Original title: The friendship of life and death rescue in the whirlpool torrent will never fade 80 years ago, Chinese private rescue of British prisoners of war on the "Lisbon Maru"
Reporters Zhu Han, Feng Yuan, and Cui Li
Longitude 122°45′55"E, Latitude 30°13′47"N, off the coast of Zhoushan Islands, Zhejiang.
This coordinate, this sea area, bears witness to the boundless love and humane brilliance of Chinese fishermen bravely saving Allied prisoners of war.
On the morning of October 1, 1942, the Japanese prisoner-of-war ship Lisbon Maru was hit by a U.S. submarine off the Zhoushan Islands in China. Many Japanese ships rushed to the scene, but they could not be saved, while nearby Chinese fishermen drove wooden fishing boats and bravely saved people.
The fishermen of Zhoushan rescued 384 British prisoners of war and also punctured the Japanese army's poisonous plan of killing people with knives, but 843 prisoners of war were unfortunately killed and buried at the bottom of the sea.
80 years later, the Chinese fishermen and British veterans who witnessed this history have all passed away, but under the bayonet of the invaders, the sincere friendship forged in the whirlpool of the sea is even more tenacious in the generational exchanges between the two countries.
The "Lisbon Maru" ship sank the sea. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Feng Yuan
Life and death rescue
Beijing time, on the morning of October 2, 2017, nearly 100 people from all walks of life from Zhoushan and Hong Kong came to Lianhua Island, Putuo District, Zhoushan City, Zhejiang Province, facing the direction of the shipwreck sea, laying wreaths, reciting eulogies, throwing flowers, and remembering the deceased...
Dennis Molly, a survivor of the shipwreck at the age of 98, sent a letter from The United Kingdom: "I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to the fishermen of Zhoushan, who turned the tide at a critical moment. ”
London time, on the morning of October 2, 2017, at the Kenton Market Monument, dozens of British military representatives, family members of veterans who participated in World War II and some members of society commemorated the sinking of the "Lisbon Maru" in the muffled music of the military band.
In recent years, in early October every year, commemorative events have been held in Zhoushan and London, which are thousands of miles away.
On October 2, 2021, at the memorial event in Zhoushan, Morley's family sent a commemorative card, which was paid for Luna Corsi , the old man has passed away, and one-year-old Luna is his granddaughter.
The next day, at the National Monument Botanical Garden in the United Kingdom, the monument to the shipwreck of the Lisbon Maru, which was jointly donated by Chinese and British people, was completed.
This marble monument depicts the sinking scene of the "Lisbon Maru" on the front, records the number of deaths in the prisoner of war camp, the logo of the unit to which it belongs, and details the sinking of the "Lisbon Maru" on the back and the deeds of the Fishermen of Zhoushan who bravely rescued British prisoners of war.
On the same day, Morley's family laid a wreath to the monument for The 6-month-old baby boy Fang Zheng, who was far away in Zhoushan. "We pay tribute with the heart of fist and fist in order to never forget." Fangzheng's mother, Wu Xiangzhen, a citizen of Zhoushan, said.
She works at the Party School of the Zhoushan Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China and has been involved in the planning and hosting of commemorative activities as a volunteer since 2017.
At the scene of each commemorative event, people will recall the rescue of life and death in that year:
On the morning of September 27, 1942, the Lisbon Maru departed from Sham Shui Po Pier in Hong Kong, carrying more than 1,800 British prisoners of war and expatriates, as well as more than 700 Japanese soldiers and civilians.
In the early morning of October 1, the Lisbon Maru, which had not been installed with the Red Cross in accordance with international conventions, sailed to the waters east of the Zhoushan Islands and was torpedoed by the US submarine "Perch".
Many Japanese ships rushed to the scene, evacuated only their own people, and locked them in the bottom cabin despite the strong protests of the prisoners of war. After that, some of the prisoners of war began to save themselves, they broke through the hatch and rushed to the deck, but the Japanese shot to stop and shoot many people.
