[Alberta Special Issue on the 70th Anniversary of the Anti-Fascist Victory] Wen Ruo: In Memory of General Xu Dezhi

[Alberta Special Issue on the 70th Anniversary of the Anti-Fascist Victory] Wen Ruo: In Memory of General Xu Dezhi Foreword: This year marks the 70th anniversary of the victory of the World Anti-Fascist and Chinese Anti-Japanese War. Many places...

Foreword: This year marks the 70th anniversary of the victory of the World Anti-Fascist and Chinese Anti-Japanese War. Various commemorative activities have been held in many places, and many people have written various commemorative articles. Our Phoenix city once had an anti-Japanese patriotic general, Mr. Xu Dezhi, who lived here until his death in 2006. During his lifetime, General Xu wrote many articles recalling his time at the "China Air Force Infantry School" at the anti-Japanese military academy. His beloved daughter, Dr. Xu Kailai, is the founder and first president of the "Asia-Pacific Community Promotion Association", a charitable medical organization with great influence in Arizona. Dr. Xu, adhering to his parents' good family tradition of loving and helping others, has been engaged in charity medical care in the Asia-Pacific community with many enthusiastic volunteers for many years. The following is an article I wrote in 2006 as a memory of the respected General Xu and to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the world’s anti-fascist and China’s victory in the Anti-Japanese War.

Patriotism, love in kindergarten, Christian love

[Phoenix PEN] Wen Ruo

In 1996, my husband came to teach at ASU and we moved to Phoenix. It was not until 2006 that we learned that there were several students of my husband’s grandfather in Phoenix. One of them, General Xu Dezhi, often published articles in newspapers and periodicals. Later, our family met Uncle Xu Dezhi and his family in Phoenix City, thanks to the surprise brought to us by a conversation between our neighbors and friends Chen Bingzhi and Huang Guanhua.

> Chen Bingzhi and Huang Guanhua are from Taiwan. They are good friends of Uncle Xu’s family. One day in late January 2006, Guanhua came to sit at my house and saw a memoir about "The 100th Anniversary of the Birth of General Wang Qiang." During the conversation, he connected Uncle Xu's experience with my husband's grandfather, General Wang Qiang. So Guanhua quickly conveyed the news to Uncle Xu. Uncle Xu said that Wang Qiang is our chief of education. As usual, the principal of the "China Air Force Infant School" is nominally concurrently served by Chiang Kai-shek. In fact, the chief of education, General Wang Qiang, is resident in the school and leads the school affairs. Uncle Xu also said that he has wanted to meet the family of Director Wang for many years. He is a first-year kindergarten student and has studied at Kong Kindergarten in the rear area for eight years. Director Wang treats them like his own sons, and Director Wang’s second daughter Wang Aili (my mother-in-law) is about the same age as them. Imitation; Second Miss Wang returned to her home in Puyang, Sichuan every weekend from the beautiful girls, and we often met each other. Uncle Xu also said wittily that at that time, all our military school students were "little monks" who had just begun to fall in love, and they only dared to secretly admire the beautiful Second Miss in their hearts.

Unfortunately, my husband had already gone to Japan during his academic vacation at ASU University, and I would also go to Japan in a few days. So Uncle Xu asked Guanhua to make an appointment for us to meet when we return to the United States at the end of March. While we were in Japan, Guanhua told us on the phone that Uncle Xu was very much looking forward to meeting us. He also drew an oil painting from memory of Gouzi Mountain on the banks of the Puyang River in Guan County, Sichuan Province, where the Air Force Junior School is located, and prepared to give it to us. He also arranged to treat us and Guanhua's family to a meal when we returned to the United States. But just a week before we returned to the United States, Uncle Xu suddenly suffered a stroke and was hospitalized on March 19. We returned to the United States for a few days, and Guanhua gave Uncle Xu a photo of the three of us in front of the oil painting presented by Uncle Xu.

Later, when we were in Japan, we heard that Uncle Xu was recovering very well. We were really impressed by his tenacity. He also said that when he has the energy, he will write the story of how he met Mr. Wang’s descendants in Phoenix. With Uncle Xu’s prolific writing skills and endless perseverance in writing, we look forward to reading Uncle Xu’s vivid articles.

After returning to the United States in the summer of 2006, we have been waiting for Uncle Xu to recover as soon as possible and be able to see each other. On September 16, some of Uncle Xu's close friends and relatives celebrated his eighty-first birthday and invited us. As soon as Uncle Xu saw us, he stood up immediately, held my husband's hand, and talked a lot about Air Force Infant School and Superintendent Wang. The scene at that time was very touching. We admire Uncle Xu very much for his agility, talkativeness and optimism. We brought General Wang Qiang’s photos, books and materials, videos of Kongyou School alumni gatherings, etc. Because we were worried that Uncle Xu’s too much excitement would affect his heart, we made an appointment with his family to show them all to him the next time we meet. When we parted, we took photos with Mr. and Mrs. Guanhua and Uncle Xu. We all had a wonderful night.

On September 24, Uncle Xu's condition suddenly changed and he was hospitalized. On October 2, Uncle Xu, who was respected by everyone, passed away. What makes us absolutely unbelievable is that our meeting at Uncle Xu’s birthday party was actually the first and last time we met. How can we not be extremely regretful!

