| 1 JULY 1988 | YEAR OF DRAGON 4686 |
INTRODUCTION:
Following is Part I of a brief Pictorial
History of our Post which covers the period 1919-1959. It can
in no way give the complete story nor credit to all those who have
made this Post so great. We have divided the history into two parts
so we could properly research and prepare the whole story as
accurately as possible. We hope to publish Part II covering
the period 1960-1988 within the next 6-8 months. In addition,
we hope to add to the history each year with stories and pictures of
others who have helped us become the Post we are today.
Each and every member of our Post - both past and present - is part of its history and an important part of what we are, what we have done, and what we hope to do. We call ourselves The Soldiers of Fortune Post. No, we are not soldiers of fortune in the sense of being mercenaries with no allegiance but to money. We are patriots who follow their convictions wherever they may take us - whose strong love of country may lead us to faraway places to work and fight to keep our own country free or to aid others in their quest for freedom. May we never forget who we are, nor what we stand for!
|
THE
BEGINNING: The Post was formed in 1919, one year after the "great war" and was chartered by the American Legion on 20 April, 1920. It was the first and only American Legion Post in China at that time and our original name was General Fredrick Townsend Ward Post No. 1, China. Following is the heading of the earliest letterhead we could locate in out Post Archives: |
|
|
|
WHERE MEMBERS
MET: |
| In 1940, a beautiful and unique 7-foot "Commanders' Table" was presented to the Post and the American Club, Shanghai by Post Commander Mark L. Moody. The following picture shows Secretary Chapin of the Club (left) and Adjutant Mortimer (right) in the American Legion Corner of the American Club receiving the table. The table was described as having been over two months in the making and a beautiful specimen of the woodworkers craft. The center had a silver presentation shield and in the outer circle were inlaid silver plates with both the names and terms of office of all Past Post Commanders from 1920 to 1939 inclusive. (Note: We can find no record of what happened to the table.) |
|
OUR ORIGINAL
NAMESAKE:
Very little has been written
about General Frederick Townsend Ward, possibly because while he was
fighting in China against the Taipings in the 1860's, the United
States was embroiled in its own civil war. Also later, Major
Charles George "Chinese" Gordon would recieve much of the
credit for defeating the Taipings.
Although Ward was born in Massachusetts, he ran away to sea at seventeen and by the time he reached China had already soldiered with Garibaldi in Italy and Austria, with the French in Crimea and was involved in William Walker's 1850 attempt to found a "Yankee State" in Nicaragua. In China, he found the Taipings were using religion to mask their looting and rebellion against the Manchus. It was said of the Taipings, "Wherever they go, they plunder and destroy. Civilization and even animal life seem to disappear before them, and their march may be tracked by bodies of murdered peasants and the ruined habitations which they leave behind." Frederick Townsend Ward contracted with the Manchus to capture the designated Taiping city strongholds and led his "Ever Victorious Army" to numerous victories against staggering odds. The Manchus elevated him to Mandarin - Third Class and made him a general. He was mortally wounded at Tsikee near Ning Po in 1862. Knowing death was imminent, he urged his officers to continue and crush the Taiping Rebellion.
