆。
時間停留剎那，Anderson 拍下南陽尋根首張照片。始料未及，卻成了我的著作《日照紅樓》的設計封面。(5)
在前往第二個景點的路上，車師傅話可多了：別看咱們南陽這個窮地方，在歷史上還有點名氣。除了有個諸葛亮外，還是醫聖張仲景，天文學家、發明家，官拜太史令、侍中、尚書張衡的故鄉。也是東漢光武帝劉秀，中興漢室，首先起義的地方。
師傅滔滔不決繼續說：十幾年前，咱們的各級領導，有眼光，想發展觀光。向中央求助大搞建設，還有點成績，有了個飛機場。俺也趕個時髦，學會開計程車。每天接送觀光客，有了一個最起碼的收入，老婆孩子可以吃點好的了，穿的也不賴了。老大是女兒，去年上了南陽師範，畢業後就可當中學老師了。俺和俺老婆挺滿足的，所謂《知足常樂》是嗎。Anderson聽得津津有味，對這次尋根之旅，有了更深一層的了解。(6)
次站來到武侯祠附近，臥龍路南的南陽漢畫館，建於民國24年(1935年)，1959年重建，佔地6萬平方公尺，是現今中國一個專門收藏、陳列、研究漢代畫像石刻的專題藝術博物館。
再按順時針方向，到達城北宛城區石橋鎮張衡墓園，周長80公尺，冢高8公尺，綠樹成蔭，松柏長青，磚砌甬道平坦，行經其上肅穆莊嚴。墓前立碑三座，始於明嘉靖40年(1561年)，記述張衡一生在科學、學術、天文學家上的成就。
續往東南，行至醫聖祠，位於城東溫涼河畔仲景路上，是東漢傑出醫學家張仲景的紀念地。祠內鑲嵌自伏羲氏以來，歷代名醫117幅彩繪畫像，是目前中國容量最多最大的名醫畫像寶庫。
溫涼河是一條縱貫南陽城的溪流，在現今的仲景路與工農路之間，經過長時間的都市更新，河面縮小，但清澈依舊。南流入白河處，有一濱河公園，花木扶疏、小橋流水、曲徑通幽，為市民遊客遊憩之處。
Anderson 路經公園，未入其內，但憶起爺爺給他講起的一段故事。(7)
南陽陳氏家族，明世宗嘉靖年間（1522－1566），進駐南陽城東約百里，趙河之濱的賒旗鎮(今更名為社旗鎮)，清乾隆年間(1736－1795)再遷至南陽城東，白河之濱。經百年耕讀經營，由十甲荒地，累積財富至百畝良田，購得商業一條街。地契房契，保存至國民政府遷台前。
Anderson 佇立於陳氏家族崛起之地，白河之濱，源遠流長，滾滾河水，緬懷先祖創業之艱難，守業之不易。
時至黃昏，路經南陽府衙，已過開放時間。府前廣場一條街，商店華燈初上，霓虹閃爍，路邊攤販分據道路兩旁，井然有序，各種夜市食品、物品，一應俱全。逢此良縁，又是一次意外收獲。(8)
在酒店客房經理的建議下，次日一早，前往市郊東北方約20公里的方城縣《七峰山森林公園》。
七峰山在伏牛山南麓，淮河水系澧河上游，地跨長江、淮河兩大流域。主景區面積40平方公里，被譽為長城之祖的楚長城遺址，就在區內。
有代步工具可上山頂，Anderson 選擇足接地氣，徒步登山，約一小時到達。遠眺壯麗山河，心曠神怡。
至大關口，驚艷楚長城盡收眼底，有一《天下第一古長城》石勒題詞，豎立隘口。係中國長城學會名譽會長羅哲文所題。
楚長城建於戰國時代，比起秦始皇(西元前221－206)萬里長城，早400餘年，當即拍下多幀照片，留作紀念。
原鄕的浮雲，原鄉的大地，原鄉憨厚的百姓，原鄕源遠流長的歴史，一起湧上心頭。
沒有任何事任何人，可以摧毀這塊土地。在中國大地上的人們，善於從苦難中生存，他們知道屈服，在大風來臨之時躬身，但他們永不毀滅，反而崛起。Anderson 有如此強烈的感受。(9)
離開七峰山景區已近中午，隨即前往宛城區民主路上的南陽府衙，已見遊客如織。
南陽府衙建於南宋咸淳七年(1271年)，歴經元、明、清，199任知府。光緒23年(1897年)重修。民國2年(1913年)南陽府改為南陽縣，府署故址更名為縣公署。2001年6月，中華人民共和國國務院，列為全國重點文物保護單位。是秦始皇設置郡縣制度以來，現存唯一最完整的郡縣實體建築。即有北京故宮的縮影，更具南陽歴史文化名城之象徵，有其藝術、科技、歴史、文化上的珍貴價值。
南陽府衙正門高敞，右側勒石之上有一鳴冤鼓，兩尊石獅各立左右兩側。左側石獅背馱一小獅，意趣盎然。哪隻為公，哪隻為母，答案不一。
衙門左右旗杆石上有對聯一幅，上聰是：看階前草綠苔青無非生意。下聯是：聽牆外鵑啼鵲噪恐有冤民。
進入正堂，見巨幅日鶴同輝彩繪壁畫，及知府判審案桌，面對大廳，莊嚴肅穆。堂內柱梁之間斗拱銜接，正面中央柱梁之上，有三幅橫匾，似明代書法家衡山居士文徵明(1470－1559)之筆蹟。由下而上依次為《明鏡高懸》、《化被群黎》及兩個特大字《公廉》。
正堂左右各有內外兩座，近五公尺高之石柱，內柱上聯為：《刑賞本無私是是非非敢信不違民志》，下聯為《毀譽何足計明明白白但求無愧我心》。南陽府衙不僅宏偉壯觀廓柱上之對聯更是全國鮮見，幾乎柱柱有聯。(10)
參觀了南陽府衙，Anderson 對中國歴代的司法體系，有了一些概念。為政者的心態，左右法律判決的公正，是其缺點，有了偏見就有冤案，脫離不了人治的範疇。
我則以北魏時期，一位愛護百姓、自奉儉樸、有政治才能的清官韓麒麟(433－488)所言《刑罰所以止惡，仁者不得已而為之。》以及晚清中興名臣、湖北巡撫胡林翼(1812－1861)銘言《吏治之壞，由於官氣太重，不得知有民情。》給予補充。反應在現今某些國家，司法已人治化，也不為過。(11)
我爺爺陳又韶的二哥陳繼韶，清光緒年間隨父經營玉石生意，頗有成就。
南陽東北約八公里的獨山，已列為省級森林公園，盛產玉石，也稱獨山玉，更有南陽翡翠之稱，是用於玉雕的上等材料，媲美湖北鄖縣的綠松石。獨山玉與新疆的和田玉(和闐玉)、陜西西安的藍田玉、遼寧岫岩縣的岫玉，合稱中國四大名玉。
我的大爺爺陳辭詔，曾是南陽紡織界的翹楚，生意做到上海、武漢。家族在伏牛山麓野蠶産地，有桑田數十畝。南陽絲綢盛名遠播，至今不衰。(12)
1965年11月13日，中華人民共和國國務院核定南陽專區為13縣(市)，包括：南陽市，南陽、南召、鎮平、內鄉、淅川、鄧州、新野、唐河、桐柏、方城、西峽、社旗等縣。面積2萬6千6百平方公里，人口1100萬，在河南省18個省轄市中，面積最大人口也最多。目前是河南省僅次於鄭州、洛陽、排名第三的都市，超越開封。高速公路、鐵路暢通各縣市，白河、唐河可航民船，對都會區各項發展，深具潛力。
兩天兩夜的尋根之旅，即將結束。車過白河大橋，橋底的河水，滾滾流向南方，南陽機場不遠了。
司機師傅與Anderson 有段對話，師傅問：老闆(他稱呼Anderson)，我聽你的口音不像是上海人，我好奇，啥地方不去，偏偏要到咱們這個窮地方來，為啥啊。
答：我在上海工作，出生在台灣，我是美籍華人。為了慕名而來南陽。
問：你對南陽的印象如何呢？
答：並非《這裡啥都不出，只出窮人。》兩人哈哈大笑起來。
南陽這塊土地上，生活著世界上最古老的一群文明人。堅韌的生命力，在苦難中成長，成長本身就滋生孕育着幸福。
飛機在夕陽下衝向白雲，原郷在視線中，逐漸遠去，看了看在七峰山上，收集在小瓶子裏的泥土，Anderson 心中相當踏實。(13，本篇完)
伍：寫在陌麈落地卷尾(跋)
民國38年(1949年)10月13日，解放軍進廣州城的前一天，父親倉卒間，將妻小送上一艘不到千噸的鐵殻船上，前往時在湛江的內弟(我的舅舅)。
次日廣州淪陷，劉安祺軍團兵敗於陽江漠河之濱。劉司令官脫險，父親被俘兩晝夜後，逃脫監視，輾轉香港到達海南，在東山小鎮與妻小團聚，恍如隔世。(1)
畢竟父親能夠平安到達海南，是上蒼的恩賜。我的爺爺和父親，有着國民黨的背景，被俘脫逃是父親唯一的選擇。
正因爲父親有被俘的紀錄，在那個白色迫害的年代裡，我們與一般軍眷家庭，受制於客觀環境，而顯得無奈。
我們經歷過無數風雨飄搖的日子，從反攻大陸到政黨輪替。我們在台灣這塊土地上，足足生活了70年。
民國96年(2007年)父親過世，生前叮嚀，盡心竭力將我們在台灣，數十年來的生活情形，書寫出來。從家史的角度，用說故事的方式，見證這段歴史。希望透過這本書，對那些有過類似經歷的人，找尋到自己的故事。(2）
民國98年(2009年)5月，與妻赴台探親，並出席入學財務學校50週年同學會。返回洛杉磯後，開始啓筆書寫父親叮嚀的這本書。距離父親去世，已有一年九個月，其間一直在醖釀文思，不知如何開頭。
在台期間，同學贈送我一本舊版連橫所著《台灣通史》，讀後頗有感觸，於是伏案燈下，寫出首篇一千一百字《篳路藍縷啓山林》的開頭文章。
至到民國102年(2013年)5月，歴時四年，完成與本書《陌麈落地》同名的首章初稿，近11萬字。敘述了一些國民政府遷台後的經國之事，也仿傚方志撰寫之精神，談了一些市井小調，以及我在台灣生活了足足30年的心路歷程。其中第29篇《老兵在台70年》近七千字，第30篇《戰地風雲憶金門》一萬兩千字。
心中有一意願，這本坊間軼事，數十年後，還可喚起在台灣這塊土地上生活的人們，對先民篳路藍縷，開荒拓士的艱苦精神，緬懷追念。(3）
父親生前交給我三本長12吋、寛9吋的塑膠檔案夾，從民國24年（1935年)4月，陸軍通信兵團教導大隊，修業兩年期滿的畢業證書，到民國54年(1965年）7月1日生效的國防部退伍令。依照時序排列，包括升遷、派職、就學、功獎、表揚、同學録、結婚證書。其中一本是民國24年至26年間，爺爺用毛筆寫給父親的親筆信，十一封，約六千字。
2006年4月，我與妻旅次科羅拉多州洛磯山麓小鎮Broomfield，每日閲讀、寫作，漫步緑野幽徑，小河小湖之間。翻閲父親一生經歷，雖為一名國軍校級軍官，卻對中國國民黨，對中華民國，矢志忠誠，鞠躬盡瘁，無怨無悔。萌生以叙事、寫景、抒情之方式，旌表父親一生功德。
2013年5月，繼完成《陌麈落地》首章之後，續寫次章《父親與民國》，歷時兩年，完成五萬字初稿。次年，接續撰寫《緬懷遠方的父親》，父親百年誕辰紀念，一百二十句七言長詩含註解一首。2018年6月，增添紀念文兩篇。7月7日，《陌塵落地》一書完成之日，尾補跋文一篇，如上述。
行筆至此，我有一種時不我待的急迫心情，正如陶潛《雜詩》其一最後一段所述：盛年不重來，一日難再晨。及時當勉勵，歲月不待人。
晚年，我對寫作這件事，積極執著，因我別無選擇，是一種自我的警勉。
誠摯地感謝，新聞界的舒立彥先生、企業界的沙牧天先生、文化界的唐英宗先生、醫界的鍾召民女士、兩岸教育界的王瑩、王陽光女士。諸多前輩及摯友們給我的鼓勵，有勇氣完成這部《陌麈落地》15萬字的著作。
2018年7月10日於洛杉磯
About the Author
Mr. Chen Xoung-Chi was born on July 7, 1940. His hometown is Nan-Yang, Henan Province, China. He was a 1962 graduate of the Academy of Financial Affaires, the Combined Services of the ROC Ministry of Defense. He had served in the Bureau of Financial Affaires, the headquarters of the ROC Combined Services, the Keelung and Taipei City Committee of the Youth Corps, as well as the Chinese newspaper LA REPUBLICA in Panama.
Mr. Chen is a renowned newspaper editor and had authored several books in Chinese. This book 《My Father and the Republic of China》is his latest writing in memory of his beloved late father Mr. Chen Qi-Er who would have been 100 years old in 2018.
There are 2 volumes of this book: Vol.1 documented his father’s military career throughout the WWII era while serving as an officer in the ROC Army Telecommunication Corps, witnessing the horrendous suffering of the Chinese people during the Japanese invasion and the joy of the final victory celebration by the Chinese people in 1945.
Vol. 2 will be published on this BigBall website as soon as it is completed and released by the author.
Updated on July 10, 2018
Vol. 2 has been completed with even more moving stories about the author’s father during the internal war between the KMT army and the CCP peoples’s liberation army; and the subsequent career setbacks in Taiwan due to a brief (<48 hours) captivity by the PLA while saving an army general who was chased to the shore by the PLA. Yet his father never lost his loyalty to the KMT and continued to provide honorable services as a distinguished Telecommunication Brigade commander and an outstanding instructor at the Telecommunication Academy of the Army. The author also documented his son’s memorable visit to his hometown in Henan Province to look up those places that he had heard throughout his upbringing.
What a wonderful story by such an elegant writer Mr. Chen Xoung-Chi!
Translated from the Chinese by AI (Claude) in November 2026. Not yet reviewed by the author. The PDF lost 34 characters its font couldn’t show; they were filled in from context before translating.
Contents目錄目录 (26)
- My Father and the Republic of China
- Preface: An Unbroken Thread, Life Without End
- Chapter 1: A Signal Officer at the Time of the Xi'an Incident
- Chapter 2: My Late Father and the Battle of Shanghai
- Chapter 3: A First Lieutenant Instructor at the Emei Mountain Officers' Training Corps
- Chapter 4: Early in the War of Resistance, in Wuhan: a Cable Across the River
- Chapter 5: My Father at the Burning of Changsha
- Chapter 6: Witnessing a Whole Nation's Great Migration
- Chapter 7: My Father During the Bombing of Guilin
- Chapter 8: The Bombing of Chongqing and the Tunnel Disaster
- Chapter 9: Before Victory in the War of Resistance My Father's Military Record
- Chapter 10: Before Victory in the War of Resistance: the Situation in China and Abroad
- Chapter 11: The Whole Nation Celebrates Victory
- My Father and the Republic of China, Volume 2
- Chapter 12: The Situation in Northeast China after Victory
- Chapter 13: The Liaoshen Campaign That Decided the Fate of Northeast China
- Chapter 14: The Situation on the Mainland Before the Communists' Yangtze River Crossing Campaign
- Chapter 15: The Civil War Years: The Qingdao Withdrawal
- Chapter 16: The Civil War Years: Guangzhou Abandoned
- Chapter 17: My Father's Record of Having Been Captured
- Drifting Dust Comes to Rest, Chapter 4 Remembering My Distant Father
- Preface:
- Part 1: A Poem for My Father's Hundredth Birthday
- Part 2: Reunion at Guanshan Temple
- Part 3: Searching for Our Roots in Nanyang
- Chapter 5: Written at the End of Drifting Dust Comes to Rest (Afterword)
My Father and the Republic of China
About the Author:
Chen Xoung-Chi (陳昌智): born 7 July 1940; ancestral home Nanyang, Henan. Graduated in 1962 from the 6th class of the finance course at the Combined Logistics Finance School. He has worked at the Finance Department, Combined Logistics Headquarters; at the Keelung City and Taipei City committees of the China Youth Corps; and at the Chinese-language newspaper LA REPUBLICA (共和報) in Panama.
Preface: An Unbroken Thread, Life Without End
After my first book, Sunlight on the Red Mansion (日照紅樓), was published in December 2017, I finished the first draft of another at the end of January 2018. It is a collection of essays of about 100,000 characters about my family and our seventy years of life and growing up in Taiwan. I took its title, Drifting Dust Comes to Rest (陌麈落地), from a line in one of Tao Yuanming's (陶淵明) pastoral poems.
9 January 2018 (the 23rd day of the eleventh lunar month, the "winter month") was the hundredth anniversary of my late father's birth. My mother, aged 94, was ill at the time, and the family held two memorial Masses, one in Taipei and one in Los Angeles. A flood of thoughts welled up in my heart. I felt I had to put my late father's life into writing and leave some record of it. Such a record keeps the family's thread unbroken and its life going on, and it can help the family honour those who came before. It also bears witness to the small, steady stream of history between my father and the Republic of China, an indispensable part of the war history of the National Revolutionary Army. It is a look back at modern Chinese history, and also a journey through the splendid land of China.
My late father was born in 1917 (year 6 of the Republic) and died in 2007 (year 96 of the Republic), aged 90. In 1935 (year 24 of the Republic) he graduated from the Training Group of the Army Signal Corps. In 1941 (year 30 of the Republic), as a first lieutenant and signal platoon leader, he entered the 17th class of the Signals Department of the Whampoa Military Academy, and after graduating he was promoted to captain and company commander.
During the War of Resistance against Japan, my father was a first lieutenant instructor for the course "Wireless Field Communications in Combat" (無線電野外通信作戰) in the generals' class of the Emei Mountain Officers' Training Corps. During the Battle of Shanghai that began on 13 August, at Hanshan Temple in Suzhou, he killed two traitors who were cutting the switchboard's telephone wires. In Wuhan he laid a telephone cable along the riverbed, across the river from Hankou to Wuchang.
During the Chinese Civil War, his expertise and decisiveness turned the outcome of a battle. Because he was unwaveringly loyal to his country and faithful to his comrades, in the battle of Yangjiang, when Guangzhou was abandoned, he handled matters so well that the commander, Liu An-chi (劉安祺), escaped capture. So did two of his peers who later rose to lieutenant general and general. He himself, however, became a prisoner of the People's Liberation Army.
Because of his "record of having been captured," my father met with obstruction at every turn whenever promotion, training or going abroad was concerned. But he was broad-minded and forgiving. He blamed neither heaven nor other people, and all his life he was content with little. Living in such extraordinary times, what else could he have done? He was a good father, a good husband, and above all an outstanding and patriotic soldier.
Los Angeles, 4 February 2018.
Chapter 1: A Signal Officer at the Time of
the Xi'an Incident
In the summer of 1933 (year 22 of the Republic), the Army Signal Corps of the Republic of China held entrance examinations in all the country's major cities. It was recruiting young people with at least a senior high school education to train as junior signal officers. The course lasted two years, after which the graduates were assigned to units. The training took place in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province.
In April 1935, my late father completed his course at the Training Group of the Army Signal Corps and became a warrant officer signalman in the Army Signal Corps. He was sent to Yangzhou as a probationary officer. There he practised stringing telephone lines, operating radios, sending and receiving messages, and connecting and maintaining switchboards.
In July 1936 (year 25 of the Republic), the Signal Corps was expanded. In October of that year my father was appointed second lieutenant and deputy platoon leader in the 3rd Battalion of the 1st Regiment. He was ordered to Tongguan in Shaanxi, to work attached to the General Headquarters of the 17th Route Army, whose commander at the time was Yang Hucheng (楊虎城). (1)
My father's route to his new post ran from Yangzhou to Nanjing, then north by train on the Tianjin–Pukou Railway to Xuzhou. There he would change to the Longhai Railway and travel west along the south bank of the Yellow River, through Kaifeng and Luoyang, to Tongguan.
But because of the civil war, trains on the western section of the Longhai Railway went no farther west than Shan County in Henan. My father had no choice but to cross the Yellow River northward to Pinglu in Shanxi, go on to Ruicheng, and finally reach Fenglingdu, a stone's throw from Tongguan. A two-day journey took him six.
Fenglingdu lies across the Yellow River from Tongguan. To his surprise, the iron bridge between the two had also been closed. It was noon on the fifth day since he had set out, and the deadline for reporting was almost upon him. In a desperate hurry, my father spent the whole afternoon searching everywhere for a boat to take him across. One boat owner in his fifties, moved by my father's earnest pleas, agreed to take him over early the next morning. That night my father made do at a small inn and did not sleep a wink. (2)
A little after five the next morning, the boat owner arrived as promised. A thick layer of frost lay on the bank, and it was very cold. The first light of dawn could just be seen, and from far off came the crowing of roosters, now and then. The wind was blowing toward Tongguan, and the far bank lay in total darkness.
When the boat was about 300 meters from the far bank, the local garrison shouted to the little boat. But the wind was against them, so it was impossible to make out what they were shouting, and the boat kept going. Suddenly gunfire broke out, and volley after volley of bullets fell like rain all around the boat.
My father sat at the bow and stayed calm. When they reached the bank, he found that the boatman had been shot dead. The garrison soldiers saw that he was a young officer of the Nationalist army, and once he had explained himself he landed without further trouble. The boatman's body was sent back to his home village for burial, and the army paid his family a sum that, by the standards of the time, was quite generous.
The situation in Shaanxi was very confused at the time, coming as it did after the Nationalist army's successive campaigns against the Communists. In 1934 (year 23 of the Republic), the Communists' Central Soviet Government had abandoned Ruijin and begun moving west, by way of Zunyi, the Dadu River, Luding in western Sichuan, the Daxue Mountains and other places. In October 1935 they retreated to Yan'an in northern Shaanxi.
In November 1935, the Central Committee of the Communist Party put forward the slogan "End the civil war and unite to resist Japan." Zhang Xueliang (張學良) was then deputy commander-in-chief for suppressing the Communists in the Northwest, acting in place of the commander-in-chief, Chiang Kai-shek. Yang Hucheng was director of the Shaanxi Pacification Headquarters and also commander of the 17th Route Army. Together the two went so far as to openly allow the Communist army to carry out all kinds of propaganda inside the pacification zone.
The anti-Communist forces were made up mainly of the Northeastern Army. All through their barracks, officers and men could be heard singing "On the Songhua River" (松花江上) from the Exile Trilogy (流亡三部曲). Every one of them was weary of war and homesick, and they echoed the call for "the Nationalists and Communists to join hands against Japan."
In early December 1936, Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng claimed that their troops were restless and asked Generalissimo Chiang to come and calm them. In the early hours of 12 December they staged a mutiny and placed the Generalissimo under house arrest at the Xi'an Pacification Headquarters. The two men put forward eight political demands, which the Generalissimo firmly rejected. He was held for half a month. History calls this the Xi'an Incident. Chiang Kai-shek's policy of "first pacify the country, then resist the foreign enemy" turned into "the Nationalists and Communists join hands to resist Japan," and the Chinese Communist Party gained a breathing space. (3)
It is no boast to say that in the 1930s, China's telecommunications were on a par with those of the advanced nations. Every city of the second rank and above had a telecommunications bureau. Using submarine cables to Asia, Europe and the Americas, these bureaus sent telegrams to every country in the world. Carrier telephony had also come into use. Besides the lines overseas, coaxial telephone cables within the country, including the military's, could carry 200 calls at once. Military switchboards were linked to the local telecommunications bureaus and had dedicated lines kept ready for war. Calls between civilians and the military had to be screened through a military switchboard to protect military secrets. The signal troops were the high-tech branch of the army, at the cutting edge of their time.
My father was transferred to Tongguan. A month before the Xi'an Incident, he was assigned to work in a switchboard room in the defense area of the 42nd Division of the 7th Army. The corps commander, General Feng Qinzai (馮欽哉), was one of Chiang Kai-shek's own trusted men, and he disagreed with the views of his direct superior, Yang Hucheng. Around the time of the Xi'an Incident he came twice to inspect the switchboard room and urged the officers and men to stand fast at their posts.
On 22 December 1936, Madame Chiang Kai-shek, Soong Mei-ling, flew from Nanjing to Xi'an. Before she left, a "top-priority urgent call" was put through from the telecommunications bureau's dedicated line to the switchboard where my father worked, and the man on duty was my father himself. The caller was Madame Chiang, and the person she was calling was Zhang Xueliang. In all his years of military signal work, connecting that call was the thing my father most loved to talk about, and it deserves to be recorded.
In the last few days before the incident ended, my father stayed at the switchboard and the radio transceiver for more than 70 hours straight without leaving them. His face grew pale and his blood pressure dropped, and his eyes were red, swollen and bloodshot. Afterwards he needed more than ten days of rest before he slowly recovered. In 1941, in Chongqing, my father was awarded the "Commemorative Medal for Meritorious Service in the Xi'an Incident" (參與西安事變有功人員紀念章). (4, end of this part)
Chapter 2: My Late Father and the Battle of Shanghai
On 13 August 1937, the Battle of Shanghai broke out, the most brutal battle in the history of the War of Resistance against Japan. It raised the curtain on China's all-out resistance. The battle lasted three months, and my late father took part from beginning to end. His unit changed position twice: once from Baoshan to Nanxiang, and once from Nanxiang to Suzhou.
At that time my father was a second lieutenant and platoon leader in the replacement battalion of the Army's 1st Signal Regiment. He was attached to the 88th Division and responsible for running its switchboard. Both moves were made at night. The Nationalist army was short of vehicles, so routine logistics had to rely on hired civilian trucks.
Military regulations strictly forbade vehicles on the road at night to switch on their lights or sound their horns. This put the drivers' skill to the test, and they could only crawl along the roads.
The two moves were much alike. The night sky was pitch black, with not a single star to be seen. The trucks, loaded with men and heavy signal equipment, crept along the road like old oxen gasping for breath. (1)
Wherever they passed, there came a thump, thump, again and again, and from beneath the wheels came cries of agony. The thumping was the sound of the trucks running over bodies. The cries came from wounded soldiers of both sides.
The terrifying, chilling atmosphere of war kept everyone's nerves taut. In such a scene you were simply not allowed to get down from the truck and see which of the men under the wheels were dead and which were alive, let alone find some way to save them. That alone shows how brutal the war was.
In the middle phase of the battle, in the early hours of 20 September, my late father moved into Yunxiang Temple in Nanxiang. Within hours of arriving he had the switchboard running, and he kept it running for 39 days, until he fell back to Hanshan Temple in Suzhou on 28 October. During that time Japanese artillery fire cut the telephone lines more than twenty times. My father led the men of his platoon out to repair them under a hail of bullets, with no thought for their own lives. At the cost of one man killed and six wounded, some badly, they kept the lines open. On the battlefield the signal troops showed the same loyal, heroic spirit as the front-line combat units, one man stepping forward as another fell, and they deserve our admiration. (2)
On 3 October, the Japanese cut off the rear of the Nationalist army's right wing and launched an all-out attack on Miaohang, Zhenru and Nanxiang. The fierce fighting went on for five days and nights, and wherever one looked, bodies lay strewn across the fields. The Japanese even poisoned the water sources and wells to cut off the lifeline of our soldiers and civilians. Yunxiang Temple was cut off and besieged. Food supplies stopped, the officers and men had no rice left to cook, and their drinking water ran out. The urine of the two war horses at the temple was treated as something precious. The soldiers shared pumpkins with the temple's monks to keep hunger at bay, and after that, for several days, there was nothing at all to eat.
On 31 October, after the Nationalist army had withdrawn completely from Shanghai, the middle phase of the battle came to an end. Strategically, the Japanese advance westward had been held up. The Japanese then burned and killed at will in revenge. Yunxiang Temple did not escape. It was burned down, and only its pagoda was left standing. My father had been ordered to pull out three days earlier and had moved to Suzhou.
Hanshan Temple, beside the Maple Bridge (Fengqiao) outside the city of Suzhou, was my father's third post during the Battle of Shanghai. One of the temple's meditation rooms was turned into the switchboard room of the signal command center. One Sunday morning, around the middle of November, Generalissimo Chiang telephoned Tang Enbo (湯恩伯). My father was on duty at the switchboard. Less than a minute into the call, the line suddenly went dead. The lines had always been well maintained, so this should not have happened. Something was clearly wrong. (3)
Without a moment's hesitation my father ran outside. He saw a man up a telegraph pole cutting through the telephone wires one after another, with an accomplice waiting below. In an instant my father drew his pistol and fired at the two. To his own surprise his aim was uncannily accurate, and both men died on the spot.
My father ran straight back inside, grabbed his splicing tools, climbed the pole and quickly joined the wires again. From start to finish it took less than seven minutes before the line was working again. Those were seven deadly minutes, like a scene from a movie. Had he not acted at once and military business been delayed, the consequences would have been unthinkable.
My father immediately reported to General Tang Enbo what had happened. Tang said only, "Understood," and ordered that the line to the Generalissimo be connected at once. At the other end, Mr. Chiang also asked why the call had been cut off. After Tang Enbo explained, the Generalissimo said twice: "Very good, very good."
My father was told afterwards that the two men who had cut the wires were traitors who had come from Shanghai, and that the sentry on guard had been stabbed and badly wounded. A week later the Signal Corps awarded my father a major merit citation, and soon afterwards he was sent to Hankou to take up a new assignment.
My late father, Chen Qi'er, graduated from the 17th class of the Signals Department of the Whampoa Military Academy. He served in turn as platoon leader, company commander and battalion commander, and as a corps signal section chief, a staff officer and an instructor. He died in Taipei in October 2007 at the age of 90. (4, end of this part)
Chapter 3: A First Lieutenant Instructor at the
Emei Mountain Officers' Training Corps
On 10 November 1934 (year 23 of the Republic), the Nationalist army, campaigning against the Communists in Jiangxi, captured Ruijin, and the Communist army moved west in force. In January of the following year (1935), Generalissimo Chiang seized the moment and flew to Chongqing to reorganize the government of Sichuan and direct the campaign against the Communists. In July, in the name of the Military Affairs Commission, and following the founding of the Lushan Officers' Training Corps on 3 July 1933, he established the Emei Mountain Officers' Training Corps to promote the "centralization of the Sichuan Army." It stood on Mount Emei, southwest of Chengdu and west of the Leshan Giant Buddha. Chiang Kai-shek himself served as its commandant, with Liu Xiang as deputy commandant and Chen Cheng as director of education.
