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Written by: Zeng Xuewen
2019-12-11 20:03
Last updated: 2019-12-11 20:09Every December, there will be red and white maple leaves and flag sea hanging in the cemetery at Xiwan Guoying Memorial Cemetery. During World War II, Hong Kong was the Asian battlefield where Canadian soldiers were killed and wounded. Canada ’s official invites retired veterans to mourn this friendship built year after year. This year, the Canadian consulate invited a 101-year-old guest to present flowers-Chen Bingjing, the only Chinese Flying Tigers pilot in Hong Kong.
That day, the old pilot stumbled across the unknown tombstone cluster, mourning for his peers. Until the spiral sound of the helicopter hovering above broke through the silence. The old pilot didn't look up, even though Chen Bingjing flew over the dangerous Hiaramar Mountains in the past, now his hearing may not be enough to detect the disturbing spiral sound. In the 101st year of his life, the surviving old pilot took the cold as an exotic young man with a fateful destiny, and presented a bright red bloody corn poppy wreath.
The guests regarded Chen Bingjing as a treasure and took pictures with them. In the crowd, he still said humblely, "I am going to die, but I live, I am ashamed and ashamed."
Photography: O'Callaghan
The tombstones of Canadian soldiers are located on the grassland under the hillside of the cemetery. The consulate sent commissioners to prepare chairs to allow Chen Bo, who was over 100 years old, to rest a little while getting on and off. (Photo by Ou Jiale)
After meeting with Canadian youth, 70 years later, the cemetery met
For 72 years, the Canadian Consulate Generals in Hong Kong and Macau held a memorial ceremony each year at the hilltops of Chai Wan to mourn nearly 2,000 Canadian soldiers who went to Hong Kong to support Hong Kong during World War II. At that time, Hong Kong's ports had received reinforcements from the Allied Forces and had sent more people to other places. Just like the Canadian generals who arrived in Hong Kong in November 1941, and just like Chen Bingjing who left Hong Kong for the United States one month ago. At the age of 23, he was transferred from Kunming to Hong Kong for a boat trip to the United States and received air force training. He just passed by with young Canadians who crossed the ocean.
The spiral sound of the helicopter hovering above cut through the silence. The old pilot Chen Bingjing did not look up, so he stared straight at the plain white cross in front. (Photo by Ou Jiale)
The fate of these young people associated with Hong Kong because of the war is different. The 1,975 Canadian soldiers arrived in Hong Kong shortly after Japan captured Hong Kong and launched a 17-and-a-half-day "Hong Kong Defence War." More than 500 people eventually failed to return home alive.
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The West Bay State Memorial Cemetery buried more than 280 Canadian soldiers, of whom 107 failed to identify themselves. The unknown whitestone tombstone can only distinguish its nationality by the Canadian maple leaf. (Photo by Ou Jiale)
As for Chen Bingjing, after training in the United States as a national army, he became the only Chinese flying tiger team recognized by Americans. Thereafter, Chen Bingjing's battlefield was not in Hong Kong, but over the distant China-India border. He crossed the hump route of the most dangerous "death course" in the history of aviation by flying an airplane, guarding the Sino-US air transport corridor at that time.
101-year-old Chen Bingjing walked into the Xiwan Guoying Memorial Cemetery for the first time. The altar of the cemetery is engraved with the English text of the Bible: "THEIR NAME LIVETH FOR EVERMORE. (Their names are immortal)" (Photo by Ou Jiale)
At that time, Chen Bingjing signed a new will every week, thinking that he could not live to be 40 years old. He was assigned to the same squadron with three Chinese Flying Tigers classmates, but died with the Chinese classmates being trained or crashed, leaving him alone to survive.
Chen Bingjing was a young pilot who had been flying. Now he needs to go in and out of the staff, and scouts do it for the flowers. (Photo by Ou Jiale)
More than seventy years later, Chen Bingjing stepped into the Memorial Cemetery of Xiwan Guoxuan for the first time and presented flowers to his Canadian allies who died in the same war. But it turned out that his relationship with Canada didn't stop there. After the war, Chen Bingjing was unable to renew the pilot due to a shoulder injury and was transferred to ground duty. He went to Ottawa, Canada for three years and served as a language attaché at the attaché's office in the Canadian Embassy. He said, "The ambassador has a Chinese ambassador, the ambassador represents the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the military attaché represents the Ministry of National Defense." In the end, with fluent English, he negotiated with Canada for several years on behalf of the Ministry of National Defense.
