Vignette 12

Yokohama (I)

 

Father's Nagasaki diplomatic consul rank was equivalent to Lt. Col Delnore, the Nagasaki American Military Government battalion commander rank. In May 1949, the US 8th Army Division Commander, Maj General David Goodwin Barr travelled with his wife, Louise, to Nagasaki on an informal inspection of  USMG posts in southern Japan. My parents were pleased to meet and entertain the friendly couple. Upon General Barr's return to Tokyo headquarters to report to his superiors, he also talked to his good friend, Lt. General Shih-ming Chu, the ROC Mission (代表團) chief.  Barr and Chu had been classmates at the prestigious US Army Command and General Staff College in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, the "graduate school" for army officer command training. Barr remarked to General Chu that the capable young ROC Consul Tien and his charming wife, Stella, were wasted in that beautiful, but remote, Nagasaki outpost.

 

General Chu, thereupon, decided to make his own review of the Nagasaki ROC consulate. I remember there was a flurry of excitement and activities for General Chu and his staff and we hardly saw our parents for many days. This, I would discover, was to be the routine to come for my brother and me in the next 2 years. Austin would often cling to the window, eagerly anticipating each approaching headlight, waiting late into the night for mother to come home.

 

When General Chu returned to Tokyo, he ordered the transfer and promotion of father to Consul General of Yokohama, a flourishing urban city of over 13 million and a busy crossroad of international travel. ROC was the only consulate in Nagasaki because of the population of Chinese settlers since the 17th C.  General Chu had decided father would be of much better service in Yokohama than Nagasaki where 7 other nations had also posted consulate generals. Also, the US 8th Army (40,000 or more men) had established their base in Yokohama since the first arrival of Gen. MacArthur there on Aug 30, 1945. Father's new position was now equivalent to a major general in the USMG.

 

We began to travel again in July, 1949. It was hot, but we had a private 1st class train compartment to transport us to Yokohama. The Kyushu Overseas Chinese were loathe for father to go and met us at stations along the way, plying us with flowers, food and the children with toys. I received my first doll at the age of 10, which I had no idea what to do with, but obligingly dragged around. I also remember mother made me wear, with gratitude, gifts of flouncy handmade dresses and a ruffled bonnet that felt itchy and uncomfortable in the sweltering heat. My stiff new doll wore matching hand sewn outfits. Parents were quite moved by the gratitude of the Overseas Chinese and father holds those Nagasaki years with tender nostalgia. Soon in Yokohama, I would enter a real school for proper young ladies and have to abandon my itinerant, independent ways.

 

Our new home in Yokohama was on Yamatecho, The  Bluff, an exclusive foreign enclave built in 1860's. The handsome, 19th Century western stone house sat on a treelined street of paved sidewalks and ample backyards. We were serviced by an upstairs maid, a downstairs maid, a cook, laundress, butler (!), gardener and a Korean driver. The staff lived on a second floor above the kitchen in small rooms with their own narrow staircase through the kitchen. I never figured out what our young butler, Jimmy, did except he would serve my brother and me meals in the formal dining room at a long table. Parents were often out at functions in Yokohama and Tokyo but also gave dinner parties at home. Jimmy, attired immaculately in a butler livery of bow tie, starched shirt and short waistcoat, tended a formal bar in a porch alcove off the living room. Jimmy would announce dinner to the guests, pull open the sliding doors between the elegant living room to the drawing room and then another layer of sliding doors to the formal dining room. After guests went into the dining room, Jimmy would close the dining doors and gesture to us peeking from the staircase landing so we could quietly sneak down and stuff ourselves with the leftover sweet maraschino cherries from the Manhattan cocktail goblets before the maid collected them. The drab olives in the Martini glasses we left untouched.

 

If we were allowed to stay up on weekends, we would kneel, straddling the upstairs staircase balustrade, to spy on the arriving guests. Having learned our painful lesson in Nagasaki on our Sawayama-san terrace, we never made a peep or movement during those functions. One evening my knee got stuck between the railings and I had to dispatch Austin to tiptoe into the kitchen for the upstairs maid to free me. After a quiet scrambling, up-down whispers with the other staff, the maid brought up a small bowl of cooking oil to smear around my knee and extricate me. I didn't realize I had grown so much in the weeks from the previous party.