In the early morning of October 2, fishermen on the nearby Qingbang Island and Miaozihu Island (the two islands now belong to Dongji Town, Putuo District), found that there were large boats sinking on the sea, and foreigners with different hair colors drifting from the sea, and immediately rowed wooden fishing boats to rescue them.
They dispatched 46 small fishing boats 65 times, finally rescued 384 prisoners of war, and helped 3 of them to hide when the heavily armed Japanese landed on the island to search for prisoners of war.
These three people eventually came to Chongqing, the rear area of the Chinese War of Resistance, and exposed to the world the truth that the Japanese army tried to kill people with knives and could not be saved.
In a letter thanking Zhoushan, Major Brian Finch, a retired British officer, said: Zhoushan fishermen are all spontaneous, with a kind heart, regardless of nationality and race, to save the soldiers in distress under the guns and bullets of the Japanese army, which is sincerely grateful, admirable and unforgettable.
On October 20, 2019, the descendants of british prisoners of war on the "Lisbon Maru" expressed their gratitude to the elderly Lin Agen (deceased), a fisherman who participated in the rescue that year. Courtesy of respondents
Consolation to the ancestors
On October 20, 2019, a group of British guests arrived in the town of Dongji, who were the descendants of the victims of the shipwreck of the Lisbon Maru. Some of them have gray hair, and some need wheelchairs, but they are still thousands of miles away, coming to the islands in eastern China and to the sea where their ancestors rested.
The sea is blue and the white waves are rolling. The descendants of the victims stood at the bow of the ship, tears streaming down their faces, sprinkling white petals on the blue sea to comfort the deceased ancestors.
Subsequently, a concise commemorative ceremony was held at the top of Miaozi Lake Island. In the sound of the British army's sabbatical trumpet, the descendants of the victims greeted the heroic souls buried at the bottom of the East Pole, laid a wreath of flowers to the victims' military uniforms, and wrote the words of longing on the card: "Although I have never had the privilege of knowing you, I will always miss you" "To my father who I have never met but missed you for life: May you rest in peace", "Dear Father, I miss you"...
Shirley Bambrich, over eighty, has white hair and carries a well-preserved black-haired doll with her. It was a gift from her father from Hong Kong as a child, and it was the only memory she remembered about him.
Shirley said there was only one sentence on her father's tombstone — "We speculate that he died in the war in the East China Sea." She had done research on the Lisbon Maru and wrote many letters to survivors asking what had happened that year.
Shirley and her party came to Dongji Town at the invitation of Chinese filmmaker Fang Li. Since 2018, Fang Li's team has begun to produce a documentary film "Lisbon Maru Sinking" that reflects the shipwreck of the Lisbon Maru, contacting the families of nearly 200 descendants of prisoners of war.
Fang Li found that many of the children of the prisoners of war who were killed lost their fathers at an early age and lived in the memory of their fathers all their lives. Some people's family cemeteries have the location of the victims, but the inside is empty.
"During the exchange, they expressed a strong desire to come to Zhoushan, China, to the place where the 'Lisbon Maru' sank to mourn. That's how the idea of holding this special commemorative ceremony came about. Fang Li said he hopes to remind people never to forget history.
Since 2005, the relevant departments of the Zhoushan Municipal Government have begun to sort out historical materials such as the archives related to the "Lisbon Maru" incident, the oral accounts of fishermen, and the rescue lists, and with the opening of historical archives, the research of Chinese scholars has also been deepening, and the historical facts of the events have gradually become clear.
In Zhoushan, many enthusiastic people have been working to excavate and sort out relevant historical facts, commemorate the Allied soldiers who died in World War II, and commemorate the heroic fishermen. Hu Mu, a special researcher at the Putuo Research Institute of Zhejiang Ocean University, is one of them, and he is also one of the main initiators of the commemoration of the shipwreck of the "Lisbon Maru".
In 2005, on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the victory of the World Anti-Fascist War, Hu Mu had the idea of paying tribute to the victims of the Allied forces in the "Lisbon Maru" incident for the first time.
