Vignette 8

 Swift Passage to Japan

 

When we set up home in Chicago, father started to avidly follow the news broadcast everyday, especially the broadcast speeches of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) and his memorable Fireside Chats. Those informal “Chats” directly streamed into the living rooms and permeated into the fiber of the American people in the manner of Prime Minister Winston Churchill's broadcasts to the British people in their "Finest Hour" of resolute resistance against the Germans after Europe had fallen.

 

Both FDR and Churchill were masters of the English language and spoke sonorous, stirring oratory. Father explained to me FDR had a “mid-Atlantic” accent, or "trans-Atlantic" accent adopted also by popular American actors of the time such as Orson Welles, Katherine Hepburn, Gregory Peck and Gary Grant. Father’s English which he learned as a child by reading along to records of Laurence Olivier and Michael Redgrave, also had a tinge of that “trans-Atlantic” pattern. Mother’s English was adequate for daily needs but she never lost her distinct Chinese accent.

 

In 1944, shortly after we arrived in Chicago, father learned that the Democratic National Convention for the nomination of the Democratic presidential candidate was coming to town from July 19-21. Father wrangled a visitors ticket through the ROC Consulate to the Chicago Stadium venue. But if father had hoped to see Roosevelt in person, father would have been disappointed. FDR was en route to a Pacific Strategy Conference held fittingly at Pearl Harbor with General Douglas MacArthur, Admiral Nimitz and the Pacific High Command.

 

At the Democratic Convention, President Roosevelt was nominated for a historic 4th presidency term. From FDR's acceptance speech, these were some of President Roosevelt’s hopeful words that father heard broadcasted to the Democratic National Convention on July 20, 1944.

 

“It seems wholly likely that within the next four years our armed forces, and those of our allies, will have gained a complete victory over Germany and Japan, sooner or later, and that the world once more will be at peace—under a system, we hope that will prevent a new world war. In any event, whenever that time comes, new hands will then have full opportunity to realize the ideals which we seek.”

 

Father remembers Senator Harry Truman was in attendance at the convention and accepted the Vice Presidential nomination. The momentous decisions to be made by Roosevelt, Truman and MacArthur would profoundly affect the entire 20th C world and a legacy we are still living in the 21st C.

 

The following year FDR, in his Presidency of four months and in declining health for several years, died at the age of 62 on April 12. An obscure former Missouri senator and compromise selection between the left and right wing Democrats, Vice President Harry Truman assumed the office of one of America’s greatest presidents and one of the world’s greatest leaders. "The greatest has fallen. The least likely has assumed his place." observed a newspaper.

 

A month later Germany surrendered but the intransigent Imperial Japanese army portended a house to house, hand to hand combat on Japanese soil. On August 6 President Truman ordered the dropping of the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima. When Japan still did not surrender, a second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki on August 9.

 

On August 15, the translation of Emperor Hirohito's broadcast to his nation was heard in living rooms throughout America "..........We have ordered our Government to communicate to the Governments of the United States, Great Britain, China and the Soviet Union that our empire accepts the provisions of their joint declaration." (per Potsdam Declaration of July 26, 1945).

 

It is noteworthy that Soviet Russia who had signed a Neutrality Pact with Japan in 1941, was not actually part of the discussion on post-war Japan at the 1943 Cairo Conference nor the 1945 Potsdam Declaration calling for Japan's unconditional surrender:

" We-the President of the United States, the President of the National Government of the Republic of China, and the Prime Minister of Great Britain, representing the hundreds of millions of our countrymen, have conferred and agree that Japan shall be given an opportunity to end this war". Potsdam Declaration, July 26, 1945.

 

Russia did not declare war on Japan until August 8, two days after the dropping of the Hiroshima bomb on August 6. Following the dropping of the Nagasaki Atom Bomb on August 9, Russia opportunistically launched an attack on Japanese held Manchukuo (Manchuria). The consequences of Russia's shrewd actions were critical factors in the success of the CCP over ROC in the following Chinese Civil War. In WWII Russia had put in no effort on the Asian front against the Japanese and yet obtained the maximum benefit. Historians have said that Roosevelt's and, subsequently, Truman's insistence on Russia's belated participation in the Asian theater was a mistake of epic proportions that secured Communism's advantageous positions in Asia and created the partitioning of a Korea trusteeship at the 38th Parallel between the United Nations in the south and Russia in the north.