 

Following dinner,  the servants would roll up the living room carpet and phonograph dance music would seep out from under the closed doors of the living room. Then, we could hear the now familiar dance tunes and the Virginia Reel to the sound of clapping hands and happy feet. "Niblo Dancing" had also arrived in Yokohama!

 

Among the upper echelons of US 8th Army command, father particularly remembers 2 generals: Lt General Walton Harris Walker and Major General William F. Dean.

 

Father described Walker as a short, chunky, tough looking soldier who looked like his nickname "Bulldog" but was actually warm and soft spoken in person with a big, genuine smile. Walker had been in China and had liked the Chinese, so his relationship was a particularly cordial one.  Father frequently associated with  General Walker at both official events and private functions when General Walker and his wife, Caroline, entertained in their home.

 

The other fondly remembered American officer, serving under Walker, was Major General William F. Dean. Dean, whom father described as distinguished, tall, and athletic graduate of UC Berkeley, unlike the majority of generals who were West Point Academy graduates. Father was particularly touched when in late June, 1950, shortly after the shocking Korean War breakout, the self effacing Gen. Dean walked into father's office to say goodbye.  In the midst of the general's critical operational duties of mobilizing his spread out Division in 6 Japanese ports, Dean made the time to pay a farewell visit to father. It was an unusually warm gesture father has never forgotten!

 

Those light hearted Yokohama days with the US 8th Army had only lasted a year. On June 25, 1950, the North Korean army of 100,000 (135,000?), armed with the finest Russian weaponry and tanks breached the 38th Parallel separating the Communist controlled north and Allied supported South Korean peninsula. The weak line of South Korean troops, many on weekend passes, were underarmed, undertrained and totally unprepared. Shocked and overwhelmed by the North Korean troops, the decimated remaining 25,000 South Korean troops retreated over 200 miles south in a matter of days.

 

The anxiety in Yokohama in the military and diplomatic quarters was high pitched. A June 25,  2 am UN emergency session passed the vote to support South Korea in the happenstance absence of USSR who had been boycotting the UN to protest the exclusion of Communist China from that international body.  On June 27 , supported by their UN Allies, the United States went to war against North Korea! “If we let Korea down,” President Harry Truman said, “the Soviet[s] will keep right on going and swallow up one [place] after another."

 

Many of father's USMG friends were swiftly deployed.  Lt. General Walton Walker, 8th Army Commander, second to SC MacArthur, was rushed into action and left Japan on July 7 for Korea with 30,000 troops to lead a defensive breakout from a toehold in a corner of southeast Korea.

 

During 4 years of relative peace, American Occupation troops in Korea and Japan were engaged in constabulary and administrative than frontline duties. Also, Allied attention was intensely focussed on the Cold War in Europe where the Russians on June 18, 1948 blockaded West Berlin from the Allied West Germany. Father pointed out that the West Berliners and small contingent of American forces were saved by the organizational and flying skills that the Allies had developed from flying the 1942-45 India-China Hump airlift! The Russians gave up this blockade after 10 months and the military.

 

In Korea, the Americans were not only unprepared for the furious NK onslaught, most of the American forces were composed of green untested recruits, under the age of 20, sent over to relieve the battle hardened veterans. Only 15% of these American troops had any battle experience. Though General Walker had only arrived in Japan, the previous year, he expressed concern over the desultory army whiling away their time in Japan and had begun to shape up the troops. But, as it was said, "it was too little, too late".

.

In fact, General "Bulldog" Walker was the only WWII general that General George Patton respected and had publicly praised in the European front. However, unlike Patton and MacArthur, father said, Walker was low key, and shunned strutting in the limelight or playing to the media. Receiving frequent updates from contacts in the 8th Army Headquarters, father was gratified to hear that General Walker demonstrated his effectiveness within 3 months, by Sept. 27, had pushed back the NK, recapturing the lost territory even beyond the 38th Parallel.

