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Mary Previte mtprevite@aol.com [weihsien_camp]
To:weihsien_camp@yahoogroups.com
Fri, 17 Aug 2018 at 13:00
[weihsien_camp] Fwd: Liberation Day -- A thousand thank yu's
Sent from my iPad
Begin forwarded message:

> From: "1626320433" <1626320433@qq.com>
> Date: August 17, 2018 at 2:00:58 AM EDT
> To: "Mary Previte"
>
Subject: Re: Liberation Day -- A thousand thank yu's
> >

Thanks for your expressions of gratitude 。What I did is only a common man did an uncommon thing, every patriot would do.

> Today is a really red letter day of Weihsian camp liberated 73 year ago. As luck would have it,James Hannon's son and daughter come to Weihsian to visit the memorial hall of Weihsian camp Chris will call me by video calling and ask something about his father. He will get in touch with me at 16：00

>
> Eddie

>
>
>
> ---Original---
> From: "Mary Previte"
> Date: Fri, Aug 17, 2018 08:27 AM
> To: "1626320433@qq.com"<1626320433@qq.com>;
>
Subject: Liberation Day -- A thousand thank yu's
>
>

Dear Eddie Wang.

>
> Liberation Day is here again.
>
> Thank you, thank you, thank you for your heroism with the American liberators — on this day 73 years ago — you parachuted from a low-flying plane to liberate1,500 Allied prisoners of the Japanese. A thousand thank you’s would not be enough for you. Your risked your life to save us. I will never forget seeing the parachutes dropping from that airplane that morning..
>
> All of us say you are a hero!
>
> Have a wonderful day.
>
> Mary Taylor Previte





Mary Previte mtprevite@aol.com [weihsien_camp]
To:Pamela Masters
Fri, 17 Aug 2018 at 12:58
[weihsien_camp] Re: Thank You is Not Enough . . .

What a beautiful letter, Pamela! Thank you,

Mary Previte

Sent from my iPad

> On Aug 17, 2018, at 2:28 AM, Pamela Masters wrote:
>

> Dear Eddie ---
>
> When I go back in memory to August 17, 1945, I see you again and I am overwhelmed by your bravery -- you and your OSS buddies -- that kind of strength and dedication is very rare. I have written over the years to your team- mates but I never had your e-mail address until today -- thanks to precious Mary Previte.
>
> It is lovely to be able to tell you how much I admired your courage, and to thank you personally for all you did for me and all of us in WeiHsien camp. I know I could say it better in Chinese if I could only remember the words. I am in my 90s now -- like you -- and the words I learned as a child in Chinwangdao and Tianjin have sadly left me.
>
> Enjoy this special day, and know I will be celebrating it with you --

Pamela Masters





Mary Previte mtprevite@aol.com [weihsien_camp]
To:tapol@skynet.be
Cc:weihsien_camp@yahoogroups.com,John & Beth Taylor
Fri, 17 Aug 2018 at 12:55
[weihsien_camp] Re: Seventy-three years ago ...

What a lovely letter, Leopold and Janette!

How true! We were so very blessed that our Japanese captors behaved as they did —no mass exterminations of us prisoners. Our Chefoo School principal, Miss Carr, of our elementary school told me a few years ago that she prayed to God at night when the Japanese lined us up along the death trenches that God would allow her to be one of the first shot —so she did not have to watch. We children did not know anything about the Japanese atrocities like at Nanking —now called the Rape of Nanking. All the grown ups in Weihsien must have known about that. So they had reason to be afraid. Beyond the camp wall near the hospital where we were housed, the Japanese had dug a huge trench —I think to stop the black market. I guess Miss Carr thought that might have been a death trench. These amazing teachers shielded us from horrors like that.

My mother told us years later, that in Shensi Province where they had escaped from advancing Japanese armies, the Japanese regularly bombed these areas that they had not yet captured. Mother said that she had her baby, our little brother, Bertie, to worry about. So then as soon as she heard the air raid sirens, she would strap him around her chest in a pouch she had sewed out of a sack and jump on her bicycle and ride outside the city wall and gate and get into the countryside as far away as she could. She figured the Japanese would bomb the city, not the countryside. I have often felt that my parents experienced these bombings and were in greater physical danger than we were in Weihsien.