 

Japan agreed to return all their occupied territories back to the original sovereignty of ROC, including HK, Formosa (Taiwan), Manchukuo, Hainan, Vietnam, the Paracels and Spratly Islands. These same Spratly islands are now hotly disputed by Vietnam, Philippines, Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia. Father, in another stroke of Fate five years later, was to play a pivotal role regarding the Spratly's.

 

The Soviets had occupied Manchukuo after the dropping of the atomic bombs and positioned itself to hand over Manchukuo to the Chinese Communist Party. All the Japanese industrial and military equipment since 1931 that was not moveable to Russia, went to the CCP. ROC was unable to recover this territory lost to CCP nor oversee the return of their former Vietnam territory and deferred to the French colonials who had won Vietnam from the Chinese in 1884 during the European 19th C colonial conquests in Asia.

 

For my father and mother, the signing of the Unconditional Surrender Agreement/ Declaration on the USS Missouri on Sept. 12 brought an end to WWII and over half a century of Japanese encroachment on China but they were fearful that it was not the beginning of peace for their homeland.

 

In July 1947, father was ordered to his new consular post in Nagasaki, as part of the ROC Mission of the 4 Occupying Military Governments in Japan. Ostensibly, the 4 Allies: Great Britain, Russia, China and US were equals but the US was supremely first among equals with its undisputed economic and military superiority, the Atom Bomb among its arsenal.

 

President Truman bestowed upon General Douglas MacArthur the title: Supreme Commander of Allied Powers or SCAP. General MacArthur was the most decorated military commander in WWI & WWII. His bombastic hauteur offended most of his superiors, including his Commanders-in-Chief Roosevelt and Truman. However, they recognized his patriotism, effectiveness and charisma as qualities suited to the successful demilitarization and reconstruction of the former enemy. The Supreme Commander would prove not to be a disappointment.

 

By the time father arrived in Japan in July 1947, a semblance of command and order already prevailed in the devastated country not dissimilar to the destruction father saw in Chungking. Mother and us children followed in the fall on the USS Marine Swallow swiftly crossing the Pacific in a week compared to our 1944 five week circuitous Pacific voyage.

 

It was another wonderful cruise trip for me except during meal times when the dozen or so children, all Americans except my brother and me, were overseen by a strict American nanny in a starched white uniform. She had a red face, short flaxen curls, was greatly overweight and never smiled. She sat with her legs splayed at the head of the long, low table bursting out of her stiff regulation uniform and did not permit us to leave until we ate everything she had apportioned to us. My brother and I devised the sneaky tactic of slipping our unappetizing daily ration of raw celery and carrot sticks under the table on to the floor. Luckily for us, the sweepers did not complain about the debris under the table and we never got reprimanded.

 

I developed a warm friendship with a Chinese girl Jenny, 1 year older than me who was traveling in 3rd class with her father, returning to Japan for work. She did not have a mother and seemed reserved compared to my rambunctious ways. When I first met Jenny during my early exploration of the lower levels of the ship, I blithely brought her up to my more cheerful, sunlit deck. Very soon a seaman came up to us and told Jenny she could not be there. Jenny cringed and slunk back down the steps. I was upset and could not understand why Jenny could not come up to our spacious deck nor eat with me but rules were rules and mother could not do anything about it. After that embarrassing encounter for Jenny, every day I would go down to play with my new friend sometimes with an apple or orange from mother's little trove. Jenny was very patient and taught me to play gin rummy. Because there was no outside deck promenade on her level, nor tables or chairs, we would sprawl across the rough, gray blanket on her narrow, bunk bed set among rows of bunks in a large dark cabin lit by dim bulbs without any natural light. It was the first time I became aware of a distinction of "class"/status.

 

In my memories of Chungking and the subsequent 3 years in Chicago, my family had lived among people who shared the same economic condition. Though I learned in America to realize my face and name were different, our homes all looked the same and no one seemed better off than their neighbor. I didn't know how to play hop scotch nor skip rope with the girls so I sat watching by the sidelines during recess. But after school I ran around with the children about my same age in my building who all happened to be little boys. Be they Jewish, Pole, Greek or Italian they jabbered about American boxing, baseball, trading cards and marbles. I learned the names of their sports heroes like boxers Joe Louis, Billy Conn; baseball players like Ted Williams & Joe DiMaggio. We skipped raucously through lawn sprinklers and caught fireflies in the summer; threw snowballs and rolled down snow banks of the Midway Pleasance in the winter.