 

I recall one autumn day, mother warmly dressed, returned home earlier than usual from an 8th Army function. She was visibly shaken by the army films that were shown that evening and hardly able to speak of the horrors of bodies on fire crawling on the ground from the flame throwers and the crushing bones under tanks. The hand to hand combat was terrifying to actually see for civilians used to reading reports and numbers. Even the aerial bombing and deaths in Kunming and Chongqing were not as searing as these closeup images of modern warfare. For days after, mother was unable to eat nor sleep.

 

At this successful point of the 8th Army and 7th Fleet advance, the exultant SC MacArthur who had countermanded President Truman's explicit orders to not cross beyond the original 38th Parallel, nor pursue the North Koreans, unilaterally commanded a reluctant Walker to continue to push far north of the 38th to the Yalu River border between Korea and China. MacArthur believed he could accomplish the reunification of Korea.  The Communist Chinese unleashed 600,000 (?) /100,000's troops upon the Americans. During this bloody engagement, Walker disobeyed MacArthur's orders to "not give an inch". Fearing exposure of his outnumbered men to the combined PRC-NK onslaught, Walker ordered a retreat. During the US retreat back to the 38th Parallel, Walker persisted in staying with his rear guard troops protecting the retreating US  flanks. On Dec. 23, 1950, General Walker's jeep collided head-on with a truck and he died immediately in the similar manner as his mentor, General George Patton had died on Dec. 21, 1945 in a car accident.

 

Father said Walker was the man who "saved Korea' and a Walker Hill in Seoul was dedicated to him by the South Korean government. Walton H. Walker is considered by many military historians to be the most underrated WWII US commander; but the Koreans had recognized and immensely respected him as a supreme military leader.

 

Father had an amusing, often told story, about Walton Walker as a young man. Walker was offered the choice to be a businessman or lawyer by his family. His reply was "I had rather be a merchant than a lawyer, but I had rather be dead than be either one."

 

 With a heavy heart, father paid his respects, among the many others, at Lt. General Walton Walker's full military honors lying-in-state in Yokohama before General Walker was transported back to the United States Arlington Cemetery for burial. Walker was posthumously promoted to full General of the Army.

 

The other memorable general Father never saw again after the beginning of the Korean War, was the affable Major General Dean who had visited father in his office in late June 1950 to say goodbye before departing for Korea. Dean was seriously injured during a desperate delaying action against the advancing NK forces. Separated from his men, General Dean was sold to North Korea troops by 2 South Korean soldiers on August 25, 1950 and held in captivity for 3 years until Sept. 4, 1953. Dean was awarded the highest US military commendation, the Medal of Honor, while he was in captivity. In his autobiography, he later wrote in his typical modest style, "There were heroes in Korea but I was not one of them...I would not have awarded myself a wooden star..." Father was relieved his friend, General William Dean survived the Korean captivity to write an autobiography.

 

Besides the US 8th Army commanders, father also worked with diplomats, notably US Consul General U. Alexis Johnson who went on to be the Ambassador to Thailand, S. Vietnam and Japan and later, Under Secretary of State. Father also talked about the very tall Dutch diplomat Robert van Gulik, a Sinophile who towered over his dainty Chinese wife. Van Gulik was fluent in Chinese and particularly enjoyed associating with the Chinese Mission. Van Gulik later became a popular mystery writer of the Judge Dee series which I discovered on a trip in the 1970's to Great Britain with my family. I read all of van Gulik's  Judge Dee books with relish and wish I had been able to talk to him when I was a little girl reading Sherlock Holmes and Father Brown.

 

[But most demanding on father, was his tasks with the ROC Mission. With the retreat of ROC to Taiwan in 1949, the situation seemed bleak to the Mission personnel and often, even dire. For several months in the summer of 1949, the ROC government on Taiwan did not fund the ROC Mission. The head of Mission, General Chu, flew out to meet with President Chiang in late October about sustaining the Mission under such difficult circumstances. In short order, all the back salaries were paid out and the ROC Japan mission was operational.

