“We got on the ship around October. The sea was rough. Some people fell into the ocean and climbed the ladder onto the ship, while those who could not climb up fell back into the water and nobody could save them. Later, we were transferred to a ship called “Yong-Qing.” The ship was crowded and chaotic. Everyone was packed closely together and there was not even space to walk. The winds and waves were strong. It took us a week to reach Taiwan.” – Zhang, Zhen-Xiu (Born in 1931)
“I got married in 1944. When I left home, my wife was pregnant. In 1949, our child was born and not long after, the mainland fell to the hand of communist. Our child had nothing to eat and died. My wife then remarried. I served in the military twice. The first time was around 1945 to 1946. I happened to be in a military officer’s unit when victory in the war against Japan was declared. After that, the unit was disbanded and I was discharged. In 1948, I re-enlisted in the army (for the Chinese Civil War).” - Xu, Shu-Long (Born in 1926)
“The Communist Party came in. My father was changing clothes. He took off his military uniform and before he buttoned his shirt, he was captured. After he was taken away, my mother and I left the city. It was winter, so the moat outside the city walls had dried up. Inside, there were many dead bodies. Some people were still crying out in pain, some were missing limbs and some with their buttocks on fire. That was because people on the city walls did not have time to shoot with guns, they poured gasoline and set fire to them. So many people were burned to death. I crawled over the dead bodies to get out.” – Hu, Ya-Fei (Born in 1939, but registered as 1940 on ID card)
“We fought in the Huaihai Campaign and went all the way to Xuancheng. Part of our unit had dispersed. Our section did not, so we retreated. The Chinese Communist was chasing after us and our rearguard tried to stop them from reaching us. We continued to retreat, marching on foot without any vehicles. Later, we got to a place near Huangshan and after we left Xuancheng, we headed towards Hangzhou. Some of us went to Zhegong Road, while our unit went to Shanghai.” – Xu, Zhong-Zuo (Born in 1927)
“We were recruited in Mainland China and immediately sent to Taiwan for training. We went from Shanghai to Keelung by a military ship and then from Keelung to Pingtung by train. We were the first batch of the Female Youth Corps to arrive in Taiwan. When we disembarked from the ship and took the train to Pingtung, people along the way were looking at us and we were looking at them too. Taiwanese women all wore bamboo hats and covered their faces with floral print fabrics. We found it quite interesting as we were all dressed in cotton military uniforms and our faces were covered in soot after the long journey.” – Cai, Guan-Nan (Born in 1930)