|
|
In photocopies of old Consular records in our Archives, there is a letter to Wm. H. Seward, Secretary of State, dated October 6, 1862. In it the writer (presumably the U.S. Consul in Shanghai) said, "I believe he (Ward) was the first to recognize the advantages of training the Chinese soldiers in western tactics, which has since been adopted by the British Government as the course most likely to succeed in dealing with the Taipings. The only force of the kind worth mentioning was under his command at the time of his death." Years later, on March 17, 1877, Charles Schmidt who had serverd under General Ward in his "Ever Victorious Army" forwarded to U.S. Consul General in Shanghai "an extract of some notes I kept about the late General Ward." In these notes, Schmidt said, "General Ward was beloved and respected by all who knew him; although not a highly educated man, he was schrewd and had common sense, and while in action he was very brave. This was not a reckless bravery but a cool and daring bravery so requiste in a good leader. He would never send a man to a place where he would not go himself... Especially was he always careful that his men did not wantonly oppress the people, and always managed to do something for the crippled soldiers and the families of men fallen in action..." |
|
WARD'S TOMB: In the early 1920's, the Post obtained authorization from the Chinese Government to act as caretakers of the Temple and renovations/repairs were carried out. References in the Archives indicate that the Post was even given a Deed of Trust for the Tomb. A letter of 30 Sept 1947 to the Post from former commander Frank Mortimer said, "There should be among the papers I left behind a Chinese deed. As I understand it, the ground enclosed by the brick wall that the Legion built some 20 years ago was declared a shrine by the Chinese National Government and the Legion was given a document to this effect... There should be no question of ownership. The Legion never actually owned the ground, but rather had a deed of trust for it... Shrines, as I understand the regualations, cannot be owned by anyone..." |
|
On Memorial Sunday, 29 May 1921, the work of rehabilitation had been completed and a new dedication ceromony was held - this time it was carried out entirely by Ward's fellow countrymen. More than one hundred members of the Post and their friends traveled from Shanghai to Sungkiang by special launches and appropriate ceremonies were held. The Post made this pilgrimage to General Ward's Tomb and annual event on Memorial Day every year from then until 1938.
|
|
|
| THE POST DURING THE
WAR YEARS: The Post thrived in the 1920's and 1930's holding meetings and socials. But China was changing and the war was about to begin. On 7 July 1937, the Japanese Army invaded China. Post members joined the Shanghai Volunteer Corps to protect the international settlement; however, the Japanese strategy at the time seemed to be directed mainly against the Chinese, and would not be until Pearl Harbor that remaining Americans would be placed in the Pootung Internment and POW Camps. |
|
| In 1940 the Post was still having socials and on 7 March raffled off over U.S. $30,000 in prizes and the the grand prize being a car. The caption under the picture in our Archives reads, "To the winner of the American Legion Raffle for Charity goes this beautiful 1940 Plymouth Deluxe Touring Sedan but not the beautiful 'extra accessories.'" |
|
|
|
To protect the Post records, Adjutant Frank Mortimer had them bound into volumes and hid them camouflaged area in the attic of his company warehouse (godown). After Pearl Harbor, Adjutant Mortimer was placed in the Pootung Internment Camp where he would remain until the end of the war. During this period, the Japanese quartered troops in his warehouse and had they discovered the Post records, Frank would have been executed. |
| OUR SECOND POST
NAMESAKE: Just before the Japanese invasion, the man who would also become a Post namesake, Retired U.S. Army Captian Claire Lee Chennault, arrived in China. The Chinese requested he make a confidential appraisal of their Air Force - their offer was for 3 months at $1,000 per month plus expenses and the right to fly any aircraft they had. When the Japanese struck, Chennault offered his services to the Chinese to help stop Japanese invaders. He was accepted and appointed a Colonel in the Chinese Air Army/Air Force (CAF). Then in 1940, President Roosevelt authorized the recruitment of American pilots and air support crews for an "American Volunteer Group" to help the Chinese Air Force. Claire Chennault organized and trained the AVG which would gain world fame as the "Flying Tigers." Using tactics devised by Chennault, the AVG had a record of more than a ten to one aerial kills against the Japanese. It was disbanded in July 1942 and was replaced by the China Air Task Force (CATF) again commanded by Chennault; however, by Oct 1942, he had less than 50 flyable fighters. On 10 March 1943, the 14th Air Force - with now Major General Claire Lee Chennault Commanding - was activated. Between 20 Dec 1941 and V-J Day - the AVG, CATF, and 14th AF had lost only 500 airplanes in combat caused while destroying 2,600 enemy planes plus 1,500 more probables. They had sunk and damaged 2,230,000 tons of enemy merchant shipping, 44 naval vessels, 13000 river boats or small tonnages, knocked out over 500 bridges, and killed thousands of ground troops. |