 

Gen. Chu was an MIT engineering (?) PhD graduate, sophisticated and charismatic. Not physically handsome, Gen. Chu was portly, but exuded a commanding presence. In private, he spoke gently, often with downcast eyes and a bemused expression cloaking a coiled energy and dynamic mind.  But on occasions, I detected a fierce, menacing look when he raised his hooded eyes to quietly cross examine a reporting adjutant. Separated for many years from his wife, Grace (who became the first US Chinese cookbook author), he sought companionship at his weekend house in Hayama 葉山町, where the Japanese Imperial family also had a retreat. My parents accepted his invitation on the condition that my brother and I could accompany them. --This section can be removed.]

 

Parents became good friends with Chiang Liang (江梁), an economics and business specialist and his wife, Cecilia Chiang (孫芸) who would become one of the most heralded restaurateurs in the US. Cecilia was a very pretty, outgoing woman, the youngest in this group; being the youngest of 7 sisters, my parents affectionately called her 老七. She had a special flair for fashion and sophistication from having lived for many years in Shanghai,

 

[The Hayama resort was a big Japanese style estate on spacious grounds. Gen. Chu whom we called Uncle Chu (朱伯伯)  had 2 large German Shepherd dogs named Taro and Jiro. In time, Taro and Jiro became familiar with us and I played with them on the broad lawn under the watchful eye of their handler and the security guards. In the evenings, Austin and I ate by ourselves at a very long dining room table that could sit at least 20 people. We quietly read, played cards and listened to the Armed Forces radio and went to bed on the tatami floor early. The adults sometimes played billiards after dinner but more often, they engaged in heated discussions on the state of ROC and world affairs. Uncle Chu was sometimed critical of SC MacArthur's policies for Japan. The Korean War had halted the dismantling of the Zaibatsu industrial monopolies and Japan's factories were forging mightily ahead churning out US war materials. It seemed to the Chinese, Japan was the great beneficiary of WWII and post war buildup, receiving many billions of US dollars.--This section can be removed. ]

 

Back in 1947, docking at the Yokohama pier, I pointed out father to Jenny, my shipmate on the USS Marine Swallow. I noticed  that father stood out, taller than most greeters at the pier and was quite dapper in his well fitted suit. Father's father, my Grandpa, in his youth was a slender, handsome dandy just under 6' with the aquiline bridged nose of northern Chinese and large, deep set eyes. Father and his 4 younger siblings inherited their father's same physiology while father's 3 older siblings had the shorter and sturdier build from another branch of our approximately 2500 year Chi Tien (齊田) gene pool.  Father's proud and stubborn Shandong direct Tien line never abandoned their ancestral hometowns until the Cultural Revolution.

 

In Yokohama, I noticed that mother, now a lady of leisure, rather than harried Chicago housewife, would also sit at a dressing table like 范伯母 in a morning gown and groom her long hair into a chic chignon. The morning gown became mother's lounge wear through breakfast even till today. Sometimes, we would breakfast together at the long banquet table served by Jimmy. Mother loved her croissant and coffee with the morning newspaper. Mother's social wardrobe also blossomed with lovely new dresses and an assortment of high heeled shoes. I particularly favored her gold pair with the ankle straps which I liked to carefully totter around in when mother wasn't home.

 

Physically and ancestrally different than father's tall line of 100's of linked generations of the Tien family from Shandong,  Mother had a petite, full figure, small southern snub nose, small darting eyes and disarming deep dimples. Mother could only trace her Liu (劉 ) line back one generation to her father, Liu Man-cun (劉曼君) a militant revolutionary from  Xiangyin in Hunan province (湖南湘陰). He died in Beiping when mother was still in senior high school. Mother was deeply attached to her father and countless times, retold her memories of his rigorous learning, generous support of relatives and friends, his courageous resistance of Yuan Shih-kai (袁世凱), fiery Hunan temper and destitute finances, discovered after his death.

 

Later mother would adopt her pen name "Yeh Man" (葉曼) from her mother's maiden name "Yeh" (葉)  and her father's middle name "Man" (曼). But at that time in Yokohama, mother did not know of her literary destiny yet to come.