 

Besides my cousin 田之秋 who took care of me in Chungking, Jenny was my first girl friend and I was thrilled to find a girl playmate. When the Marine Swallow was docking at Yokohama, everyone was allowed to come up deck. Leaning against the railing with Jenny, I excitedly told her my father was coming to meet us with a car! Sure enough I pointed out my father in his dark suit waving to us on the pier. Stupid girl (傻丫頭 ) that I was, I never thought to obtain quiet Jenny's last name nor her address. I taught my reluctant little brother to play gin rummy in Japan and was happy to win every round unlike my many defeats to Jenny, my shipboard friend whom I never forgot.

轉赴日本

在芝加哥安定下來之後，父親每天都得緊盯著新聞報導，尤其是羅斯福 (Franklin D. Roosevelt) 總統的演說廣播，以及許多人津津樂道的「爐邊談話」(Fireside Chats)。「爐邊談話」打破嚴肅的演講形式，總統的非正式談話透過廣播傳到家家戶戶，滲入美國人的日常生活，其效果足以媲美英國首相邱吉爾慷慨激昂的演說「最好的時刻」，當時德軍在歐洲屢屢告捷，邱吉爾慷慨激昂的演說試圖提振民心士氣。

羅斯福總統和邱吉爾首相兩人都擅長演講，講稿的用詞精闢動人，表達鏗鏘有力，很有振奮人心的功效。父親說羅斯福總統的英文有一種「大西洋中部」(mid-Atlantic, trans-Atlantic)的腔調，那是介於英語和美語之間的混合口音，許多受美國大眾喜愛的演員也都有這類口音，包括奧森．威爾斯 (Orson Welles)、凱薩琳．赫本 (Katherine Hepburn)、葛雷哥萊．畢克 (Gregory Peck)、卡萊．葛倫等(Gary Grant)。其實父親本身也有一點大西洋中部口音，應該是他小時候聽爺爺收集的唱片，刻意模仿勞倫斯．奧立佛和麥可．雷格列芙 (Michael Redgrave) 而來。而母親的英文應付日常生活綽綽有餘，但她還是有明顯的中文腔。

1944年我們到芝加哥不久之後，民主黨全國代表大會 (Democratic National Convention) 為了討論總統候選人的提名，在7月19日到21日在芝加哥體育館開會，父親費了好大功夫才透過中華民國領事館搶得一張門票。倘若當時父親心中盤算的是要看羅斯福總統的話，他應該是大失所望的。因為那時候羅斯福總統沒有來芝加哥，他正趕往珍珠港參加太平洋戰略會議，與會者包括麥克阿瑟將軍，尼米茲上將(Admiral Chester W. Nimitz) 和太平洋最高司令部。

在民主黨大會上，羅斯福總統被提名為候選人，後來成為史無前例連任四屆的總統。父親在7月20日在大會上聆聽羅斯福接受民主黨任命的廣播演講，講詞中有正面的激勵，讓人對未來懷抱希望。父親清楚地記得參議員杜魯門 (Harry Truman)也參加了大會，並且接受副總統的提名。當時羅斯福總統決定的兩個重要人選——杜魯門與麥克阿瑟，對二十世紀的世界局勢有重大的影響，甚至持續到了二十一世紀的現在。

之後，羅斯福總統身體日衰，在1945年4月12日辭世，享年62。舉世公認羅斯福是美國最偉大的總統之一，也是世界上最偉大的領導者之一。 一個月之後德國投降，但是日軍仍頑強抵抗，且誓言在日本本土決一死戰。1945年8月6日杜魯門總統下令在廣島投下原子彈，日本拒絕投降，第二顆原子彈在9日投在長崎。15日，昭和天皇《終戰詔書》的英文翻譯版透過了廣播傳遍美國。

1947年7月父親被調派日本，擔任駐長崎領事，這算是盟軍四國共同治理日本的協議中，中華民國的任務之一。表面上英美中俄四國應該是平起平坐的，但是美國挟其經濟和軍事的優勢，甚至製造令人喪膽的原子彈，事事唯我獨尊，完全居於主導地位。