|
| As the war drew to a close, General Chennault was recalled to the States and retired from military service. He returned to China where he established a civilian flying operation using surplus C-46 and C-47 aircraft and some of his old flight and line people. What had begun on a shoestring would later be call Civil Air Transport or CAT and would prove to be the lifeline of Nationalist China. |
|
|
THE POST AFTER
WWII: The Post was reactivated and General Chennault, now a civilian, became the Chairman of its Executive Committee. The war years had taken their toll on Ward's Tomb and it had fallen into disrepair. The Post decided to make the necessary repairs/restoration and on 9 May 1948, the Commander, Adjutant, their families and other members traveled to Sungkiang to view the Tomb and make a survey of work required. On 10 May 1948, Post Adjutant C.A.S "Cash" Helseth wrote a report on the results of that survey. |
| The repairs were made with Cash Helseth handling the renovation and General Chennault paying for much of the rebuilding out of his personal funds. Upon completion of the work, a formal re-dedication ceremony was planned. However, the civil war in China and the rapidly deteriorating situation made this impossible. Therefore, Post Commander Otis R. Fitz, Post Adjutant Cash Helseth, and a small party "made a quick trip to Sungkiang, raised two flags, stood the traditional minute of silent prayer, saluted, took a few pictures, and lowered the flags. The flags were then cased and turned over to Reverend Wu, the local missionary in Sungkiang, who so ably assisted the Post in the rehabilitation. A non-paid but free-quarters-furnished watchman was left in charge of the Tomb. Someday we will return." (This re-dedication took place in Oct 1948 as reported by Cash Helseth.) |
|
The situation continued to worsen and a meeting of the Post Executive Committee was held. General Chennault, as Chairman, instructed that all Post records be boxed up and forwarded to American Legion National Headquarters in Indianapolis. This was accomplished in November 1948 with the Post going into exile from Shanghai on 22 November 1948.
In June 1949, while on temporary assignment in Hong Kong, Post Adjutant Helseth talked to several members in the area and a meeting was called. On 3 August 1949, the meeting was held at the Peninsula Hotel in Kowloon and a set of guidelines were established for keeping the Post alive until it could return to China. Cash Helseth was to be Commander, Adjutant, and Historian and empowered to do whatever was necessary to ensure survival of the Post.
|
Later that same month (Aug 1949), Commander Helseth wrote and published the first newsletter or "POOPSHEET NO. 1." In it he described the Post's departure from China and the meeting in Hong Kong. One of the statements made in that first Poop Sheet was that, "All members realize that just because we cannot act as a Post Unit, we are still Legionnaires and dedicated to the sevice of the community, state and nation."
OPERATING IN EXILE - As Commander, he would find that operating the Post in exile posed many problems. The first - but not necessarily the least - was to continue to generate interest in the Post which had no home and could no longer offer social contacts or community involvement to its members. The only ties binding it together would be the newsletter (Poop Sheet) and the determination to maintain its identity until it could return to Shanghai. |
|
In addition, the Post was something entirely new in the annals of the American Legion itself. Therefore, during the Fifties - and over the years - Cash would work closely with National Headquarters to establish guidelines for maintaining our Legion status, while at the same time allowing us to survive and retain our unique identity as a Post in Exile. He would be ably counseled and guided by Henry H. Dudley, National Adjutant (who assisted even after his retirement), Emil A. Blackmore (who was of immense help until his untimely death), and later by C.W. "Pat" Giele, Director of Internal Affairs, who would be called in for assistance and advice.
Cash, Emmy, and their son Chuck would also be living abroad in the early 1950's. This together with the lack of Post funds, mailing problems, long hours and little time away from his job would make it difficult to publish the Poop Sheets on a regular basis and keep interest alive. In Poop Sheet No. 10 dated 11 November 1951 (written while they were in Casablanca), Emmy would say, "I was notified several weeks ago that I would be 'shanghaied' for duty as typist... At least this is one way I can keep him away from the job on Sundays." She would remain 'shanghaied' and together they would keep the Post going through the even more difficult times ahead.
