My name is Man Luk-Bun. I was born in Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, China on August 28, 1918.
I came from a well-educated family. My grandfather was an Imperial scholar in the Qing Dynasty, having passed the Imperial Civil Examination and achieving the dynasty's highest academic honor. My father however did not have the opportunity to sit for the examination as it was later abolished. He became a teacher in a private school organized by the village. The Qing Dynasty ended in 1911. Following that, China went into a power vacuum, but was eventually governed by the Chinese Nationalist Party in the early 1930s after initial period of internal wars.
After I graduated from high school in 1938, I wanted to apply to Wuhan University, which was one of the most prestigious institutions of the time. So, I embarked to Wuhan for the entrance examination. However, the Japanese invasion of China had just begun to spread to Wuhan when I got there in July 1938. The Japanese had occupied Shanghai and Nanjing by the end of 1937, and had been attacking the big cities westward along the Yangzi River, towards Wuhan and Changsha. Wuhan University had to close. And so I never got the chance to sit for any entrance examination. Many other prospective students were affected as well.
The KMT government called upon us students to relocate to the Southwest of China behind Chongqing as Wuhan was no longer safe. The initial plan was to group us in Kunming and then for us to proceed to Chongqing. So in July 1938, we all marched from Wuhan to Kunming, passing by Changsha. The journey took us about one odd month.
By that time, the Japanese had occupied Beijing and Tianjin. Some universities had to relocate. Subsequently, three of the most prestigious universities - National Peking University in Beijing, National TsingHwa University in Beijing and Private Nankai University in Tianjin - all relocated to Kunming and co-founded the Southwestern Associated University. So instead of continuing my march to Chongqing, I decided to sit for the entrance examination at the Southwestern Associated University in Kunming. I was admitted to study literature at the Faculty of Arts.
Shortly after, on May 3, 1939, Japanese planes began bombarding Chongqing. We all became worried. The thought was: what future would we have if the second capital also falls? With that in mind, many of us took our own initiative to join the army. As a Chinese idiom goes, we decided to "lay down the pen and take up the sword".
I applied to the branch of the Whampoa Military Academy in Kunming. The academy was the premier military school of the time in China, fostering potential military officers. It was originally located in Guangzhou but had to relocate after Guangzhou fell to the Japanese. For the entrance exam, I was tested on Chinese history, Chinese literature, mathematics, and physics. I passed the tests and was admitted as a student officer of the 17th class.
On the first day at the academy, my head was shaven and I was given a uniform. But the school did not provide us with shoes or boots to wear. We were simply given a pair of woven sandals, which did not last long. So, all of us were taught to weave our own sandals from grass.
We followed routines at the academy. In the morning, we had to wake up at 5:30 am and within 10 minutes, we had to assemble at the drill square to sing songs of the academy. Then it was time for breakfast, for morning exercises and later for practicing military drills. Whoever was late for these activities was punished. We had simple meals. It was congee with peanuts or bean curd for breakfast. Lunch was also simple - there was no meat, no chicken and no fish - just vegetables. We learned how to shoot various weapons three months after the admission. I was at the academy for two and half years from 1939 to 1941.
After graduation, I was assigned to the 19th Army and was ranked the Second Lieutenant, Platoon Officer, one bar. Soon after, I was asked to report to the headquarters of the 19th Army in Gaoan, together with five other young officers from Jiangxi. As my home was on the way to the headquarters, I decided to drop-by to see my family before reporting for duty. Upon arriving, my father told me to get married there and then. It is in the Chinese culture to secure a heir. And this was especially so for soldiers like myself who may not ever come back home again. My wife-to-be was the daughter of a family friend. It was an arranged marriage and it was decided on before we were born. I haven't met my wife-to-be prior to the wedding day. I went ahead with the marriage and spent two more days at home. That was our honeymoon.
After that I went straight to the headquarters in Gaoan. It was June 1941 and it was near the end of the Battle of Shanggao. We learnt that the Japanese were advancing towards Nanchang but they first had to cross the Jinjiang River, and that's where I was sent. So, we were on one side of the riverbank and the Japanese on the other. On our side, we had barbed wire around trenches, which were camouflaged. The Japanese started firing artillery to cover for their soldiers who were trying to swim across the river in few groups. Most were killed before they could reach the shore.
After successfully defending several waves of attacks, on the third day, a small group of Japanese soldiers managed to get over to our side of the riverbank and even managed to climb over the barbed wire. We had no choice but to fight with our bayonets. There was one particular soldier that I fought with that I remembered. He plunged his bayonet at me. In turn, I managed to deflect his bayonet against mine. That action saved my life as I was only wounded superficially. I managed to stab him. He fell to the ground. That was my first fight, first kill. It was a chaotic scene so I did not have the time to reflect deeply on my feelings back then, but I remember I was somewhat happy to have won that fight. This was one of the most memorable moments for me as a soldier. That battle lasted three days and three nights.
In 1942, the highest commanding general of my army, Commander Luo Zhuoying, was designated to be Commander in Chief of the 1st Route Expeditionary Force. The force was tasked to support the British army against the Japanese army in Burma. Commander Luo selected four of us to assist him. So, in mid-1942, we flew from Kunming to Ramgarh Cantonment at the northwestern border of India. When we arrived there, Commander Luo was already replaced and I was then redeployed to the Division Commander Liao Yaoxiang of the New 22nd Division.