The Xi'an Incident of December 1936 (year 25 of the Republic) overturned the policy of "first pacify the interior, then resist the foreign enemy," and bringing the Sichuan Army under central control became all the more necessary. The Nationalist Government pressed ahead with the courses of the Emei Mountain Officers' Training Corps. Military and government personnel were selected from Sichuan, Xikang and Qinghai provinces, 4,003 in all, and trained in three sessions so that they could throw themselves fully into the war against Japan. (1)
In November 1937 (year 26 of the Republic), after the Battle of Shanghai ended, my late father, Chen Qi'er, was transferred from Suzhou to Hankou and promoted to first lieutenant and platoon leader. He was assigned to the headquarters of the Ministry of Military Operations. He had been there less than a month when he received orders from General Hua Zhenlin, who was then a member of the Education Committee of the Military Affairs Commission's Officers' Training Corps and also Inspector-General of the Army Signal Corps. Lieutenant Colonel Wang, a senior classmate from the 6th class of the Whampoa Military Academy's Signals Department, would lead the group. Together with Major Liu of the 8th class and my father, the three were to report to Mount Emei within a week. There they would teach the course "Wired and Wireless Field Communications" to the generals' class.
The three of them hurried to the Emei Mountain Officers' Training Corps by train and by car, travelling day and night and studying hard along the way. My father went over the material he would help teach again and again. As to why General Hua Zhenlin had picked my father, his feelings at the time were delight, trepidation and a gratitude beyond words. (2)
Among the instructors, the signals instructors were the youngest and the lowest in rank, and my father ranked lowest of all. Trainees and military instructors all lived in the camp. Corps commanders served as group commanders, division commanders as squadron commanders, and brigade commanders as district chiefs. They could leave the camp only on Saturday afternoons and Sundays, and had to be back for roll call on Sunday evening.
My father taught the operation of signal equipment: switchboards, radio transceivers, hand-cranked telephones, radiotelephones, sending and receiving telegrams, flag signals and so on. The course did not touch on tactical theory.
The trainees were a gathering of stars, among them Yang Sen, Liu Wenhui, Xia Zhishi, Yin Changheng and Deng Xihou, along with officers of brigade commander rank and above.
During the War of Resistance the Sichuan Army fought in every campaign, and sons of Sichuan were found on all the main battlefields against Japan. Most of their commanders had trained at the Emei Mountain Officers' Training Corps, and the Sichuan troops earned the praise: "Without Sichuan there is no army; with Sichuan, the Japanese army is beaten" (無川不成軍，有川克日軍).
In his later years my father told us, his children, a story. In 1935 (year 24 of the Republic), Hua Zhenlin, then head of the Army Signal Corps, visited the training group for basic signal officers to encourage the teachers and students. The students lined up for roll call. The group commander, Yin Shikai, who had been Hua Zhenlin's classmate at the Baoding Military Academy, stood at his side.
Hua Zhenlin took a great interest in my father's name. He asked: "Who gave you your name?" "My grandfather." "Is there a Qiyi and a Qisan as well?" "Qiyi and Qisi are my cousins. Qisan and Qiwu are my younger brothers."
Director Hua saw on the roster that my father had been born in 1917 (year 6 of the Republic), the youngest in the group. He asked Yin Shikai: "How is this student doing?" "He is near the top of the class."
Later, my father performed outstandingly in the Xi'an Incident and in the Battle of Shanghai, and Hua Zhenlin came to know him even better.
Yin Shikai could never have imagined back then that, a few years later, the student standing before him would marry his niece. (3, end of this part)
Chapter 4: Early in the War of Resistance, in Wuhan:
a Cable Across the River
In February 1938 (year 27 of the Republic), after finishing his teaching at the Emei Mountain Officers' Training Corps, my late father returned to the communications center of the Ministry of Military Operations headquarters in the Yokohama Specie Bank building in Hankou.
By 1938 the Nationalist Government had already moved the capital to Chongqing, and the three towns of Wuhan had become the front line of the War of Resistance against Japan. The army's communications traffic doubled. General Hua Zhenlin, then Inspector-General of the Signal Corps, urgently needed a telephone line from Hankou to Wuchang to meet operational needs. The military had been placing more and more of its calls through the civilian telecommunications bureau, and the new line would relieve that pressure. Circumstances demanded that the line be finished by a fixed deadline. (1)
In April 1938, General Hua chose my father to carry out this difficult task, because he had performed outstandingly in the Xi'an Incident, in the Battle of Shanghai of 13 August 1937, and at the Emei Mountain Officers' Training Corps.
The day after the order came, General Hua held a working meeting at the headquarters of the 1st Signal Regiment and gave instructions on everything the project required. Laborers and civilian boats had to be called up and data on the river's currents and tides collected. Shipping had to be kept moving during construction. The cables' capacity to bear strain had to be assessed, and funds applied for, among other things.
With ample support in manpower and materials from all sides, the preparations were completed within a week. Then it was up to the construction crew.
Next, my father, the boatmen who had been called up and a technical specialist from the port authority surveyed possible sites. They judged that the best route ran from Wangjiaxiang wharf in Hankou to Zengjiaxiang on the opposite bank in Wuchang. Their superiors approved, and work began on the third day. (2)
Near Wangjiaxiang in Hankou lies the mouth of the Han River, and from there to Zengjiaxiang in Wuchang is about two kilometers. Below Hankou the Yangtze River can carry ten-thousand-ton ships in summer. It was then mid-April and the peak shipping season had not yet arrived, which spared them some of the trouble of stringing the line.
To keep to schedule, work went on from the Hankou and Wuchang sides at the same time. A fishing boat was stationed every 50 meters and held in place with deep-water anchors so that it would not sway. Each boat's mast was extended with thick bamboo poles to about 5 meters. The cable ran through the air from the mast of one boat to the next, so that small craft could pass freely beneath it between the boats.
The hardest part of the job was laying an underwater cable, about 100 meters long, across the deepest part of the river, while large ships went on passing through the existing channel as usual.
My father had plenty of experience stringing telephone lines on land, but laying a cable on the riverbed would test his ingenuity.
The port authorities helped. My father, a deputy platoon leader, four NCOs and six divers made up the team: six on the surface and six underwater. They first surveyed the shape and features of the riverbed and found them much like those on land, which gave my father more confidence. Then the cable was lowered to the bottom of the river, and the divers fixed it to the rocks. My father, with an oxygen tank on his back, kept the link between the surface and the riverbed.
Anchoring the cable underwater was extraordinarily hard. The current was swift and cold, and no one could stay down long. The six divers had to take turns going down to keep the work going. (3)
When an attempt failed, they tried again and learned from each failure. When the current slackened, they used the chance to work faster. That short stretch alone took two full days of work, and the warm weather and cloudless skies helped. Finally the port authority posted height-limit warnings in each channel and told the shipping companies what their vessels should watch out for. It also sent water police boats to stand guard around the clock.
This telephone line across the Yangtze between Hankou and Wuchang has its place in the history of the War of Resistance. It used coaxial cable throughout and could carry 120 calls at once, enough for the war zone's operational needs. For strategic reasons the army built it itself, so that it would be quick, economical and practical to build and easy to dismantle. Everyone worked in sincere unity, with firm resolve and a determination to see the job through, and the whole project was finished within the deadline. (4)
The switchboard connections and call quality were then tested. Staff from the Ministry of Military Operations and the Signal Corps, together with military inspectors, accepted the line without a single fault.
The next day, General Hua Zhenlin came to the switchboard room with several senior officers. The Minister of Military Operations, General Xu Yongchang, used the new line to call the commander of a unit in Wuchang. The sound was clear, and he was very pleased. Hua Zhenlin commended my father in person and announced to those present that he had wanted to see whether his student could shoulder a heavy responsibility.
The line served its purpose fully in the early part of the war. In October 1938 Wuhan fell and the first phase of the eight-year War of Resistance against Japan came to an end. The telephone cable was dismantled on orders.
My late father, Chen Qi'er, courtesy name Zhongying, was a native of Nanyang, Henan. He graduated from the 17th class of the Signals Department of the Whampoa Military Academy. He served in turn as platoon leader, company commander and battalion commander, and as a corps signal section chief, a staff officer and an instructor. He died in Taipei in October 2007 at the age of 90. (5)
In 1973 (year 62 of the Republic), when Hua Zhenlin turned eighty, more than thirty of his former students in Taiwan celebrated their teacher's birthday at the Air Force Xinsheng Club in Taipei. The story of laying the cable on the riverbed came up in conversation.
In 1998 (year 87 of the Republic), my father and my mother went back to Shanghai to visit relatives and went on to Wuhan to see his younger brother, Chen Qiwu. Together they climbed the Yellow Crane Tower and looked out over the Yangtze. Scene after scene from sixty years earlier rose before my father's eyes, and he could just make out the Wangjiaxiang wharf of Hankou ahead. The sight stirred him deeply. When he came back to Taiwan he told us, his children, what he had felt, and he sighed: "On and on the Yangtze rolls away to the east; its waves have washed away all the heroes. Right and wrong, success and failure, all turn to nothing in a moment. The green hills remain as ever, through how many crimson sunsets." (滾滾長江東逝水，浪花淘盡英雄。是非成敗轉頭空，青山依舊在，幾度夕陽紅。) (6, end of this part)
Chapter 5: My Father at the Burning of Changsha
The period from 7 July 1937 to the end of the Battle of Wuhan on 27 October 1938 is the first phase in the history of the War of Resistance against Japan. During this time, on 27 November 1937, the Nationalist Government moved the capital from Nanjing to Chongqing, which became known as the wartime capital.
Wuhan was completely abandoned on 31 October 1938. The day before, my father moved with the 1st Signal Regiment to Hengyang, Hunan. He was posted to the signal command post of the operations command center of the Military Affairs Commission's 9th War Zone at Nanyue, on Mount Heng.
A few days before Wuhan was abandoned, Generalissimo Chiang flew from Wuhan to Hengyang and stayed at his residence at Nanyue. On 25 October, Chiang flew from Nanyue to Changsha and held a high-level military conference. Chen Cheng, He Yingqin, Bai Chongxi, Zhang Zhizhong, Feng Yuxiang, Zhang Qun, Tang Shengzhi and others attended. He instructed Chen Cheng that, with Wuhan lost, they should consider a scorched-earth policy: burn the city and withdraw.
Chiang asked Zhang Zhizhong: "When the enemy comes, what will you do about Changsha?" Zhang did not answer, and Chiang went on: "Burn it. Burn every supply that can't be carried away. Nothing at all must be left to the enemy."
On 31 October, Generalissimo Chiang issued his "Message to the Soldiers and Civilians of the Nation on the Withdrawal from Wuhan" at Nanyue. Zhang Zhizhong, chairman of Hunan province, ordered that every military office, school, shop, home and factory in Changsha prepare flammables and kindling of all kinds, including drums of gasoline. In an emergency, the city would be burned to scorched earth to resist the Japanese army.
At that time Xue Yue, commander-in-chief of the 9th War Zone, was leading crack units, including the 52nd Army, the 73rd Army, the 77th Division and the 195th Division, in a life-and-death struggle against the Japanese army in southern Hubei and northern Hunan. The war situation center at Nanyue on Mount Heng was exceptionally busy. My father was there at just that moment. As a first lieutenant and platoon leader in the 4th Battalion of the 1st Signal Regiment, he had been assigned to the center's telegraph and telephone switchboard room. (1)
Near midnight on 12 November, a fire broke out at a military hospital in Changsha, though some say it was a private factory. The fire raged, and billowing smoke lit up the night sky. One false rumor led to another, until people were saying that the Japanese army was only three li outside Changsha. Provincial chairman Zhang Zhizhong, garrison commander Feng Ti, police chief Wen Chongfu, Xu Kun, commander of the 2nd Garrison Regiment, and others lost their heads in frantic haste. Without assessing the situation, they went ahead and carried out the scorched-earth policy.
At two in the morning on the 13th, fires were set at several hundred places in Changsha at once, and the whole city became a sea of flames. The chaos can be imagined. The people were thrown into panic and could not be evacuated in time. The fire caused enormous losses of historic sites, cultural relics and property, and tens of thousands of people were killed or injured.
The burning of Changsha, the breaching of the Yellow River dike at Huayuankou and the Chongqing air-raid shelter disaster are together called the three great tragedies of the War of Resistance against Japan. In the history of the Second World War, Changsha ranks with Warsaw, Stalingrad, Hiroshima and Nagasaki as one of the five most devastated cities. (2)
Near noon on the 13th, the news reached the official residence. Chiang Kai-shek was deeply shocked and furious. He telephoned the operations center and ordered the duty officer to summon Feng Ti (酆悌) at once, but Feng was out on official business and could not be reached. He then sent for Zhang Zhizhong (張治中), with the same result. My father put through the calls the whole time, his nerves strained to the limit. In less than three hours, Generalissimo Chiang had arrived in Changsha.
On the 12th, before the fires were set, the operations center already had the intelligence: on the 11th the Japanese army had taken Yueyang, and on the 12th the Chinese and Japanese armies faced each other along the line of the Xinqiang River, about 300 kilometers from Changsha. The center had also cabled the relevant units to inform them. Why, then, did the rumor say only 3 kilometers, and why did no one check the facts? This was truly a dereliction of duty, and unforgivable. Burning Changsha by mistake was a grave failure, and it made China a laughingstock before the world.
The Generalissimo ordered a court-martial. Garrison Commander Feng Ti was sentenced to 10 years in prison and Police Chief Wen Chongfu (文重孚) to 7 years. Xu Kun (徐琨), commander of the 2nd Garrison Regiment, Changsha, who had set the fires without approval, was sentenced to 7 years. But the ruling came back: "All those sentenced, having neglected their duty and brought calamity on the people, are to be shot. Zhang Zhizhong is to be dismissed and investigated." (3)
On November 16, 1938, the fourth day after the burning of Changsha, Chiang Kai-shek chose General Xue Yue (薛岳) to go to Changsha and take charge, filling the void left by a leaderless command.
In his book Chiang Kai-shek, Leader of the War of Resistance (抗日領袖蔣介石), the historian Yuan Dinghua (袁定華) has a passage in Chapter 11, Section 4 recording the painful memory of the great Changsha fire: after the Chinese army withdrew from Wuhan, the supreme command was originally to be set up in Changsha, Hunan, but just then the great Changsha fire broke out, so Generalissimo Chiang flew to Mount Heng and then moved on to Chongqing.
This passage set off a lively debate over where the Generalissimo actually was before and after the burning of Changsha. In Changsha? At Mount Heng? Or in Chongqing?
As fate would have it, during the great Changsha fire my father was serving as duty officer in the switchboard room of the operations center at Mount Heng. From the urgent calls of Generalissimo Chiang that he put through, he could bear witness that Chiang was at Mount Heng at the time. After the affair had been dealt with, Chiang flew to Chongqing together with Madame Chiang Kai-shek, Soong Mei-ling. (4)
Not long after the Spring Festival of 2004, my wife and I went to Monterey Park in Los Angeles County to call on a respected elder, General Xu Yuanwei (徐遠威) of the 10th infantry class of the Whampoa Military Academy. We spent a warm and happy afternoon with him and his family at his home. We all listened to Uncle Xu talk about his military career, and we also spoke of stories about the burning of Changsha: who gave the order to set the city on fire, and who lit that first fire.
This retired lieutenant general is the father of Mr. Xu Guangpu (徐光普), the former representative of the Republic of China to Brazil, a post equivalent to ambassador. That year Uncle Xu was already ninety-one. He was hale and hearty, and could still fly on his own between Los Angeles and Taipei.
The man who gave the order to burn the city may have been Feng Ti, and was even more likely Zhang Zhizhong. Wen Chongfu and Xu Kun headed the units that carried it out, so naturally they were not the ones who gave the order. As for who lit that first fire, Uncle Xu brought up a classmate of his, Su Yuanpeng (蘇遠鵬), who, like Chiang Wei-kuo, Wang Duonian (王多年) and Chen Yifan (陳衣凡), was in the 10th infantry class at Whampoa. At that time he was a captain and company commander in the 2nd Garrison Regiment, Changsha. When he received the order, he led more than a hundred men of his company, split into more than ten groups, through the more than seven hundred streets of Changsha, setting the city on fire and causing a wound that will never heal in the history of the War of Resistance.
Uncle Xu was a general and a calligrapher, especially skilled in the wild cursive script modeled on the Tang-dynasty monk Huaisu (懷素). That day I asked him for a piece of his calligraphy, and he wrote it on the spot, with strokes vigorous and powerful; the writing was like the man. He wrote, "The affairs of the world are like flowing water; old feelings are a spring breeze" (世事若流水 古懷是春風), as a remembrance. (5) (End of this part.)
Chapter 6: Witnessing a Whole Nation's Great Migration
On July 17, 1937 (year 26 of the Republic), Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek gave his speech "The Final Juncture" (最後關頭), known as the "Lushan Declaration of Resistance" (廬山抗戰宣言). He declared: "Our people no longer have any chance of compromise. Whoever gives up an inch of our land or our sovereignty will be a criminal before the Chinese nation for all time."
On August 13 of the same year, the Nationalist army took the initiative and launched the Battle of Shanghai, tying down a million Japanese troops and shattering Japan's dream of "advancing west into China and conquering it in three months." "Trading space for time" became the supreme guiding principle of strategy in the War of Resistance against Japan.
On October 31, 1938 (year 27 of the Republic), Wuhan was abandoned, and the first stage of the War of Resistance ended. The following month the Japanese army invaded Hunan. Against this background, the sons and daughters of China, under the ultimate goals of "The War of Resistance First" and "Victory First," set out from every province and region of the country. Using every means of transport they could find, even walking with heavy loads on their backs, braving danger and hardship, eating in the wind and sleeping in the open, they moved people, supplies and cultural treasures back to the interior: Guangxi, Guizhou, Yunnan, Sichuan, Xikang and Qinghai. In the history of the Chinese nation, this was a great migration of the whole people in resistance to foreign aggression. (1)
During the War of Resistance, even old farmers in Sichuan knew what the "scorched-earth policy" was and what "trading space for time" meant.
Leaving aside Tibet and Mongolia, the six southwestern provinces of the interior, Guangxi, Guizhou, Yunnan, Sichuan, Xikang and Qinghai, covered 2.23 million square kilometers. The three northwestern provinces, Shaanxi, Gansu and Xinjiang, covered 2.288 million square kilometers. Together the nine provinces of the interior covered 4.528 million square kilometers, 41 percent of China's area at the time of 11 million square kilometers, and 38 times the total area of Japan's four main islands, 378,000 square kilometers. Had Japan's army of a million men been spread across the interior, there would have been only 0.22 soldiers per square kilometer. The Nationalist Government's grand strategy of "trading space for time" was absolutely correct. (2)
Under these broad circumstances, Japan revised its methods of waging war in China, while continuing to fight the Nationalist army to the death in the provinces of North, Central and South China right up to early summer 1945. In 1940 the Japanese forces in China were increased to as many as 2 million men.
After taking Wuhan in October 1938, the Japanese army switched its strategy to combined land and air operations, pushing gradually from east to west by bombing. They bombed railways, bridges, reservoirs, military installations and city centers. By early 1938 Japan already had 1,500 military aircraft in China. In December 1938, Japanese planes chose the Hunan–Guizhou Railway and the Hunan–Guangxi Railway within Hunan as their bombing targets. (3)
In January 1939 (year 28 of the Republic), my father was ordered to withdraw to Guilin with the regimental headquarters of the 1st Signal Regiment. The 1st Company of the 4th Battalion, in which he served, had three wire-laying platoons and one radio platoon, and its combat experience was the best of its day.
Two switchboards, ten radio transceivers, more than a hundred field telephones, and more than three hundred reels of telephone wire with the tools for laying it were loaded, together with all the company's officers and men, into three railway cars. So began the 490-kilometer move from Hengyang to Guilin.
During the War of Resistance, the Hunan–Guangxi Railway ran from Hengyang in Hunan through Quan County and Guilin in Guangxi to Liuzhou, a total of 650 kilometers. In the early period of the war it did an enormous job of transport. (4)
The train also carried an engineer company, a medical company and an anti-aircraft artillery company. To avoid attack by Japanese planes, it ran mostly at night, faster or slower depending on the terrain, and stopped at every station so that more cars could be coupled on. At every station the company commanders heard the stationmaster's report to learn the state of traffic along the line, as a guide to safe travel.
On the second night the train stopped at Lijiaping for quite a long time. Word came that the city of Qiyang had been bombed by Japanese planes and several streets were a sea of flames. The railway and bridges between Lengshuitan and Dong'an County had also been bombed, cut and destroyed.
Weighing the stationmasters' views, the company commanders judged that Lengshuitan, with its well-hidden terrain, was far safer than Lijiaping, and decided to press on to Lengshuitan that same night. After all, military supplies were extremely precious during the War of Resistance; people said, "A drop of gasoline is a drop of blood," and "A foot of wire saves a life." (5)
Lengshuitan was then a small station on the Hunan–Guangxi Railway, with the Xiang River flowing past to its southeast. Today it is a district in the north of Yongzhou, Hunan. In Zhishan District in the south of the city, the Xiao River joins the Xiang River, and the meeting is called Xiaoxiang. It held an extremely important place in military strategy. Lengshuitan Station has since been renamed Yongzhou Station.
When the train reached Lengshuitan, the radio platoon had already made contact with regimental headquarters in Guilin. The order was for the men and equipment to transfer to wooden boats on the Xiang River and travel by way of Quan County and Xing'an in Guangxi to rejoin the unit in Guilin. (6)
The train was shunted back to the point nearest a wharf. There, arranged by the rear logistics office, two wooden boats provided by the Lingling District Vehicle and Boat Mobilization Committee had already pulled up to the bank. The signal equipment was unloaded from the cars into the holds in a single operation.
Just as the loading was about to begin, the wharf received an urgent notice: another train about to arrive was carrying a shipment of important goods that had priority for boarding. It turned out to be treasures of the Palace Museum. This was a general order of the Military Affairs Commission and had to be obeyed.
These national treasures of the Palace Museum were moving west along the southern of three routes, northern, central and southern. They had come from Peiping by way of Shanghai, Hankou, Changsha and Hengyang, and were bound for Guilin and then Chongqing. The two hundred or so wooden crates of different sizes were part of the nearly 200,000 Palace Museum pieces moved west. Escorted by an infantry company and supported by the whole people, they went through wind, frost, snow and rain all the way, carried by train, truck, steamship, river steamer, ox cart, packhorse and sampan, and even hauled upstream by men pulling ropes.
The Palace Museum treasures are the crystallization of five thousand years of the Chinese nation's culture. When the country faced an unprecedented crisis, protecting them was a duty that no one in the nation could shirk. (7)
From 1939 to 1941 (year 30 of the Republic), that is, from the end of the first stage of the War of Resistance to December 9, 1941, when the Republic of China declared war on Japan, there were three routes for the great migration of the people through southern Hunan: first, the Hunan–Guangxi Railway; second, the Xiang River waterway; and third, the Hunan–Guangxi Highway.
Once the Japanese had bombed the line of the Hunan–Guangxi Railway, the Xiang River and the Hunan–Guangxi Highway at once became busy. But neither route matched the railway, the waterway in safety and the highway in carrying capacity. In particular, boats on the 79-kilometer stretch of the Xiang River from Lengshuitan in Hunan to Quan County in Guangxi (now renamed Quanzhou County) were also targets of Japanese bombing. (8)
At that time the air force of the Republic of China had 9 groups with 31 squadrons under them, placed under the Central Aviation Commission. Its warplanes of various types were mostly bought from the United States, and there were only some 300 in all. Facing a vast battlefield, their main task was to support the ground forces in combat, and they could not possibly attend to logistical support. The air defense of evacuating people and supplies in transit could only rely on anti-aircraft artillery units. So the anti-aircraft artillery company held up at Lengshuitan, waiting to change to wooden boats, was ordered to provide air-defense cover for the river transport of the Palace Museum treasures, in three echelons. (9)
This signal company at Lengshuitan boarded its boats only four hours after the Palace Museum treasures had been shipped out. Going downriver past the Xiao River, turning southwest, and passing Zaomupu on the Hunan–Guangxi border, the boats entered Guangxi at the border town of Huangshahe at dawn on the fourth day.
In the Ming and Qing dynasties, Huangshahe was a checkpoint on the grain-transport waterway, and a place where boats put in for supplies and to load and unload cargo. When the boats docked, the officers and men went ashore to stretch their legs. After three hours they went on toward Quan County.
The little town could easily be walked through in twenty minutes. It had only one main street and a few lanes. What met their eyes was a harrowing scene: everywhere they looked were refugees who had left their homes, uprooted, destitute and worn out by hardship. (10)
There were at least seven or eight hundred of these refugees, most of them from the provinces of South China, and mostly young and middle-aged. The town's only two inns were full every day. Inside and outside the rooms, travelers sat on the floor and slept wherever they lay down, so that there was hardly a path left to walk through.
In the twelfth lunar month it was still cold on the Hunan–Guangxi border. Under the eaves and along the streets, people wrapped in cotton quilts making do for the night were everywhere. Under the big trees were tethered mules and horses that had traveled with their owners, so thin that their bones showed. At the three small eating houses the food could not meet the demand, and customers had no choice. Hungry people cannot be choosy; to get a mouthful of hot food was already a great treat.
A heartbreaking sight: under a big tree sat two bamboo baskets, with a piece of cardboard that read, "Kind people, please adopt my children." On the back were the children's family background and their home address.
The children's parents came from Ji'an in Jiangxi. They had left home two months before and travelled by every kind of transport, but the farther west they went, the harder the going, until at last there were no vehicles or boats to be had, and walking was the only way. They put their belongings and their children in two bamboo baskets, and husband and wife took turns carrying them on a shoulder pole. On a highway in the hills of southern Hunan they fell in with a group of fellow refugees, but on the road Japanese warplanes swooped low and strafed them, and the mother was killed by the gunfire. The father brought the children to this small town and, before he died of illness, asked his fellow refugees to find someone to adopt them. In such chaotic wartime, who would take in a child? The little sister and brother cried and screamed in their baskets with all their might, and no one could do anything.
Truly in awe of Heaven's will and grieving for those in dire straits (誠畏天命而悲人窮), Heaven at last opened its eyes. A Belgian priest and three nuns led more than 30 orphans, the oldest fifteen or sixteen and the youngest only two or three, step by laborious step into the little town. The next day the little sister and brother from the baskets were carried on the backs of the orphanage's older boys and girls toward Guilin in the interior. (11)
That evening the wooden boat moored at the Quan County wharf, where the Xiang River meets the Guanyang River. It would not sail until midnight, so the officers and men were free to go ashore.
My father and his comrades took an evening stroll through the town. Most of the shops had already closed for the night, but the roadside stalls were doing a brisk trade, and the smells of roasting sweet potatoes and boiling corn, peanuts and green soybeans came at them in waves. The fruit stalls sold mostly mandarins, tangerines and Shatian pomelos.
In the street they happened upon a group of students, laughing and chatting. They came from five middle schools in Changsha and Hengyang and, led by their headmasters, had formed a refugee student group of nearly 300. They had set out from Changsha for the interior to continue their studies. Among them were also more than ten students enrolled at the National Changsha Temporary University, who came from Peking University, Tsinghua University and Nankai University. Their route of flight was much the same as the refugees', by every kind of transport, walking included.
Once the students reached Guilin, they would split into two groups, one going north to Chongqing and the other south to Kunming. The university students would hurry to reach Kunming before the second academic year of the National Southwest Associated University began. The middle-school students would enter the 22 national middle schools in the southwestern provinces.
During the War of Resistance against Japan, the Generalissimo, Chiang Kai-shek, reminded the nation again and again: "Even with the country shattered and our homes lost, anything else may be delayed, but never the students' studies." In November 1937 the Southwest Associated University moved to Changsha, and the following year it moved on to Kunming. More than three hundred teachers and students walked from Changsha to Yunnan. Zhang Zhizhong (張治中) assigned Lieutenant General Huang Shiyue (黃師岳) to escort them with a strong force, and they arrived safely. This shows how much importance the government placed on education.
During the War of Resistance, on his way from Hengyang to his new post in Guilin, my father happened to cross paths with the Palace Museum's treasures, military supplies, soldiers and talented people. In every possible way, the whole nation was being mobilized to move west and build up its fighting strength: the war first, victory first, the nation above all, the people above all. This was the spirit of resistance that finally won us victory in the War of Resistance against Japan. (12; end of this part)
Chapter 7: My Father During the Bombing of Guilin
In late January 1939 (year 28 of the Republic), my father arrived in Guilin. As it happened, my mother, together with my grandmother and a younger sister and brother, had arrived a week earlier. At that time my father did not yet know my mother. Two months later they were introduced by a friend, and they became engaged in Guilin.
In 1939 the War of Resistance entered its middle stage. The Nationalist Government's field headquarters in Guilin played a major command role, directing operations in the 3rd, 4th and 9th War Zones south of the Yangtze River. That same year more than 100 civilian factories and military supply factories from the provinces of central and southern China moved to Guilin. Besides being a key political and military centre, Guilin was also where the country's academic and cultural elite gathered.
In 1939 Japanese warplanes began carrying out "fatigue bombing" against our interior. In Guilin alone, Japanese aircraft flew as many as 1,218 sorties during the war, and most of the bombs they dropped were incendiaries. There were six major bombing raids in all. Guilin became a sea of flames, with nearly 100,000 people killed or wounded, and the homes, shops and military installations destroyed were beyond counting. (1)
On the day after my father arrived in Guilin, all the officers and men of the company took up their posts. Each wire-laying platoon was assigned a medium truck. The radio platoon was given a single vehicle, which worked very poorly: a small Japanese Toyota military pickup captured by the Nationalist army on its first time in battle.
In the city of Guilin alone there were more than ten military switchboards, and the lines ran more through the hills than across flat ground. Maintaining and repairing them was even harder than during the August 13 Battle of Shanghai.