Happy Liberation Day, Everybody.
Mary Taylor Previte

Sent from my iPad
On Aug 17, 2018, at 4:50 AM, wrote:

> Dear Eddie Wang,
>
> … today is a special day we all must remember. All those of the U.S. bomber: B-24, the seven American G.Is. who jumped out of that plane, the more or less 1500 Weihsien prisoners and also our Jap guards who reacted the right way by not being aggressive and the camp-Commandants who surrendered their katanas to Major Staiger and his team. We received food and clothes and were happy just to survive. Many millions in the Pacific and also in Europe did not have that chance … That, we must remember too.
>
> Today, our thoughts go to you …
>
> Respectfully,
> Leopold Pander,
> Janette Ley-Pander.





Mary Previte mtprevite@aol.com [weihsien_camp]
To:weihsien_camp@yahoogroups.com
Cc:John & Beth Taylor
Fri, 17 Aug 2018 at 01:50
[weihsien_camp] Liberation Day

August 17 is liberation day.

Let’s all e-mail a brief thank you note to express our appreciation for his heroism to our last living Liberator, “Eddie” Wang Cheng Han. I have been told he has been invited to attend a Liberation Day ceremony at Weifang. Your note of thanks can be short. He treasures these notes

Only in the last year or so has Mr. Wang told his whole story — that after Liberation, he was imprisoned by the Communists for being a friend of the Americans. When I first “found” him, he instructed me that I was not to mention that the Communists had imprisoned him for being a running dog of the Americans. I respected his request. Now I can talk about it. When he was imprisoned, his captors took almost all of his treasures and souvenirs from Weihsien—including an embroidered piece of silk parachute given to him by a teenage, Greek girl internee. He does not remember her name. All he has left of that day now are his memories and a khaki duffel bag with the letters US on it.

These days, China and his city honor him. Weifang honors him. They now say that the Americans helped China fight the Japanese. So Eddie Wang is now considered a hero.

In addition to Eddie Wang attending the Liberation Day ceremony in Weifang, the son and daughter of American Liberator, James Jess Hannon, — Chris and Lisa will be there. When most of the liberators departed from Weihsien to establish an OSS base in Tsingtao, James Hannon stayed in Weihsien to help coordinate to evacuation of prisoners. Many of you will remember him.

Eddie Wang’s e-mail address is. 1626320433@qqcom

Mary Taylor Previte





Mary Previte mtprevite@aol.com [weihsien_camp]
To:weihsien_camp@yahoogroups.com
Thu, 16 Aug 2018 at 23:02
[Attachment(s) from Mary Previte included below]
[weihsien_camp] Taylor family reunion Photo after liberation from Weihsien [1 Attachment]

I was delighted to get the 1945 report from historian, Greg Leck, this week, documenting the four groups of Weihsien prisoners who were flown from Weihsien after our liberation. We Taylor children were among the six Chefoo School students who were flown to Si-An, September 10. Thank you, Greg, for your continuing research.

After liberation from Weihsien Camp, Taylor family reunion photo, in Fenghsiang, Shensi Province, September 12, 1945. Separated from our missionary parents by warring armies, we four older Taylor children had not seen our parents, James and Alice Taylor, for 5 1/2 years. We had been students in the Chefoo School. In Fenghsiang, we were introduced to our little brother, Herbert, who was almost 5 years old. He objected strenuously to our calling our parents Daddy and Mummy. He said they were HIS Daddy and Mummy. Herbert was named after our grandfather, Herbert Hudson Taylor, who had also been interned in Weihsien. Grandpa Taylor was flown out of Weihsien with the first evacuation of prisoners. He ended up in England. We children never saw him again.

Our family returned to the United Stats in 1946, almost a year after we were liberated. Shanghai was jammed with people trying to get out of China.

Our parents, James and Alice Taylor, eventually returned to missionary work in Taiwan. Mary became administrator of the Camden County (N.J.) Youth Center and served in the New Jersey State Legislature for 8 years. I am enjoying retirement. James became a missionary to the Chinese and became Executive Director of Overseas Missionary Fellowship, (formerly China Inland Mission). He died in HongKong shortly before his 80th birthday. Kathleen died of lupus when she had been in seminary, preparing to go to Africa as a missionary. John became a surgeon, pioneering kidney transplants in the area around Dayton, Ohio, where he also headed the county medical society. He and his wife have served on short term missionary trips in Asia, Africa, and Central America. John is now retired. Herbert is now retired following a career as a corporate executive in human resource management.