The main force including the New 22nd Division was still in Burma. I set out to join my division in Shin Bway Yang, Northern Burma. I was assigned to the 66th regiment and was promoted to Lieutenant, Platoon Officer overlooking the machine gun platoon. By the time I joined them, they were already retreating following the defeat by the Japanese. Some of us tried to go back to China, while the others retreated to Ramghar Cantonment with the British. In our retreat, we had to go through the Burmese tropical jungle during the raining season. We had three-days worth of supply of food and drinks with us. After the third day, we ran out of everything including medicine. Many of us were wounded beforehand. Many of those who were seriously injured collapsed due to worsening wounds. Others died of thirst, starvation, insect bites, animal attacks and sickness. There were notably many leeches. We marched days and nights without any sense of direction. The hardship was unbearable. I cannot believe that I lived through that and survived.
Later, we managed to make our way back to Ramgarh Cantonment. There, at the base, we were re-equipped and re-trained by the British and American forces. We ate rice and bread supplied by them and wore American supplied uniforms.
The counterattack took place in northern Burma. It started in late October 1943 along the Hukawng Valley. We fought the Japanese to Makaw in early 1944. During the counterattack, my Company Commander died. I was promoted to Captain Company Commander. I was shot once in the leg but I could still walk. The medical team took out the bullets after the battle. Before the counterattack campaign ended, I was ordered to go back to China to participate in the Battle in Hangyang in Hunan Province. Hanyang is a significant and strategic military point that connected the southeast and southwest of China by air, water, rail and road.
We were assigned to defend the city of Hangyang for two weeks. There was supposed to be reinforcement but it only came after two months. And when they did come, it was only to cover us for our eventual retreat as we were ordered to do. Only 37 out of 180 of my fellow soldiers in the company survived. We found out later that the Japanese were impressed that none of us surrendered in the 48 days that we fought. I was wounded in the back by shrapnel.
It was near the end of 1944 when the Battle of Hanyang ended. We were ordered to go to Leiyang in Hunan Province, en-route to Chongqing. In Leiyang, I was selected to join the 208th Division, which was a division in the Youth Expeditionary Force. I was promoted from a Captain to a Major, a Deputy Battalion Commander of infantry to train all of its student officers in the force.
On August 15th 1945, the Japanese surrendered. I was in Yichun, Jiangxi Province that day. We did not have a radio, so we only learned of the Japanese surrender in the evening after the political officer of the division told us. When I heard of it, I was very delighted. We celebrated and jumped for joy. Civilians everywhere were setting off firecrackers.
After the Japanese surrendered, the 208th Division was supposed to take over Taiwan after 50 years of Japanese occupation. So we advanced to Fuzhou in Fujian Province. As my division was about to set sail to Taiwan, our mission was cancelled. The Governor of Taiwan had rejected us and wanted his own troops to take over Taiwan. So from Fuzhou, we went to Wuxing, Zhejiang Province where three hundred odd young soldiers from Jiangxi were demobilized and went back to their hometown.
I also went back home after that. This was in the mid-1946. Upon my return to Nanchang, I found out that both of my parents, my brother and my sister-in-law had all passed away during the war. I also learned that I had a son.
It was supposed to be a two-week holiday. But on the second day I was back, I received a telegram from the Regimental Command asking me to head to Qingdao in Shandong Province, to deploy a new division for the KMT. This new division was brought to Nanjing to join the 202nd Division. The purpose of setting up the 202nd Division was to protect against the communist forces taking over major cities. I was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, Battalion Officer in 1946.
On May 24, 1949, we had a meeting onboard a KMT flagship on the shore of Shanghai to discuss how to defend Shanghai from a communist takeover. In the evening, I heard some bombings coming from the city. While the meeting was going on, the anchor was lifted and we headed to Xiamen to report to Chiang Kai-shek, the leader of the KMT. In Xiamen, six of us officers were taken to the airfield and we boarded a plane where I saw Chiang Ching-Kuo, son of Chiang Kai-shek. I was introduced to him. I had no idea where the plane was heading and why six of us were selected. We were the lowest-ranked among the officers. I did not bring any belongings with me. Eventually I found out that we were heading to Taiwan.
I did not go back to Mainland China afterwards. I lost all forms of contacts with my family, relatives and friends. In the years following, I became a Colonel, Regiment Commander. Later, I was recruited by the Military University, and from there I was slowly promoted to be a One Star Major General of the Nationalist Army in Taiwan.
In the 1960s, the KMT government in Taiwan implemented a new policy allowing military Generals and those ranked above to early retirement, allowing them to reside in neutral places outside Mainland China. Having learned of this, I wanted to retire early. But Chiang Ching-Kuo, somehow knew of my intention and urged me not to retire. But he was also ready to help me. So, I was deployed to Hong Kong in 1970 to look after Chinese overseas nationals. In 1984, I retired.
In 1985, China underwent Chinese Economic Reform. In light of a more open China, I returned to Jiangxi where I was reunited with my wife and son. I learnt that my family had for a long time been blacklisted in the span of the Land Reform Movement, the Cultural Revolution and other political movements in post-independent China. Everything in our house was taken away. The family genealogy book was gone. My wife had to work as a maid and was contented with working for some food without any pay just to survive and to raise our son. At one point, she was even forced with torture to marry another man. She strongly resisted it, even though she did not know if I was still alive or not.
My wife now resides in China where I would visit her sometimes. My son is now 73 years old. My great grandchild is now attending university. As for me, I still pursue my passion in reading, and in writing poetry. I have published two books of poetry.