The third day was bright and clear. During the morning rush, as people went to work and school, the air-raid alert sounded and the yellow air-raid ball was hoisted. A few minutes later the urgent alert followed, and the red ball went up.
About two groups of Japanese warplanes, more than 50 aircraft, flew in from the northeast over Guilin, and a scene I will never forget unfolded before my eyes. (2)
Nearly an hour after the bombing began, the all-clear sounded, and almost twenty thousand civilians who had taken refuge in the two natural air-raid shelters of the Qixingyan (Seven Star Cave) and Chuanshanyan caves rushed desperately back to their homes. Before their eyes, on the west bank of the Li River, from Yushan Park in the north to Nanxi Park in the south, the busiest part of Guilin was a sea of flames, with white smoke, black smoke and tongues of fire shooting up into the clouds by turns.
At that time our fighter planes simply could not take off to intercept them. The anti-aircraft gunners' newest German-made 75-centimetre and 88-centimetre anti-aircraft machine guns could do little more than deter them.
In November 1938, after Guangzhou fell, the Chinese writer of the 1930s Ba Jin (巴金) came to Guilin. The many Japanese air raids on Guilin he lived through stayed vivid in his mind, and he wrote a series of essays on the atrocities of the Japanese bombing of Guilin: The Suffering of Guilin (桂林的受難), Drizzle in Guilin (桂林的微雨) and The Living and the Dead (生死者). They depict in searing detail what Guilin looked like after the bombing.
I saw the wrecked houses that had been bombed, reduced to heaps of rubble. I saw bloody human skin lying on the ground with hair and clothing still attached, and I saw the bodies of innocent people laid out in rows in the streets and lanes on the outskirts, waiting to be dealt with. Nothing usable could be found in the burning heaps. A hotel building collapsed, and after a roar like a flash flood I heard a man on the ruins crying out for help. (3)
Repairing telephone lines was the signal troops' most urgent task, and they had to go out even in the middle of an air raid. The telephone lines from the Generalissimo's Guilin Field Headquarters of the Military Affairs Commission to every war zone and every unit had to be kept open 24 hours a day. When something went wrong, even in a hail of bullets, they had to go through fire and water with no thought for their own lives.
On these missions my father had enemy planes bombing overhead while ground troops moved constantly about. Everywhere there were cries of suffering, and the sights were horrifying. On telephone poles hung mangled, bloody arms; in the ditches lay bodies sprawled every which way, heads severed. By the roadside a wailing mother clung tightly to her son and daughter, killed in the bombing.
On one mission, my father met an Associated Press war correspondent who, with no regard for his own safety, was capturing scenes of the war. The signal troops repairing the telephone lines at the risk of their lives also ended up in his pictures. My father was leading his men to the Guilin branch of the British Embassy Information Office to restore its telephone line. He was deeply stirred to see a foreign journalist doing his duty without fear of death. When he thought of his own position as a soldier, in his own country, defending the nation and protecting its people against a foreign invader, doing his duty with all his loyalty, his heart was at peace. That April my father was ordered to Chongqing to take up a new assignment. (4; end of this part)
Chapter 8: The Bombing of Chongqing and
the Tunnel Disaster
In November 1938 the War of Resistance entered its second phase, and Japan bombed the provinces of Hunan, Guangxi, Guizhou and Sichuan. On 26 December it carried out its first strategic bombing of the wartime capital, Chongqing, dropping more than three hundred bombs along the banks of the Jialing River to test the fighting capacity of the Chinese forces. Military communications in the wartime capital were put to a severe test, and the high command ordered the Signal Corps to redeploy its forces and raise them to a full signal battalion.
In March 1939 my father was ordered to move with his unit to Chongqing. Because the Guilin–Liuzhou section of the Hunan–Guangxi Railway had been destroyed by Japanese bombing, they could not change to a train on the Guizhou–Guangxi Railway north to Chongqing. The only way was to march on foot, crossing the Xun River into Guizhou and then into Sichuan.
Meanwhile my grandmother, with my mother, travelled from Guilin down the Li River and then the Liu River south to Liuzhou, and went on by way of Guiyang to Chongqing, where they joined my father. (1)
In late March 1939 my father set out from Guilin with this signal unit, heading north through Longsheng to Sanjiang, a distance of 120 kilometres, for which they still had trucks.
For the rest of the way to Guiyang, 600 kilometres, the signal equipment was carried by horses and the officers and men went on foot. Each man's kit: khaki cotton service uniform, long trousers, cloth cap, S-buckle belt, inverted-U backpack, water bottle, cloth puttees and black socks, with straw sandals in place of rubber shoes.
They marched 12 hours a day at 8 kilometres an hour, the column stretching a kilometre long. The company commander was at the front and the deputy company commander brought up the rear, each with a field radiotelephone to keep track of the unit. Every day, at fixed times, they reported the unit's position to nearby garrisons by radio transceiver. (2)
Guizhou province lies at an average altitude of a thousand metres, higher in the west than in the east, and even the southeastern mountains the unit passed through are above five hundred metres. Under the conditions of the time, this was the quickest route from Guangxi north to Sichuan that avoided Japanese bombing.
After entering Guizhou, on the stretch from Congjiang County through Rongjiang County to Duyun, the rivers were swift and narrow, with no boats to be had. The mountains rose and fell, flat land was scarce, the spring rain went on and on, and the roads were a sea of mud.
They marched by day and at night stayed in Miao villages and Dong villages, digging cooking pits and pitching camp. The frightening part was that at midnight packs of wolves came looking for food and attacked the tents, and only by killing some could they drive them off.
The gratifying part was that the people of the Miao and Dong villages were kind and gave the unit a great deal of help. Along the way, besides taking in the majestic mountains and rivers and the lovely scenery, they also saw the unusual customs and distinctive cultures of the Miao and Dong peoples.
Congjiang: Among the Basha people, a branch of the Miao, the men are warriors who carry knives and guns to defend their homeland. Basha men and women worship the sun by walking backward while facing east. They come of age at 15. The fifteenth day of the sixth lunar month is their lovers' festival, celebrated with a carnival of bullfighting, tug-of-war, swinging and mock bride-snatching.
Rongjiang: Every year there is a Dong costume show, similar to that of the Miao in Leishan County, celebrated with the lusheng golden pheasant dance. The Dong girls of Rongjiang wear super-short skirts every day, showing off their youthful vigour.
Sandu: Home to the Shui people, who have their own pictographic script and use the Shui calendar.
Danzhai: Every year there is a custom of washing the floorboards, and at weddings guests are entertained with the bench dance.
By the time my father's marching unit reached Guiyang, it was already noon on the eighth day. For the rest of the way to Chongqing, the whole company went by truck into Sichuan. They arrived ten days earlier than my grandmother and my mother. (3)
In mid-April 1939 my father reached Chongqing, and the unit immediately moved into a camp near a park in Shapingba, on the south bank of the Jialing River. My grandmother, my mother and the rest of the family arrived in late April and were housed in a residential area not far from my father's camp.
Chongqing lies where the Jialing River meets the Yangtze River. It is shaped like a peninsula, much like a dachshund on the move. The Jialing flows from northwest to southeast, and the Yangtze from southwest to northeast. The land rises more than a hundred metres above the rivers, and the city is built along Jinbi Hill up to its summit, with streets and roads climbing up and down, linking high and low; hence its name, the Mountain City. On the east, north and south sides of the city, going in or out through the city gates meant climbing three hundred stone steps on foot; today there is a ring road around the city. The riverbanks are steep, and the hillsides are full of natural caves, which during the War of Resistance served as air-raid shelters for the people. At that time Chongqing's population had already reached 2 million. (4)
On the day after he moved into the camp at Shapingba in Chongqing, my father attended a two-day operational briefing at the headquarters of the 1st Signal Regiment. The course covered reading terrain maps of the Chongqing urban area, understanding the layout of the underground cables, the unit designations and their garrison locations, the positions of the combat command centres in relation to one another, and so on.
The area of responsibility covered 20 districts and counties, more than seventeen thousand square kilometres. Every unit at regiment level and above had a radio station and a switchboard, and telephone lines were run all the way out to the sentry posts at the positions.
During the War of Resistance against Japan, the signal troops of the Republic of China Army had already entered the era of shortwave radio relay, and early in the war they had already put carrier equipment, microwave radio stations and coaxial cable into service. The Republic of China lagged behind Japan in weapons and equipment, but the Nationalist Government invested heavily and spared no effort in buying advanced communications equipment from Europe and America and training communications technicians. The Nationalist army's signal warfare capability was in no way inferior to Japan's.
By the middle of the war, the Nationalist army had expanded its establishment and formed three signal corps. They ensured the rapid transmission of strategic warning signals and intelligence, and became an indispensable means of tactical command in military operations.(5)
In Sichuan, the locals call rats *haozi* (耗子). Sichuan's *haozi* breed fast, grow big and burly, and are fierce by nature; a big one can weigh five or six jin (about three kilograms), and a rat biting a cat to death is no news in Sichuan.
On the evening of the first day of May 1939, an extraordinary mass migration of rats took place in Chongqing. Over ten thousand rats fled the city in droves and moved to the countryside.
A day later, Chongqing suffered the "May 3–4" massacre from the air, an event without precedent in the history of human warfare.
On May 3 and 4, 1939, Japanese warplanes carried out a "hellish bombing" of urban Chongqing. On May 3 the first wave alone numbered 63 aircraft. Over two days of bombing in relays they dropped 176 bombs and 116 incendiary bombs, and Chongqing became a sea of flames. 3,991 people were killed, 2,287 injured and 4,871 buildings destroyed. It set an unprecedented record in the history of war: more than 6,000 people killed or wounded in a single massacre from the air. Afterward, world opinion was in uproar, and the Japanese army was widely condemned for its atrocities.(6)
The Japanese warplanes carrying out the bombing belonged to the Naval Air Service, and on the second day their number rose from 63 to 72. They bombed the 23.91 square kilometers of Chongqing's Yuzhong Peninsula, the city's political, cultural and commercial center, again and again, at an average of 12 bombs per square kilometer.
The bombers flew in three echelons, starting from Chaotianmen Square at the tip of the peninsula and bombing from east to west. The first echelon went counterclockwise, bombing westward along the bank of the Jialing River. The second went clockwise, bombing southwestward along the bank of the Yangtze River. The third passed over the city center, across the Liangjiang Tunnel and the Shihuang Tunnel, to Eling Park. Not a single street on the whole peninsula escaped the bombs.
Taking advantage of the lull after the all-clear, my father led his men in repairing the telephone lines, and on every telephone pole he saw severed arms and limbs. Besides restoring the telephone lines, they also had to deal with the remains. Inside Datianwan Stadium the bodies were piled up like mountains, a terrifying and harrowing sight.
The Chinese writer Lao She, of the 1940s, lived through this great bombing and fled through the night along with the people of Chongqing. After the catastrophe he found a new spirit coming to life, and described it this way in his writing: No weeping, no cursing; before the glow of the fire, in the midst of the great blaze, the people seeking refuge hurried quietly toward the park. Now and then a shout rang out: it was the wardens' "Hurry, hurry!" Now and then came a peal of bells: it was a fire engine racing past. No looting, no angry cursing. This is discipline, this is unity, this is courage; this is the cultivation of five thousand years of culture, shown amid blood and fire, a strength and dignity that no one can humiliate.(7)
After the May 3–4 bombing, Chongqing was a place of ruined walls and devastation as far as the eye could see, and the face of the city was completely changed. The power and telecommunications systems were badly damaged. For as long as half a month the whole city was pitch dark after nightfall, and nearly ninety percent of the telephone lines were cut.
Households on their own initiative put kerosene lamps at their doors to light the way for passers-by and people on duty. At the time these were called "peace lamps" (太平燈).
News passed by word of mouth, and the circulation of the Central Daily News (中央日報), Ta Kung Pao (大公報) and Xinhua Daily (新華日報) doubled. The Central Broadcasting Station and the Voice of the Armed Forces broke in with news at any time, and battery-powered radios sold out.
Government offices, banks, companies and shops also changed their working and business hours, to 7 to 10 a.m. and 4 to 10 p.m.
Hard as survival was, the Japanese bombing did not break the fighting spirit of Chongqing's soldiers and civilians. When barracks were bombed, makeshift barracks went up at once. When a shop was bombed, so long as it had not burned down, a sign saying "Business as usual" would be hung up by the next day.
For department stores, restaurants and teahouses that had been bombed out or burned down, as long as even a scrap of usable ground remained, simple bamboo shopfronts could be built on the same spot within two or three days, and business went on. Production enterprises either went underground or moved to the suburbs. Chongqing that could not be bombed into collapse, Chongqing that stood unshaken: the world's media competed to report on it. This is our "spirit of the War of Resistance."(8)
My grandmother had just reached Chongqing with three children, coming from Guilin by way of Liuzhou and then north through Guiyang. She had at last found a temporary place to stay, but less than a week later she was caught in the May 3–4 bombing.
Having learned from hiding from air raids in Guilin, the family was quite calm this time and well prepared in advance. From the air-raid alert and the urgent alert to the all-clear, they followed the "Rules to Observe" issued by the Chongqing municipal government.
As soon as the all-clear sounded, the whole family ran out of the air-raid shelter and straight home. The house was already ablaze, and it was impossible to save even the most basic belongings and clothes. The greatest loss was two photo albums from many years before, now turned to ashes.
The home was gone, the children were crying, and my grandmother stood dumbstruck. My uncle, only seven years old then, anxiously asked her: "Mother, did you bring the money?"
My grandmother came to herself, looked at the little bag clutched in her hand, checked it, and answered: "Yes, I did."
All the family owned was some dry food and a little cash in that small cloth bag. This great bombing left as many as 20,000 residents homeless, and as many as 250,000 people were evacuated.
My grandmother took the children to a refuge center and also got in touch with my father, who was on duty. That same night my father and my grandmother found an old friend of my grandfather's, Colonel Bao Duo (鮑鐸), who served in a logistics unit. As the family of a missing officer, they applied to stay for a while in a small room at the Officers' and Soldiers' Rest Center in Nan'an.(9)
While my grandmother's family were crowded into the Officers' and Soldiers' Rest Center in Nan'an, my father was ordered to move with his unit to the He family estate at Lishigou in Nan'an. The estate covered about an acre and was divided in two: the south-facing part, with the hillside behind it, was made into the camp, and the north-facing part, looking toward the Yangtze River, was rows of houses.
The commander of the 1st Signal Regiment at the time, Sun Bochao (孫伯超), had been a classmate at Baoding Military Academy of my mother's eldest uncle, Yin Shikai (尹世鍇). When he learned of my grandmother's situation, he at once sent his chief adjutant to talk with Mr. He, the owner of the estate, and the family was able to move into the He family compound.
On October 9 of that year, my parents were married at the Chongqing International Hotel, with Regiment Commander Sun Bochao officiating. On July 7 of the following year, I was born at the Army Field Hospital in Lishigou.
On June 5, 1941 (year 30 of the Republic), Japanese planes subjected Chongqing to five hours of fatigue bombing, causing the "Great Tunnel Suffocation Disaster," in which more than three thousand people died.(10)
From February 18, 1938 (year 27 of the Republic), to August 23, 1943 (year 32 of the Republic), the air forces of the Japanese army and navy, on the orders of the Japanese emperor and the supreme headquarters, carried out a bombing campaign against the Chongqing area that lasted five years and six months. History calls it the "bombing of Chongqing."
To cope with the continued bombing by Japanese planes and reduce the loss of life and property, the Nationalist Government made use of the terrain and geology around Chongqing to dig many air-raid shelters. The largest was the one known as the "Shibati Tunnel," in the western part of the Yuzhong Peninsula near Jiaochangkou. It linked several streets, had entrances at each street corner, and could hold nearly ten thousand people.
At around 6 p.m. on June 5, 1941, the Japanese sent 24 fighter-bombers to carry out an air attack on Chongqing. In this operation they changed their tactics: 1. The air raid was made longer. 2. The planes circled in relays and strafed at low altitude, with at most six to nine planes in each wave. 3. They bombed the facilities around the air-raid shelters.(11)
The Chongqing municipal government had detailed rules for sounding alerts and evacuating people during Japanese air raids. As soon as enemy planes took off, our intelligence personnel immediately reported their type, number and direction of flight. When they passed Yichang the air-raid alert was sounded, and when they reached Wanxian the urgent alert. It usually took 20 minutes from the air-raid alert to the urgent alert, so residents had ample time to reach the shelters.
June 5 was clear and hot, with a shower in the afternoon. The rain stopped close to six o'clock, just when people were having supper or going out after the meal to stroll and enjoy the cool. Contrary to the usual practice, the air-raid alert wailed across every district of the city and was followed at once by the urgent alert. Especially around the commercial center of Minzu Road, Minquan Road and Zourong Road, residents panicked and ran wildly to the nearby air-raid tunnels for refuge. Within moments more than ten thousand people crowded into the "Shibati air-raid tunnel."(12)
The enemy planes arrived over Chongqing at about 7 p.m., concentrated their bombs on the busy downtown of the Yuzhong Peninsula, and every now and then circled low to strafe. Six to nine planes were kept over the peninsula at all times, one wave leaving and another arriving, for as long as seven hours, into the early hours of the next morning. By prolonging the air raid in this way, they achieved their tactical aim.
Because of construction defects, the Shibati public air-raid tunnel had never passed inspection. Since the attack came so suddenly, it was opened for emergency use. With more than ten thousand people pouring in at once, the air at once felt thin, and there was a severe shortage of oxygen. As the hours passed, first the children and babies cried without stopping, and the oil lamps on the walls grew dimmer and dimmer until they went out. The mood suddenly grew tense; some people became restless and agitated and began to behave strangely.
Survivors described the scene: their heads felt heavy and stifled, sweat poured off them, their bodies grew weak, and breathing was hard, as if they were drowning in hot water. People around them tore their own clothes to shreds without knowing what they were doing, as if they had lost their minds, and some even bit one another. It was too heartbreaking to bear. Many struggled to the last moment of their lives and left this world in bitterness.
At about 1 a.m. the all-clear sounded. Those who could still stand rushed for the exits in a crowd, and more pushing and trampling followed, with countless dead and injured. Everywhere inside the tunnel were people with twisted faces, fingers clawing at the ground, blood running from their eyes, ears, nose and mouth, skin split open and bodies covered in wounds.(13)
After the disaster, the KMT Central Party Headquarters, the People's Political Council and the Chongqing Municipal Council jointly formed the "Tunnel Suffocation Disaster Inquiry Committee" to investigate it.
The people of Chongqing were quite dissatisfied with the committee's reports. It was harshly criticized for covering up the death toll, controlling news reports, failing to explain clearly why the urgent alert had followed the air-raid alert almost at once, handling the bodies carelessly, and failing to rescue in time those who still showed signs of life.
Rumors of "traitors," of "Japanese spies" and of "fraud in building the shelters" spread among the public. There was also talk that someone had placed lights at the tunnels to guide the enemy bombers.
According to reports in the Xinmin Bao (新民報) at the time, besides the Shibati Tunnel, where the most people died, more than three thousand, more than two thousand died in the large Shitanshi shelter and nearly two thousand in the Yanwuting shelter. So talk that ten thousand people had suffocated spread everywhere.
To calm public anger, the Nationalist Government removed from office and put under investigation the mayor of Chongqing, Wu Kuo-chen (吳國楨); the garrison Commander-in-Chief and air-defense commander, Liu Zhi (劉峙); and the director of the Tunnel Works Office, Wu Guobing (吳國柄).
The disaster drew the attention of the US Congress. On August 26, 1941, President Roosevelt appointed General John Magruder as the first head of the American Military Mission to China. Three months later, on December 8, 1941, the Japanese launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, and the Pacific War broke out. The next day the Republic of China joined the Allies and declared war on Japan. In January 1942, Chiang Kai-shek took office in Chongqing as Supreme Commander of the Allied China war zone, with Joseph Stilwell as his chief of staff. From then on the War of Resistance against Japan entered its third stage, and the Republic of China no longer fought alone. On August 15, 1945, Japan announced its unconditional surrender.(14) (End of chapter 8.)
Chapter 9: Before Victory in the War of Resistance
My Father's Military Record
In August 1936 (year 25 of the Republic), the 13th class of the Whampoa Military Academy was recruiting in Nanjing. My father had just graduated from the Training Group of the Army Signal Corps after two years of study. He was posted to Yangzhou for practical training as a warrant officer signalman, and so missed the chance to sit the entrance exam. Later, when Whampoa classes recruited in Chengdu, Kunming and Guiyang, the demands of his duties kept him from applying each time.
In May 1940 (year 29 of the Republic), the 17th class of Whampoa enrolled cadets in Chengdu, and my father, then a first lieutenant and platoon leader, was selected for direct admission. In June of the following year, while still in training, he received orders promoting him to captain, and on November 20 he graduated at Tongliang, Sichuan. He was immediately appointed commander of the 4th Squadron of the Training Group of the 6th Signal Regiment, training the signal NCOs that the army units so badly lacked. The unit was stationed at Qibaoyan in Rongchang, Sichuan.
During the War of Resistance against Japan, officers of the Nationalist army were commissioned and assigned by the units in which they served, which issued their orders of appointment. On October 1, 1940, when my father was already a first lieutenant and platoon leader, he received a commissioning order from the Military Affairs Commission of the Nationalist Government, signed by the Generalissimo, Chiang Kai-shek. It approved his commission as a second lieutenant of the Army signal troops and, apart from a separate letter to the Executive Yuan requesting his formal appointment, ordered him to comply in the meantime. The result was that his appointment did not match his actual rank.
In May 1943 (year 32 of the Republic), the second session of the signal NCO training course of the 6th Signal Regiment's Training Group finished, and my father received an appointment order signed by He Yingqin, Minister of Military Administration. From then on, the commissioning of Nationalist officers was handled by a dedicated office.
In March 1945 (year 34 of the Republic), my father went to Kunming to take up a new post with the Chinese Expeditionary Force as a lieutenant colonel staff officer of the Provisional 20th Division. The appointment order was signed by Long Yun, head of the Yunnan–Guizhou Pacification Headquarters, but because of family circumstances he never took up the post. After my father came to Taiwan in 1950, this appointment was not recognized when the Ministry of National Defense reviewed officers' ranks and reduced their pay.
From January 1, 1955 (year 44 of the Republic), the officers of all three services of the Republic of China have been appointed by the President. (End of this chapter)
Chapter 10: Before Victory in the War of Resistance:
the Situation in China and Abroad
Strictly speaking, China's War of Resistance against Japan should be counted from the Beidaying incident in Shenyang on September 18, 1931 (year 20 of the Republic), until September 9, 1945, when Japan presented its instrument of surrender to China in Nanjing: a full fourteen years of fighting. For the two countries, Japan ended in crushing defeat, while China ended with a "bitter victory."
Saddest of all, the Nationalists and Communists fought like brothers quarrelling within the walls, and the civil war dragged on until 1949. On October 1 the People's Republic of China was founded in Beijing, and on December 10 the government of the Republic of China moved from Chengdu to Taipei. The two sides of the Strait have faced each other ever since, and the country is still not unified. Looking back on this page of history written in blood and tears, and on the international situation and China's position before the victory, we should reflect deeply on the lessons it holds for the Chinese people.
1. From February 4 to 11, 1945, US President Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Churchill and Stalin, Chairman of the Soviet Council of People's Commissars, concluded the Yalta Agreement at Yalta in Crimea on the Black Sea. The Soviet Union obtained postwar interests in China with the consent of the United States and Britain, and China was informed only afterwards.
2. On April 12, 1945, President Roosevelt died and Vice President Harry S. Truman succeeded him. On April 29, Italy surrendered to the Allies. On May 7, Germany surrendered.
3. From April 23 to June 11, 1945, Chairman Mao Zedong presided over the Seventh National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party in Yan'an, where he said plainly that as long as they held Northeast China, the Chinese revolution would have a bright future even if every other base area were lost.
4. From July 26 to August 2, 1945, China, the United States and Britain held the Potsdam Conference in Berlin, where the three countries discussed how to press Japan to surrender. Truman and Churchill attended, while Chiang Kai-shek only signed the declaration to signify his agreement.
5. On August 6, 1945, an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, and on August 9 another on Nagasaki. That same day the Soviet Union declared war on Japan, and the Red Army drove straight into Lubin in Northeast China (today Manzhouli, Inner Mongolia).
6. On August 14, 1945, the Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship was signed in Moscow. The Soviet Union would give the Nationalist Government material and moral support for its postwar recovery; the Soviet Red Army troops entering Northeast China could remain for three months; and the question of China recognizing the independence of Outer Mongolia would be decided by plebiscite.
7. On August 15, 1945, Japan surrendered unconditionally to the Allies. Earlier, by 12:10 a.m. on August 9, the Soviet Union already had a million Red Army troops inside Northeast China. The Chinese Communists' Eighth Route Army and its newly added units, 600,000 men in all, were massed at the edge of Northeast China awaiting orders to take it over. The next day, Commander-in-Chief Zhu De issued Order No. 1 and then Order No. 2 to advance into Northeast China. The Nationalist 52nd Army under Liu Yuzhang and 71st Army under Liu An-chi, fighting far away in North China, could not get there in time.
It was only in late August 1945 that Nationalist troops began arriving in Northeast China one after another. My father was posted to the Army's 9th Signal Regiment as a major staff officer at regimental headquarters, and the following March he arrived in Shenyang with his family to take up the post. Soon afterwards the civil war between the Nationalists and Communists broke out in Northeast China. (End of this chapter)
Chapter 11: The Whole Nation Celebrates Victory
As early as July 1945 the War of Resistance against Japan was nearing its end. In the war zones across China there were only small battles and skirmishes, and the Chinese forces won victory after victory. News of victories from the Nationalist army's four front armies and eleven war zones poured into Chongqing.
On August 10, the day after the Allies dropped the atomic bomb on Nagasaki and the Soviet Union declared war on Japan, at six in the evening a large orchestra on the streets of Chongqing struck up a stirring victory symphony, Beethoven's Third Symphony, the "Eroica," along with songs of the War of Resistance. This opened the celebrations of victory by every walk of life in Chongqing, the wartime capital. (1)
At the same time, the Central Daily News (中央日報), Ta Kung Pao (大公報) and Xinhua Daily (新華日報) brought out extra editions ahead of every other city in the country, reporting that Japan was about to surrender. Hundreds of thousands of copies were snapped up in an instant. People's feelings boiled over; the resentment and anger pent up in their hearts for so long poured out freely, and a great many people wept with emotion. Folk from the Northeast sang "On the Songhua River" (松花江上) with tears streaming down their faces, then shouted: "We can go home for New Year!"
Firecrackers, shouting and sirens rang up to the clouds. Groups of university and high school students led the crowds in singing war songs: "Song of Triumph" (凱旋歌), "The Flags Are Flying" (旗正飄飄), "March of the Volunteers" (義勇軍進行曲) and "Ballad of the Great Wall" (長城謠). Where now the tears and sorrows of the war? Our land of ten thousand li still seems a dream; with a child's glad heart we hear of victory, and no one in Chongqing sleeps tonight. (抗戰涕涙愁何在，萬里江山夢亦疑，猶喜童心聞捷報，此夜重慶無人眠。)
Early the next morning, shops large and small all over Chongqing pasted big banners reading "Celebrate Victory in the War of Resistance" and "The Japanese Army Surrenders" by their doors and set off firecrackers, until for a while firecrackers were sold out. So people took gongs, washbasins and the like and beat them nonstop in the streets, shouting as they went, "We've won! We've won!"
From August 11, government offices, schools, army units and barracks throughout Chongqing put up ceremonial arches, with the national flag flying at their gates. The Central Broadcasting Station and the Voice of the Armed Forces broadcast all day. Crowds of citizens packed the space in front of every newspaper office, all waiting for the moment Japan would announce its surrender. (2)
At noon on August 15, 1945, Emperor Hirohito of Japan issued the imperial rescript ending the war to the whole Japanese nation, accepting the Potsdam Declaration and confirming unconditional surrender. A few hours later, Chongqing's Central Broadcasting Station and the Voice of the Armed Forces, ten minutes apart, broadcast the stirring news that the whole nation had been awaiting for days. Every heart leapt and every cell was on fire. More than 1,200 strings of firecrackers, linked together, were set off in the commercial center of the Yuzhong Peninsula, burning all the way from Xiaoliangzi in the east to Shangqingsi in the west for a full half hour. The streets were a sea of people, bursting with joy and hugging one another, the scene every bit as grand as on August 10.
Then Chairman Chiang Kai-shek of the Nationalist Government, in the studio of the Central Broadcasting Station, personally delivered his "Message to the Soldiers and Civilians of the Nation and to the People of the World on Victory in the War of Resistance" (抗戰勝利告全國軍民及全世界人士書). During the broadcast the people applauded and cheered as one: "Long live the Republic of China!"
People living in the countryside around Chongqing crossed the river into the city in droves, and the ferries ran extra trips all day, carrying a good twenty thousand people. The American troops stationed in Chongqing all turned out too. A dozen or so small and medium jeeps decked with Chinese and American flags cruised slowly through the streets, and the soldiers kept jumping down, shouting in English, "Long live the Allied victory!" Drinking foreign liquor and giving the thumbs-up, they kept saying in halting Chinese, "China has won the war!" and "Ding hao!" A group of shoeshine boys threw down the little boxes on their backs, climbed onto the jeeps and drank champagne with the American soldiers, and could even say a couple of "OK, OK"s.
The exuberant American soldiers hugged and kissed the innocent children and lifted pretty young schoolgirls high in the air; the joy seemed almost a frenzy. My second maternal aunt, just off work after reading the news on the Voice of the Armed Forces, was also hoisted high by American soldiers and went pale with fright. (3)
Celebrations of victory went on every day all over the country, continuing until the Japanese surrender at Nanjing on September 9.
On August 17, Okamura Yasuji, commander-in-chief of the Japanese China Expeditionary Army, declared that the Japanese forces had complied with the order of Supreme Commander MacArthur and ceased hostilities, and that as soon as a ceasefire agreement was concluded they would carry it out immediately.
On August 19, the Allies signed a ceasefire agreement with Japan, and General Xu Yongchang, Minister of Military Operations of the Military Affairs Commission, led the delegation of the Republic of China to Manila.
Once the ceasefire agreement was signed, the work of arranging the surrender of the Japanese forces in China to the Republic of China formally began. Chiang Kai-shek, Supreme Commander of the China Theater, had cabled Okamura Yasuji the day before, ordering him to send a delegation to Zhijiang, Hunan, to receive the surrender orders.