Mary Taylor Previte

Pictured here: In the rear: Mary, Jamie, Kathleen, Johnny. In the front: Alice, Herbert (Bertie), James Taylor.





Mary Previte mtprevite@aol.com [weihsien_camp]
To:weihsien_camp@yahoogroups.com
Tue, 14 Aug 2018 at 20:55
[Attachment(s) from Mary Previte included below]
Re: [weihsien_camp] Fwd: Weihsien internnees by air to West China [1 Attachment]

Thank you.

This may have been sent out by James Hannon the USA rescuer who stayed in Weihsien to coordinate evacuation of internees. The others on the rescue team had left earlier to establish a new OSS base in Tsingtao.

Mary

Sent from my iPad
Begin forwarded message:

> From: "Greg Leck"
> Date: August 12, 2018 at 11:47:06 AM EDT
> To: "'Mary Previte'"
>
Subject: Weihsien internnees by air to West China
>
>

Hello Mary,
>
> Came across this document listing all those who went by air to West China.
>
> regards,
> Greg






Angela angelalousia@yahoo.ca [weihsien_camp]
To:weihsien_camp@yahoogroups.com
Tue, 14 Aug 2018 at 20:10
[Attachment(s) from Angela included below]
[weihsien_camp] Fw: Fwd: Fw: The Dhunjishahs evacuating Weihsien in October 1945 ** thought you/d like to view this ** Priceless [1 Attachment]
--- On Wed, 7/22/09, Desmond Power wrote:

> From: Desmond Power
>
> You might have already seen this photo but just in case, it’s the Dhunjishahs dressed in GI outfits (as we all were at the time) ready to board the C47 that flew them out of Weihsien. The war ended in August but as you are aware, we didn’t get out till October.
>
> All best, Desmond.





Mary Previte mtprevite@aol.com [weihsien_camp]
To:weihsien_camp@yahoogroups.com
Tue, 14 Aug 2018 at 15:20
[Attachment(s) from Mary Previte included below]
Re: [weihsien_camp] Great Pictures of Weihsien Air Evacuees with Document [1 Attachment]

I’m guessing that this document lists only the evacuation flights from the Weihsien air strip, not further destinations. We owe Greg Leck a huge thank you for his continuing research about World War II internments is.,in Asia. Greg tells me he found this document in the USA National Archives

Our father had written to Weihsien and asked that us four Taylor children be flown to Si-an in Shensi Province where the OSS had a base. He had arranged for a Chinese Christian friend in Si-an to escort us the next day, September 11, 1945, to Fenghsian also in Shensi Province where they had helped establish a Bible school during the war. My, oh, my! What a reunion! We had not seen our parents, James and Alice Taylor, for 5 1/2 years. We were introduced to a little brother, almost 5 years old, whom we had never met.

It took our Taylor family a year to get to the United States. My mother was an American citizen.

I’ll follow up with a photo of our family reunion photo. Who else has reunion photos?

Our grandfather, Herbert Hudson Taylor, is listed in the document from Greg Leck in those flown from Weihsien in the first flight out. He ended up in England. We Taylor children never saw Grandpa Taylor again.

Has anyone the e-mail address of David Allen? I’ve been unsuccessful in forwarding this document to him.

Mary Taylor Previte


Sent from my iPad




'Bev & Ray Moore' raynbev@hushmail.com [weihsien_camp]
To:weihsien_camp@yahoogroups.com
Tue, 14 Aug 2018 at 11:22
[Attachment(s) from Bev & Ray Moore included below]
[weihsien_camp] Great Pictures of Weihsien Air Evacuees with Document [1 Attachment]

I loved that document from Greg Leck forwarded from Mary Previte. There at the bottom of the first page is our little group made up of the four Taylors, David Allen and me!

I have created this montage that might appeal to some of you to save to your records.

It is interesting to note that the Taylors are marked as going to "Sian", but David Allen and I have no destination noted against our names. David's parents were in Kunming 1500 kilometres to the south, or a thee or four hour flight in those days. Because one of the teachers made a note that I was from Kunming, that is where I landed with David Allen. It took a long time for me to "found" and returned to my parents in Hanzhong south of Xi'an.

I have included the full story in my autobiography, "Moondani Kyema" free to read from my website kyema-publishing.com.

Great memories and it is important that they are kept.

Ray Moore
Traralgon, Australia