by Xinhua writers Ji Hang, Huang Zechen, Zheng Keyi
HANGZHOU, May 21 (Xinhua) — Before a seaside monument on an island off the coast of east China’s Zhejiang Province, Josephine Olsson embraced Wu Xiaofei, the descendant of a Chinese fisherman who as soon as helped in an operation that saved her great-uncle, a former British prisoner of warfare (POW), from the ocean throughout World War II (WWII).
Around them, the wind carried the sharp scent of saltwater and the reminiscence of a wartime rescue that also resonates greater than eight a long time later. Holding again tears, the 2 ladies exchanged scarves as keepsakes of a bond solid in one of many darkest moments of WWII.
“Josephine told me she will treasure the scarf for a lifetime. So will I. It represents the purest bond between the two peoples,” Wu stated.
Twenty descendants of these British POWs aboard the Lisbon Maru gathered in Zhoushan, Zhejiang Province, for a commemorative ceremony honoring a outstanding act of braveness.
In October 1942, the Lisbon Maru, a cargo vessel requisitioned by the Japanese military to move greater than 1,800 British POWs from Hong Kong to Japan, was torpedoed off the Zhoushan Islands by a U.S. submarine after failing to show mandated POW transport markings.
Local Chinese fishermen, regardless of Japanese troopers firing into the water, made 65 journeys in 46 small picket sampans to rescue 384 British POWs from the sinking ship.
For residents of the Zhoushan Islands, the rescue has lengthy been handed down not solely as an episode of wartime heroism however as an ethical intuition.
“If someone is in the water, you save them,” stated Lin Zhonghua, whose father was among the many fishermen who joined the rescue operation. “There is an old saying here: save a life, and heaven will remember your kindness.”
Also among the many crowd have been Christopher Borge and his sister Kirsteen Dugan, visiting the island for the primary time. Their grandfather and great-uncle had each been aboard the Lisbon Maru and saved by Chinese fishermen in 1942.
“It is here, at one of the darkest moments of war, that we see extraordinary humanity,” stated Borge, including that Chinese fishermen, at nice private danger, supplied kindness to strangers in a time of worry and battle.
“Even in war, we see love and friendship prevail,” he added. Dugan echoed her brother. “What happened here was not only an act of extraordinary bravery, but also an act of friendship and compassion that created a bond between China and the UK that still lives on today,” she stated.
For Dugan, the story had been a part of household reminiscence since childhood. She recalled asking her grandmother to point out her the tins that saved her grandfather’s wartime keepsakes. “I always remember the newspaper cutting about the Lisbon Maru and the brave fisherman who carried out the rescue,” Dugan stated.
Beyond blood ties, the gathering additionally drew these devoted to preserving this shared historical past. Richard Graham, an 85-year-old creator, as soon as served alongside a number of Lisbon Maru survivors and later devoted a long time to recording their tales.
“If I could meet a survivor today, I would tell them what I have been doing,” Graham stated. “I would tell them that they can rest in peace, because in Zhoushan, they are not forgotten.”
After the flowers have been laid, family members of British troopers and the fishermen’s descendants took up shovels. Together, they planted a boxwood sapling, a gesture meant to represent a friendship that has outlived warfare and distance.
“I think that is a beautiful symbol of what was created here. A lasting connection across the waters between China and the UK, built through kindness, courage and humanity in one of history’s darkest moments,” Dugan stated, expressing hope that the story will proceed to be handed down by means of future generations.
She stated she hopes that at some point her two boys may also make this journey, stand right here beneath the tree, and proceed to share this story of braveness, sacrifice, and friendship.
In entrance of the younger tree, the ocean wind additionally carried Dugan’s poem: “A living bond from sea to shore, between two nations, evermore. May those who stand beneath their shade, remember all the sacrifices made.”
(Xinhua reporters Duan Jingjing, Weng Xinyang and Song Lifeng in Hangzhou additionally contributed to the story.)