On August 21, the air was clear and there was not a cloud in the sky. The soldiers and people of Zhijiang rose at dawn and raised the national flag to the national anthem, while aircraft soared overhead, the two making a splendid sight.
At 3:40 that afternoon, Major General Imai Takeo, the Japanese surrender envoy, led his delegation to Army Headquarters, where he called on General Xiao Yisu, the chief of staff, to arrange the surrender, and received a memorandum from Commander-in-Chief General He Yingqin to Okamura Yasuji.
In accordance with the cabled order of August 18 from Generalissimo Chiang, Supreme Commander of the China Theater, to Okamura Yasuji, Chief of Staff Xiao required Imai Takeo to hand over tables of the deployment and command structure of all Japanese army, navy and air combat forces stationed in Taiwan and in Vietnam north of latitude 18° north.
General He Yingqin's memorandum to Okamura Yasuji contained three main points: 1. The Japanese army, navy and air forces and auxiliary units were to cease all hostile acts at once; all weapons, ammunition, aviation equipment, vehicles, every means of transport and communication, and all documents and archives were to be kept safe, not moved, and left exactly as they were, until Commander-in-Chief He sent personnel to take them over. 2. The Army Headquarters of the Republic of China would first set up a forward command post in Nanjing; the Japanese side was to comply promptly and protect it properly. 3. Tables were to be provided showing which Chinese commanders, and the command structures of the war zones under them, would accept the surrender of which Japanese units, with surrender to be accepted on the spot.
To make the arrangements easier, the Japanese were to supply a list of radio call signs, wavelengths and transmission schedules, and on returning to Nanjing to pass these instructions at once to Okamura Yasuji for compliance. (4)
On August 27, through the mediation of US President Truman, the American government sent a special plane to Yan'an, and Mao Zedong, accompanied by US Ambassador to China Patrick Hurley, arrived in Chongqing to meet Chairman Chiang Kai-shek. Mao stayed in Chongqing for 46 days. Truman hoped that the meeting between Mao and Chiang would lead the Nationalists and Communists to form a coalition government to lead a unified China, so that the hard-won fruits of the War of Resistance would not be lost to civil war.
On the evening of October 10, Mao and Chiang, together with Chinese and foreign dignitaries, watched the Peking opera Gathering of Heroes (群英會) at the Daliangzi Theater in Chongqing. When it ended, Mao stood up, raised his arm and shouted, "Long live the Republic of China!" and "Long live Chairman Chiang!"
Mao Zedong flew back to Yan'an on October 11, and speaking to his confidants about the Chongqing negotiations, he said, "That was only something on paper."
The following year, the civil war between the Nationalists and Communists broke out in full. On October 1, 1949, the People's Republic of China was founded in Beijing, and the government of the Republic of China moved to Taiwan.
At nine in the morning on September 2, the signing ceremony for Japan's unconditional surrender to the Allies in the Second World War was held aboard the American battleship USS Missouri, anchored in Tokyo Bay. China's representative, General Xu Yongchang, Minister of Military Operations, was the third to sign the instrument of surrender, after General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, and Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz, representing the United States.
At nine in the morning on September 9, a week after Japan surrendered to the Allies, the signing ceremony for the surrender of the Japanese forces in the China Theater was held in the auditorium of the Central Military Academy in Nanjing. Representing Chiang Kai-shek, Supreme Commander of the China Theater, Army Commander-in-Chief He Yingqin, General (first class), received the instrument of surrender presented by the Japanese representative, General Okamura Yasuji, supreme commander of the Japanese forces in China. The central government also designated September 9 as "Victory Day."
Not long after Nanjing fell in 1937 (year 26 of the Republic), survivors of the catastrophe dug up a stone tablet in the ruins outside the city. On it was a poem by Liu Bowen (劉伯溫), its characters still faintly legible. The poem reads: "Wave on wave, the barbarian reed pipes play to break the heart; everywhere the people weep as they flee. Endure bitter hardship for three thousand days, and the plans laid for our descendants will prosper ten thousand generations." (陣陣胡茄吹斷腸，人民到處泣流亡。苦辛耐得三千日，燕翼孫謀萬世昌。)
From the Marco Polo Bridge Incident to the September 9 Japanese surrender at Nanjing comes to exactly three thousand days.(5)
In June 1943, before victory in the War of Resistance against Japan, the training class for signal NCOs of the Army's 6th Signal Regiment was reorganized into an NCO Training Group, and my father was promoted to major and leader of its 1st Team.
In October 1945, after victory, he was transferred to the Army's 9th Signal Regiment as a staff officer with the rank of major, stationed in Shenyang. The transfer took effect on April 1, 1946. Until he took up the post, he stayed on with the NCO Training Group to help with recruitment.
At the time there was loud talk of cutting back the Nationalist army. Why recruitment was still going on, the purpose was quite obvious.
In February 1946 my father left Sichuan with his family and travelled by way of Wuhan, Nanjing and Shanghai to take up his post in Northeast China. He had planned to make time to go from Wuhan to his hometown, Nanyang in Henan, for a visit, but because the situation in the Northeast was tense, he could not make the trip.
My father had left Nanyang after the Mukden Incident of 1931, when he was 14, and he never set foot on that land again. In October 2007 he died in Taipei at the great age of 90. I cannot help recalling a poem he once mentioned, Ai Qing's I Love This Land (我愛這土地): "If I were a bird, I would still sing with a hoarse throat: sing of this land battered by storms, of this river forever surging with our grief and anger, of this wind blowing in ceaseless fury, and of that dawn in the woods, tender beyond compare. And then I would die, and even my feathers would rot into the soil. Why are my eyes so often filled with tears? Because I love this land so deeply. Why are my eyes so often filled with tears? Because I love this land so deeply."(6, end of this chapter)
My Father and the Republic of China, Volume 2
About the Author:
Chen Xoung-Chi: born July 7, 1940; ancestral home Nanyang, Henan. Graduated in 1962 from the 6th class of the finance course at the Combined Logistics Finance School. Has worked for the Finance Department, Combined Logistics Headquarters; for the Keelung City and Taipei City committees of the China Youth Corps; and for the Chinese-language newspaper LA REPUBLICA (共和報) in Panama.
Chapter 12: The Situation in Northeast China after Victory
In 1941 (year 30 of the Republic), China's lone fight against Japan entered its fourth year. In Europe, Germany and Italy opened new fronts against Britain, France, the Soviet Union and others. The Soviet Union wanted to avoid being attacked from both Europe and Asia. Japan, for its part, wanted to concentrate on the war in China and avoid conflict with the Soviet Union. So the two guaranteed each other's neutrality. On April 25, 1941, in Moscow, they signed the Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact, which took effect that day and was to last five years.
The Soviet Union was a shrewd and calculating schemer: the situation was in its favor, and after the war there would be gains to be had in China. On April 5, 1945, Vyacheslav Molotov, Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars and People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, summoned Japan's ambassador in Moscow, Sato, and announced that the Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact would not be renewed when it expired.
Five months later, on August 15, on the eve of Japan's announcement of surrender, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan and at once sent troops to attack Northeast China, which Japan's Kwantung Army had occupied. Meanwhile the Nationalist army's 18th Group Army (the Chinese Communists' Eighth Route Army) had reached the edge of the Northeast, and as soon as the war was won, it was the first to take over the Northeast.(1)
On August 9, 1945, the day it declared war on Japan, the Soviet Union immediately launched simultaneous offensives against Korea (today's North Korea), Sakhalin and Northeast China. By August 15, within a single week, the Soviet forces had swept all before them. Japan was by then already preparing to surrender, and most of the Kwantung Army had been moved to fight in central and southern China. It was utterly unable to withstand a massive Soviet offensive, and the Soviets soon occupied the three northeastern provinces. Puyi, the puppet ruler of Manchukuo, was taken prisoner as well.
Soviet troops entered the Northeast from Vladivostok and Khabarovsk in the Far East and from Ulan-Ude and Irkutsk in Siberia, crossing the Ussuri River, the Amur (Heilongjiang) River and the Argun River. The Chinese Changchun Railway, open all along its length, gave the Soviet troops ideal conditions for occupying the Northeast smoothly and quickly.
The Chinese Changchun Railway had Harbin as its hub and extended in three sections, to the north, east and south. During the Chinese Civil War it played an important part in strategic attack and defense.
The Chinese Changchun Railway, called the China Changchun Railway (中長鐵路) for short, had a northern section from Harbin to Lubin (today's Manzhouli in Inner Mongolia) 935 kilometers long; an eastern section from Harbin to Suifenhe (today in Heilongjiang Province, near Russia's Lake Khanka) of 548 kilometers; and a southern section from Harbin to Dalian of 944 kilometers.
In February 1946 (year 35 of the Republic), before my father set out with his family to take up his new post in Shenyang, he received a personnel order forwarded by the Ministry of Military Administration. From April 1 that year, he was assigned to the Traffic Police Bureau of the Ministry of Communications as commander of the 2nd Squadron of its Wire Communications Group. He was ranked as the equivalent of a grade-six official of the middle (jianren) civil-service rank, and his original post as a major and staff officer in the 9th Signal Regiment was held for him without pay.
The task of the Second Traffic Police Bureau, Ministry of Communications, was to keep the whole length of the Chinese Changchun Railway open.(2)
Under the Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship signed on August 14, 1945, the Soviet Red Army was to withdraw from the Northeast by November 15. But the handover of the Kwantung Army's military supplies to the Soviets was not completed on schedule, and their full withdrawal was put off until March of the following year. This interval gave the Chinese Communist Red Army the best possible chance to deploy its forces in the Northeast as it wished.
In the second half of 1945, the Chinese Communists' groundwork was to block or ambush the Nationalist army as it tried to be first to take over the Northeast. Between September 10 and November 15 there were five clashes in all.
Xiong Shihui, director of the Nationalist Government's Northeast Field Headquarters, was kept back by Soviet pressure and did not take up his post in Shenyang until October 2. The advance units of the Nationalist army's 13th Army and 52nd Army did not reach Yingkou and Huludao until October 27, and they came under fire from Communist troops on shore as soon as they arrived. Then the New 1st Army (Sun Li-jen), the New 6th Army and the 71st Army (Liu An-chi), all under Du Yuming, landed one after another, and civil war in the Northeast began at once. By then the Chinese Communist Red Army already held the major cities north of Changchun, above latitude 44 degrees north.
In late March 1946, my father and his family sailed from Shanghai on the steamer Zhongxing and landed at Huludao. There we happened to see Japanese prisoners and civilians boarding ships: the Nationalist army was carrying out the repatriation of Japanese prisoners and civilians.(3)
In the history of the War of Resistance against Japan, the repatriation of Japanese prisoners and civilians fills a very important page. The Republic of China, standing as a victor, treated a Japan guilty of monstrous crimes in a spirit of repaying evil with good, something without parallel in history. From my own memories and from my father's accounts, told several times, I can reconstruct the scene.
Huludao lies on the west shore of the Yuandong Bay (遠東灣) along the Liaoxi Corridor, next to the historic city of Xingcheng and on the Beining Railway. It is a fine deep-water port. With the civil war just beginning, the International Red Cross chose it as the port for repatriating Japanese prisoners and civilians.
On the afternoon we reached Huludao, a column of nearly a thousand Japanese prisoners of war and civilians, guarded by the Nationalist Government's military police, was brought to the wharf. With officials of the Allies and the International Red Cross as witnesses, the government of the Republic of China drew up name lists and handed the prisoners and civilians over, one by one, to Japanese representatives.
The prisoners' rank insignia had been removed, so there was no telling officers from men; they walked in front. The civilians followed behind, helping the old and leading the young. In good order they walked toward the handover area. Prisoners and civilians alike, every one of them kept his head down and moved forward slowly in complete silence, and portraits of Generalissimo Chiang in military uniform could be seen in the column.(4)
My son Anthony has a Japanese colleague he is quite close to, who told him about his grandfather's experience as a Chinese-language interpreter for the Japanese army on the China front. Two months before World War II ended in 1945, the grandfather was transferred to Harbin. When he heard that Japan had surrendered unconditionally, he was first terrified, then wept aloud, and then sank into deep thought. Not long afterwards, when it was confirmed that China would repay evil with good and send the Japanese prisoners and civilians home, he shed tears of gratitude.
In August 1945, when Soviet troops fought their way into Harbin, great numbers of Japanese civilians were hunted down and fled in every direction, while the Soviets burned, looted and plundered, stopping at no crime. His grandfather and grandmother fled to Jinzhou and later entered a repatriation center to wait to be sent home. When the repatriation ship sailed into Kagoshima harbor, they were overcome with emotion and wept once more.(5)
On our second day at Huludao, we took a Beining Railway train through Jinzhou to Shenyang. Reception staff led us to the Ministry of Communications staff dependents' housing in Tiexi District, Shenyang. It had once been a staff dormitory of Japan's South Manchuria Railway Company and covered about two acres.
The buildings were of brick and timber, with double walls and double windows, and heating pipes were buried between the two walls. There were four rows of houses, ten households to a row, each with its own front door. The door stood a meter above the ground, and once inside you climbed stone steps, a design suited to the heavy snows of the Northeast.
Instead of a wall, the compound was surrounded by trees: cherry trees on the east and west sides, evergreen pines and cypresses on the north and south. It was a quiet, elegant spot in the middle of the bustle. At the end of March in the Northeast, the cherry trees were already putting out buds.
Once he had settled his wife and children, my father reported for work the following Monday and immediately left on a trip to Changchun, travelling up the Chinese Changchun Railway to inspect the stations along the line and the state of their communications.
While my father was away, I quickly made friends with the neighbors' children. Out of curiosity we crawled together beneath the tatami floor into a cellar less than a meter high, and there we made a startling discovery.(6)
There were three of us, all under ten and too young to know better. Driven by curiosity and a taste for adventure, we squeezed through a ventilation window of wood and wire mesh about 40 centimeters square into a dimly lit cellar. We could barely see, and gusts of cold air made us shiver.
In the cellar were many wooden crates of different sizes, lined up neatly against the walls. The big crates were nailed shut, and we had no idea what was in them. The small ones could be opened; inside were porcelain ornaments, plates and bowls, cooking utensils, tools, everyday things and the like.
I found a horizontal banner of white cloth written in Chinese characters, nine large characters: "In two to five years we will be back" (二至五年我們會回來). There was also a cardboard picture frame about 20 centimeters long and wide, its border painted with cherry blossoms, and a Japanese military flag in the upper middle. Across the whole frame several lines of Japanese had been written with a brush; I had no idea what they meant. I took these two things with me and climbed out of the cellar.(7)
A week later my father came back from his trip, and my mother showed him the two items. For what I had done, I got the same scolding from him that I had got from my mother; luckily I wasn't given a beating.
My father did not destroy the items. Instead, he had a red border sewn around the nine-character banner, which was two meters long and 50 centimeters wide, and hung it in the living room, clearly as a warning.
Whenever this comes up, I think of the slogan seen on every street and lane in Taiwan after 1951 (year 40 of the Republic), meant to lift the people's morale: "One year to prepare, two years to counterattack, four years to mop up, five years to succeed" (一年準備，二年反攻，四年掃蕩，五年成功). It is strikingly similar to the slogan on the banner the Japanese left in the Northeast in 1945, "In two to five years we will be back." More than seventy years have passed; rewinding history, what are we to make of it?(8)
My parents wanted to know what the writing inside the frame painted with cherry blossoms and the Japanese military flag meant in Chinese. They asked old Mr. Ning, a neighbor and the father of a colleague, who was deeply versed in both Chinese and Japanese. Only then did they learn that it was the lyrics of a song, meant to console the souls of fallen members of the kamikaze special attack units and to inspire those who came after them to go on serving the Emperor loyally.
As early as 1274 and 1281, Kublai Khan, founding emperor of the Yuan dynasty, twice sent his forces across the sea to conquer Japan. Each time the Yuan fleet was struck by a sudden typhoon on the way and entirely destroyed. The Japanese believed that a "divine wind" (kamikaze) sent by Heaven had saved Japan. That is why the suicide planes Japan sent out at the end of World War II to defend itself were called the kamikaze special attack units.
In 2015, at an exhibition of historical materials held by the Chinese community of Los Angeles for the 70th anniversary of victory in the War of Resistance, I saw a Chinese translation of the lyrics: "The cherry blossom is like a man, neither grass nor tree; the lovely butterfly is my wife. The cherry blossoms in full bloom, their petals falling in profusion, go off with the wind, fragrant souls forever. Drifting this morning, floating away tomorrow; cherry blossom, cherry blossom, I will follow you." (櫻花肖人，非草非木，美麗蝴蝶，便是妻子。櫻花盛開，落英繽紛，隨風而去，永作芳魂。今晨飄飄，明日冉冉，櫻花櫻花，我將效汝。)
Such worthless deaths were nothing but blind loyalty to the Emperor and did nothing to change Japan's final fate of defeat. Today, victory or defeat in war depends on each side's cutting-edge technology and how it uses drones in battle; the "kamikaze special attack units" have become a term in the history books.
Japan was able to rebuild and revive from the ruins after World War II and enjoy half a century of prosperity thanks to the diligence of its people, their drive to get ahead and their skill in making good use of their circumstances. Yet when we look at Japan today and weigh its overall national strength, we can be sure that, in the long river of history, Japan's golden age will not return. Like the cherry blossom, it will bloom quickly, fade quickly and be gone with the wind. At most Japan will be a socially harmonious and stable country whose technology keeps advancing, another Switzerland of Europe, ranked among the second-rate nations. (9)
From August 1945 through the first half of 1946, the situation in Northeast China was perilous and chaotic. The Nationalist Government was caught in difficulties in diplomacy, domestic affairs, national defense and the economy, and had to manoeuvre among the United States, the Soviet Union and the Chinese Communists.
The Soviet Union violated the Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship, and its troops did not leave Northeast China until March 1946. The arms and resources of the Japanese Kwantung Army in the Northeast had already been handed over to the Chinese Communists, who resisted the Nationalist army's takeover at every turn.
The Chinese Communist Party moved one step ahead of the Kuomintang. Its troops entered the Northeast first and seized the vast region north of Changchun.
The United States watched developments in the Northeast closely. It was quite dissatisfied with the Kuomintang's performance in government and kept applying pressure.
The Nationalist Government met obstacle after obstacle in handling the postwar questions of the Treaty of San Francisco and the sovereignty of Taiwan, and the signing of the Treaty of Taipei.
Under this pressure from within and without, the Nationalist Government made two important decisions, seeking lasting peace and stability for the nation and preparing for the future development of the Northeast. The first, with the unanimous support of the government and the opposition, was to end the period of political tutelage and put constitutional government fully into effect. On December 25, 1946 (year 35 of the Republic), more than 1,200 delegates to the Constitutional National Assembly, elected at home and abroad, passed the Constitution of the Republic of China in Nanjing. It was promulgated on January 1 of the following year (year 36 of the Republic) and took effect on December 25 of that year.
The other decision was to divide the three northeastern provinces into nine administrative regions. The former Liaoning Province was divided into the three provinces of Liaoning, Liaobei and Andong. The former Jilin Province was divided into the three provinces of Jilin, Songjiang and Hejiang. The former Heilongjiang Province was divided into Heilongjiang and Nenjiang, with Xing'an added to make three provinces.
During this time, my father's area of responsibility, the Shenyang–Changchun section of the Chinese Changchun Railway, saw one incident after another. Keeping communications open took a great deal of manpower and materials, and my father came home only three times. (10)
Siping, formerly called Sipingjie, lies at the center of the Songliao Plain. It once belonged to Liaobei Province and is today a leading prefecture-level city of Jilin Province, with a population of 3.3 million. It is the junction of the China Changchun Railway, the Siping–Tao'an Railway (from Siping to Tao'an, 383 kilometers long) and the Siping-Meihekou Railway (from Siping to Meihekou, 155 kilometers long). In 1946 its population was only 100,000, but merchants and goods gathered there and industry and commerce flourished. Because it sat at a vital crossroads of transport, it became a place both armies had to fight for.
On March 13, 1946, the Soviet troops stationed in Siping all withdrew. The Chinese Communist Red Army (the Northeast Democratic United Army) immediately crossed Changchun heading south and besieged Siping from Beifeng in the east and Zhengjiatun (Liaoyuan) in the west. This began the First Battle of Siping between the Nationalists and the Communists. The two sides attacked and defended for half a month; the United States stepped in to mediate, and after a ceasefire of a few days the fighting resumed. The period from April 1946 to May 1947 is called the Second Battle of Siping.
In October 1946 my father was trapped in Siping. Control of the railways around Siping became the focus of attack and defense for both the Nationalists and the Communists. (11)
The Nationalist army won a great victory in the First Battle of Siping. Officers and men gave their all, pressed their advantage and occupied Changchun on April 8, 1946. Lin Biao, however, massed his main force of 300,000 men near Siping, trying to stop the Nationalist army from advancing further. Forced by circumstances, Du Yuming's forces concentrated the New 1st Army, the New 6th Army and the 71st Army and launched an attack. They captured Benxi on May 3 and drove the Communist army out of Siping on May 19. By then Sun Li-jen's New 1st Army had fought its way to the north bank of the Songhua River, less than 100 kilometers from Harbin. On June 6, under pressure from George Marshall, Chairman Chiang Kai-shek agreed to issue a second ceasefire order, a truce of fifteen days. The Communist army got a breathing space, while the morale of the Nationalist army took a heavy blow. The Second Battle of Siping went on for a whole year, fighting and stopping by turns. My father took advantage of the lulls to come home, but each visit lasted only a day or two.
In May 1947 the Third Battle of Siping began. Earlier, Chiang Kai-shek had warned the Nationalist army: without Siping, there is no Northeast. Mao Zedong had also instructed Lin Biao: be prepared for tens of thousands of casualties, and turn Siping into a Madrid. The Siping Assault of June 1947 was so savage that foreign reporters described Siping as having become "the Madrid of the East."
Mao Zedong meant Lin Biao's troops to learn from the protracted warfare of the Spanish Civil War, from July 1936 to April 1939, and from its resolve to face a brutal, large-scale war. (12)
In the third round, the Siping Assault, the two sides committed 97 divisions in rotation, more than 900,000 men in all. The Chinese Communist army suffered over 40,000 casualties, and the Nationalist army's casualties were even higher, more than 60,000. Of Lin Biao's 300,000 troops, 100,000 were massed at Siping and another 100,000 at Benxi, and for the first time he used militia, preparing to retake Siping in a single stroke. Mao Zedong ordered his troops to fight for every inch of ground and hold Siping to the death.
In March 1948 the fourth battle began. The situation in the Northeast was critical, the China Changchun Railway ran only intermittently, and Shenyang was in grave danger. My father was ordered back to his unit, the Army's 9th Signal Regiment, where he became head of the adjutant's office with the rank of major.
On April 5, 1948, my father put his wife and children on a C-47 military transport plane bound for Qingdao, to seek refuge with my great-uncle Yin Dingwu, the exiled county magistrate of Rizhao County, Shandong Province.
On September 12, 1948, the Liaoshen Campaign broke out. Nie Ying, commander of the 9th Signal Regiment, urged my father to go over to the Communists with him. My father refused. He left the camp at midnight and walked for half a month to Peiping.
Liang Su-yung, the legislator elected from the former Liaobei Province who later served as President of the Legislative Yuan of the Republic of China, wrote in his memoirs: in March 1948 (year 37 of the Republic), the Chinese Communist army attacked Siping in five waves. It formed troops out of ordinary civilians and used human-wave tactics, driving them forward wave after wave. The bodies piled up like mountains, and the Communist army took Siping by trampling over the dead, something truly rare in the history of the world's battles for cities. (13, end of this chapter)
Chapter 13: The Liaoshen Campaign
That Decided the Fate of Northeast China
In the long struggle for Siping, the Nationalist army was strong at first and then faded, like a ball losing its air. The half of Northeast China south of latitude 44° North that the Nationalist army still held shrank from a broad expanse to scattered patches, and from patches to isolated points.
After the Battle of Siping, Mao Zedong ordered that before summer was over the Nationalist army must be completely isolated inside the two big cities of Changchun and Shenyang, and that Jinzhou be taken at once, sealing off every chance for the Nationalist army to withdraw south of the Great Wall.
Wei Lihuang, who became Northeast Bandit Suppression Commander-in-Chief in January 1948, was at this time being coaxed by the Chinese Communists, who told him, "You can serve the people wherever you are." Wei Lihuang went along with them and did everything he could to keep his troops where they were, avoiding direct contact with the Communist army. This left the Nationalist army's senior generals at a loss, and Chiang Kai-shek's strategic plans for the Northeast could not be carried out. (1)
On April 18, 1948, Lin Biao (4th class, Infantry Department, Whampoa Military Academy) proposed to Mao Zedong that they besiege Changchun and take it without shedding blood, and Mao agreed. From June 25 the Chinese Communist army surrounded Changchun with eight divisions and an artillery regiment, a force of 100,000 men. It cut off the Nationalist army's supplies and wore down the city's food. After three months of siege there was no grain left in storage. Worse still, there was no water to drink, and the starving were not allowed to escape. Two hundred thousand people died of hunger and thirst. Those with the strongest will to live were forced to drink water from dead men's skulls to survive.
In September 1948 the Nationalist army redeployed. Fan Hanjie, Deputy Northeast Bandit Suppression Commander-in-Chief and head of the Jinzhou Command Post, commanded two armies of the 6th Army Group, seven divisions with 100,000 men, to hold Jinzhou. During the Liaoshen Campaign, from October 10 to 28, more than 200,000 men of the two sides fought fierce battles of attack and defense in the Tashan area between Jinzhou and Jinxi, and blood flowed like rivers. The Nationalist army's strength was not equal to the task, and nearly 50,000 men withdrew from Huludao to Qingdao. (2)
The Communist army carried out its tactic of "besieging a point to strike the relief forces." The assault on Jinzhou succeeded, wiping out more than 50,000 Nationalist troops, while the Communist army also suffered 25,000 casualties.
By September 1948 the Nationalist army held only three large cities, Shenyang, Changchun and Jinzhou, and the railway towns along the 300 kilometers of line connecting them.
During the Liaoshen Campaign, Nie Ying, commander of the Army's 9th Signal Regiment in which my father served, went over to the Communists, and my father left the camp and walked to Peiping. Changchun fell on October 21, and General Zheng Dongguo was captured. On the same day, Liao Yaoxiang's mobile army group was crushed between Changchun and Shenyang. Shenyang fell on November 2. Three days later the Nationalist army lost all control of the Northeast, and the Chinese Communists occupied the whole region. (3, end of this chapter)
Chapter 14: The Situation on the Mainland
Before the Communists' Yangtze River Crossing Campaign
From March 29 to May 1, 1948, delegates to the First National Assembly, 2,961 seats elected from all the provinces and regions of the country and from overseas, met in Nanjing with about eighty percent attending, and elected Chiang Kai-shek and Li Zongren as the first President and Vice President of the Republic of China.
On the opening day of the National Assembly, people in the streets of Shenyang set off firecrackers and hung up banners to celebrate, and my father gave me my first lesson in civics. It was only a week before April 5, when my mother flew to Qingdao with her children.
During the 62-day Liaoshen Campaign, from September 12 to November 12, 1948, the Nationalist army had already lost its momentum. In the course of it, Nie Ying, commander of the 9th Signal Regiment, went over to the Communists, and my father walked to Peiping before Shenyang fell.
Before the Liaoshen Campaign was over, the 66-day Huaihai Campaign began (November 6, 1948 to January 10 of the following year), in which Huang Baitao and Qiu Qingquan gave their lives for their country. At the same time, the 64-day Pingjin Campaign flared up (November 29, 1948 to January 31 of the following year), and Fu Zuoyi went over to the Communists.
From Peiping, my father made his way by a roundabout route to Qingdao, where he was reunited with his wife and children. He became a signals staff officer with the rank of major in the 54th Division under General Liu An-chi of the 11th Pacification Zone. (1)
In December 1948, while the Huaihai Campaign was still going on, Li Zongren and Cheng Qian (a graduate of the Imperial Japanese Army Academy, a General first class in the army, Commander of the 1st War Zone during the War of Resistance against Japan, and once a candidate for the first Vice President of the Republic of China) opened full peace talks with the Communist army. The Communist army's morale was soaring at the time, and the talks made no progress. Chiang Kai-shek was seen as the biggest obstacle to peace, and public opinion forced him to step down. Li Zongren became acting president, and Chiang withdrew to Xikou, Fenghua.
On February 1, 1949, Peiping fell. The Chinese Communists resolved to launch the Yangtze River Crossing Campaign and set up the General Front Committee in Peiping. Its members included Liu Bocheng, commander of the Second Field Army, and its political commissar Deng Xiaoping; and Chen Yi, commander of the Third Field Army, its deputy commander Su Yu and its deputy political commissar Tan Zhenlin, among others.
For the Chinese Communists, who had no air force to speak of, launching the crossing campaign before the Yangtze's flood season began in May was the only choice. So they set up a forward command post at Sunjia Weizi, on the outskirts of Fengyang County, Anhui Province.
In March 2016, my wife and I, accompanied by our younger son Anderson, went to Bengbu to visit relatives. While we were there, we toured this forward command base. It covers about an acre and is little known, yet it holds an important place in the Chinese Communists' War of Liberation. (2)
The crossing command post was well placed, 20 kilometers from Fengyang. To the east ran the Tianjin–Pukou Railway, south to Pukou, which faces Nanjing across the Yangtze. To the west ran the Huainan Railway, south to Hefei and on to Yuxikou on the north bank of the Yangtze.
The crossing campaign began on April 20, 1949 and ended on June 2, 44 days in all. It had been planned in detail for three months and mobilized a million troops, while the Nationalist army defended with 700,000 elite troops. It included the battles of Wuhan, Nanchang, Nanjing and Shanghai, and the encirclement battles of Langxi and Guangde (both south of the Yangtze, in southeastern Anhui).