In 1951, General Chennault who was by then in Taipei considered starting a new Post or possibly reactivating the Frederick Townsend Ward Post there. However, the Post membership in response to his request "for consideration to reactivate the Post in Taipie voted in favor of non-reactivation unless in Shanghai." The Post pledge would be:
We pledge that with the help of Almighty
God, at
such time and place as designated by the
American
Legion, the Government of the United
States, and
the Government of Free China, we within
our abil-
ities and resources, will proceed to the
City of
Shanghai, Province of Kiangsu, China, there
to re-
establish and reinstate the Frederick
Townsend
Ward Post No. 1, China of the American
Legion, in
its home, and promulgate the principles of
the
American Legion and help restore the
traditional
friendship of the American and Chinese
people...
We shall
return!
In 1953, the Legion advised that we - like several other foreign and outlying posts - had been operating under a temporary charter. They said we could either apply for a permanent charter or continue under the temporary one until the Post was reactivated. The membership was polled and it was decided to apply for the permanent charter which was granted in early 1954.
In the 29 June 1953 American Legion Magazine, a short article appeared on the Post which read in part, "Shanghai Post in Exile operates as active unit... though badgered and pestered by wars and the dispersal of its members to the far reaches of the earth, General Frederick Townsend Ward Post No 1. Shanghai, China, still maintains its status as an active unit in the Legion organization. It is now operating in exile at Los Angeles, California under Post Commander C.A.S. Helseth with a total reported membership of 21 on May 1st. For more than 20 years, this Legion unit served as an American outpost and rallying center at Shanghai. It managed to survive the early wars and Japanese occupation, but was dispersed when the communists came into power in China... members of Ward Post managed to smuggle out the colors and other Post property... since that time, the Hqs. of Ward Post has been wherever the Post Commander happened to be... Commander Helseth gets out an occasionally chatty newsletter which he sends to members in the homeland and to a dozen or more foreign countries - that is the one means of keeping contact..."
Also in that year (1953), hearing the American Legion had arranged a pilgrimage to World War I battlegrounds in Europe and finding no Post members could attend, Cash and Emmy made a personal pilgrimage on behalf of the Post. He would later write "...We laid out a part of our European tour so that our Post 'In Exile' could be represented in our own bastard way with our own pilgrimage as it did not look as if any of the membership could be in the regualar trip..." To each and every Post member, he then sent a picture for a keepsake and said, "for those of you who were in the First World War and whose names may conjure memories poignant to you and yours, you are requested to make a silent toast at the next appropriate occasion to those who have gone before."
By 1954, our chances of returning to Shanghai had diminished to the point where General Chennault would write, "We had just as well resign all hope of ever returning to re-establish our old business and social contacts."
|
Cash and Emmy continued to publish the Poop Sheet and to do things which would keep the Post's presence known. In 1956, they attended the American Legion National Convention in Los Angeles and Otis R. Fitz, Yu Kam Moon, and Cash marched in the parade behind the color guard carrying the United States Flag and Post banner. |
|
Cash would write, "...Our Post received more than its share of the limelight...We were greeted and honored as Distinguished Guests. In Legion parlance, at a convention, this is no small honor. Other distinguished guests included our nation's greatest names. The Tuesday, 4 September edition of the Los Angeles Examiner would describe the Legion Posts taking part in the parade ending with, "All winning applause...but none quite like that won by the unit which suddenly, unexpectedly reminded everyone the American Legion is still fighting a battle, a never-ending war against communism...that was the Legion's only 'Department in Exile'...The Shanghai China Post." To further encourage interest, a joint Chinese New Year Celebration would begin with American Chinese Post #628 in Los Angeles. The flyer going out to our Post members announced it was giving the details, "...on our first meeting since October 1948 in Shanghai." The program included a speech by both the Department of California Commander as well as Carroll Alcott, the American newsman who dared Japanese official to execute him when he was caught behind enemy lines in World War II. |
|
Mrs. Peggy Chennault Lee, daughter of General Chennault, would also be a guest and a picture of her and Hiram Kwan, Vice Commander of the Chinese American Post #628 would appear in the March 5th edition of the Los Angeles Times drinking a toast in honor of our Post Pledge - We Shall Return.
