SWARTHMORE

O U R B A C K P A G E SS W A R T H M O R E C O L L E G E B U L L E T I NA W a r t i m e J o u r n e yH A N - C H U N G M E N G R E M E M B E R S S W A R T H M O R EI N T H E W A R Y E A R S .Editor’s Note: The U.S. Navy’s V-5 and V-12 programs brought more than 900 men toSwarthmore College between July 1943 and July 1946. Most were here for a short timein programs that trained engineers, line officers, aviation candidates, and premedicaland pretheological students. In the spring of 2000, Charles Taylor ’49, working with thestaff of the Alumni Records Office, attempted to contact as many of the Navy men asCollege and other records would allow. This project, which preceded a War Yearsreception at Alumni Weekend, brought many letters and reminiscences. From these,Taylor compiled biographical sketches of more than 80 people whose lives had beentouched by Swarthmore during the war.One unusual letter came from Han-Chung Meng in Spokane, Wash. Meng was 1 of49 Chinese naval officers who arrived on campus in the fall of 1943 for nine monthsof training, primarily to learn English. His account of coming to Swarthmore during thewar is a rewarding glimpse into a momentous time and a remarkable life.During the Sino-Japanese War,China was forced to fight againstJapan for her independence andfreedom on mainland China. TheJapanese Army invaded Manchuria in1931, then continued the fighting inNorthern China, and, in 1937, extendedthe war to Shanghai—hence, to Chinaas a whole. We tried our best to defendour territory, made a great deal of sacrifices,in all respects, and, with astrong will, we slowed down theiradvances. That was the time when wefought alone, although we did get a lotof sympathy from different righteouscountries in the world.In the early part of December 1941, Iwas a junior naval officer stationed in ariver fortress on the upper gorge of theYang-Tze River. One day, I saw the bigheadline—-the Japanese had sneakedan attack against the United States atPearl Harbor. I shouted to my unit,“Look! The Japanese attacked America,and we are not going to fight alone!”In the succeeding year, Japanesewere able to grab the Philippines, HongKong, a part of Borneo, Singapore, andVietnam. The Pacific War had changedits trend after the U.S. Navy stoppedJapanese advances to the East by winningthe Battle of Midway in June 1942.However, the general situation of thewar was still in favor of the enemy. Itwas at this moment that the U.S. governmentasked the Chinese governmentto let Chinese military personnelgo to the States for training, so thatthey could be used jointly with the U.S.armed forces to fight against the Japaneseand win the war together.It was under this arrangement thatwe, a group of 49 naval officers, wereselected and sent to the States fortraining in three main fields: generalline officers on ships, engineering officersin the shipyards, and naval architectureofficers for building ships. Iwas one of the officers in the firstgroup.This whole company of officersstarted their trip from Chongqing, inthe interior province of Sezhuan. Werode on two GM trucks to Kunmingalong the curved, treacherous, anddangerous highways. Then the U.S.Army Air Force took us over theHimalayas, and we arrived in Assam,LT. J.G. HAN-CHUNG MENG SALUTES NEARWHARTON HALL IN 1944. HE WAS KNOWNAS “HARRY” TO THE AMERICANS AND NOWLIVES IN SPOKANE, WASH.India. A narrow-gauged railroad carriedus to Calcutta, where we took anothertrain to Bombay. From there, the USSHermitage took us to America via Melbourne,the Society Islands, and ChristmasIslands.Although we had been alarmed togeneral quarters by several unidentifiedobjects (Japanese submarines) onour voyage, we arrived safely in SanDiego, Calif., with a group of ChineseAir Force officers and quite a feworphans from Poland. The U.S. Navysent a young naval officer, Lt. Cmdr.Henry T. Jarrell, to command ourgroup. He met us there together withour assistant naval attaché, Cmdr. Y.C.Yang, from Washington, D.C. They putus on a train, and we started ourCHINESE OFFICERS AT SWARTHMORE ATE AND LIVED WITH THEIR AMERICAN NAVY COUNTERPARTS.MENG REMEMBERS BEING SERVED EXTRA PORTIONS OF RICE AND OCCASIONAL HORSE MEAT.FRIENDS HISTORICAL LIBRARY FRIENDS HISTORICAL LIBRARY72