At 6 p.m. on April 20, 1949, the order to attack was given. The central group, made up of the 7th and 9th Army Groups of the Third Field Army, crossed first. An hour later the first echelon landed on a small island in the river about 25 kilometers west of Digang; the second echelon followed and went on to attack the other islands in the river. On the 21st they took Tongling on the south bank of the Yangtze, the first time the People's Liberation Army had crossed the river. The next day they pushed north along the Tongling–Wuhu Railway (from Tongling to Wuhu, both in Anhui) and struck straight at Nanjing. Nanjing fell on April 24, and the Nationalist Government moved its capital to Guangzhou. On May 26 the Communists entered Shanghai, and on June 2 they landed on Chongming Island at the mouth of the Yangtze, ending the crossing campaign. The Nationalist army's Yangtze defense line, from Wuhan in the west to Shanghai in the east, was abandoned in its entirety. The People's Liberation Army's power now reached across all of East China. (3)
On January 31, 1949, after the Pingjin Campaign ended, the Communist army planned to take in one stroke the 11th Pacification Zone in Jiaodong, held by Liu An-chi's 50,000 elite troops. By then my mother had already taken her children to safety in the countryside at Zhenru, outside Shanghai.
In early February, intelligence showed that a Communist force of about a brigade, militia included, was moving on Xianjiazhai (仙家寨) on the outskirts of Qingdao to probe the strength of the Nationalist army. My father was then with the 54th Division. Liu An-chi (劉安祺) ordered Commander Huang of the 808th Regiment, known as the "Living King of Hell," to meet the attack, and my father had already completed the signals arrangements beforehand. The heads of all the subordinate units and their operations staff officers were also gathered to watch the battle.
The Communist army launched its attack before dawn, the militia in front and the main force behind, and the whole front was as silent as cicadas in the cold. The Communists were already within firing range, yet Commander Huang held his troops still. The minutes and seconds ticked by, and everyone's nerves were stretched tight. When the Communists closed in on the assault position, Commander Huang gave the order, and machine guns, rifles, exploding hand grenades, mortars and the battle cries from the loudspeakers all broke out at once. Searchlights lit the battlefield as bright as day. Not a single Communist soldier made it one step past the line; they were wiped out to the last man.
Before the People's Liberation Army's Yangtze River Crossing Campaign, this was a rout in which an entire force was annihilated. After this battle of annihilation, my father was transferred to the operations division of the 11th Pacification Zone as a major and signals staff officer, and did the staff work for the Qingdao withdrawal. My mother, with her children, hurried back to Qingdao in mid-April, before Shanghai fell. On June 3, 1949, the Nationalist army withdrew from Qingdao flawlessly and sailed for Taiwan. (4, end of this chapter)
Chapter 15: The Civil War Years:
The Qingdao Withdrawal
From late November 1948 (year 37 of the Republic) to February of the following year, the Chinese Communists' North China Field Army and Northeast Field Army fought fierce battles against the Nationalist army of the Republic of China at Tianjin and Peiping, with forces of two army groups. Fu Zuoyi (傅作義) commanded an army of 600,000. On January 14, 1949, after 29 hours of fighting, Tianjin fell. More than 200,000 Nationalist troops were then caught in bitter fighting at Peiping. Fu Zuoyi went over to the Communists, the Communist army entered the city on January 31, and Peiping fell to the Communists the following day. The more than 50,000 defenders of Tanggu withdrew by sea to Qingdao and joined Liu An-chi's army group.
At the same time, troops of the Communists' Second and Third Field Armies faced 550,000 of the Nationalist army's best troops on a front centred on Xuzhou, reaching from Lincheng in the north to Haizhou in the east, and from Shangqiu in the west to Huainan in the south. On January 10, 1949, the Communist army waded across and stormed Shizhanzhuang. The fighting was so fierce that blood ran in rivers; dead bodies filled a trench three zhang [about ten metres] wide, and the Communists marched across them. Generals Huang Baitao (黃伯韜) and Qiu Qingquan (邱清泉) died heroic deaths for their country. This was the Battle of Xuzhou–Bengbu (徐蚌會戰), which the Communists call the Huaihai Campaign. By this point the Communist army had won absolute superiority north of the Huai River, and Qingdao, north of the Yangtze River, was the next target. (1)
In the first half of 1948, Liu An-chi's army group in Qingdao went through a major reorganization. It comprised the 32nd Army (corps commander Zhao Lin (趙琳)), the 50th Army (corps commander Hu Jiaji (胡家驥)), and the 36th, 54th and 84th Divisions, more than 100,000 men in all, under the 11th Pacification Zone.
My late father, Chen Qi'er (陳其二), was a graduate of the 17th class of the Signals Department of the Whampoa Military Academy. After the 54th Division was reorganized, he was promoted to the Fourth Section of the 50th Army and posted to the operations division of the army group headquarters, as a major serving as signals staff officer in a lieutenant colonel's billet. In the division were staff officers of the same rank, among them Zhang Guoying (張國英) and Ni Shiying (倪世英).
Not long after the lunar New Year of 1949, on a Friday morning around the beginning of February, Commander Liu An-chi called the commanders of all his units to an enlarged military conference. It was set for ten in the morning, in the conference room of the headquarters at Xianjiazhai, Qingdao.
Ten minutes before the meeting, everyone attending had arrived. Fifteen minutes past the hour, Liu An-chi had still not appeared; instead a phone call came saying that the commander's car had broken down on the way and the meeting was postponed by an hour. So everyone wandered about nearby, stretching their legs. And heaven knows how, just then two shells in a row landed right on the meeting place. Two people were seriously wounded and seven lightly, a tragic incident. Liu An-chi had narrowly escaped. (2)
The meeting was rescheduled, and Liu An-chi at once summoned my late father. His very first words were: "Staff Officer Chen, what the zha [his dialect for 'what'] is going on here? I nearly lost my life! How is it that the Communists know every move we make? You tell me."
My late father answered: "There are two possibilities. One is that our signal codes have fallen into enemy hands and they can already break them. The other is that we have Communist spies among us."
Liu An-chi said: "We can't rule out either one. Can't you change the codes?"
He replied: "I can change them, but the codes are issued by the Ministry of National Defense. I can't change them on my own authority."
Liu An-chi flared up and swore: "To hell with it! Ministry of National Defense, my foot. 'A general in the field need not obey every order from his sovereign' (將在外，君命有所不受). Do you understand? You change them for me! How long will it take? Tell me."
He replied: "At least a whole day." Liu: "I'll give you two days. Hand it in at this time the day after tomorrow." With that, he swept out.
That day, my father worked straight through the night. Using his own method, he sorted the frequently used and the common characters, and made key changes to single characters, military expressions and unit designations. It did not take him very long to finish. After checking it again and again and satisfying himself that there was truly nothing wrong, he submitted it to Commander Liu for approval the next afternoon.
Once it was approved, it was handled as a top-secret document. My late father, accompanied by a security officer, delivered the new codes by special car to the radio stations of every unit. At the same time the whole army launched the "Operation Lightning drill," carrying out thorough security work under the motto "Keeping secrets and guarding against spies is everyone's duty." The entire army, officers and men, were ordered that anyone who leaked secrets would be dealt with as if he had disobeyed orders in battle.
In the army you often hear the saying, "Signals are the soul of an army; once they fail, the whole army is routed." These revised codes were never filed with the Ministry of National Defense. From the time they came into use until the Qingdao withdrawal, the Communist army was never able to break them, and they remained in use right up to the Battle of Yangjiang between the Nationalists and the Communists in mid-October 1949.
After the Battle of Xuzhou–Bengbu, between February and June 1949, Nationalists and Communists clashed constantly on the Qingdao front, in nearly a hundred engagements. The Nationalist officers and men fought with all they had, and the Communist army never managed to set foot in the Qingdao defence zone, which created favourable conditions for a smooth withdrawal. (3)
In January 1949, after Tianjin and Peiping had fallen one after the other, the Communist army planned to cross the Yellow River and drive straight on Qingdao along the Jiaozhou–Jinan Railway. But Qingdao, backed by mountains and facing the sea, held a strong, rugged position that was easy to defend and hard to attack, and it was held by the Nationalist army's best troops; taking Qingdao would have cost a terrible price. So the Communists bypassed Qingdao and opened another front, crossing the Yangtze to take Nanjing first and then Shanghai.
No one had expected it, but the Communist army swept across the river like a knife through bamboo. On April 21 it took Tongling in Anhui, on the south bank of the Yangtze. On the 24th Nanjing fell, and the Communists plastered the city with propaganda posters announcing the coming founding of the People's Republic of China. The Nationalist Government moved south to Guangzhou.
After Nanjing fell to the Communists, Qingdao no longer had any strategic value worth holding at all costs. The central government decided to preserve its strength and give up Qingdao, and preparations for the withdrawal began at once in earnest. On May 26 the Communist army broke into Shanghai, and two days later Shanghai changed hands, which made the Qingdao withdrawal all the more necessary and urgent.
On May 22, with the situation in Shanghai critical, a huge fleet of 15 ships of the China Merchants Steam Navigation Company was ordered into the various wharves of Qingdao harbour, southeast of Jiaozhou Bay. The garrison immediately mounted a tight guard, telephone lines were run to the ships' sides, and radio stations were installed in the ships' cabins. Following the operations plan, loading went on day and night: first provisions, ammunition and equipment were put aboard, then the personnel of the medical, political work, quartermaster, military justice and ordnance units, then the military families. Last came the combat units: armour and cavalry, engineers, military police, signals, transport and infantry. The operation was so precise that even the cooks' pots, bowls, ladles and basins went aboard. (4)
The last wave to board was an infantry brigade and a radio station, fighting as they withdrew; the brigade commander's surname was Li, and the radio station chief's was Fu. The ship that took them off was the Hainiu, the last ship carrying Nationalist troops to leave Qingdao harbour. By then the fleet had already left Qingdao several hours earlier. The command ship was the Haisu, sailing in the middle of the convoy. Two of the Nationalist navy's Yang-class destroyers lay offshore with their guns trained on the coast, covering the last unit as it pulled out and boarded. It was the early morning of Friday, June 3, the seventh day of the fifth lunar month. No one who left Qingdao with the army that year will ever forget that the Dragon Boat Festival that year was spent on board ship.
After six days at sea, the troops reached Keelung Harbor and Kaohsiung Harbor. This elite force, with its iron discipline, did not stay in Taiwan. After rest and refitting, it was sent in late June to another combat stronghold. Most of its strength was moved to Guangzhou and Zhanjiang, and the 32nd Army was transferred to Hainan Island.
In the 1960s, the Virginia Military Institute in the United States used the Qingdao withdrawal as teaching material in military history, observing that "a perfect withdrawal is better than a perfect attack." The story of that signals staff officer who changed the codes was also part of the material. (5, end of this chapter)
Chapter 16: The Civil War Years:
Guangzhou Abandoned
On June 3, 1949, the flawless Qingdao withdrawal gave a shot in the arm to a Nationalist army whose morale had sunk low.
Judging from how the Nationalist forces were deployed between July and October that year, all of Guangdong and Hainan, most of the provinces of Guangxi, Guizhou, Sichuan and Yunnan, and parts of Gansu, Hunan and Jiangxi were under Nationalist control. So were the islands off the Zhejiang coast, Zhoushan, the Dachen Islands and Yijiangshan; Kinmen, Matsu, Dongyin and Wuqiu in Fujian; the Pratas (Dongsha) and Macclesfield Bank (Zhongsha) islands; and Taiping Island in the Spratly Islands. Xinjiang and Tibet lay further still beyond the reach of Communist control.
As for the overall political situation, President Chiang Kai-shek, though he had stepped down from office, still presided over all the meetings of party, government and army in his capacity as Director-General of the Kuomintang (KMT), and offered counsel for national revival.
On June 15, with the Nationalist Government already moved to Guangzhou, the Chinese Communists held the preparatory meeting for the Political Consultative Conference in Beijing. Mao Zedong was elected chairman of its standing committee, and preparations went ahead in earnest for convening the "Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference" and founding the "People's Republic of China."
In July, the Communists' First Field Army advanced into the Northwest, and Lanzhou fell. The Second Field Army made a long march to attack the Southwest. The Third Field Army's objective was to seize the islands off the Zhejiang coast.
On August 5, the United States published its 1,054-page white paper, United States Relations with China (美國與中國的關係), which made plain its dissatisfaction with the Kuomintang, the ruling party of the Republic of China. It was very damaging to the Nationalist Government.
On September 21, the Communists' "First Plenary Session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference" opened in Beijing. It passed the "Organic Law of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference" and the "Organic Law of the Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China," and elected Mao Zedong Chairman of the Central People's Government, with Zhu De and Soong Ching-ling as Vice Chairmen.
From September 22 to 30, at the First Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Dong Biwu delivered a report titled "Features of the Draft Organic Law of the Central Government," discussing what had to be kept in mind in carrying out the work of government at the central, provincial, municipal and county levels and in the autonomous regions once the new regime was established. On October 1, the Chinese Communists held their founding ceremony, and Mao Zedong, standing atop Tiananmen in Beijing, proclaimed the founding of the People's Republic of China.
Facing this sudden and drastic change, Liu An-chi's army group, strictly disciplined and well equipped, yet with the heart of the forsaken loyal subject and the outcast son, faced the dangers without fear, stood united as one, met the enemy calmly, and held firm in the Guangzhou defence zone. It worked closely and constantly with the Nationalist troops of the Guangdong clique and the Guangxi clique. During this time, its engagements with the People's Liberation Army became battles of attack and defence for the cities. (1)
In mid-August, a crucial two-day Nationalist military conference was held in Guangzhou. Nearly 50 officers attended, including Generals Yu Hanmou, Zhang Fakui, Hu Zongnan, Tang Enbo and Chen Jitang (陳濟棠), to study the defence of Lingnan and how to respond; some argued for attack, some for defence, and some for withdrawal. On August 24, Chiang Kai-shek summoned Ku Chu-tung, Yu Hanmou and Liu An-chi to learn about the situation at the time, and instructed them to have all their response measures properly in place.
By August 1949, the People's Liberation Army had taken Ganzhou and Ruijin in Jiangxi and was preparing to take Guangdong next. The 4th Army Group of the Second Field Army and the Fourth Field Army promptly deployed seven armies in northern Guangdong and along the Guangxi border. Following the unified deployment orders of the CCP Central Military Commission for the liberation of South China, the Communists' Fourth Field Army assembled the 4th and 15th Army Groups and the Guangdong-Guangxi Column, 220,000 troops in all, under the command of Chen Geng, commander of the 4th Army Group, with Ye Jianying as first secretary, and completed their concentration on the borders of Hunan, Jiangxi and Guangdong before the end of September. (2)
In terms of the Nationalist army's deployment, the forces of Yu Hanmou (余漢謀) under the South China Military and Political Headquarters numbered 150,000 men. They were stationed along the Canton–Hankow Railway from Qujiang to Guangzhou, and at Yingde, Qingyuan, Fogang, Zengcheng and other places. In the Shantou, Chao'an and Meixian area of eastern Guangdong there were two armies. At Zhanjiang on the Leizhou Peninsula there was one army. The Guangzhou defense zone held one army and two divisions of Liu An-chi's (劉安祺) army group.
On October 2, riding the momentum of the founding of the new China, the People's Liberation Army issued its order to attack and struck into Guangdong along three routes. The objective was the region east of the Canton–Hankow Railway and west of the Long River, 44,000 square kilometers, about one fifth of the area of Guangdong Province. The Nationalist army swore to defend it to the death but still could not withstand the fierce assault, and on the third day Nanxiong and Lechang fell.
On October 7 the right column, the 4th Army Group, took Qujiang, a large city on the Canton–Hankow Railway, and on the 9th it crossed the Dian River and took Yingde.
The central column, the 15th Army Group, also occupied Wengyuan, 120 kilometers southeast of Qujiang, on the 9th, then crossed the Weng River and drove straight down to Xinfeng.
On the 10th the left column also came down the Long River, seized Heyuan and made straight for Boluo. By now the People's Liberation Army stood 300 kilometers from the outer edge of the Guangzhou defense zone. Its momentum was as overwhelming as that of the North Vietnamese Communist army in April 1975, when it swept south to Saigon and unified Vietnam. (3)
The whole of Guangdong is rolling country dotted with hills; together with Guangxi it is known as the Lingnan hills. Mountains ring its edges, and the land slopes inward from all sides. Terrain like this favored the Communist army in taking towns and seizing territory.
After the Nationalist army's military conference in August, Liu An-chi's army group took the lead in drawing up an operational plan: "Destroy the enemy outside the borders, lure the enemy inside, and hold the city of Guangzhou." Defenses were laid out behind natural barriers: the east bank of the Dian River in northern Guangdong, the south bank of the Long River (隴水), the west banks of the Bai River (白水) and the Huang River (湟水), with the Wu River and the North River (Beijiang) in the middle. No one expected the Communist army to break through these lines within a week of launching its attack. Forced by circumstances, the Nationalist Government planned to withdraw by sea, following the Qingdao model. But the favorable conditions no longer existed, and the decision was made to "abandon Guangzhou and move the troops west." (4)
After October 1, the city of Guangzhou showed two completely different faces, one military and one civilian. The Nationalist army stepped up its war preparations, while on the other side there was singing and dancing and a life of luxury and pleasure. The glittering streets blazed with lights and flowed with wine, teahouses and gold shops did a roaring trade, Hong Kong dollars and US dollars changed hands freely, and the whole city looked prosperous.
Our home was in the southwest of Guangzhou, in the Baizi Building military dependents' village, on what is now the eastern section of Longxi Avenue. The Baizi Building compound was divided by a wall. The south side was a barracks, where a battalion of the Nationalist army's 808th Regiment was stationed. At evening roll call every day, the Whampoa Military Academy anthem and the "March of the Volunteers" rang out loud and stirring, carrying far across the neighborhood. After October 10, no more singing was heard. Instead, the Nationalist and Communist armies were locked in fierce fighting near Lubao and Guanyao outside Guangzhou. That unit never returned to its barracks; it became the vanguard of the Nationalist army's withdrawal west.
On the afternoon of the twelfth, my father came home unexpectedly. He had already bought tickets for his wife and children on a ship leaving for Zhanjiang early the next morning. In the evening, in great haste, we boarded the ship, and my father hurried back to his unit. (5)
Late on the night of the twelfth, a Nationalist mechanized assault force, together with an engineer battalion and equipped with a radio station, pushed from Nanhai via Jiujiang toward Yangjiang to clear the road of obstacles. Unexpectedly, every bridge along the highway, large and small, had been destroyed. The force's advance slowed down, and the engineer battalion wore itself out building bridges and laying roads.
By dawn on the thirteenth, the force had only reached the area of Kaiping. At this point the garrison inside Guangzhou began to pull out, with all the military families, women and children put on trucks and following behind. Around noon the Haizhu Bridge was blown up, and the last infantry battalion left Guangzhou. The eastern and central columns of the People's Liberation Army occupied Qingyuan, Huaxian, Conghua and Zengcheng.
On the fourteenth, the People's Liberation Army entered Guangzhou, then promptly regrouped and moved west, pursuing the Nationalist army through Heshan. By noon the next day it had reached Enping.
The main body of the Nationalist army withdrew west, meeting obstacle after obstacle along the way, and its column stretched out to a length of 80 kilometers. But on the stretch from Enping to Yangjiang the Communist army had deployed its forces along the north side of the highway, waiting for its prey to come to it, and had massed heavy forces on the west bank of the Moyang River to block the Nationalist army from crossing.
With the People's Liberation Army in position, at a single command it sliced Liu An-chi's 50,000 elite troops like a sausage, scattering them and wiping them out piece by piece. The Nationalist army never got across at Yangjiang. Only one battalion of the 808th Regiment managed to break out. The battle dragged the military families, women and children down with it; homes were destroyed and lives lost, husbands and wives and children torn apart. One could only ask the heavens in silence why. In the Nationalist army's war history this is called the "Battle of Yangjiang," and from start to finish it lasted no more than six days. Clearing the battlefield took a full half month. The Nationalist army's American equipment, weapons, ammunition and vehicles lay scattered along the Enping–Yangjiang highway and the riverbanks. Among them was the radio carrier truck my father had commanded, through which he had kept in constant contact with Commander Liu. (6)
Liu An-chi had become a commander without an army. He led a handful of officers and NCOs running for the shore at Yangjiang, among them operations staff officer Zhang Guoying (張國英), engineer battalion commander Ni Shiying (倪世英), signals staff officer Chen Qi'er (陳其二, the author's father), intelligence officer He Zhiqi (何治齊), radio station chief Fu Xingzhong (傅興中), as well as an aide-de-camp and two NCOs.
In those days Yangjiang harbor was only a fishing port, shaped like a winnowing basket with its open end facing the sea. Liu An-chi had run right out of his shoes. Barefoot, he squatted on the beach, staring blankly, in a sorry state. Fortunately, two NCOs who knew a little Cantonese had already found a fishing boat, which was waiting by the shore. Liu An-chi cried out urgently: "Staff Officer Chen, what do we do? What do we do?"
My late father replied: "My judgment is that there should be navy ships patrolling nearby. I'm trying to raise them now." It was nearly midnight. A few stars still showed in the sky, and the waves, driven by the sea wind, rolled in against the shore one after another.
From a hilltop in the distance came a voice over a powerful loudspeaker: "Liu An-chi, you are surrounded. You cannot escape. Lay down your arms and surrender at once."
Then a military song was played. Liu An-chi seemed a little dazed and said: "What's going on, are our troops having evening roll call?" Zhang Guoying answered: "It's the Eighth Route Army playing the 'March of the Volunteers.'"
Liu An-chi came to himself: "What! The Communists sing this song too?" The scene had all the desolation of Xiang Yu trapped at Gaixia.
When Staff Officer Chen called out, "I've got them!" everyone cheered, and then tears of emotion ran down their faces. A navy warship was waiting outside Yangjiang harbor, and they hurried into a small boat. For safety and speed, and to avoid overloading it, Staff Officer Chen, Intelligence Officer He, Station Chief Fu and the two NCOs stayed behind. Zhang Guoying left them with one sentence: "We'll come right back for you."
The five of them waited anxiously on the shore, straining their eyes, but the small boat never came back. Liu An-chi escaped danger; the pursuing People's Liberation Army troops arrived, and my late father became a prisoner. (7; end of this chapter)
Chapter 17: My Father's Record of Having Been Captured
In October 1949 Guangzhou was abandoned and the Nationalist army withdrew west. The army groups of the People's Liberation Army's Second and Fourth Field Armies caught Liu An-chi's 50,000 elite troops in a pincer on the highway from Enping to Yangjiang, a column more than 80 kilometers long. Seeing that all was lost, Liu An-chi ordered intelligence officer He Zhiqi to summon my late father urgently to join him.
At that critical moment, my father and radio station chief Fu Xingzhong abandoned the carrier truck by the Moyang River. They threw away all their personal gear, but took with them a radio transceiver, a box of spare vacuum tubes, and, in my father's pocket, a top-secret codebook of call signs for communications among the Nationalist army's combat units.
After joining Liu An-chi, my father, led by Intelligence Officer He, headed straight for the shore at Sanya Bay (三丫灣) near Yangjiang to wait for a chance to get away.
Because the transceiver, the vacuum tubes and the call-sign codes all did their job, Liu An-chi and Zhang Guoying boarded a warship patrolling offshore and escaped at the last moment, but my father became a prisoner of the People's Liberation Army. (1)
Before the People's Liberation Army arrived, they had destroyed the transceiver, the vacuum tubes and the call-sign codebook and thrown them among the rocks of the bay. The five captured men, with mixed feelings, offered no resistance and gave themselves up. They were ordered to remove their rank insignia and were taken to the threshing ground of a village. It was already the early hours of the next morning. There were more than a hundred captured officers and men, most of them familiar faces.
They went through a full day of a "study and awakening course," in which they had to account for their posts and careers, their military education, the battles they had fought in, and so on. They were also taught a song, "The Sky of the Liberated Areas," with no sheet music, singing along one line at a time.
To keep the prisoners from escaping, they were herded into a large pond where the water came up to their waists, to wait to be sent on to the rear the next day. (2)
Toward midnight, the prisoners in the pond, overcome by days of exhaustion, actually fell fast asleep one after another, standing in the water. Intelligence officer He Zhiqi crept quietly over to my father, gave him a gentle push and whispered: "Run."
My father, who had been lost in thought, worrying whether his wife and children were safe, came to himself. He Zhiqi added: "Follow my lead."
In one quick bound they slipped out of the guards' sight, jumped onto the bank and dashed into the trees.
My father asked: "What do we do next?" He answered: "Go to Yangjiang town, buy boat tickets and get out of here." "With what money?" Old He answered: "Feel your waistband."
Only then did my father understand. He meant the two gold ingots that my mother had sewn into a waistband with her own hands and given to my father on the evening he said goodbye to his wife and children.
Before dawn the two of them reached a private house in Yangjiang town, where they changed into civilian clothes. After breakfast they went straight to a shipping company and exchanged the two gold ingots for two tickets on a boat leaving for Hong Kong that morning. They reached Hong Kong before nightfall.
With the help of a former superior, a retired major general surnamed Zhai who was living in Hong Kong as an overseas Chinese, they were admitted without trouble. My father then went on to Hainan Island and was reunited with his wife and children in Haikou. In January the following year my mother took the children to Taiwan, and two months later my father arrived in Keelung with the 32nd Army. Intelligence Officer He went directly from Hong Kong to Kaohsiung, and he too was reunited with his wife and children in Taiwan. (3)
On March 1, 1950 (year 39 of the Republic), Mr. Chiang Kai-shek resumed office in Taiwan and took up the duties of president. The three services were then reorganized. My father's former unit, the Army 50th Army, kept its designation. When he rejoined it, he was assigned to the officers' pool as a supernumerary officer.
A series of personnel policy rulings for the Nationalist army followed. Beginning on October 1, 1950, there came in turn declarations of official rank, declarations of party membership, declarations of any record of having been captured, and a full review of the ranks and posts of all officers and NCOs.
In the declaration of official rank, his appointment order as a lieutenant colonel staff officer of the 20th Division, signed by Long Yun, head of the Yunnan–Guizhou Pacification Headquarters, was not recognized. His appointment in January 1950 as a lieutenant colonel staff officer at the headquarters of the Army 32nd Army was allowed to stand after he appealed. But in the full review of ranks, with its pay cuts, he was reduced to major.
In the declaration of party membership, my father had joined the Kuomintang in Yangzhou in December 1935 (year 24 of the Republic). With his declaration he attached his party card number in the "Jun-Jian" series, and the reply came back: KMT Central Party Headquarters has no record on file.
In accounting for the time, place and circumstances of his capture, my father of course declared everything honestly. (4)
After my father reported back to his unit, he went through layer upon layer of accounting and screening. One after another, the supernumerary officers in the officers' pool were given real posts; only some of those with a record of having been captured were still waiting for assignments.
My father's senior classmate from the 15th class at Whampoa, Colonel Chang Chengfu (常成輔), section chief of signals of the Army 50th Army, vouched for him firmly. After a wait of one year and two months, on May 10, 1951 (year 40 of the Republic), a telegraphic order from the headquarters of the Army 50th Army assigned my father, as a supernumerary officer at his existing rank, to serve as acting deputy battalion commander of the signal battalion. Two months later, on July 1, he was confirmed in the post. On the same day the president's commission arrived, confirming him as a major of the Army signal troops and assigning him a service number.
My father served as deputy commander of the signal battalion for three years and three months, an unusually long time. During that period he assisted the battalion commander, a man surnamed Li, and in two successive years their battalion rose from fourth place to first in the annual performance evaluation of all the Army's signal battalions.
On October 1, 1954 (year 43 of the Republic), the Ministry of National Defense ordered my father appointed as a major staff officer in the signals section of the Army 1st Army, to assist the section chief, Chang Chengfu, whose workload was heavy.
From his reduction to major in July 1950 until he was promoted back to lieutenant colonel in May 1955 (year 44 of the Republic), not counting his years of service on the mainland, he wore a single plum blossom on his shoulder (the insignia of a major) in Taiwan for six years without promotion, despite excellent evaluations. This was truly exceptional. (5)
In October 1954, at one of the routine annual personnel promotion review meetings, the signals section chief, Chang Chengfu, declared with great emotion: "Staff Officer Chen's outstanding performance is plain for all to see. I will stake my life and my family on his loyalty."
My father's name appeared on the annual promotion roster submitted to Army Headquarters. On January 1 of the following year, my father was promoted to lieutenant colonel of signal troops. On May 1, the appointment order from the Ministry of National Defense arrived, promoting my father to lieutenant colonel and battalion commander of the 781st Signal Battalion, its second commander since it was formed. A month earlier, his new party card, a "Guozheng"-series card (國徴字黨證) issued on his rejoining the Kuomintang (KMT), had also been delivered. (6)
On December 2, 1954 (year 43 of the Republic), the Republic of China and the United States of America signed the Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty. Under this treaty, the Ministry of National Defense selected general officers, field officers and company officers of all grades from the agencies, schools and units of the three services to go to the United States for specialized military training lasting from three months to half a year.
In July 1955 (year 44 of the Republic), not long after my father took command of the signal battalion, he received a circular from the Ministry of National Defense, passed on by Army Headquarters. He was startled to find the names of Chang Chengfu and my father on the list of the first group of commanders from the army's combat units to be sent to the United States for training. For my father, this was truly justice, belated as it was. (7)
The 781st Signal Battalion was a mobile, independent signal unit that could be attached to any formation at army level or above. It had been formed by expanding the former signal battalion of the 50th Army, organized along US Army lines and fitted with American equipment, and it was attached to the Army 1st Army. The top leadership repeatedly entrusted it with important missions. In the atmosphere of those days, it was no small thing for my father to become its battalion commander.
The dates of the training in the United States were set by the American side. The training period happened to coincide with the annual equipment inspection, which would be followed closely by the first joint exercise of the three services since the Nationalist Government moved to Taiwan, held in preparation for later joint Sino-American military exercises. The Ministry of National Defense chose the 781st Signal Battalion to take charge of signals for the exercise.
At this critical moment, the list of those to be trained in the United States included two signal chiefs from the same army, and leaving their posts to inexperienced stand-ins might jeopardize the whole undertaking. The corps commander, General Xiao Rui, proposed that only one of the two, Section Chief Chang or Battalion Commander Chen, be sent for training. When this was reported to Army Headquarters, my father was moved to the list for the second group. (8)
On May 1, 1951 (year 40 of the Republic), the US Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG), Taiwan was established in Taipei, and its first chief, Major General William C. Chase, took up his post.
