Post by Dave Homewood on Jan 7, 2012 22:00:23 GMT 12
I just came across this and found it an interesting little story:
WITH CHINESE GUERILLAS
Ellesmere Guardian, Volume 66, Issue 76, 28 September 1945, Page 2
WITH CHINESE GUERILLAS
NEW ZEALANDER MAKES A
SPEECH
A HOSPITABLE PEOPLE
(R.N.Z. Navy Official News Service)
People who know 22-year-old Charles H. Brown, of Belfast, Canterbury, New Zealand, would have been surprised had they seen him on the evening of August 29. Brown surprised even himself. In the crowded market place of a small Chinese village, celebrating victory over Japan, Brown was forced to make a speech. Amid loud cheering, clapping and the bursting of fireworks, he spoke (through interpreters) of Allied good relations and the part China had played in the war. This is how it happened.
Brown is a lieutenant in the Fleet Air Arm; was flying Makimura, commissioner for foreign affairs in Hong Kong, to the Kai Tek airfield. With him were Petty Officer A. Japj, of Fife, Scotland, and an American war correspondent. The plane, an Avenger attached to H.M.S. "Indomitable," a unit of the British Pacific Fleet task force which enforced the surrender of Hong Kong, was forced down by bad weather on the China Coast. It was dark when they landed. Chinese fishermen and later Chinese guerillas came to investigate. Brown explained who he was with the aid of a "pointee-talkie" book. "The looks they cast at the uniformed Japanese envoy left no doubt about their attitude to him," said Brown.
By the light of bamboo torches and through paddy fields and gulleys Brown was guided to a village. "I understood I was being taken to meet a head man," said Brown. "But as soon as we reached the village, I was promptly urged on to a stage. The crowds cheered, clapped and lit fireworks. Some of the guerillas addressed the crowd and I learned they were praising the way the Allies had helped China."
He smiled when he recollected, "They insisted that I say something too." Later they told him how the Chinese wanted a representative Government and how they were working to obtain it peaceably— without civil war. In the early hours of the morning Brown was taken back to the Avenger. His guides were five armed guerillas. He was impressed by their appearance and equipment; admired their organisation. "The Chinese were hostile to the Japanese envoy but left him strictly alone," said Brown. Next morning the crew were rescued by a Walrus flying-boat and the envoy was flown to Kai Tek airfield.
WITH CHINESE GUERILLAS
Ellesmere Guardian, Volume 66, Issue 76, 28 September 1945, Page 2
WITH CHINESE GUERILLAS
NEW ZEALANDER MAKES A
SPEECH
A HOSPITABLE PEOPLE
(R.N.Z. Navy Official News Service)
People who know 22-year-old Charles H. Brown, of Belfast, Canterbury, New Zealand, would have been surprised had they seen him on the evening of August 29. Brown surprised even himself. In the crowded market place of a small Chinese village, celebrating victory over Japan, Brown was forced to make a speech. Amid loud cheering, clapping and the bursting of fireworks, he spoke (through interpreters) of Allied good relations and the part China had played in the war. This is how it happened.
Brown is a lieutenant in the Fleet Air Arm; was flying Makimura, commissioner for foreign affairs in Hong Kong, to the Kai Tek airfield. With him were Petty Officer A. Japj, of Fife, Scotland, and an American war correspondent. The plane, an Avenger attached to H.M.S. "Indomitable," a unit of the British Pacific Fleet task force which enforced the surrender of Hong Kong, was forced down by bad weather on the China Coast. It was dark when they landed. Chinese fishermen and later Chinese guerillas came to investigate. Brown explained who he was with the aid of a "pointee-talkie" book. "The looks they cast at the uniformed Japanese envoy left no doubt about their attitude to him," said Brown.
By the light of bamboo torches and through paddy fields and gulleys Brown was guided to a village. "I understood I was being taken to meet a head man," said Brown. "But as soon as we reached the village, I was promptly urged on to a stage. The crowds cheered, clapped and lit fireworks. Some of the guerillas addressed the crowd and I learned they were praising the way the Allies had helped China."
He smiled when he recollected, "They insisted that I say something too." Later they told him how the Chinese wanted a representative Government and how they were working to obtain it peaceably— without civil war. In the early hours of the morning Brown was taken back to the Avenger. His guides were five armed guerillas. He was impressed by their appearance and equipment; admired their organisation. "The Chinese were hostile to the Japanese envoy but left him strictly alone," said Brown. Next morning the crew were rescued by a Walrus flying-boat and the envoy was flown to Kai Tek airfield.