When news of the grief reached Nanjing, Uncle Xu's classmate in the first batch and the head of the Air Force Infant School Alumni Association, Uncle Liu Xiangqi, and my mother-in-law, Professor Wang Aili, who were descendants of Superintendent Wang, immediately sent condolences to mourn the death of their friend. Later, the two elders recounted their memories orally and asked me to compile them into a document to express their longing.

In 1939, just as the Japanese imperialists extended their iron hooves of aggression into the hinterland of China, Japanese aircraft bombed our country's rear areas indiscriminately, killing countless civilians. At that time, the National Aviation Commission appointed General Wang Qiang, who was born in the third batch of Baoding Military Academy and had studied in the United States, to prepare a school in Sichuan with the goal of cultivating anti-Japanese air force reserve forces, the "China Air Force Infant School".

At that time, patriotic young people from many provinces applied for the exam one after another. After passing the physical test and written test, one person from hundreds of thousands of people was finally selected. Uncle Xu Dezhi came to this school alone away from his parents when he was 12 years old and became a student in the first batch of the Air Force Infant School. They have received both military training and high-quality education in moral, intellectual, physical, aesthetic, labor and quality; they have emphasized both overall discipline and full personality development; they have not only imparted China's excellent ancient traditional thoughts but also incorporated advanced educational concepts from Western civilization. In such an educational environment, Uncle Xu studied hard with the determination to grow into a pilot in the future, drive the iron wings to drive Japanese bandits out of the country and regain lost territory. A biography written about him by his classmates at the Air Force Infantry School said: Xu Junde was good and humorous, his language was humorous and interesting, he was cautious and honest, and all his classmates were happy to be friends with him. You are of moderate stature, a handsome young man, fond of literature and art, very sociable, but not good at sports, quick in dealing with things, witty, and especially fond of exploring novelties. When you look at details, you can see as if you are at peace, so your classmates jokingly call him "Mimi". Uncle Xu and his classmates had a firm "patriotic heart" when they were teenagers and wanted to wash away the national humiliation, so they all developed a strong will and superb skills. Over the past few decades, among the students of Air Force Kindergarten Schools on both sides of the Taiwan Strait and across all continents, not only many have become the backbone of the Air Force, but many have used their skills in kindergartens to study in other majors, and there are many who have made achievements in the fields of science and technology, education, industry, art and other fields. Some became outstanding aircraft designers, and others became university professors with outstanding achievements. Uncle Xu later became an Air Force Confucian general who was able to practice medicine, oil painting, and writing.

From the age of twelve, Uncle Xu spent the most influential eight years in his life at the Air Force Junior School on the banks of the Puyang River. Therefore, he has a strong "Puyang love". He not only actively wrote articles for "Puyang News", but also often got together with his classmates. Living in the United States, far away from Puyang, he was able to draw an oil painting of Gouzi Mountain by the Puyang River from memory. This oil painting fully expresses Uncle Xu's deep memory for Pu Yang and the strong affection for Pu Yang in his heart. After several years of living in the Air Force Junior School, the "Puyang love" that the students have developed from getting along with each other day and night is a special kind of relationship. Although they are not brothers, they are better than brothers. As the alumni of Kongyou School said, this is a feeling that was “formed in the special era of the Anti-Japanese War, rooted in the specific environment of Puyang’s landscape, and cast by the unforgettable hatred of the invaders.” Due to the passage of time, there are now only about a thousand elderly people left out of the 2,100 young people in Puyang. But they all cherish the Puyang love in their hearts that gets better and better as time goes by, and they are all full of pride in the prosperous years they spent in the war against Japan. Sometimes they proudly use their well-trained singing voices to recall their first journey in life, "how young they are despite their age, but to have the same ambition." This love for Puyang buried deep in our hearts has become more developed and deeper after more than 20 years of exchanges between "Puyang Newsletters" in Beijing, North America, and Taiwan, and countless gatherings of various forms. This kind of feeling is not easy to see in all military schools and ordinary schools from all over the world.

Uncle Xu became a Christian after coming to the United States. He enthusiastically served many church activities, was always helpful, and often entertained air force personnel who came to the United States for training. More importantly, Uncle Xu's wisdom, tolerance, perseverance and open-mindedness gave everyone who came into contact with him a spiritual inspiration. He gained praise, admiration and respect from the church and the overseas Chinese community. From the articles written by Uncle Xu, we can often feel his gratitude and enthusiasm for evangelism. Uncle Xu has a deep "Christian love".

Now, Uncle Xu has passed away. I only met Uncle Xu once, and we will never see him again. We wanted to write down the memories of the long years that were triggered by meeting the descendants of Superintendent Wang. This is really a pity for us. Today, I can only use my writing style to express my deep thoughts for Uncle Xu on behalf of several of our elders. May Uncle Xu and his beloved General Wang Qiang, the education director of the "China Air Force Infant School" who is also a Christian, meet in heaven. (Written in October 2006)

>Links about "China Air Force Infant School":

http://baike.baidu.com/view/3013655.htm

http://baike.baidu.com/subview/627071/5119362.htm

http://wccdaily.scol.com.cn/shtml/hxdsb/20140713/225545.shtml

http://bbs.tiexue.net/post2_2643876_1.html

http://www.360doc.com/content/12/0806/13/4993693_228626036.shtml

http://www.bdcconline.net/zh-hans/stories/by-person/w/wang-qiang.php

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQSJ-Qzkyvk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hyIBINwIiw