In March 1952 (year 41 of the Republic), a military adviser from the United States Army Signal Corps, Major Herbert, came to the makeshift barracks of a signal battalion on Zhongshan Road in Miaoli township to see conditions for himself. He was deeply impressed by the hardship of the officers' and men's lives, their meager pay, their efficient use of signal equipment and their skill in technical operations. He had high regard for the talent my father showed as the commander's deputy, producing visible results within a short time. Through the interpreter, he said to my father's face: "If you get the chance, you could come to the United States and learn some new things."
In November 1955, Section Chief Chang Chengfu passed the physical examination, the interview and the overall evaluation, and set off for six months of training at the United States Army Signal Corps (USASC) school on the outskirts of Fort Gordon, Georgia. (9)
In 1954, the signal units of the ROC Army were gradually re-equipped with new American equipment. Manually operated telephone switchboards gave way to automatic ones. The frequency range of radio transceivers now reached the shortwave band, and each set, equivalent to a small broadcasting station, was installed in a self-propelled carrier truck.
The independent signal battalion had one radio company, two wire-construction companies and one headquarters company. It had more than 800 officers and men and nearly 200 vehicles of various kinds, and nearly 70 percent of its officers and men, my father among them, held driver's licenses. The makeshift barracks on Zhongshan Road in Miaoli township could no longer hold them.
In 1955, the 781st Signal Battalion and the headquarters of the Army 1st Army completed their relocation before the end of June. The headquarters moved into the Gancheng barracks in Taichung, and the signal battalion moved into barracks on Sanmin Road in Taichung city. The move came just as my father was taking command of the battalion.
In December 1955, the army's units underwent equipment inspection, while Section Chief Chang Chengfu was already at the US Army Signal School for his training. (10)
At the end of December 1955, in the Ministry of National Defense's annual equipment inspection, the 781st Signal Battalion lived up to expectations and passed with ease, winning first place among the independent battalions of every branch in the whole army.
In January 1956 (year 45 of the Republic), my father was ordered to serve as acting section chief of signals of the Army 1st Army. At the same time, he received a directive from the General Staff Headquarters, Ministry of National Defense, passed on by Army Headquarters: for the first joint exercise of the three services, the 1st Army's signal section was to draw up the plan for the army's signal support, and the 781st Signal Battalion was to carry it out. This was the biggest challenge my father had faced in the twenty years since he graduated from the Officers' Training Brigade of the Army Signal Corps and went into the War of Resistance against Japan and the Chinese Civil War. (11)
After receiving the directive, my father gathered the staff officers of the signal section and the company commanders and deputy company commanders of the signal battalion at the Gancheng barracks in Taichung for a joint meeting. They went over the exercise as a whole and the part of it for which they were responsible.
After more than half a month of study day and night and many rounds of sand-table war-gaming, an exercise plan was at last completed, with a Red army and a Blue army facing off and the 781st Signal Battalion coordinating amphibious operations.
When it was reported to Army Headquarters, the plan was approved and filed, and orders came to press ahead with preparations for the exercise. (12)
In late February, just after the Spring Festival, the General Staff Headquarters, Ministry of National Defense, issued the mobilization order for the exercise. The 781st Signal Battalion's two wire-construction companies and one radio company, with 32 wire-laying trucks and 12 radio carrier trucks, moved into barracks at Gaoshanding in Yangmei, Xuejia in Chiayi, Rende in Tainan, the Army Infantry School at Fengshan and Jiadong in Pingtung. Their mission during the exercise was to keep communications open for the ground units of every arm.
In the days before the exercise, my father went back and forth among the barracks, encouraging the men stationed there to strive for the highest honors. The largest joint exercise of the three services since the government moved to Taiwan produced outstanding results and was a complete success. When Army Headquarters rated its participating units, the 781st Signal Battalion ranked at the top. My father was awarded a major merit citation, and both the unit and he himself were entered in that year's performance reviews. (13)
In March, the azaleas bloomed in brilliant, magnificent colors, spreading over the whole foot of Jiangjun Mountain in Miaoli, and from time to time the call of the cuckoo carried down to the military dependents' village.
Selection began for the second group of officers to be trained in the United States. Those were years of scarcity and hardship, when soldiers' pay was meager and military families lived in poverty. To be chosen and actually go would not only help one's promotion but also improve life for one's wife and children.
At the time, my father's monthly salary was NT$800, plus a commander's allowance of NT$200, for a total of NT$1,000. Supporting a family of eight on this was truly hard, and my mother could only take on side work to get us through.
At the exchange rate of the time, one US dollar was worth NT$42. The American military paid officers training in the United States an allowance at US Army rates, US$200 a month, equal to NT$8,400, or eight and a half months' pay for a Nationalist army lieutenant colonel commanding a battalion. (14)
On a Tuesday morning in March, my father went to the Army 801 General Hospital in Taipei for the physical examination and the interview, and the results of both were sent on for review. A few days later, a most-urgent document from Army Headquarters, the List of Officers of All Branches Approved for Study in the United States (核定各兵科赴美研習軍官名單), reached the headquarters of the 1st Army. My father's name was not on it. Instead, he was found on the attached list of those not selected, with a note in the remarks column: "This officer has a record of having been captured, and suffers from trachoma and athlete's foot."
The first weekend afterwards, my father came home from Taichung to Miaoli and, as always, chatted and laughed easily with his wife and children, as if nothing had happened. (15)
In the last twenty years of Japanese rule, the rate of trachoma in Taiwan reached 100 percent in the western coastal areas and 50 to 80 percent elsewhere; it only gradually died out in the 1970s (the Republic's 60s).
In September 1950 (year 39 of the Republic), I was in the fourth grade at Datong Elementary School in Miaoli township. All fifty pupils in my class had trachoma, and every day we applied tetracycline ointment supplied by the United Nations, for three years in a row until we graduated. In the barracks of those days, two out of every three officers and men had trachoma; the Ministry of National Defense's military medical system should have records of it.
Athlete's foot, commonly called "Hong Kong foot," is very hard to get rid of. Taiwan's climate is humid, and with the Nationalist army drilling day after day, eight or nine out of ten soldiers had it to some degree.
Clearly, my father's trachoma and athlete's foot were not enough to disqualify him from training in the United States; the real reason lay in "a record of having been captured." (16)
The Annals of Emperor Ling (孝靈帝紀) in the Book of the Later Han (後漢書) record that posts such as local county magistrate were priced according to the size, population and wealth of the district, and were opened to bidding. In Chinese history, the buying and selling of office is nothing new; it happened in almost every dynasty.
Leave aside whether bribery and profiteering actually went on in the 1950s (the Republic's 40s). Just look at the buying and selling of office during the term of Chen Shui-bian, the tenth and eleventh President of the Republic of China (2000–2008), which the newspapers showed really did happen. Promotion to major general and to lieutenant general each had its price. For those with weak qualifications, a strong craving for a general's star, and a readiness to follow wrongdoing as water flows downhill, this no doubt opened a wide door straight to their goal. (17)
Before my father went to Taipei for the selection, his mind was already made up: selected or not, he would go through the proper procedure. Even if paying bribes for advantage really went on and he could have done the same, he would stay as clear as water and as bright as a mirror, holding firm to his integrity and never forgetting the teachings of his forebears.
That "a record of having been captured" was made the main test of loyalty and ideological reliability, a rule so crude, a notion so outdated, a practice that so overcorrected, buried who knows how many of the nation's talented men. I regret it for the party and the nation, and I applaud my father's integrity in holding to his principles.
My father was a prisoner for no more than fifty hours. Could the Communists really brainwash a man in that time? All his life my father was broad-minded and cheerful, optimistic and composed. After the rejection notice arrived, he faced my mother and even sang a passage of Peking opera: "My lady, from now on you will have to toil even harder." (18)
In early June 1956, the 1st Army received a commendation from the General Staff Headquarters, Ministry of National Defense, passed on by Army Headquarters. It praised the 781st Signal Battalion for winning excellent ratings or first place in the army-wide equipment inspections and field exercises for three years in a row, and noted that during the joint exercise of the three services, the signal section and the signal battalion had supported each other, the exercise plan had been thorough, and its execution flawless. It ordered the 781st Signal Battalion to represent the army's signal units in the military parade for the 1956 Double Tenth National Day of the Republic of China. Chang Chengfu, the army's section chief of signals, was cited for thorough staff work and an excellent record in his training in the United States; a request for him to be received by the President had been approved, with the date to be announced later.
At noon on the second Saturday of June, the officers and men of the signal battalion and the signal section held a joint Dragon Boat Festival dinner at the signal battalion's barracks in Taichung, to celebrate the honor and to welcome Section Chief Chang home. (19)
At the Dragon Boat Festival dinner, Section Chief Chang said: "In May 1951, Battalion Commander Chen was promoted from supernumerary officer at 50th Army headquarters to major and deputy battalion commander of the signal battalion. In July 1954, he became a major and staff officer in the 1st Army's signal section, and in May 1955 he took command of the 781st Signal Battalion as a lieutenant colonel. That makes five years and one month.
"He has lived and worked together with all of us brothers in the signal battalion and the signal section. We lived in makeshift barracks and ate greens and turnips, yet he never shrank from hardship in these harsh conditions, and our work has always ranked at the top of the whole army. While I was training in the United States, he stood in for me. Under his planning, the signal section's staff work was thorough, the signal battalion carried it out to the letter, and in the joint exercise of the three services we accomplished our mission flawlessly.
"Today, my being received by the President is the result of the combined efforts of all of you brothers. Here I want to thank my junior classmate, Battalion Commander Chen, for all his hard work." (20)
Taking part in the 1956 National Day parade of the Republic of China and being reviewed by the President was, one could say, the greatest honor of my father's more than thirty years in uniform. A lieutenant colonel and battalion commander, he stood in the command vehicle and led two-thirds of his battalion, nearly five hundred officers and men, riding in more than a hundred wire-laying trucks, carrier trucks and signal equipment trucks, past the reviewing stand in a mighty display of military strength. Like the scholar-generals of old with "feather fan and silk scarf" (羽扇綸巾), he was full of dash and spirit. He was 39 that year.
Worth commending is that this grand parade was broadcast live by the Voice of the Armed Forces, the Taipei Armed Forces Broadcasting Station, and carried by stations across the country. The announcer was my aunt (my father's sister), First Lieutenant Chen Qiquan (陳其荃), a graduate of the first class of the Political Staff College. Her clear diction, authentic Mandarin, quick reactions and thorough preparation won wide praise. That a brother and sister should share heavy responsibilities on the same important occasion became a much-told story at the time.
After the National Day parade, Chang Chengfu (常成輔) came back from an audience with the President and, gathered with his peers, told them how it had gone. In his thick Henan accent he said: "When they led me into the Presidential Office I was a bit nervous. While I waited to be called in I was calm enough, but when they called my name I started shaking all over and broke into a cold sweat. I thought, this is plain weird, the President is only human, what am I scared of? And in my heart I kept saying, Oh, Ma, what do I do, what do I do?" The room roared with laughter. (21)
On December 15, 1956 (year 45 of the Republic), my father received a personnel order from Army Headquarters transferring him to the post of instructor in the Field Training Department of the Army Signal School, effective January 1, 1957 (year 46 of the Republic). Command of the 781st Signal Battalion passed to a lieutenant colonel surnamed Wei, a signal training officer in the Fifth Section of the Fifth Department at Army Headquarters. It was only one year and eight months since my father had taken command of the battalion on May 1, 1955 (year 44 of the Republic).
Under normal personnel practice, barring special reasons, the commanding officers of units, agencies and schools served two years as a rule before being transferred, and those with outstanding performance could be extended by one to two years.
The transfer order came abruptly, and no reasonable explanation could be found for it. Could it be that his "record of having been captured" was at work again?
For a soldier, obedience is a sacred duty. Without a word of protest, his mind made up, my father announced the news to the whole battalion at the flag-raising ceremony and ordered the battalion headquarters company to complete the handover procedures without delay. (22)
My father had shared good times and hard times with his comrades in the signal battalion for six years, and when the moment of parting came it was hard to let go. The farewell party was warm and moving. All the officers and men of the battalion lined up to see him off, wishing each other well and promising to meet again.
His closest comrades in the cause, Company Commander Kong Xiangwan (孔祥萬), Platoon Leader Hu Zhongfu (胡仲甫), the communications equipment maintenance officer Zhai Liansheng (翟連陞), the veteran NCO Hua Yushan (花玉山) and the driver Sun Jiamao (孫家茂), represented the whole battalion and escorted him all the way to our home in Miaoli.
Two days later my father went alone to Yilan to report to the Signal School. His immediate superior turned out to be his classmate Colonel Fei Bingtai (費炳泰), of the 4th class of the Training Group of the Army Signal Corps and the 17th class of the Whampoa Military Academy's Signals Department. (23)
The Army Signal School had been the cradle that, during the War of Resistance against Japan, trained the 17th, 18th and 19th classes of the Whampoa Military Academy's Signals Department on the academy's behalf. After the move to Taiwan, it was also the professional military school where my father twice enrolled, in the 4th Advanced Class and in the 7th class of the Signal Commanders' Training Course that the school ran for the Army Signal Department. To serve as an instructor at his alma mater was a great honor for him.
For my father, with his combat experience, this was an appointment he should have handled with ease and pleasure. Moreover, as far back as the Emei Mountain Officers' Training Corps, when he was only a first lieutenant, he had stood before a roomful of generals and taught them field signal operations, and he had developed the steady bearing of a teacher.
Besides teaching in the classroom, my father also took his students out for field exercises. Xinshe village, a seaside village on the northeastern outskirts of Yilan, had terrain and features (paths, farmhouses, grain-drying yards, ponds, small groves) that closely resembled another scene of the place where my father had been captured years before. (24)
My father combined a lifetime of combat experience with his teaching materials, drawing on famous battles in China and abroad to show how failing to control communications led to heavy losses. Napoleon's attack on Moscow in 1812, the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 and Japan's surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 were all examples.
My father drew his own teaching charts and briefing materials, thanks to his skill in decorative lettering, a talent that had first shown itself during the War of Resistance in Rongchang, Sichuan, when he served as a cadre officer in the Signal NCO Training Group. In his first year at the Signal School his students voted him an outstanding instructor.
In August 1958 (year 47 of the Republic), with tension rising in the Taiwan Strait, Army Headquarters ordered the Signal School to send a three-man team to Kinmen, all instructors with combat experience, my father among them, to teach combat signals to the signal companies of each division stationed there.
At that time Zhao Jiaxiang (趙家驤), Ji Xingwen (吉星文), Zhang Jie (章傑) and Zhang Guoying (張國英) were all deputy commanders of the Kinmen Defense Command. On August 23 the commander, Hu Lien (胡璉), called a dinner briefing, and the first three were killed on the first day of the artillery bombardment. Zhang Guoying was a lucky general. His career went smoothly, and he rose to general second class in the army and vice minister of national defense. (25)
My father served at the Signal School for nine years and six months, in two units: the Field Training Department and the Testing and Evaluation Section. Besides field signal courses, he taught radio relay operations, wire operations for signal groups and administrative communications services.
In the Testing and Evaluation Section he drafted examination questions for every subject. Each paper had 20 true-or-false questions and 30 multiple-choice questions with four options, two points per question, and he built up a bank of 32 sets of questions. He made his own quick-scoring cards and answer cards that could be used for every paper. Grading saved time and effort, and a great deal of paper as well. In an age when computers were still only an idea, it could be called a pioneering innovation.
In 1961, 1962 and 1963 (years 50, 51 and 52 of the Republic), three years in a row, my father was again chosen as an outstanding instructor.
In 1964 (year 53 of the Republic), the army's specialized branch schools held a teaching demonstration at Army Headquarters. My father was one of the Signal School's representatives, and there he saw Commander-in-Chief Liu An-chi (劉安祺), whom he had not seen for many years.
"Brother, how'd that happen (what went wrong)? How come you're still a lieutenant colonel?" Old Chief Liu was a little surprised.
My father heaved a long sigh: "Ah, ever since I was captured at Yangjiang, I'm sorry to say, I have never been able to be in touch with you, Commander-in-Chief. Thank you for your concern." (26)
Personnel promotions in the Nationalist army were chaotic in the mainland period. In every service, ranks did not match ages, and there were even generals under thirty. After the Nationalist Government moved to Taiwan, a system based on establishment and seniority was adopted. Graduates of the military academies were commissioned as second lieutenants and, after a year and a half, were promoted to first lieutenant regardless of establishment limits.
The personnel departments regularly reviewed seniority and adjusted the allocation of billets in the establishment, in preparation for the next year's promotions.
By the end of my father's second year as an instructor at the Signal School, he had completed the required seniority as a lieutenant colonel and should naturally have been considered for promotion, but the adjustment never came.
In 1961 my father had held the rank of lieutenant colonel for a full seven years. His junior classmate Gu Tianjin (顧天錦), a graduate of the 18th class of the Whampoa Military Academy's Signals Department, could not hold back and suggested: "Senior classmate, find some way to pull a few strings and get yourself a billet." Two years later he urged him again. My father answered as before: "There's nothing more I can do."
Character shapes destiny. His stubborn insistence on principle kept the two plum blossoms [a lieutenant colonel's insignia] on his uniform for eleven years and six months. Before reaching the mandatory age, he applied to retire of his own accord. A few months later the retirement order from the Ministry of National Defense arrived, effective July 1, 1965 (year 54 of the Republic). More than thirty years of soldiering, half his life, came to a close. He received a one-time retirement payment of NT$57,039 and two years' dependents' allowance of NT$16,440, a total of NT$73,479. At Taiwan's 2017 price levels, if you wanted to buy a public-housing apartment in Taipei costing about NT$10 million, that sum would get you only a bathroom.
The first thing my father said when he came home was: "This is the happiest day of my life, and also the day of the most mixed feelings since I arrived in Taiwan in March 1950 (year 39 of the Republic). Life is a series of battles, and every step forward is the starting point of a new undertaking in life. Children, keep fighting for the Party and the nation."
That year there were four members of the Kuomintang (KMT) in our family; my four younger sisters were not yet old enough to join. I was a first lieutenant in the finance branch of the Republic of China Army, and in 1970 (year 59 of the Republic) my younger brother became an editor at the headquarters of the China Youth Corps, responsible for drawing the architectural designs of its youth activity centers around the country. We two brothers did not let our father down, and devoted ourselves to the Party and the nation for decades. (27) (End of this part.) Father's Day, June 17, 2018, in Los Angeles.
Drifting Dust Comes to Rest, Chapter 4
Remembering My Distant Father
Preface:
From April 4 to July 2, 2005 (year 94 of the Republic), my wife and I went to Taipei to visit my aged parents. My father was ill and recuperating at home. After meals, over tea, the family would sit around him and listen as he told his story in the order it happened.
My father told me to take notes and, if possible, to write down some anecdotes of his life and leave a record, so that after he was gone the children could "honor the departed and remember their forebears" (慎終追遠) and keep his memory alive.
In April 2006 my younger son Anderson started work at Sun Microsystems, and my wife and I went to stay for two months at my dear son's home in the small town of Broomfield, Colorado.
The two-story rental house, not far from his company, stood on a small hill with a wide view. The Rocky Mountains in the distance lay in full sight, and the meadows, just turning green, stretched as far as the eye could see. Several small lakes were set in the grassland, and waterbirds and wild geese rested under the trees along their shores. We even saw snow falling in April, a truly delightful surprise.
The lovely lakes and hills were more than the eye could take in. Every evening before sunset, the three of us, my wife, my son and I, walked a loop of the hill trails. Back from our walk, we would sip tea while I gathered my thoughts, and so I began writing down my father's anecdotes. (1)
During the War of Resistance against Japan, my grandmother (my mother's mother) often told me stories and taught me Tang poems. The first poem she taught me was not Li Bai's Quiet Night Thoughts (靜夜思), "Before my bed the moonlight gleams, / I take it for frost upon the ground" (床前明月光，疑是地上霜。), but Jin Changxu's Spring Lament (春怨): "Shoo the orioles away, / don't let them sing on the branches. / Their singing would startle me from my dream, / and I could not reach Liaoxi." (打起黃鶯兒，莫教枝上啼。啼時驚妾夢，不得到遼西。) This had to do with what my grandmother herself had lived through.
My mother and her Fifth Aunt also often told me stories of our hometown, stories of a great age in turmoil.
During our 2005 visit to Taiwan, my father also told the family his own story. All those stories still ring in my ears.
Having come to this small town in Colorado, I wanted to write those stories down. The courage that came from my nineteen years as a newspaper editor and writer kept me writing, one piece after another, for eight years: nearly 300,000 characters and 72 poems.
The 21st day of the 11th lunar month of 2017 (year 106 of the Republic, a dingyou year) was my father's hundredth birthday. In the two years before it, I condensed and proofread the first draft and typed it into the computer. A month ago I added further material and completed the chapters of My Father and the Republic of China. I also wrote a long poem of 120 seven-character lines describing my father's life, as a lasting memorial. (2, end)
Part 1: A Poem for My Father's Hundredth Birthday
1: Among spirited hills and lovely waters Zhuge Liang lived hidden;
2: Nanyang's jade gives rise to purple mist.
3: In Kaifeng, city of grand crenellated walls,
4: grew a fresh-faced, handsome youth.
5: Book bag on his back, he joined the army in Zhenjiang,
6: learning his craft and lessons on Beigu Hill.
7: Yangzhou's singing girls, the grief of a fallen nation;
8: Zhou Yu turning at the music drew startled glances.
9: Inside the Paramount, lively songs and dances;
10: on the Bund and in Yuyuan Garden, meetings among the flowers.
11: The Yellow River with its nine bends and eighteen turns;
12: forcing a crossing of the great river, he reached Tongguan.
13: At Xi'an the Leader met with calamity;
14: three nights and four days without closing his eyes.
15: Under the dawn moon at Lugou Bridge, war broke out;
16: at Shanghai the Japanese invaders made wild boasts.
17: A night march to Nanxiang, corpses across the fields;
18: outside Hanshan Temple, a traitor shot dead.
19: The Yangtze River waters of Red Cliff and Wuhan;
20: lines strung across the river joined both banks.
21: Weapons at Dongting gleamed in the Xiang River;
22: within Changsha the city burned red to the sky.
23: Nanyue winds on for eight hundred li,
24: towering and perilous like Mount Hua.
25: Stars gathered like clouds on Mount Emei;
26: a signals first lieutenant took up the teacher's pointer.
27: Gui Hill and Duxiu, Qixingyan (Seven Star Cave);
28: they met in Guilin and pledged to marry.
29: The Whampoa song stirred the heart;
30: studying while still in service, his skills surged ahead.
31: Phoenixes singing in harmony, cherishing each other,
32: they wed as husband and wife beside the Jialing.
33: At Huaxi, washing silk in waters bright with red blossoms;
34: a thousand li of footprints across Sichuan, Guangxi and Guizhou.
35: The stone horses stand as before, willow catkins fly;
36: from Jiming and Zhongshan (Purple Mountain) all along the Qinhuai.
37: Looking back at Xiaguan, partings of life and death;
38: the loyal martyrs live on through the ages, for all time.
39: Days of thickly falling snow in Shenyang;
40: the moon at Liutiao before Beidaying.
41: Nationalists and Communists fought fiercely on the great plain;
42: he served as a staff officer of the 9th Signal Regiment.
43: Sails set from Penglai reaching to Laoshan;
44: Qingdao, the loveliest on the Eastern Sea.
45: Endless lush green, flowers in profusion,
46: villas and red mansions among the trees.
47: Directing signals, he won remarkable merit
48: in the flawless withdrawal from Jiaozhou Bay.
49: Under Zhanjiang's blue sky, a new camp among the willows;
50: the southern frontier's clear sky, crisp air at dawn.
51: Red buildings at Chikan, Qixingling;
52: swaying coconut groves under moon and stars.
53: Patriots' blood and yellow flowers, heroes for a thousand autumns;
54: evening songs on the Pearl River among colored clouds.
55: Neon reflected in the waves along the Pearl's shores;
56: a fresh breeze swaying through Lizhiwan.
57: Planning in headquarters to hold the City of Rams [Guangzhou],
58: danger loomed from one day to the next.
59: Surveying the whole situation, they were forced to withdraw;
60: defeated troops and remnant officers by the Mo River.
61: By radio he searched for ships at sea;
62: Liu An-chi escaped danger on the Yangjiang shore.
63: He fell into captivity, a prisoner;
64: two days and nights in the water of a pond.
65: Body held in Cao Cao's camp, heart still with Han;
66: by his wits he broke free and turned up in Hong Kong.
67: By a winding route to Hainan, the family joyfully reunited;
68: Dan'er, Wanning, Wuzhi Mountain.
69: Sanya and Yulin have beautiful scenery,
70: commanding the South China Sea and the Gulf of Tonkin.
71: He came to appreciate Cantonese opera and song:
72: The Flower Princess, and the moon over the spring river.
73: Far off on the sea there lies a fairy mountain;
74: from the old homeland he crossed the sea to Taiwan.
75: Cihu, Chenghu, Zhuzihu;
76: Xueshan, Yushan (Jade Mountain), Alishan;
77: the Dajia, the Dadu and the Zhuoshui River;
78: Bitan, Mingtan and Coral Lake (Shanhutan);
79: the Amis mountain culture village,
80: Qingshui Cliff and the Zhiben hot springs.
81: Late-night rain on the Love River in the harbor city;
82: sunset over Tamsui, rainbow-colored sails.
83: Newly come to the Treasure Island, hardship upon hardship;
84: sixty years of clearing thorns and brambles.
85: At rest, he came to feel this other land was home;
86: his accent unchanged, though his customs changed.
87: Burdened by the stigma of having been captured,
88: another page of the White Terror's persecution.
89: Command of a battalion did not come easily;
90: a superior took responsibility and strongly recommended him.
91: In staff work he took first place,
92: best in the whole army three years running.
93: On National Day the Supreme Commander reviewed the three services;
94: on his command car, feather fan and silk kerchief.
95: Selected to go and study in America,
96: he refused to pay a bribe and never went.
97: At dawn the flag rose to the sound of song;
98: a legislator's angry protest startled him from his dream.
99: He took up the teacher's pointer at the Signal School,
100: and his three thousand students filled the ranks.
101: In evaluations among the schools, best in the whole army,
102: he was recommended as an outstanding instructor.
103: In early summer of the yisi year he laid down his armor;
104: turning to battle in business, he won only empty titles.
105: Children gathered at his knee brought him new knowledge:
106: literature and history, optical fiber, superconductors.
107: The Family Instructions of the Yan Clan (顏氏家訓) he urged us to practice;
108: the Chinese classics he urged us to keep at heart.
109: Su Shi, Wen Tianxiang, Yan Zhenqing;
110: Chopin, Van Gogh, Leonardo da Vinci.
111: A hall full of children and grandchildren made him smile;
112: filial sons and a virtuous wife were comfort enough.
113: At the great age of ninety, the Lord called him home;
114: at Fushan in Dazhi, with his son as neighbor.
115: A lifetime of proud integrity, recorded for posterity;
116: a noble spirit, vast and abundant, filling the heavens.
117: Through every trial he prayed for deliverance, that old feuds might fade;
118: his last wish: that both sides of the Strait might both prosper.
119: The green hills of the Treasure Island are so fair,
120: forever beside his heroic spirit, enduring for all time.
Notes
1. Zhuge: that is, Kongming, the Marquis Wu, who lived in seclusion at Wolonggang, seven li southwest of Nanyang in Henan. The hills are bright and the waters clear, and the region has produced great men in every generation.
2. Nanyang is rich in jade, said to give off an auspicious purple haze. My father was born in Nanyang.
3. Battlements: that is, city walls. Kaifeng is one of China's six great ancient capitals, and its city walls are magnificent.
4. Green years: the years of study in youth.
5. Shouldering his book bag to join the army: carrying his school satchel to sit the military academy's entrance examination.
6. Beigu Hill: on the bank of the Yangtze northeast of Zhenjiang in Jiangsu Province, facing Jinshan and Jiaoshan hills in the distance, in a commanding position. The Southern Song lyric poet Xin Qiji wrote the lines: "Where can I gaze upon the Divine Land? The view fills my eyes from Beigu Tower. How many rises and falls through the ages? On and on, like the endless Yangtze flowing." (何處望神州？滿眼風光北固樓。千古興亡多少事，悠悠；不盡長江流。) The Training Group of the Army Signal Corps, where my father studied, stood at the foot of Beigu Hill.
7. Yangzhou: south of Gaoyou Lake in Jiangsu Province and north of the Yangtze. Emperor Yang of Sui built a travelling palace here on his southern tours, and the Grand Canal flows past the east of the city. Within the city is the famous Slender West Lake, its shores lined with weeping willows, orioles singing over blue water and swallows chasing the east wind, a scene like a poem or a painting. After finishing his training, my father did his practical training here and became absorbed in Peking opera and Shaoxing opera. His superior rebuked him with Du Mu's lines: "The singing girls know nothing of the grief of a fallen kingdom; across the river they still sing 'Flowers in the Rear Courtyard.'" (商女不知亡國恨，隔江猶唱後庭花。) From then on he never set foot in a theatre again and devoted himself to his work.
8. Master Zhou turns to the music: a figure for a lover of opera and song. In the Three Kingdoms period, Zhou Yu was a master of music and its tones; whenever a note was played wrong, he would always turn to look.
9. Paramount (Bailemen): before the War of Resistance against Japan, the hottest nightclub in Shanghai, where my father often met his sweetheart.
10. The Bund and Yuyuan Garden are both sights of Shanghai.
11. The Yellow River flows south from Suiyuan Province (today's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region), forming a natural boundary between Shaanxi and Shanxi; at Tongguan in Shaanxi it turns east and flows toward Henan. In this stretch the river winds and the current runs swift.
12. My father's first posting was at Tongguan. On the day he was to report, the Yellow River lay under thick fog, but a military order could not be disobeyed, so he took a small boat from Fenglingdu in Shanxi and forced his way across the Yellow River against the wind.
13, 14: In December 1936 (year 25 of the Republic), Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek met with disaster in Xi'an. He was held under house arrest at the pacification headquarters for half a month before escaping; history calls this the Xi'an Incident. My father kept watch by the switchboard on duty and did not close his eyes for four days and three nights.
15, 16: On July 7, 1937 (year 26 of the Republic), the Marco Polo Bridge Incident broke out outside the town of Wanping in Hebei, at the Marco Polo Bridge (Lugou Bridge) over the Yongding River (now part of Beijing). On the bridge are the words "Morning Moon over the Lugou Bridge" (蘆溝曉月), inscribed by Emperor Qianlong himself.