On the passenger ship bound for Dongji Town, he and several old friends who had studied the sinking of the Lisbon Maru obtained the captain's consent. The passenger ship entered the sinking point of the Lisbon Maru, the captain honked his whistle, and everyone was in silence for a minute. Fellow historians read commemorative texts and load them into drifting bottles and throw them into the sea. Their activities were also supported by the ship's guests, who walked to the front deck to solemnly participate in the commemoration.
More and more people are joining the commemoration of the Lisbon Maru. Ni Zhuqing, a famous calligrapher and painter in Zhoushan, once presented Molly with the ink treasure of "China-Britain Friendship Evergreen", and the two exchanged birthday letters; Zhoushan local craftsmen made Dongji stone carvings for Molly and Benningfield, two survivors of the "Lisbon Maru" as a birthday gift; Some enthusiastic folks also hope that a commemorative sculpture of the sea rescue scene of the "Lisbon Maru" will be erected in Dongji Town...
"The friendship forged between the Chinese and British peoples in the midst of war is the strongest and most precious." Hu Mu said.
On August 18, 2005, British veteran Charles Jordan presented flowers to the martyrs at the sinking of the warship "Lisbon Maru". Xinhua News Agency expansion pack
Timeless
The touching deeds of the fishermen in Zhoushan who heroically rescued the British prisoners of war on the "Lisbon Maru" ship are an important witness to the Chinese and British fighting side by side as allies in World War II and jointly resisting fascist aggression, and are also a good historical story of the deep friendship between the two peoples.
This friendship, after 80 years, has given birth to new branches in the commemoration and interaction of generations.
Molly's granddaughter, Luna, had just celebrated her second birthday in England. Wu Xiangzhen sent a carefully selected set of small Hanfu from Zhoushan as a birthday gift early in the morning. She also prepared an e-card and sent her wishes on Luna's birthday with her one-and-a-half-year-old son, Fang Zheng.
Luna was born exactly 6 months before Fangzheng. I made a pact with Morley's daughter Winnie to take FangZheng to England to visit them, and if they came to Zhoushan, they would definitely bring Luna with them. Wu Xiangzhen said.
Wu became acquainted with the Morley family at the 2017 commemoration event. They often greet each other, share photos of their children's growth, and exchange birthday gifts and New Year gifts.
In 2020, before Founder was born, Pooh blessed the child in Wu's belly according to the custom of Guangdong in China: named "Bright", because the child would be born in March of Yangchun. In the same year, Luna was full moon and received a tiger head hat, red belly pocket, and tiger head shoes mailed by Wu Xiangzhen. This year's Spring Festival, Fang Zheng put on the little tiger suit sent by Vinnie in China.
"Those who are like-minded, do not take the mountains and seas as far away." Wu Xiangzhen said that the friendship boat of the two families is setting sail.
This past summer, the exhibition hall of the shipwreck of the Lisbon Maru in Dongji Town received nearly 20,000 visitors. This is the only exhibition hall in China with the theme of the "Lisbon Maru" incident, and in the exhibition hall, the rice barrels, washbasins, medicine pots, oil lamps, tableware, tiles and wooden ladders left behind by British prisoners of war have been carefully preserved.
"A lot of tourists come with their children, and they show great interest in the history of the Lisbon Maru." Liang Yindi, director of the Dongji Town Cultural Station, said that her father, Liang Yijuan, was also a witness to the rescue.
Not long ago, Sun Hejun, a Zhoushan writer who came to Qingbang Island again, unexpectedly found two groups of tourists preparing to visit Xiaowan Cave. Xiaowan Cave is a hidden cave on the island facing the sea three times and about two meters deep, and few people can find the opening except for the locals. At that time, the three British prisoners of war were hidden by fishermen in the small bay hole on the island, and they were fortunate to escape the Japanese search.
"Tourists learn about that history through news reports, books, etc., and are eager to see Siu Wan Cave for themselves." The story of the Lisbon Maru is spreading more and more widely. Sun Hejun said.
Source: Xinhua Daily Telegraph