I was 9 yr old daughter of an Air Force officer and lived in Nanking &
Shanghai Aug-Nov 1949. Lived in an American compound. Evacuated with
other dependents to Japan in November. Father joined us in Japan in
February 1950. Want to tap memories of adult American Military
dependents in China
at that time to get their adult perspective of the civil war.

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Request for Question Clarification by politicalguru-ga on 06 Nov 2004 15:57 PST

Hi BB, 

So, what you're looking for is ways to find more people who had been
through the same experience?

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Clarification of Question by bbkansas-ga on 07 Nov 2004 06:15 PST

I have some pretty vivid CHILD'S memories of China and the evacuation
experience but my parents are both dead and I want to learn more about
why my father would have been sent there, what it was like for
Army/Air Force dependents stationed in CHina (but from an adult
viewpoint)what was happening to american and european personnel in
China and Japan in the fall of 1949 (I was only in China from Aug-Nov
though my father, an AF staff officer, went over 6 months earlier).I
am a writer (see www.BarbaraBartocci.com) and am thinking about
writing a children's novel building on that experience. My mother,
brother, and I left Shanghai on what I remebmer as "the last ship
taking European and AMerican dependents" and went to Yokohama where we
spent Christmas. My father remained in China until Feb. Doing what I
don't know. Does this help?

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 08 Nov 2004 04:58 PST

Barbara,

I looked at a number of newspaper archives, and there are a good
number of articles about Americans (both diplomats and military
personnel) in Nanking, Shanghai and other areas of China during the
revolutionary activity of 1949.
I did not see anything that discussed day-to-day activity, however.

Have you already examined the available newspaper articles, or might
this be a worhtwhile source of information?

pafalafa-ga

Hi,

Perhaps the information provided in a question I answered will be of help to you.

Chinese Exclusion Act 1882
http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=346634


Best regards,
tlspiegel

It sounds as though your father may have been one of the "Flying
Tigers", in which case the books covered on the following Amazon
web-page may be of interest to you -
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1560983981/ref=ase_teammarket-20/104-3831784-0792739

Personally, I suspect that the individual US military personnel in
China in 1949 would have had as much or as little "perspective" on the
civil war as individual US soldiers have on the situation in Iraq
today. Their Government has adopted a particular policy in relation to
a foreign country, and the military have to carry it out - whether
individually they like it or not.

From question asker: My father was not a Flynig Tiger. He was not a
pilot or a line officer but a staff officer. (Probably a Major at that
time). YES, I am looking for the personal experiences of ADULTS who
might have been in CHina or Japan at that time. I am not interested in
paying for  general inforamtion I could find for myself in books (one
researcher recommended some books on FlyingTigers through Amazon) but
rather,is there anything available that tells about American families
that might have been sent to the Far East at that time? (Don't I wish
I had asked my mom more questions before she died, but I didn't)
Thanks!BB