On August 13, 1937, the Battle of Shanghai began, and Japan boasted that it would conquer China in three months.
17, 18: In the Battle of Shanghai, China and Japan fought fiercely for three months, a length rare in the history of war, and both sides suffered terrible losses, nearly 200,000 casualties. My father was ordered to Nanxiang to reinforce communications, and the highway was strewn with abandoned corpses.
Late in the battle, the switchboard was moved into Hanshan Temple in Suzhou. One day, while Generalissimo Chiang was on the telephone with General Tang Enbo, the line was suddenly cut. My father dealt with it at once and shot dead two traitors.
19, 20: In early 1938 (year 27 of the Republic), he was stationed at Hankou and often worked at both the literary and the battle Red Cliffs. The literary Red Cliff is the Red Cliff that Su Shi visited, which takes its name from his "Niannujiao" and his First and Second Odes on the Red Cliff (today in Huanggang, Hubei Province).
The battle Red Cliff is where, in the Three Kingdoms period, Zhou Yu defeated Cao Cao's great army; it was formerly called Puqi (now renamed Chibi).
In early spring of 1938, he was ordered to lay a telephone cable across the river between Hankou and Wuchang, and he completed this arduous task.
21, 22: In early autumn of 1938, he was transferred to Mount Heng at Nanyue in Hunan; not long afterwards, China and Japan fought a great battle at Dongting Lake and on the Xiang River.
On November 12, 1938, during the burning of Changsha, at the Mount Heng command post he connected the Generalissimo's telephone calls with Zhang Zhizhong, Feng Ti and others.
23, 24: Mount Heng, together with Mount Tai, Mount Heng (Hengshan, north), Mount Song and Mount Hua, makes up the Five Great Mountains; because it lies south of the others, it is called Nanyue, the Southern Peak.
Mount Hua lies 60 kilometres southwest of Tongguan in Shaanxi, 2,200 metres high, the Western Peak of the Five Great Mountains. While he was stationed at Tongguan, Mount Hua was within his area of work.
25, 26: Mount Emei lies west of Leshan in Sichuan Province and is one of China's four great Buddhist holy places. Deep pools and flying waterfalls, green pines and cypresses, green bamboo and quiet woods: it brings together every kind of beauty. During the War of Resistance against Japan, the Nationalist Government set up an officers' training corps here. Yang Sen, Liu Xiang, Yu Jishi, Liu Zhi and others trained here, so it could truly be called a gathering of generals.
In December 1937, he served as a first lieutenant instructor at the Emei Mountain Officers' Training Corps, teaching a course on "Field Radio Communications" that included the general officers' class. While he was teaching, Generalissimo Chiang twice came to inspect the classroom.
27, 28: Gui Hill, Duxiu Peak and Qixingyan (Seven Star Cave) are all famous hills of Guilin in Guangxi, whose scenery is the finest in the world: hills and waters set off one another, as if shaped by divine hands. The saying "Guilin's scenery is the finest under heaven" (桂林山水甲天下) is well deserved.
In February 1939 (year 28 of the Republic), he met my mother in Guilin; with the hills and waters as matchmaker, they pledged themselves to each other.
29, 30: In April 1940 (year 29 of the Republic), holding the rank of first lieutenant and platoon leader, he entered the 17th class of the Signals Department of the Whampoa Military Academy. He studied for two years, and on completion was promoted to Captain.
31: In October 1939, they were married at the Chongqing International Hotel.
32: The Jialing River rises in Longnan, enters Shaanxi, cuts through the Daba Mountains into Sichuan, and runs through Chongqing to join the Yangtze. Nan'an, on the south bank of the Jialing River, is where I was born.
33, 34: Huaxi lies southeast of Chongqing, in Ba County; the resort of Nanwenquan stands on the bank of the Huaxi stream. Green hills enclose the valley, red flowers line both banks, and the scenery is clear and peaceful. One can go boating on the stream, and village girls often washed silk there. It was a place my parents often visited.
During the War of Resistance, because his unit's station kept changing, my father's footsteps covered the provinces of Chuan (Sichuan), Gui (Guangxi) and Qian (Guizhou).
35, 36: In August 1945 (year 34 of the Republic), the War of Resistance was won. That was the year of the Rooster, and the capital returned to Nanjing. The rooster's crow heralding the dawn spread over the Qinhuai River and rang through Purple Mountain.
Nanjing has Jiming Temple, one of the famous temples of Nanjing. From here one can gaze far out over the Yangtze and look down on Xuanwu Lake, taking in the whole panorama of Nanjing.
Purple Mountain is also called Zhongshan. A purple haze often hangs among its peaks, its ridges rise and fall, and its aspect changes endlessly. The Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum lies on this mountain.
Qinhuai means the Qinhuai River. Ever since the Six Dynasties it has been the gathering place of the pleasure quarters: carved beams and painted rafters along both banks, pleasure boats with music and song until dawn, a life of luxury and indulgence. So many romantic tales all belong to the Qinhuai district.
At the foot of Zhongshan lies the Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum, the resting place of Ming Taizu (the Hongwu Emperor), Zhu Yuanzhang. Before the tomb run the imperial canal and the imperial way, lined with towering trees. The imperial way is nearly a thousand metres long, and along it stand huge stone statues of civil officials and military officers, stone horses, stone elephants and stone kylin (Chinese unicorn), with willow catkins flying and green leaves casting shade. Returning after eight years away, he found the scenery unchanged, but the people and the times were no longer the same.
37, 38: In December 1937 (year 26 of the Republic), a few days before Nanjing fell, my father's father-in-law, Yin Jihe, a graduate of the Jinan Higher Normal School and then a first lieutenant clerk in the independent battalion of the 1st Regiment of the Army Signal Corps, bade farewell to his wife and children at Xiaguan. From then on they were parted forever by death: my maternal grandfather gave his life for his country. Coming back to Nanjing, my father was wrung with grief, and offered a bunch of yellow flowers, their fragrance a sacrifice from afar. The Yangtze rolls on and on; the past has become a memory.
In 1948 (year 37 of the Republic), the Nationalist Government issued a certificate of posthumous honour, commending my maternal grandfather's loyalty in dying in battle as a model worthy of emulation, his posthumous honour to be remembered forever.
39, 40: In the winter of 1946 (year 35 of the Republic), heavy snow was falling in Shenyang. My father took his family on a winter visit to the Qing Imperial Palace; the Japanese had surrendered and the land had been restored. They also went to Liutiaogou and Beidaying on the outskirts of Shenyang to pay their respects. On September 18, 1931 (year 20 of the Republic), Japan shelled Beidaying, the barracks of the Northeastern Army, raising the curtain on its war of aggression against China. With the song "On the Songhua River" in mind and the old site unchanged, he could not help sighing.
41, 42: In 1947 (year 36 of the Republic), the Chinese Civil War broke out in full across the Songliao Plain of Northeast China. In early winter, my father returned from the Wire Communications Group of the Second Traffic Police Bureau, Ministry of Communications, to his parent unit, the 9th Signal Regiment of the Army, as a major and staff officer. He took part in the Battle of Siping and the Liaoshen Campaign, supporting the operations of the army groups of Du Yuming and Liao Yaoxiang.
In the spring of 1948, the Northeast Field Army of the People's Liberation Army gained the upper hand in western Liaoning, Shenyang and Changchun. Before Shenyang fell, Nie Ying, commander of the 9th Signal Regiment, defected to the Communists, and my father hurried to Peiping and from there on to Qingdao.
43, 44, 45, 46: Laoshan, also written 勞山, lies about 20 kilometres east of Qingdao, 1,130 metres high, a famous Buddhist mountain with range upon range of peaks and beautiful scenery. About 40 kilometres to the southeast, out at sea, is Talian Island, which Qin Shi Huang (the First Emperor) believed to be the immortals' isle of Penglai. The lines in Bai Juyi's Song of Everlasting Regret, "Then she heard of an immortals' mountain out at sea, a mountain amid the misty void" (忽聞海上有仙山，山在虛無縹緲間。), refer to this place.
Qingdao, a peninsula, faces the Yellow Sea to the east and Jiaozhou Bay to the west. Green shade lines the roads, flowers and trees grow in graceful profusion, the scenery is like a painting, and parks are everywhere. Villas are built on the slopes, small red-walled houses set among the greenery. Its beaches are widely famous, and it is a well-known summer resort. At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the sailing and windsurfing events were held in the waters nearby.
47, 48: In January 1949 (year 38 of the Republic), after the Battle of Xuzhou-Bengbu (the Huaihai Campaign, as the Communists call it), the fighting spread to the outskirts of Qingdao. Liu An-chi, commander of the 11th Pacification Zone, narrowly escaped harm at a military conference; the Communist army knew the Nationalist army's intelligence like the back of its hand. Commander Liu, citing the saying "A general in the field need not accept every order from the sovereign" (將在外 軍令有所不受), instructed my father to change the signal codes issued by the Ministry of National Defense. From then on the People's Liberation Army was never able to break them, and the Nationalist army carried out the Qingdao withdrawal successfully.
The Qingdao withdrawal of June 1949, precisely planned and carried out under orderly command, can be called "the most perfect withdrawal" in the Nationalist army's military history. The military academies of the Nationalist army and the Virginia Military Institute in the United States have used this operation as teaching material, including the signals staff officer's change of the military codes.
49, 50, 51, 52: Zhanjiang, formerly called Guangzhouwan, lies in the northeast of the Leizhou Peninsula. It is a fine naval and commercial port, with deep water and a wide harbour, blue sea and blue sky. After the Qingdao withdrawal, the troops moved here and took up quarters in the former French barracks on both sides of the bay, one called Xiying and the other Dongying.
Zhanjiang shields China's southern frontier and holds a strategic position. Its streets are shaded with green trees and the scenery is pleasant; at daybreak the rising sun shines, the air is fresh, and the blue waves ripple.
Qixingling and the old town of Chikan are famous sights on the outskirts of Zhanjiang, with craggy rocks and sheer cliffs and white clouds drifting by, a sight that lifts the heart.
Along the shore the coconut palms sway in the wind, grove upon grove; walking at night along Zhanjiang's seafront avenue under a sky full of stars was deeply romantic. The troops stayed here only a few months; having other duties, they moved on to Guangzhou in stages before August. (To be continued)
53, 54, 55, 56: Huanghuagang lies before Baiyun Mountain in the northern outskirts of Guangzhou. It is the burial place of the seventy-two martyrs who died in the Guangzhou Uprising of 1911. Built of marble, it is grand and solemn and inspires deep reverence.
The Pearl River, also called the Yue River, takes its name from Haizhu Rock, past which its lower course flows. It runs through the heart of Guangzhou, like the Qinhuai River in Nanjing or the Seine in Paris. At night, with a bright moon overhead, it is a place one never wants to leave, with couples everywhere and music and song all around.
Guangzhou's Long Beach along the Zhuhai waterfront is built along the Pearl River. At night neon lights shimmer on the water, painted pleasure boats ply the river, and pleasant singing from the boats echoes far away; with endless traffic, it is a dazzling, cosmopolitan stretch of city.
Lizhiwan is a natural lake in the west of Guangzhou, its banks lined with lychee trees casting green shade. In high summer, when the lychees ripen, visitors vie to pick and buy them, a delightful pastime. Toward evening, as a cool breeze stirs, gaily painted boats weave across the water, the boatwomen rowing and the visitors working the oars, singing to one another, as if on West Lake in Hangzhou.
57, 58: By the first half of 1949, the Nationalist Government had lost most of the country in the Chinese Civil War. Guangzhou was the largest city in the south and had been the base for the Northern Expedition into the Central Plains. The government sent the crack troops of the former 11th Pacification Zone's Qingdao garrison to defend Guangzhou. Planning strategy from headquarters, they reorganized the Guangxi and Guangdong troops into a powerful striking force and actively prepared to recover the lost territory.
But things did not turn out as hoped. The Nationalist army was riven by factions, each holding its own ground, and the elite force in Guangzhou fought on alone. On October 1, 1949, the People's Republic of China was founded, the situation went rapidly downhill, and in early October the People's Liberation Army pressed on Guangzhou.
59, 60: Surveying the whole situation and forced by circumstances to preserve its strength, the Nationalist Government decided to withdraw from Guangzhou, and on October 13 Guangzhou fell. The day before, in great haste, my father put his wife and children aboard an iron-hulled ship of less than a thousand tons that left Guangzhou and, by way of Yangjiang and Zhanjiang, reached Haikou, while he himself moved with the troops.
The troops withdrew west overland, through Heshan, Enping, Yangjiang and Dianbai toward Zhanjiang. More than thirty bridges, large and small, along the way had all been destroyed. Fifty thousand crack troops were held up on the highway in a column nearly a hundred kilometres deep, and in the battle of Yangjiang the Nationalist army was routed on the bank of the Mo River. The military families retreating with the troops wailed in misery across the fields.
61, 62, 63: Commander Liu An-chi, in a desperate state, fled with a few aides to the Yangjiang coast, a scene with all the bleakness of Xiang Yu trapped at Gaixia. With a mobile radio station, my father tried to contact the Nationalist army patrol vessels offshore, and after two hours finally received a reply. The commander and the operations staff officer Zhang Guoying scrambled aboard a small boat that could carry only four or five people and headed for the warship out at sea. The little boat never came back. My father and two of his comrades waited anxiously on the shore, watching until their eyes ached, and in the end were taken prisoner by the People's Liberation Army.
64, 65, 66: More than fifty captured officers and men of the Nationalist army were disarmed and herded into a pond. After nightfall the next day, before dawn, my father and the intelligence officer He Zhiqi (何治齊) cleverly slipped past the guards and ran for the town of Yangjiang. Luckily he still had the two gold ingots my mother had given him, and with them he bought two boat tickets and reached Hong Kong safely. A former superior of his, a retired general surnamed Zhai (翟) who lived in Hong Kong, helped him enter smoothly and gave him money for the journey, and he changed ships and reached Haikou. 67, 68: In early November 1949 (year 38 of the Republic), in the small town of Dongshan, 50 kilometres south of Haikou, he was reunited with his wife and children. Less than a month had passed between parting in Guangzhou and meeting again on Hainan, yet it truly felt like a lifetime. The following month he was appointed a lieutenant colonel staff officer in the 32nd Army.
Su Shi once wrote lines such as "Four prefectures ring one island, a hundred caves coil within it" (《四州環一島，百洞蟠其中。》) and "In the Li Mountains dwells a recluse" (《黎山有幽子》). The Li Mountains are Wuzhi Mountain on Hainan Island, which rises in the midst of the four prefectures of Qiong (Haikou), Wan (Wanning), Ya (Ya County) and Dan (Dan County). The Li people live mostly in this area and have their own distinctive culture and customs. All these places were garrisoned by the Nationalist army at that time.
69, 70: Hainan Island lies southwest of Guangdong Province, separated from the Leizhou Peninsula by the Qiongzhou Strait. To the west it faces Vietnam across the Gulf of Tonkin, and to the south it commands the Paracel and Spratly Islands, which gives it great strategic importance.
Yulin, at the southern tip of Hainan Island, has deep water and a wide harbour. It is a fine natural port, known as a naval base and also a base for deep-sea fishing, and all the charm of the tropical south can be seen there.
Sanya lies 20 kilometres west of Yulin. With its coconut groves, sunshine, beaches, sea breezes, surfing, green trees and flowers, it is as beautiful as Hawaii, Phuket or Bali.
71, 72: The garrison had a signal company whose company commander was my father's classmate. The company headquarters was stationed in a theatre in Haikou, where Cantonese opera was performed every day from afternoon until midnight, often by famous performers. My father loved opera and liked to sing it too. As an amateur he had several times played Liu Jin in the Peking opera Famen Temple (法門寺) and Cheng Ying in The Orphan of Zhao (趙氏孤兒). He also liked Shaoxing opera, so once he reached Hainan Island it was natural for him to grow fond of Cantonese opera as well. Every three or five days the theatre owner invited my father to bring his wife and children to watch the big Cantonese shows, and he could enjoy opera to his heart's content. Cantonese opera is often accompanied by Cantonese songs. The Flower Princess (《帝女花》) is a famous piece, and "Spring River Moon" refers to the Cantonese piece A Moonlit Night on the Spring River (《春江花月夜》).
73, 74: The old Ming book Fair Winds for Escort (《順風相送》) records the sea voyages of early Ming officials to the Western Oceans and mentions Taiwan and nearby islands. As early as the time of Qin Shi Huang (the First Emperor), Yingzhou in the sea referred to Taiwan. Qin Shi Huang sent Xu Fu to the three immortal mountains in the eastern sea, Penglai, Fangzhang and Yingzhou. In the Three Kingdoms period, the Yizhou that Sun Quan sent troops against also referred to Taiwan.
By the middle of the Tang Dynasty, Han Chinese had already settled in "Pinghu" (《平湖》), today's Penghu. In the Jiajing reign of the Ming dynasty, a police inspectorate was set up in Penghu.
At the end of the Ming, Koxinga (Zheng Chenggong) drove out the Dutch, and large numbers of settlers followed him to Taiwan. "Tangshan" (唐山) refers to these immigrants from China.
In the Kangxi reign of the Qing, Taiwan Prefecture was established, and from the Yongzheng to the Jiaqing reigns great amounts of manpower and money were invested in developing Taiwan. In the 20th year of Guangxu (1984), China was defeated in the First Sino-Japanese War, and the following year the Qing court signed the Treaty of Shimonoseki, ceding Taiwan to Japan.
In 1945 (year 34 of the Republic), the War of Resistance against Japan was won and Taiwan was restored to China. In 1949, the People's Republic of China was founded, and three million soldiers and civilians followed the Nationalist Government to Taiwan, another large-scale migration in Chinese history.
My father moved to Taiwan with the army and his family and lived there for 57 years; he had long since become a Taiwanese. My mother led our family in Taiwan for nearly 70 years, and we can no longer tell apart our ancestral home, our hometown and the home we came to as emigrants.
75, 76: Taiwan lies on the southeastern edge of the Chinese continental shelf, in the East China Sea, facing Fujian on the mainland across the Taiwan Strait. It includes the two island groups of Penghu and the Diaoyutai Islands, and small islands such as Green Island, Orchid Island (Lanyu), Guishan Island, Pengjia Islet and Xiaoliuqiu. Its area is 36,000 square kilometres, and the 2017 census counted 23.5 million people. In December 1949, the central government of the Republic of China moved to Taiwan with its capital in Taipei, seventy years ago now. On the island, mountain peaks reach the clouds in endless ranges. Its rivers, lakes, plains and hills are beautiful, and highways and railways reach everywhere. Rainfall is plentiful, and the four seasons change from warm and hot to cold and cool.
Cihu, on the outskirts of Daxi Town in Taoyuan County, is Chiang Kai-shek's resting place, with green hills and clear waters, bright and lovely, and ever-changing scenery.
"Chenghu" is Chengcing Lake, in Kaohsiung in the south, known as Taiwan's West Lake.
Zhuzihu lies northwest of Yangmingshan on the outskirts of Taipei, where green trees and red cherry blossoms, and in autumn maples red as fire, fill the mountains and valleys.
Xueshan is Taiwan's second-highest mountain, at 3,931 metres. Its main peak lies within Yilan and Miaoli counties in the north, lofty and majestic, covered in green cypress and pine.
Yushan (Jade Mountain) is Taiwan's highest mountain, at 3,997 metres. Its main peak lies within Nantou and Chiayi counties, and Yushan National Park spans Nantou and Hualien counties, bringing together forests, valleys, cliffs and lakes in one whole.
Alishan is in Chiayi County. In Alishan National Park the seas of clouds are wonderfully beautiful, different in every season and at morning and evening. Its sunrises and sunset glows have nurtured a rich variety of animal and plant life. Gorges, sheer walls, cliffs and waterfalls can be seen everywhere in the mountains.
77, 78: The Dajia River, the Dadu River and the Zhuoshui River are the main rivers of central and southern Taiwan, and the Zhuoshui River is Taiwan's largest. All of them carry abundant water and flow swiftly, so none is navigable. Because the land is high in the east and low in the west, they all flow into the Taiwan Strait.
Bitan is in Xindian District of New Taipei City, on the middle reaches of the Xindian River. The water is deep and the pool wide, good for boating and rowing, with pavilions and towers half-hidden among quiet woods and green water.
"Mingtan" is Sun Moon Lake, in Yuchi Township, Nantou County, at an altitude of 760 metres, with a shoreline of 35 kilometres. There is a Sun Lake to the north and a Moon Lake to the south, hence the name Sun Moon Lake. Flowers bloom in all four seasons and the scenery is like a painting; being there feels like being in a fairyland.
Coral Lake (Shanhutan), in Tainan, also called the Wushantou Reservoir, is the source of irrigation water for the Chianan Plain. It is named for its coral-like shape. There is a small island in the lake that visitors can land on and explore. All is lush green, with clouds and water reflecting each other, a view that lifts the heart.
79, 80: The Amis Mountain Cultural Village is in southern Hualien County in the east. The Amis are the largest of Taiwan's Indigenous peoples. Every August they hold their harvest festival here, where visitors can watch mountain songs and dances and enjoy mountain food.
Qingshui Cliff, north of Hualien City, is about 21 kilometres long, a fault coastline rising as high as 2,000 metres above sea level. The Suhua Highway on the east coast runs through this section, along sheer cliff walls 800 metres high, facing the Pacific shore, a grand and magnificent landscape. On February 5, 2018, the Su'ao to Dong'ao section of the Provincial Highway 9 Suhua Highway improvement project opened to traffic.
Zhiben Hot Springs lie beside the Zhiben River southwest of Taitung City. The springs sit between the mountains and the water, in quiet, peaceful, green surroundings, and nearby is the White Jade Waterfall, more than a hundred metres high.
81, 82: Kaohsiung is a port city and Taiwan's second-largest city. It has a man-made river, the "Love River" (《愛河》). Its banks are lined with flowers and trees, and at night neon lights shimmer on the water. Couples stroll in pairs in the gentle breeze and the night rain, and people never want to leave.
"Tamsui" (淡江) is the Tamsui River, the largest river in northern Taiwan. Sunset over the Tamsui is one of its beautiful sights: dots of sails, fishing boats singing at dusk, mountains mirrored in the water, full of the beauty of poetry and painting.
83, 84, 85, 86: In January 1950 (year 39 of the Republic), my mother arrived in Taiwan first with her four children, and two months later my father moved to Taiwan with his army. The government had countless tasks to take on, and families tightened their belts. Average annual income per person then was less than fifty US dollars, goods were severely short, and life was extremely poor. That year a currency reform was carried out, backed by gold shipped from the mainland to Taiwan. The first issue of two hundred million New Taiwan dollars steadied, for the time being, an economy about to spin out of control.
In October 2007 my father passed away. For sixty years he had cleared his way through thorns and lived through countless stormy, unsettled days. With the efforts of three generations, our family gave itself to this land of Taiwan; we are one example among millions of families.
After family visits across the Strait were allowed, my parents went back to their hometown five times, but only for short reunions. Taiwan had long since become our home. My parents never lost their home accents, but their way of life had completely adapted to local customs.
87, 88: In the early years after the government moved to Taiwan, it reorganized and strengthened the army to build up its fighting power for the recovery of the mainland. The army paid particular attention to the ideological education of officers and men, and loyalty was a key item in evaluations. Those without Kuomintang (KMT) membership, and those with a record of having been captured during the civil war, found their promotion blocked. To cut military spending, officers commissioned during the mainland years were reduced in rank and pay.
89, 90, 91, 92: Under the "Regulation on Re-ranking Soldiers Who Came from the Mainland" (《大陸來台軍士官全面補辦核階任職條例作業》), my father was assessed and reduced to the rank of major, as a supernumerary officer. Later, when the best were chosen from among the surplus officers for posts, in May 1951 he became acting deputy battalion commander of the 50th Army's signal battalion at his existing rank, and two months later he was confirmed in the post. That year, in the performance evaluation of all battalion-level units in the army, the signal battalion made great strides and came first in the whole army. As the battalion commander's deputy, he deserved much of the credit. But held back by his "record of having been captured" (《有被俘紀錄》), he remained a deputy battalion commander for three years.
In June 1954, through the strong recommendation of his immediate superior, things took a turn, and he was promoted to a lieutenant colonel billet as chief major staff officer of the army's signal section. During this posting, for two years in a row, he won first place in the whole army in the Ministry of National Defense's annual evaluation of signal work.
In May 1955 he was further promoted to commander of the 781st Signal Battalion, an independent battalion with a lieutenant colonel commander, and also acting section chief of the Army 1st Army's signal section, as the section chief, Colonel Chang (常), had gone to the United States for advanced study at the US Army Signal School.
93, 94, 95, 96: While Section Chief Chang was studying in the United States, my father received orders from Army Headquarters to draw up the command and staff procedures for the army's signal troops for the first joint exercise of the three services held by the Nationalist army in Taiwan. The plan was approved and carried out. The exercise fulfilled its mission, and he was commended with a citation by order of the Ministry of National Defense. The 781st Signal Battalion also won the honour of representing all the nation's signal troops in the military parade for the Double Tenth National Day of 1956 (year 45 of the Republic).
After the joint exercise of the three services ended, the second round of selection began for field-grade officers of all branches to study in the United States, and my father was on the list. He went to the Army 801 General Hospital in Taipei for a medical examination and an interview, and both results were sent for review. A few days later a dispatch arrived from Army Headquarters: on the grounds that "this officer has a record of having been captured, and suffers from trachoma and athlete's foot" (《該員有被俘紀錄，有砂眼、足癬之症》), he could not go.
Before going to Taipei for the selection, my father had already made up his mind: whether or not he was chosen, the process had to run its course. Others might use bribes to gain an advantage, and he could have done the same, but he had to hold to honesty and not forget the teachings of his ancestors, keeping his heart as clear as water and as bright as a mirror.
At the Double Tenth National Day parade of 1956, my father led 500 officers and men and nearly a hundred vehicles of every kind: line-laying trucks, radio carrier trucks, mobile switchboards and signal equipment trucks. Following the army flag and the battalion commander's flag, standing in the command car, he passed the reviewing stand and saluted the reviewing officer, President Chiang Kai-shek, commander-in-chief of the three services, and the reviewing officer returned the salute. He was truly dashing and full of spirit, like the commander of old "with feather fan and silk headband" (羽扇綸巾).
97, 98, 99: At the end of 1955 (year 44 of the Republic), the signal battalion moved into the former site of Guanshan Temple on Sanmin Road in Taichung. Every morning at dawn it held a flag-raising ceremony, singing the national anthem, playing the national flag song and raising the national flag, and passers-by all stood still in respect. A legislator who had once served eight years as ambassador to Thailand was woken by the sound of the national anthem and complained to the army, asking for changes. One day the deputy corps commander came to the battalion to look into it, and my father reported the facts truthfully. The instructions were: keep singing the anthem, keep raising the flag, turn up the loudspeakers, and point them straight at the legislator's residence.
In January 1957 (year 46 of the Republic), when my father had been battalion commander for only one year and eight months, he received orders without warning transferring him to the Army Signal School in Yilan as an instructor. This went against the usual rule that unit commanders served at least two years before rotation, and his performance had been outstanding. Could it be the old matter served up again, his record of having been captured making trouble once more, or perhaps there was some other hidden reason. A soldier's first duty is to obey, and my father at once handed over his command and left. So ended three years as deputy battalion commander and nearly two years as battalion commander, days spent side by side with his comrades in arms, sharing joys and hardships.
On the day he left, all the officers and men of the battalion lined up to see him off, reluctant to let him go. Their true feelings were moving, and his successor felt the pressure keenly.
At an enlarged meeting of the whole army at corps headquarters, the corps commander angrily rebuked the new battalion commander: "Compared with the former commander, Battalion Commander Chen, you aren't one-tenth as good."
Of course this was an exaggeration, but it shows how highly his superiors thought of my father.
100, 101, 102: He had first served as a first lieutenant instructor at the Emei Mountain Officers' Training Corps in 1938 (year 27 of the Republic), and now, nineteen years later, he took up teaching again, something he knew well and handled with ease.
While at the school, he several times served as acting head, but was never confirmed in the post. My father knew perfectly well that with the record of having been captured hanging over him, there was nothing he could do. Thinking of the overcorrection, the rotten thinking and the careless rule-making in the army in those years, he sighed that he had been born at the wrong time: one more case added to the persecution of the White Terror.
During his nine years as an instructor, he devoted himself to keeping up with new knowledge. He studied American military textbooks and worked them into his courses, raising the quality of the teaching. He designed examination questions and compiled them into complete question banks, and he introduced standard answer cards that made marking fast and accurate, the first of their kind among the nation's military academies. He gave himself wholly to teaching and answering his students' questions and had long since stopped thinking about promotion. Far from complaining, he stayed active and optimistic. He was honoured four times as an outstanding teacher. The classes he taught were as countless as carp crossing a river: in nine years he taught at least three thousand students and trainees.
103: With so many excellent evaluations to his name, he should have been given a new post, either a promotion or a vacancy to fill, but the personnel department turned a blind eye. My father would not do anything that went against his principles, and his character decided his fate. In July 1965 (year 54 of the Republic), before he had reached retirement age, he applied for early discharge. It was approved, and so ended thirty-two years of army life.
104: My father received his discharge pay of a little over NT$70,000 in a single sum. With the small savings my mother had made from her side business, and by scraping together a little here and there, he raised NT$200,000. Through Yin Yi (尹毅), a Taipei city councillor and fellow native of Rizhao in Shandong, he was introduced to Lin Ting-sheng, chairman of Tatung Company. He invested in selling household appliances and became a businessman.
In 1970 came the greatest oil crisis of the century. People's livelihoods were threatened, the world economy stalled, and business was so slow that you could have netted sparrows at the door. So he looked for new opportunities. Besides continuing to sell household appliances, he began bidding for electrical engineering projects for the military.
But there was too little gruel for too many monks. For one project there were more than a dozen bidders. Bid-rigging, collusion and every other trick were commonplace, and it opened his eyes. Some bidders even won contracts at prices below cost, which baffled him. Yet such a man always had some clever scheme that guaranteed the project would be finished and pass inspection without a hitch. Heaven knows what sort of deity he was.