 

 

橫濱之一

 

1949年5月，美國軍事顧問團巴大維 (David Goodwin Barr) 團長和他太太露藝絲(Louise)抵達長崎進行非正式視察，父母親作陪。巴大維認為把年輕有為的田寶岱和他美麗的妻子放在長崎太可惜了，返回東京後向上級報告，同時也告訴他的好友，也就是當時中華民國駐日代表團團長朱世明。巴大維和朱世明是同學，曾經在美國堪薩斯的李文渥斯堡(Fort Leavenworth) ，美國陸軍指揮參謀學院(US Army Command and General Staff College)接受軍官指揮訓練。

於是朱團長決定親自到長崎一探究竟，當時為了朱團長一行人到訪，父母親忙了好幾天，我和弟弟很少見到他們。後來我才了解，往後的兩年父母親的日子就是這麼繁忙。朱團長回東京之後將父親調到橫濱擔任總領事。在長崎只有我國設有領事館，因為十七世紀開始就有中國人移居長崎。朱團長認為父親在橫濱更能發揮所長，可以和其他七個國家的總領事建立關係。另外，1945年8月30日麥克阿瑟將軍到了橫濱之後，美國第八軍就在此設立基地。

1949年7月我們全家搭火車前往橫濱，當時九州的華僑很捨不得父親調走，特別到車站送行。他們獻花，幫我們準備一路上吃的食物，還送我們玩具。我也是因為這樣，才在十歲時第一次有了洋娃娃，那時候還真不知道該怎麼辦，只好一直拿在手中。那一天母親要我特地穿上人家先前贈送的禮物——手工做的荷葉邊洋裝配上摺邊的幼童帽。悶熱的夏天裡，戴著帽子又癢又不舒服，手上那個新的洋娃娃看起來還很生硬的感覺，似乎和我一身手工縫製的衣帽正好相配。不過父母親對於僑民夾道相送特別感動，父親也特別懷念長崎的日子。

在橫濱我們住在山手町外國人專屬的住宅區，1860年代建造的西式建築，美麗的十九世紀風格，庭院寬闊，枝葉繁茂，連綿成蔭。我們樓上樓下各有一名傭人打理，還有廚子、洗衣婦、園丁、一位韓籍司機，甚至還有一名管家。這些人都住在廚房樓上的小房間，廚房裡通往樓上的那個樓梯特別窄小。我一直不清楚我們年輕的管家吉米到底是負責什麼事情，好像只負責張羅我和弟弟在那張足可容納二十人的西式長餐桌上吃晚餐。那段時間父母常常在橫濱和東京應酬，但有時也會在家請客。家裡宴客時吉米一定全副管家的裝扮，一絲不苟。他會向賓客宣布晚餐開始，然後拉開客廳和起居室之間的隔門，再拉開餐廳的門，等客人就坐後他就拉上門，從樓梯口偷偷示意我和弟弟下來，塞給我們一些客人沒吃的酒泡櫻桃。晚餐後，傭人把客廳的地毯捲起來，接著留聲機的音樂從門縫底下傳出來，有各式舞曲，當然也包括在長崎聽到的方塊舞的音樂。

美國第八軍的高階將領中，父親對華克 (Walton Harris Walker) 和狄恩 (William F. Dean) 兩位將軍印象最深刻。父親說華克矮矮壯壯的，外表強悍，很符合大家給他的稱號—「猛犬」，但實際上他很溫和，私底下講話很和氣，臉上的笑容燦爛真誠。華克曾經在中國待過，很喜歡中國人，對中國朋友特別誠懇。父親經常應華克和他的妻子卡洛琳(Caroline)的邀請，到他們家作客，有時因為公事，有時則是純粹私人聚會。

狄恩是華克的部屬，畢業於加州柏克萊大學，不像大部分的將軍都是出身西點軍校。他又高又壯，父親說他是位傑出的人才。韓戰爆發不久之後的一天，狄恩突然走進父親辦公室跟他道別。在那個緊急時刻他需要動員分散在日本六個港口的軍隊，軍務倥傯之際還抽空前來辭行，父親特別感動，那份溫馨的情誼是父親永遠難忘的記憶。

