TROOPS CONTACT ACROSS CHINA

Rotorua Morning Post, Issue 5321, 6 February 1947, Page 2

TROOPS CONTACT ACROSS CHINA

J. S.

, MUIR.)

ON P'LAINS OF iCIANGSU HEROIC U.NjR.R.A. WORKERS IN THE NO iTH.

(By

•iBHANGHAI, Dee. 4. The weather hadi taken a tui*n for the worse. Cold winds from the north, and iee on the ponds, \Hth the first few flakes of snow; so we knew our time was limited to reach the nien in the eaStern sector. On Thursday, November 22, we were away'after breakfast on the first lap of the journey to Huaiying, on the Grand Canal, 160 miles east of Hsuchow. Th'e night before 25,000 portions oi the Scriptures were stowed away in the van and next moming' a '50-gallon drum of petrol went in, along with ovn bedding and rations. Leaving' the 'Cloud Dragon Hill on our right, where three Amerdcan airraen lie buried, we headed for the open road. Dr. Frank Brown, y^io ha.c spent his last 3S years in the district. assui'ed xis that the first &0 li (20 miles) were "paved," but he did --not tell us what with! Boulders and bi'oken stone lying loose in the dusty roadbed -kept oui speed dovvm. My companion, Conrad and I took hour about at the wheel.

and passed everything on the road. which was mainly wheelbarrows and infantry troops, with a few overladen tr'ucks; the ex-Japanese army mo'dels were the worse for wear, and usually needed water in the radiator every few miles. * The road seems to meander over the endless flat plains of North Kiangsu. which is a wheat-growing area, anc the farmers were finishing ths sowing /'of their late autumn wheat. Low mxic walled farmhouses with thatched roofs cl'Umps of autumn-tinted willows, anc bare fields of fawn-eoloured loess soil Groups of children in their padded winter garments locked at us in the midst of their games of shuttlecocb The game is .played by kicking it ur in the air with the inside of the foot. Along the road were groups oi wheelbarrow men pushing theh squeaking barrows, usually with bags of wheat for market. Our cloud o dust enveloped them and roadsidc stalls as effectively as a fog screen.

An Armed Guard. We 'had to clear a pathway througl the markets where everything a farm er, his wife or his daughters could evei %vant, is spread out on the roadsidi for sale. By evening all have gonc home and to-morrow will be mavke i day somewhere else.

It was dusk when we crossed the long narrow bridge at Hsuchien, a distance of 80 miles, and parked outside the city gate under the shadow of-thc city wall; centuries old and havinj weathered many a political storm Both Japanese and Communists of latc years have fought for its possession The van would not go under tlu archway at the gate, so we went u to pay our respects to the general com manding this area. He felt the lieces sity of guarding us from any unex pected attack, so that night threi soldiers with fixed bayonets and ful' magazines watched over us, as well as the guardian angels. The ligbt fron the van illuminated our guards and the barhed wire entanglements at the city gate. In that setting the cook pre pared a meal over the primus stov> and we then turned intb our bedbag: at the top of the lodkers to slee] soundly, knowing we could "reckon oi. the promises." With the gear stowed away we wer, off next morning ou the last lap of thi journey to the banks of the Graiu. Canal. This countryside was much the same, but we met thousands of troopc coming towards us. "Officer, excuse me, but wbat divi sion are you?" we inquii'ed. "We are the 02nd- Division and I re member meeting you at Ghen Ru, ou of Shanghai, in May," he replied. I was there at the back of the l'ailwaj . station that the men had gathered anc heard us address them. To return ti" Shanghai we had to ask the station master to uncouple the trainload oi Japanese prisoners which was strad dling the road at the crossing, i: order to let us through.

Dilapidated Hospital. ■Making our way along the nal-ro\. streets of -Duaiying we reached th back door of the Southern Presbytc rian Hospital, where an old friend, thc matron, Miss Margaret Wood, fount us rooms to live in, in one of the mucl dilapidated dwellings on the compound. Over the war years and during thc period of Communist occupation thes. fine ipstitutions have been strippec of equipment ajid left in almbst unlivable conditioxis. Smoke-hlackenec walls, floors, ceilings with plaster fallen down, and nursing equipment gone. That was the condition that Miss Wood and her U.N.R.R.A. friends, Dr. E. Rosen, of Denmark, Dr. Adams apd Miss Johnson, from the Unitecl States, and Dr. Wjalter Robprtson, of New. Zealand, found the dnce firstclass hospital. By heroic efforts they are reorgani&ing and re-starting again,_ with the assistance1 of a faithful staft' ! of Chinese doctors and nurses. Sunday we spent with the Christians in the local church, with services held in the ho&pital chapel. The Gfeneral sent an ex-Japanese truck to take over the equipment and Scripture portions to the morning gathering he had arranged. A large assbfnbly hall holding two thousand meh was paciked to the doors, with troops standing in close formation. After a most impressive Dr. Sun Yat iSen's Memorial service, we were given •the platform. It was a grand meeting and the Lord'gave us liberty in telling iqf the .worth of the Book and the pbwer of the Saviour. Some folk thinlc there is not much j action going on at the Communist^ Central Govemment front lines, but our visit to the casualty hospital would silence those wis-hful . thinkers. More came in as we were having an inf ormal meeting in the courtyard, The hospi-

tal had. 700 inmates in all, the doctor in charge informed us, but how gladly they listened to our .message of comfort and accepted gratefully the familiar orange covered Gospel. They7 liked the music and the songs.