父親單獨先赴長崎就任，1947年的夏天，父親就離開了芝加哥，隻身到長崎接任新職，同時也先行打點全家的住處。我和母親、弟弟留在芝加哥打包整理。到了10月，母親帶著我和弟弟搭乘「美國海燕號」，取道太平洋到日本。離開美國時，我們在舊金山上船，那是個熱鬧的城市，和芝加哥一樣活力充沛，放眼望去街頭人來人往，車輛川流不息，各式的燈光閃爍不停。我們在等船時，母親還帶我們看了一場電影《慈母淚》 (I Remember Mama)。這趟為期一星期的航程，比起1944年那趟迂迴了五個星期的海上行程，實在是迅速多了。

這次也是一趟愉快的海上之旅，除了用餐時特別有壓迫感。我們十幾個小孩(除了我和弟弟之外，全部都是美國人)一律由一位嚴格的保母看管我們吃飯。她總是穿著漿燙過的制服，看起來硬挺挺的，從來不笑，坐在一張長長的矮桌前面，兩條腿從僵硬筆直的制服中伸出來。我們得乖乖地吃完她分給我們的所有食物才可離開餐桌，每天必有的食物是生芹菜和紅蘿蔔，於是弟弟和我想到一個點子，把這些不想吃的東西偷偷丟到餐桌下面的地上。還好掃地的人從沒有抱怨過，我們的伎倆也就一直沒有被發現。

我和船上一個中國小女孩珍妮很要好，她大我一歲，和她父親一起搭三等艙回日本工作。她沒有母親，人很乖，尤其和活蹦亂跳的我比起來，更顯內向。在船上我什麼都不怕，到處探險，甚至跑到下層去玩，就在那裡第一次看到珍妮，於是我就帶她到上層，想讓她在寬闊有陽光的地方跟我一起玩。沒想到一個穿海軍制服的兵士走過來說，珍妮不能到上層來，她一聽就嚇得跑下樓梯回去了。我很生氣，也無法理解為何珍妮不能到甲板，也不能跟我們一起吃飯。但是規定就是規定，母親也沒法子。從此之後，我每天就到下層去找珍妮玩，珍妮好有耐性，教我玩一種叫做「金羅美」(gin rummy) 的紙牌遊戲。在三等艙裡沒有可以讓人閒晃的甲板，沒有桌子也沒有椅子。一大間的艙房非常陰暗，自然的光線根本照不進來，只能靠微弱的燈光。狹窄的上下鋪依序排列，擁擠不堪。我和珍妮趴在她的床位，上面鋪著粗糙的灰色毯子，就這樣玩起牌來。這是我人生中第一次察覺，原來人有「階級」之別。

記憶中，我在重慶以及在芝加哥的三年，我們家和左鄰右舍的經濟情況看起來沒什麼兩樣。當然，在美國時我知道自己的臉孔和名字和別人不太一樣，但我們家和其他小朋友的家沒有什麼不同，鄰居中也沒有哪一家人看起來比較有錢。剛開始去上課的時候，我不知道怎麼玩跳房子，也不會跳繩，下課時總是靜靜坐在旁邊看同班女生玩得很開心。等到下了課，我就和附近的同年的孩子一起玩，剛好住家附近的玩伴都是男生，但無論是猶太人、波蘭人、希臘人或義大利人，大家開口談的是美國拳擊賽、棒球，也會交換收藏的卡片或彈珠。從他們身上我才知道一些運動界的英雄人物，例如拳擊手喬．路易斯 (Joe Louis)、比利．康 (Billy Conn)，棒球手泰德．威廉斯 (Ted Williams)、喬．狄馬喬 (Joe DiMaggio) 等。我們盡情嬉鬧，夏天時，趁在草地灑水器旋轉噴灑，我們穿梭水柱，傍晚時一起抓螢火蟲。到了冬天，我跟著他們丟雪球，然後從中途公園積雪的堤岸滾下來。

除了我的堂姐之秋以外，珍妮是我第一個女性朋友，我好高興能找到這麼一個玩伴。當海燕號抵達橫濱港時，全船的人都可以到甲板上面來。我和珍妮站在一起，倚著欄杆，我興奮地告訴她父親會開車來接我們，沒錯，我還指著等在碼頭上，穿著深色西裝的父親給她看。那時我真是一個傻丫頭，完全沒想到要問珍妮姓什麼，住在哪裡。後來在日本時，我教弟弟怎麼玩「金羅美」，我每次都贏他，不像在船上時，我每次都輸給珍妮——那個跟我同船共渡，我永遠難忘的玩伴。