|
The joint dinner proved to be a great success and would be repeated on other Chinese New Year's in the future. |
| CHANGE IN THE POST
NAME: At a meeting held before the Post went into exile, a motion was made and carried that General Chennault's name be added to the official name of the Post. The General had expressed appreciation but said that he understood that this was an honor which could only be bestowed on "Someone Who Has Gone Before." Thus the Post name could not be changed until he had met his "Final Qualification." By the late 1950's, General Chennault was locked in a life and death struggle with cancer. He wrote Command Cash Helseth in April 1958, "Thanks for the Poop Sheet 53 dated April... The report on my receiving nitrogen mustard treatments at Ochsner Hospital was, like many newspaper reports; greatly exaggerated. I am scheduled to take a treatment early in May, however. Anna and I are now looking forward to attending the joint AVG-14th AF Convention Reunion at San Francisco Aug 7, 8 and 9." He would never attend the reunion. In late July 1958, Lt. General Claire L. Chennault (Ret) met his final call to destiny. |
|
Many things have been written about Claire Chennault's life and career but probably he would like to tell you for himself. Following are excerpts from Post Questionnaire which he completed and returned to the Post in 1948:
NAME:Chennault,
Claire Lee
DATE OF
BIRTH: September 6, 1890.
WHERE BORN: Commerce, Texas.
BUSINESS OR
PROFESSION: Aviation Executive.
ENTERED WORLD WAR I SERVICE: Aug 26, 1917,
at Ft. Ben Harrison, Ind.
ENTERED WORLD WAR II SERVICE: July 7, 1937, at Loyang,
China.
RETIRED:
April 30, 1937, Washington, D.C.
RETIRED: October 31, 1945, Washington,
D.C.
WITH RANK OF,
GRADE OF: Major General.
WAS APPOINTED, PROMOTED, COMMISIONED AS FOLLOWS: Grade:
Major General.
Date: May 3, 1943. Organization: 14th Air Force.
TOOK PART IN THE
FOLLOWING BATTLES (MAJOR OPPERATIONS): Battle of Burma, Battle
of China.
AS A
MEMBER OF: AVG, CATF, 14th Air Force, CAF.
RECIEVED CITATIONS, MEDALS,
DECORATIONS, ETC., AS FOLLOWS:
| AMERICAN: |
Air Medal with Palm;
DFC with Palm; Legion of Merit, DSM with Palm |
| CHINESE: |
White Cloud Banner, 7th &
5th Class and White Cloud Banners Special Order; Blue Sky and White Sun; Army, Navy & Air Force Medal. Long Sword of Distinguished Commander. |
| BRITISH: | Commander British Empire (CBE). |
| FRENCH: | Croix de Guerre with Palm, Legion of Honor. |
| POLISH: | Chavalier, Polonia Restituta. |
The man died - the legend remained. As Winston Churchill had summed it up in WWII, "Thank God he is on our side."
Claire Lee Chennault had met the Final Qualification and the Post was renamed in his honor to Generals Ward & Chennault Post No. 1 (China).
CONCLUSION:
As the Fifties drew to a close, the Post had
survived its first ten years in exile. However, it had not
been easy. In the spring before General Chennault's death,
Cash would write him, "..these last couple years I was getting
desperate in trying to obtain help. The old members were
gradually dropping off and losing interest since we have so little
to offer..." The 1960's would prove no easier but he and
Emmy would keep trying.