第八軍在橫濱平靜地度過一年，1950年6月25日韓戰爆發，北韓軍隊挟著蘇俄提供的精良武器，節節逼退南韓軍隊，甚至越過38度線。6月27日聯合國同意由美國派兵援助南韓。父親在第八軍的一些朋友立刻被徵召赴韓國，華克是位階僅次於麥克阿瑟的將領，他銜命帶領3萬士兵立即離開日本。美國沒有料到北韓的攻勢如此猛烈，而美國兵大多是20歲以下的年輕人，只有百分之十五的士兵有作戰經驗。戰爭初期聯合國軍隊失利，退守釜山。

父親說巴頓將軍 (George Patton) 公開讚揚的二次大戰的將軍，唯有「猛犬華克」一人。但是華克和麥克阿瑟或巴頓不一樣的地方是，華克一向低調，不喜歡成為鎂光燈的焦點，所幸父親和第八軍時常接觸，常可聽聞有關華克的訊息，也知道他到韓國之後展現驍勇善戰的能力，在9月27日的戰役中擊退北韓軍隊，奪回漢城，甚至往38度線前進。

我還記得那年的一個秋日，在橫濱的第八軍放映電影，沒想到母親提早回家，看來驚魂未定的樣子。原來當天的影片令人怵目驚心，那些在手榴彈底下慘烈炸開的身體，那些被坦克車壓過的屍骨，慘絕人寰。文字報導和傷亡數字對一般人而言畢竟隔了一層，衝擊力沒有目睹影像那麼巨大而直接。母親接連好幾天不能吃，也不能睡，耿耿於懷。

入秋之後，第八軍和第七艦隊在仁川戰役後乘勝追擊，越過38度線，向平壤推進，麥克阿瑟將軍甚至逕自命令華克繼續進攻到中韓邊界的鴨綠江，因為他相信自己可以完成南北韓的統一。原本計畫在平壤放手一搏的華克，獲悉中共派遣強大兵力參戰，判斷寡不敵眾，不顧麥克阿瑟將軍的命令而選擇撤退，撤退時華克將軍堅持和後衛部隊留守到最後一刻。1950年12月23日，華克在南韓視察時，他所乘坐的吉普車和一輛卡車對撞，華克將軍當場死亡。

父親說華克拯救了韓國，南韓政府以「華克山莊」表揚他對韓國的貢獻。許多軍事歷史專家都認為華克是二次世界大戰中，最被低估的指揮官，美國人沒有給他應得的評價，反而是韓國人尊他為卓越的軍事將領。

    父親常常說起華克年輕時的一件趣事。家人要他在從商或者當律師之中擇一而就，他回答說：「我寧願從商，不要當律師；不過若真的一定得在這兩個中選擇，我寧願死了算了。」華克將軍遺體運回美國阿靈頓公墓下葬之前，曾在橫濱舉行備極哀榮的儀式，父親瞻仰遺容，悲不自勝。

    狄恩將軍赴韓參戰前向父親辭行之後，父親再也沒見過他了。他受了重傷，被兩名南韓士兵出賣給北韓部隊，1950年8月25日被囚禁，一直到1953年9月4日才獲釋。在被囚期間，美國授予他軍人的最高榮譽勳章，但是他在後來的自傳中謙虛說道：「韓戰中有許多英雄，而我根本不算什麼英雄……連一顆木製星星都不值得獎賞給我。」但無論如何，父親看到他出版自傳時非常高興，知道這位老朋友沒有因為監禁而命喪韓國。

除了第八軍的指揮官，父親和幾位外交官也常有來往，尤其是美國總領事強森將軍 (U. Alexis Johnson)，後來他當了美國派駐泰國、越南和日本的大使，之後還當了美國副國務卿。另外一位父親常常提到的是荷蘭大使高佩羅 (Robert van Gulik)，他是位漢學家，身材高大，娶了一位嬌小的中國太太。高佩羅的中文非常流利，特別喜歡和我國駐日代表團來往。後來他居然成了很有名的推理小說家，出版一系列的狄仁傑系列(Judge Dee series)，是他根據清代公案小說中，唐朝狄仁傑辦案的故事而創作的。1970年代我們全家去英國旅行時，無意中發現高佩羅成了小說家，後來我讀完所有狄仁傑系列，讀得津津有味，非常過癮。要是在橫濱的時候我知道高佩羅大使喜歡推理小說，我一定會跟他談談我當時在讀的福爾摩斯和布朗神父。