Date of letter:1992-10-24
Address of author:Xiajiang County, Ji’an City, Jiangxi Province
Date of event:1944
Location of event:Guangdong Province
Name of author:Guo Yanwei
Name(s) of victim(s):Guo Yanwei, etc.
Type of atrocity:Air Bombings, Other Massacres, Rapes (AB, OM, RA)
Other details:In 1944 Guo Yanwei travelled by train from Guilin to Chongqing, when he was bombed by a Japanese aircraft, which left him an injured left leg. After the surrender of Japanese, a retreating troop in Guangdong kept on committing atrocities by burning, looting, raping along the way, with thousands of people got shot.
Comrade Tong Zeng:
I read the article “Report on Demand for Persecution Compensations from Japan by Chinese Nationals” published on Dong Nan Xi Bei magazine in October 1992 (authored by Comrade Li Peiyu), and I very much appreciate your courage: you said the truth from the bottom of heart cherished by several dozen thousand Chinese people who failed to utter for several dozen years out of your busy work schedule. Here I would like to take the liberty to introduce myself:
I’m Guo Tingwei, a retired teacher, native of Qushui County, Jiangxi Province, 63. From 1944-1948 I studied at a college in Chongqing, after graduation I worked as a completion rate auditor at the Accounting Section of Navy Hukou Shuizhong Armory under the KMT Government’s Department of the Navy. After 1949, this factory was relocated to Kaohsiung in Taiwan, but I stayed behind because of my mother’s illness; afterwards I became a teacher in a school. In 1989 I retired and stayed at home.
I remember that in 1944 on my journey from Guilin to Chongqing, the train I took was bombed by Japanese invaders’ aircrafts. My left leg was wounded by shrapnel of the bombs dropped from enemy aircrafts, which left a scar till today. In the autumn and winter each year, I often experienced acute pain in sinews and bones. Here I couldn’t help call out! Remember forever: Beat the Japanese invaders and robber imperialists. In the autumn of 1945, Japanese invaders heard the Potsdam Declaration “The Ultimatum Issued by Allied Countries to Japanese Invaders” (demanding unconditional surrender by Japanese invaders), and on August 15 the robbers finally surrendered. But in Guangdong Province a group of robber army refused to surrender, and they committed atrocious crime by burning, killing, raping, and robbing, back then the Beijing-Guangdong Railway was controlled by Chinese army. The invading army was forced to enter Jiangxi via Nanxiong and went downstream along the Gan River. Innocent residents along the river saw their houses being burned; several thousand people were killed by gunshot; and innocent women were raped. Today only a few if any of them survived till today. Take Qingshui (which is my native place) as an example, houses were burnt, innocent women were raped, and even today their families would turn pale when mentioning this horrible experience, and shed sorrowful tears.
Here I wish to say: what could I do for the victims of the eight years of Anti-Japanese War?
I look forward to hearing your instructions!
Handwritten by Guo Tingwei
October 24, 1992 under oil lamp