Chen Bingjing was a Chinese Air Force who was assigned to the US Air Force in China. He has a dual status and speaks fluent English. I spoke with John Theodore Siewert, a veteran who attended the ceremony for the third year. (Photo by Ou Jiale)
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Unexpectedly, this fate changed its form and continued after many years. The Canadian consulate staff revealed that this year they received a suggestion from the middle history teacher of a middle school in Chaiwan to invite the consulate to invite Uncle Chen Bingjing to attend the ceremony. In the past, the school and classmates used the memorial ceremony as a class to let students know the history of World War II in Hong Kong.
Canadian Consul General in Hong Kong and Macau Jeff Nankivell (back row) took a photo with two Chinese veterans. On the left is World War II veteran Chinese soldier Cai Peter, and on the right is retired Flying Tigers pilot Chen Bingjing. (Photo by Ou Jiale)
Middle school teacher recommends Chen Bo to the consulate to present flowers
In the past five years, Mr. Sun, a Chinese history teacher, has brought colleagues and classmates to attend the memorial ceremony. He also invited Chen Bobo to the school to meet with the students, hoping that the next generation can learn about the history of the Hong Kong defence and World War II. When she learned about the relationship between Chen Bo and Canada, she tried to contact the Canadian consulate, hoping to facilitate the incident. Teacher Sun believes that the society lacks attention to veterans. In the past, the veterans paid hard for the war, but they were forgotten by modern people and the government. "My predecessors paid for my blood, sweat, and even life, so today everything is not easy. I hope students understand that, especially because they pay attention to veterans."
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Zhongshike teacher Sun believes that veterans have been forgotten by modern people and the government, and will bring students to attend the ceremony each year to learn about history. (Photo by Ou Jiale)
Wartime bomber receives reward after death
Chen Bo lived in Hong Kong for many years, and attending the commemorative event in Canada made him the focus of the crowd. Asked if he would like his story to spread, he raised the Japanese bomber he shot down in the cemetery. During World War II, Chen Bingjing shot down a Japanese bomber. Five years after the war, the National Government paid him a prize of 50,000 yuan. Chen Bo pointed out that he had encountered the bomber pilot's son afterwards, "a Japanese doll and an old bean line 揸 bomber, I killed 打".
Chen Bingjing has one hundred and one this year. In the tombstone bushes full of his peers, he talks about the life broken in his own hands. (Photo by Ou Jiale)
Chen Bo met a young Japanese man that year, crying and complaining that his fighter was shot down and killed by "China Flying Tiger." He then asked the other party more time and place, and found that it was the bomber that he had shot down. The dramatic encounter left Chen Bo unforgettable throughout his life, and Tan Zheng became taboo since then, for fear of meeting the family member of the victim again. "I found that the Japanese were bleak and shouting, and I was all happy. I fought in the war, but I was killed by an old peasant and shouted all my life." Chen Bo lamented that the war was sad. For him, war is always a complex topic.
Chen Bingjing once signed a will each week, hoping to live to the age of 40, but to live to the age of 101. On the 101st winter, he talked to the latecomers about "death" in the cemetery. (Photo by Ou Jiale)
After all, Chen Bo remembered his classmates who died in the sky. "To die together, you are strangling, I am back, I am so sad. I am ready to die, but I live, I am so ashamed, so ashamed." As if survival is not easier than death. In the 101st winter of his life, the surviving old pilot gave the young woman a wreath of corn poppy for the souls of the alienated. The bright red bloody corn poppy sprinkled all around, as vivid as the memories flowing on him.
The bright red Yu beauty's corsages were scattered all over the place, and volunteers helped Chen Bo up the ranks. (Photo by Ou Jiale)
Hong Kong History Community Life WWII