My father often read *The Art of War* (孫子兵法), with maxims such as "Make the enemy come to you; do not be drawn to him" (致人而不致於人) and "Subdue the enemy without fighting" (不戰而屈人之兵). In the marketplace, though, they did him no good at all. He would sigh: could a soldier's skills only be put to use on the battlefield? On the battlefield of his own business, he kept stumbling.
As for the hardships of our father's career, we his children can only wonder: was it his character, or was it fate? There is a great deal of room for speculation.
105, 106, 107, 108: My father loved to read. In the 1960s, when fibre-optic communications, semiconductors and biotechnology were still being developed, he was already explaining them to his children.
The *Chu Ci (Songs of Chu)* (楚辭), the poetry of the Tang and Song, the short essays of the Ming and Qing, *Romance of the Three Kingdoms* (三國), *Water Margin* (水滸), music, art: all of these were topics of our conversations.
*Family Instructions of the Yan Clan* (顏氏家訓), written by Yan Zhitui in the Southern and Northern Dynasties period, was the household classic my father required his children to learn by heart.
109, 110: My father often used stories of great and famous people from Chinese and world history to encourage his children. Su Shi, Wen Tianxiang, Yan Zhenqing, Chopin, Van Gogh and Leonardo da Vinci were among those he admired most.
Su Shi (1036–1101), courtesy name Zizhan, literary name Dongbo, was from Meishan in Meizhou in the North Song Dynasty. His poems, lyrics and essays have a sweeping, unbounded force, but his official career was full of setbacks.
Wen Tianxiang (1236–1282), courtesy name Songrui, was from Luling in Jizhou (today's Ji'an, Jiangxi) in the Southern Song. Loyal and upright by nature, he spoke out boldly on every matter. He was a loyal minister and fine general of his age, and was often envied and resented by flatterers and the powerful. In 1278, at the battle of Haifeng in Guangdong, he resisted the great Yuan army, was defeated and captured. In prison he wrote the *Song of Righteousness* (正氣歌).
Yan Zhenqing (709–784) was a great calligrapher of the Tang Dynasty, from Xi'an in Shaanxi. He was upright and full of moral courage. His calligraphy is vigorous and strong, steady and dignified, just like the man himself: "Seen from afar he looks stern; approached, he is warm" (望之儼然，即之也溫).
Chopin (Chopin, 1810–1849) was a Polish pianist and composer who spent most of his life in France and loved his homeland, Poland, without limit. He stood apart among the Romantic composers of the first half of the nineteenth century and is known as "the Poet of the Piano".
Van Gogh (Van Gogh, Vicent 1853–1890) was born in the Netherlands. He is a leading figure among the Post-Impressionist painters of the West, and his life was full of hardship. His paintings were discovered only after his death, and their artistic value is immense.
Leonardo da Vinci (Vinci Leonardo da 1452–1519) was one of the three great artists of the Italian Renaissance, ranked alongside Michelangelo and Raphael. He was not only a great painter but also a geologist, engineer, anatomist and mathematician.
111, 112: The *Book of Rites* (禮記) says, "A filial son, in serving his parents, gladdens their hearts and does not go against their wishes" (孝子之事親也，樂其心，不違其志). The *Records of Ming Scholars* (明儒學案) says, "Since ancient times, no sage or worthy has achieved great virtue and great deeds except through learning" (自古聖賢，盛德大業，未有不由學而成者). My father reminded us again and again, teaching us earnestly to set our minds wholly on our studies, to build lives of virtue and achievement, and never to go against our parents' wishes.
113, 114, 115, 116: Looking back over my father's whole life: twenty years of study and training, thirty years on the move in the army, fifteen years earning a living in business, and twenty-five years of a calm, peaceful old age, caring for his health and keeping his mind at rest. Although he spent more time apart from his wife and children than with them, we received from him the rain and dew that nourished us. His kindness to us weighs as much as a mountain.
In July 2006 his second son, Chen Yong, died in the prime of life. My father was worn out in body and spirit. Again and again he called out for his beloved son, tears streaming down his old face. It was the first time in his life we had seen him cry.
On October 3, 2007, critically ill, he was taken to Taipei Veterans General Hospital. His wife and daughters took turns caring for him and never let him out of their sight. On October 9 his condition stabilized and he insisted on going home to rest. He arrived home around noon, with the family at his side. He said little. He looked slowly around the room at every scene and object, gazed at the crucifix, and outside the sky was clear for ten thousand miles. Holding my mother's hands tightly, he kept saying, "I am so happy, I am so happy."
At three in the afternoon his condition took a turn for the worse. When the ambulance arrived, my father was smiling, at rest in my mother's arms. That day was their sixty-eighth wedding anniversary.
My father is buried in the Fushan Catholic cemetery in Dazhi, Taipei, in the same grave as his beloved son, father and son side by side.
Old soldiers never die; they just fade away. This soldier held to his principles all his life and never bent his proud backbone. He was unwaveringly loyal to his party and his country, and his great integrity will live on in history and be remembered for generations.
117, 118: During his life my father urged his children again and again to be upright, honourable Chinese, and he hoped that the two sides of the Strait would come through their trials and build a future good for both. He often recited the lines of Lu Xun's poem *Inscribed on the Pagoda of the Three Righteous* (題三義塔) to express this wish: "When all the tribulations have been crossed, we are still brothers; meeting again, a smile dissolves old grudges" (渡盡劫波兄弟在，相逢一笑泯恩仇).
119, 120: In his later years my father went back to his hometown with my mother four times to visit relatives, but only for short stays. His own home was in Taiwan. He often watched the television travel programmes *Mainland Discoveries* (大陸尋奇) and *Taiwan Feet Tour the Mainland* (台灣腳逛大陸), using the screen to recapture his memories of his years on the mainland. He was always recalling the famous sights and historic places of Taiwan he had visited over nearly sixty years: the green hills and clear waters of the treasure island, its blue sky and gentle clouds, its mountains and rivers so lovely. The wise man has withered away; the dust of the road has settled. This beautiful land will keep my father company for all ages to come.
Written in Los Angeles on my father's hundredth birthday, the twenty-third day of the eleventh lunar month of the dingyou year, 2017. Condensed and abridged in June 2018.
Part 2: Reunion at Guanshan Temple
In 1956 (year 45 of the Republic), my father was a lieutenant colonel and commander of the 781st Signal Battalion, stationed in Guanshan Temple on Sanmin Road in Taichung, a site of nearly 800 ping [about 2,600 square metres]. The temple was built in the Japanese colonial period, in 1941 (year 16 of the Showa era), and looked very much like a Japanese Shinto shrine. After Taiwan's retrocession its main hall was rebuilt for a time, and the Nationalist army leased it as a barracks.
Inside the temple, Buddhist chanting still rose every day, flowers bloomed, birds sang, and incense drifted in the air. That summer vacation my younger brother Chen Yong and I spent two nights in the temple and attended the unit's flag-raising ceremony, which left a deep impression on us.
Fifty-three years later, in June 2009, after my brother and my father had both passed away, my wife and I went back to Taiwan to visit family. On the nineteenth of that month, the four of us, my mother, my eldest younger sister Tingru and the two of us, took the high-speed train from Taipei to Taichung Station. We hired a taxi and spent half a day touring Taichung. We passed the place where my father had taken us to see the film *The Seven Little Fortunes* (七小福), the old site of the Shandong dumpling restaurant by the canal, Taichung Park, and Guanshan Temple.
After nearly sixty years of change, Guanshan Temple, rebuilt twice, had been swept up in the city's urban renewal plans. The grounds had become commercial buildings, and the widened road had taken over part of the temple land. The scenes of those years were now only memories, and a feeling of melancholy welled up in me. Still, the main building stood firm right beside the road, with a weathered, rugged beauty, and that was a comfort.
Guanshan Temple has witnessed the rise and fall of both China and Japan. We stood before the hall, remembering my father here in those years, the commander in his camp, full of free spirit and bold heart, and for a long time we could not bear to leave. The next day I wrote a regulated verse, *Meeting Guanshan Temple Again* (重逢觀善寺), as a lasting remembrance.
Buddhist chants kept company with the songs of the camp;
Officers kept their hours as bell and drum rang out.
It has watched all of history's rise and fall,
Gathering goodness through the long years, enduring on and on.
The temple has stood in Taichung for seventy years;
The incense in its courtyard is fragrant as before.
Through decades of cold and heat, of autumn wind and rain,
The world's dust not yet settled, the feeling is hard to forget.
A ray of evening sun slants across the corridor;
Leaning on the railing, I stand in empty sorrow.
Feather fan and silk headband: his voice still lingers here;
His free spirit and bold heart I will long remember.
Part 3: Searching for Our Roots in Nanyang
In the autumn of 1976 the African-American writer Alex Haley (Alex Haley 1921–1992) wrote a family-history novel, *Roots* (根), *Roots: The Saga of an American Family*. After twelve years of research, the author traced his ancestry back six generations and more to Kunta Kinte, and told the story of how he was captured on the west coast of Africa by white slave traders and carried off to North America as a slave.
In 1986 my younger son Anderson, then in the fifth grade, was so caught up in the story that he read the whole novel straight through in a week.
The following year Anderson graduated second in his class from St. Mary's School, Panama Canal Zone, and we kept our promise that he could go back to Taiwan to visit his grandparents. (1)
During his two months in Taiwan, besides taking Chinese lessons at the Mandarin Daily News, starting from the phonetic alphabet, he went to every fun place in Taipei and its outskirts and tasted all the delicious snacks. He felt the love of his grandparents, uncles and aunts.
But what he enjoyed most was listening to his grandfather's stories: stories of the war, of moving to Taiwan, and of the family's ancestral home in Nanyang, Henan. Anderson had been just four years old when he left Taiwan.
In December 2014 Ford Motor Company in the United States posted Anderson to its Asia Pacific headquarters in Pudong, Shanghai, for three years. In mainland China he travelled often on business, half the time within China and half abroad. His ancestral home in Nanyang, Henan, was close at hand, yet somehow he never had the chance to go.
His long-held wish to find his roots came true only in the last six months of his posting. On Friday, July 21, 2017, after work, he took a China Southern Airlines flight alone from Pudong Airport straight to Nanyang, and saw the ancestral home his grandfather had told him about. (2)
Before he left, I gave Anderson some written material, including the origins of the Chen family of Nanyang, Henan. In the latest 2014 ranking of Chinese surnames, Chen was fifth. The Chen clan are descendants of Emperor Shun, and the *Anthem of the World Chen Clan Association* (世界陳氏宗親總會會歌) contains the line "Glorious the days of Shun, when all under heaven was shared by all" (皇皇舜日，天下為公).
The ancestors of the Chen family of Nanyang originally lived in the region of Shanxi and Shaanxi. At the beginning of the Upheaval of the Five Barbarians, around the time of the Three Kingdoms (220–280 AD), they moved south from the north into Henan. The Chen ancestors who settled in Nanyang were most numerous in the late Sui and early Tang.
According to the association for the continued compilation of the *Genealogy of the Kong Family* (孔子世家譜), the descendants of Confucius have now reached the eightieth generation. If we count from the late Sui and early Tang, as the Chen family of Nanyang has continued down to the present, my younger son Anderson would belong to the sixty-fourth generation, though of course this would need to be confirmed by scholarly research. (3)
The flight from Shanghai to Nanyang takes about two hours. The airport is east of the city, far from the centre. Its basic facilities are complete, and it has room to grow.
Leaving the airport, he took a taxi west, crossed the Bai River Bridge and checked into his hotel. On the way Anderson had a conversation with the driver.
Anderson spoke first: "Nanyang's not bad at all. It doesn't feel like a third-tier city."
The driver replied: "What's so good about it? It's always been a poor place."
"What does Nanyang produce?" "Nothing. Only poor people." (Anderson couldn't help laughing.)
"What famous sights and historic places does Nanyang have?" "Those we do have, and they're worth seeing. You can go to the Wuhou Shrine, the Temple of the Sage of Medicine, the Neixiang County Yamen, the Guandi Temple, the Nanyang Han Stone Relief Museum and the Bat Cave."
The driver seemed straightforward, honest and good-natured. It turned out he was a taxi driver under contract with the hotel, so Anderson booked him then and there to be his guide for the next two days. The driver happily agreed with a hearty "Zhong!" in Henan dialect [meaning "OK"].
The hotel recommended a noodle restaurant nearby for dinner. The menu was long, and to his delight it had *mian geda* (麵疙瘩, a soup of little flour dumplings), his grandfather's favourite food back in his hometown. He savoured it slowly. When he finished the bowl, it was not only delicious, with the taste of wheat filling his mouth; it gave him a feeling that went straight to his heart and stirred him deeply. (4)
At six the next morning the taxi was already waiting outside the hotel. The first stop was Wolonggang, south of the city, where Zhuge Liang, the famous statesman and strategist of the Three Kingdoms period, once "farmed with his own hands in Nanyang" (躬耕南陽). The Wuhou Shrine was built here in the Wei and Jin period. Worship flourished in the Tang and Song and never declined through the Yuan, Ming and Qing. The present buildings were rebuilt in the Guangxu reign of the Qing.
In the main hall stands a huge stone statue of Zhuge Liang (諸葛亮), with feather fan and silk headscarf, seated upright and deep in thought, the very image of a great master of strategy. The shrine holds more than 300 stone stelae and inscriptions recording the deeds of Zhuge Liang.
Before seven o'clock our car went along the back lane of the Wuhou Shrine. There was not a single tourist in sight, only green trees giving deep shade and a long row of finely carved black tiles set on top of a red wall. It was a secluded place with a long path, full of an ancient air. The rising sun shone through the green trees and cast the shadows of the leaves on the red wall.
Time stopped for an instant, and Anderson took the first photograph of his search for our roots in Nanyang. No one could have foreseen it, but it became the cover design of my book Sunlight on the Red Mansion (日照紅樓). (5)
On the way to the second sight, our driver, the Master, really got talking: "Don't judge our Nanyang by how poor it is. It has a bit of a name in history. Besides having a Zhuge Liang, it's the hometown of the Sage of Medicine Zhang Zhongjing (張仲景), and of Zhang Heng (張衡), the astronomer and inventor who served as Grand Astrologer, Palace Attendant and Imperial Secretary. It's also the place where Liu Xiu (劉秀), Emperor Guangwu of the Eastern Han, first rose up and restored the Han dynasty."
The Master went on and on: "Ten-odd years ago our leaders at every level had vision and wanted to develop tourism. They asked the central government for help and built a lot, and it paid off a bit. We got an airport. I kept up with the times too and learned to drive a taxi. Every day I pick up and drop off tourists, so I have at least a basic income. My wife and kids can eat something good now, and their clothes aren't bad either. My eldest is a girl. Last year she got into Nanyang Normal University, and once she graduates she can be a middle-school teacher. My wife and I are very satisfied. Like the saying goes, 'contentment brings happiness' (知足常樂), right?" Anderson listened with great interest and came to a deeper understanding of this journey in search of his roots. (6)
The next stop was the Nanyang Han Stone Relief Museum, near the Wuhou Shrine on the south side of Wolong Road. It was built in 1935 (year 24 of the Republic) and rebuilt in 1959, and it covers 60,000 square meters. Today it is a specialized art museum in China devoted to collecting, displaying and studying Han-dynasty pictorial stone carvings.
Going on clockwise, we reached the tomb park of Zhang Heng in Shiqiao Town, Wancheng District, north of the city. The mound is 80 meters around and 8 meters high, shaded by green trees and evergreen pines and cypresses. The brick-paved path is level, and walking along it feels solemn and dignified. Three stelae stand before the tomb, the earliest dating from the 40th year of the Jiajing reign of the Ming (1561). They record Zhang Heng's lifetime achievements in science, scholarship and astronomy.
Continuing southeast, we came to the Temple of the Sage of Medicine on Zhongjing Road, beside the Wenliang River in the east of the city. It commemorates Zhang Zhongjing, the outstanding physician of the Eastern Han. Set into its walls are 117 painted portraits of famous physicians through the ages, beginning with Fuxi (伏羲). It is now the largest and fullest treasury of portraits of famous physicians in China.
The Wenliang River is a stream that runs right through the city of Nanyang, between today's Zhongjing Road and Gongnong Road. After long years of urban renewal its surface has shrunk, but the water is as clear as ever. Where it flows south into the Bai River there is a riverside park, with lush flowers and trees, little bridges over flowing water and winding paths leading to quiet corners, a place for residents and visitors to relax.
Anderson passed the park without going in, but it reminded him of a story his grandfather had told him. (7)
During the Jiajing reign of Emperor Shizong of the Ming (1522–1566), the Chen family of Nanyang settled in Sheqi Town (賒旗鎮; today renamed 社旗鎮), on the banks of the Zhao River about a hundred li east of Nanyang. During the reign of Emperor Qianlong of the Qing (1736–1795), they moved again to the east of Nanyang city, on the banks of the Bai River. Through a hundred years of farming, study and enterprise, they built up their wealth from ten jia of wasteland to a hundred mu of fertile fields, and bought a whole commercial street. The land deeds and house deeds were kept until the Nationalist Government moved to Taiwan.
Anderson stood on the bank of the Bai River, the place where the Chen family rose. Its waters, flowing from a distant source and rolling onward, brought to mind how hard our ancestors had worked to found the family's fortune, and how hard it had been to keep it.
By dusk we passed the Nanyang Prefectural Yamen, but it was already past opening hours. Along the street by the square in front of it, the shop lights were just coming on and neon signs were flashing. Street vendors had set up on both sides of the road in neat order, offering every kind of night-market food and goods. To come upon this by chance was another unexpected reward. (8)
On the suggestion of the hotel's guest-room manager, early the next morning we set out for the Qifeng Mountain Forest Park in Fangcheng County, about 20 kilometers northeast of the city.
Qifeng Mountain lies on the southern slopes of the Funiu Mountains, on the upper reaches of the Li River in the Huai River system, and it straddles the two great basins of the Yangtze River and the Huai River. The main scenic area covers 40 square kilometers, and within it are the ruins of the Chu Great Wall, known as the ancestor of the Great Wall.
There was transport to the summit, but Anderson chose to keep his feet on the ground and climbed the mountain on foot, reaching the top in about an hour. Gazing out over the magnificent mountains and rivers, he felt open-hearted and refreshed.
At the Great Pass, the Chu Great Wall spread out before his eyes, a stunning sight. A stone carved with the words "The First Ancient Great Wall Under Heaven" (天下第一古長城) stands at the pass. It was inscribed by Luo Zhewen (羅哲文), honorary president of the Great Wall Society of China.
The Chu Great Wall was built in the Warring States period, more than 400 years earlier than the Great Wall of Qin Shi Huang (the First Emperor) (221–206 BC). He took many photographs on the spot as keepsakes.
The drifting clouds of the homeland, the earth of the homeland, the simple, honest people of the homeland, and the long, unbroken history of the homeland all welled up together in his heart.
Nothing and no one can destroy this land. The people of China are good at surviving hardship. They know how to yield and bow when the great wind comes, but they are never destroyed; instead, they rise again. Anderson felt this very strongly. (9)
It was nearly noon when we left the Qifeng Mountain scenic area, and we went straight to the Nanyang Prefectural Yamen on Minzhu Road in Wancheng District, where crowds of visitors were already streaming in.
The Nanyang Prefectural Yamen was built in the seventh year of the Xianchun reign of the Southern Song (1271) and served 199 prefects through the Yuan, Ming and Qing. It was restored in the 23rd year of the Guangxu reign (1897). In 1913 (year 2 of the Republic) Nanyang Prefecture became Nanyang County, and the old prefectural offices were renamed the county offices. In June 2001 the State Council of the People's Republic of China listed it as a Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level. Of all the commandery and county buildings since Qin Shi Huang set up the system of commanderies and counties, it is the only complete one still standing. It is like a miniature of the Forbidden City in Beijing and, even more, a symbol of Nanyang as a famous historical and cultural city, with precious artistic, technological, historical and cultural value.
The main gate of the Nanyang Prefectural Yamen is tall and wide. To the right, on a carved stone, stands a drum for crying out grievances, and a stone lion stands on each side of the gate. The lion on the left carries a little lion on its back, a charming touch. Which one is the male and which the female? People give different answers.
On the flagpole stones to the left and right of the yamen gate is a couplet. The first line reads: "Looking at the green grass and green moss before the steps, I see nothing but the stir of life" (看階前草綠苔青無非生意). The second line reads: "Listening to the cuckoos crying and magpies chattering beyond the wall, I fear there are wronged people" (聽牆外鵑啼鵲噪恐有冤民).
Entering the main hall, we saw a huge painted mural of the sun and a crane shining together, and the prefect's judgment table facing the hall, solemn and dignified. Inside the hall, bracket sets join the pillars and beams. On the central beam at the front hang three horizontal plaques that seem to be in the hand of Wen Zhengming (文徵明) (1470–1559), the Ming calligrapher known as the Layman of Mount Heng. From bottom to top they read "A Bright Mirror Hangs High" (明鏡高懸), "Transformation Reaches All the People" (化被群黎), and two extra-large characters, "Just and Incorruptible" (公廉).
On each side of the main hall stand two stone pillars, an inner and an outer, nearly five meters tall. The first line of the couplet on the inner pillars reads: "Punishment and reward are by nature impartial; judging right as right and wrong as wrong, I dare trust I do not go against the people's will" (刑賞本無私是是非非敢信不違民志). The second line reads: "Why reckon praise or blame? Plainly and clearly, I seek only a conscience without shame" (毀譽何足計明明白白但求無愧我心). The Nanyang Prefectural Yamen is not only grand and imposing; the couplets on its pillars are rare in all the country, for almost every pillar has one. (10)
After visiting the Nanyang Prefectural Yamen, Anderson had some idea of China's judicial system through the ages. Its weakness was that the attitude of those who governed swayed the fairness of legal judgments. Where there was prejudice there were miscarriages of justice; it never escaped the bounds of rule by men.
I added two sayings. One was from Han Qilin (韓麒麟) (433–488), an honest official of the Northern Wei who cared for the people, lived simply and had a gift for government: "Punishment exists to stop evil; the benevolent resort to it only when they must" (刑罰所以止惡，仁者不得已而為之). The other was the maxim of Hu Linyi (胡林翼) (1812–1861), a famous minister of the late-Qing restoration and Governor of Hubei: "The decay of government comes from officials putting on too many official airs, so that they cannot know the condition of the people" (吏治之壞，由於官氣太重，不得知有民情). It would be no exaggeration to say this is reflected in certain countries today, where the judiciary has become a matter of rule by men. (11)
My grandfather Chen Youshao (陳又韶) had a second elder brother, Chen Jishao (陳繼韶), who during the Guangxu reign of the Qing ran a jade business with his father and did quite well.
Dushan, about eight kilometers northeast of Nanyang, has been made a provincial forest park. It is rich in jade, known as Dushan jade or even "Nanyang jadeite," a first-rate material for jade carving, comparable to the turquoise of Yun County in Hubei. Dushan jade, together with Hetian jade (和田玉, also written 和闐玉) from Xinjiang, Lantian jade from Xi'an in Shaanxi, and Xiu jade from Xiuyan County in Liaoning, is counted among China's four famous jades.
My eldest great-uncle, Chen Cizhao (陳辭詔), was once a leading figure in the Nanyang textile trade, doing business as far as Shanghai and Wuhan. The family owned several dozen mu of mulberry fields in the wild-silkworm country at the foot of the Funiu Mountains. Nanyang silk was famous far and wide, and still is today. (12)
On November 13, 1965, the State Council of the People's Republic of China set the Nanyang Prefecture at 13 counties and cities: Nanyang City and the counties of Nanyang, Nanzhao, Zhenping, Neixiang, Xichuan, Dengzhou, Xinye, Tanghe, Tongbai, Fangcheng, Xixia and Sheqi. It covers 26,600 square kilometers and has a population of 11 million, the largest in area and in population of the 18 prefecture-level cities of Henan Province. Today it is Henan's third city, after Zhengzhou and Luoyang, ahead of Kaifeng. Expressways and railways link all its counties and cities, and the Bai River and the Tang River can carry civilian boats, so the metropolitan area has great potential for development.
The two-day, two-night journey in search of our roots was coming to an end. Our car crossed the Bai River Bridge. The river below rolled on toward the south, and Nanyang Airport was not far off.
The driver had a conversation with Anderson. The Master asked: "Boss" (that was what he called Anderson), "from your accent you don't sound like you're from Shanghai. I'm curious. Of all the places you could go, why come to a poor place like ours?"
Anderson answered: "I work in Shanghai, I was born in Taiwan, and I'm a Chinese American. I came to Nanyang because of its name."
The Master asked: "What do you think of Nanyang?"
Anderson answered: "It's not true that 'this place produces nothing but poor people.'" The two of them burst out laughing.
On this land of Nanyang lives one of the oldest civilized peoples in the world. With tenacious vitality they grow up through hardship, and that growing in itself breeds and nurtures happiness.
The plane climbed into the white clouds in the setting sun, and the homeland slowly faded from view. Looking at the soil he had collected in a small bottle on Qifeng Mountain, Anderson felt deeply at peace. (13; end of this piece)
Chapter 5: Written at the End of Drifting Dust Comes to Rest (Afterword)
On October 13, 1949 (year 38 of the Republic), the day before the People's Liberation Army entered Guangzhou, my father hurriedly put his wife and children on an iron-hulled ship of less than a thousand tons, bound for Zhanjiang, where my mother's younger brother (my uncle) was then.
The next day Guangzhou fell, and the army group of Liu An-chi (劉安祺) was defeated on the banks of the Mo River at Yangjiang. Commander Liu escaped. My father was captured, but after two days and nights he slipped away from his guards and made his way through Hong Kong to Hainan, where he was reunited with his wife and children in the small town of Dongshan. It felt as if a lifetime had passed. (1)
After all, that my father reached Hainan safely was a gift from Heaven. My grandfather and my father both had Kuomintang (KMT) backgrounds, so escaping after capture was my father's only choice.
It was precisely because my father had a record of having been captured that, in those years of the White Terror, we and other ordinary military families were bound by circumstances and could do little but accept them.
We lived through countless stormy, uncertain days, from the time of "retaking the mainland" to the transfers of power between parties. We lived on this land of Taiwan for a full 70 years.
My father passed away in 2007 (year 96 of the Republic). Before he died he urged me to do my utmost to write down how we had lived in Taiwan over those decades: to bear witness to this history from the angle of a family history, by telling stories. I hope that through this book, people who went through something similar will find their own stories. (2)
In May 2009 (year 98 of the Republic), I went to Taiwan with my wife to visit family and to attend the reunion marking 50 years since my class entered the Finance School. After returning to Los Angeles, I began to write the book my father had asked for. It was already a year and nine months since his death, and all that time I had been turning ideas over, not knowing how to begin.
While I was in Taiwan, a classmate gave me an old edition of General History of Taiwan (台灣通史) by Lian Heng (連橫). It moved me deeply, so I sat at my desk under the lamp and wrote the opening piece, "Clearing the Wilderness" (篳路藍縷啓山林), of eleven hundred characters.
By May 2013 (year 102 of the Republic), after four years, I had finished the first draft of the first part, which shares this book's title, Drifting Dust Comes to Rest (陌麈落地): nearly 110,000 characters. It recounts some of the affairs of state after the Nationalist Government moved to Taiwan. In the spirit of writing a local gazetteer, it also tells of everyday life in the streets, and of my inner journey through a full 30 years of living in Taiwan. Of these pieces, No. 29, "An Old Soldier's 70 Years in Taiwan" (老兵在台70年), runs nearly seven thousand characters, and No. 30, "Remembering Kinmen at War" (戰地風雲憶金門), twelve thousand.
In my heart I hold one wish: that this collection of anecdotes from everyday life might, decades from now, still move the people who live on the land of Taiwan to remember and honour the hard, pioneering spirit of those who came before them, who blazed trails in humble carts and ragged clothes and broke open new land. (3)
Before he died, my father gave me three plastic document folders, each 12 inches long and 9 inches wide. They held everything from his diploma from the Training Group of the Army Signal Corps (陸軍通信兵團教導大隊), awarded in April 1935 (year 24 of the Republic) on completing two years of study, to his discharge order from the Ministry of National Defense, effective July 1, 1965 (year 54 of the Republic). Arranged in order of date, they included his promotions, postings, schooling, commendations and citations, his class rosters and his marriage certificate. One of the folders held the letters my grandfather wrote to my father by hand with a writing brush between 1935 and 1937: eleven letters, about six thousand characters in all.
In April 2006, my wife and I were staying in Broomfield, a small town at the foot of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. Every day I read and wrote, and walked along quiet paths through green fields, among little rivers and little lakes. As I leafed through the record of my father's life, I saw that although he was only a field-grade officer in the Nationalist army, he had been steadfastly loyal to the Kuomintang (KMT) and to the Republic of China, giving his all without complaint or regret. The idea came to me to honour my father's life and deeds through narrative, description of scenes and expression of feeling.
In May 2013, after finishing the first chapter of Drifting Dust Comes to Rest (陌麈落地), I went on to write the second chapter, My Father and the Republic of China (父親與民國), and over two years completed a first draft of fifty thousand characters. The following year I went on to write Remembering My Distant Father (緬懷遠方的父親), a long poem of one hundred and twenty seven-character lines, with notes, to mark the hundredth anniversary of my father's birth. In June 2018 I added two commemorative essays. On July 7, the day the book Drifting Dust Comes to Rest was finished, I added this afterword at the end, as above.
As I write these words, I feel an urgency, a sense that time will not wait for me, just as Tao Qian (陶潛) wrote in the closing lines of the first of his Miscellaneous Poems (雜詩): "The prime of life does not come twice; a day does not dawn a second time. Seize the moment and spur yourself on; the years wait for no one." (盛年不重來，一日難再晨。及時當勉勵，歲月不待人。)
In my later years I have pursued writing with energy and determination, because I have no other choice; it is a way of urging myself on.
My sincere thanks go to Mr. Shu Liyan (舒立彥) of the press, Mr. Sha Mutian (沙牧天) of the business world, Mr. Tang Yingzong (唐英宗) of the cultural world, Ms. Zhong Zhaomin (鍾召民) of the medical world, and Ms. Wang Ying (王瑩) and Ms. Wang Yangguang (王陽光) of the education world on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. The encouragement of these many elders and dear friends gave me the courage to complete Drifting Dust Comes to Rest, a work of 150,000 characters.
Los Angeles, July 10, 2018