They had sacrificed much in the Resistance War of China, laying down their lives to sustain the bloodline in the war and fighting for the cause of peace and freedom. In a way, they had contributed, albeit indirectly, to the victory of the Allied Forces.
Tribute to the Nanyang Volunteer mechanics and drivers
During the Sino-Japanese War, the Japanese had effectively blockaded the entire seacoast of China, to prevent the entry of the supply of necessities, arms and ammunitions into China through sea routes. To solve this problem, a road connecting Burma and Yunnan had to be constructed.
“Under the directive of General Long Yun, who was the chairman of Yunnan Province then, the construction of the Yunnan-Burma Road was carried out in November 1937 and by August 1938, a barely passable road was built and it required continuous modification and repair throughout its use,” explained Dr Julitta Lim, the co-author of ‘The Intrepid Sarawak Volunteer Mechanics 1937-1945’.
From then on, international aid and supplies for China were sent by sea to Rangoon in Burma, then transported by rail to Lashio in Burma and finally by truck through the treacherous Yunnan-Burma Road to Kunming in Yunnan.
It took about a week for a truck to drive from Lashio to Kunming. Then the volunteer mechanics and drivers, (about 3,200 of them, mostly from South-east Asia) would drive from Kunming along the mountain roads, including the treacherous 24 bends in Guizhou to Sichuan and the war zones in other Chinese provinces.
Hardships
By 1941, it was estimated that a monthly average of 600 vehicles with a combined capacity of 10,000 tons were using the Yunnan-Burma Road.
The Southeast Asian China Relief Fund donated one-third of the trucks used on the Yunnan-Burma Road.
It was truly a logistical feat, but the dangers faced by the volunteer mechanics and drivers were unfathomable while travelling through the 1,146-km China-Burma Road. The dangers included illnesses, especially caused by Anopheles mosquitoes which transmit malaria, bombardment from enemy planes and road accidents which were frequent and at times fatal, along the winding roads that transverse more than 3,000 metres above mountain valleys and along lofty cliffs. All in all, over a thousand lives were sacrificed due to various casualties.
One of the volunteers, Lee Ah Liew, when interviewed by Dr Lim, recalled that after three months of compulsory training at Kunming and a short course at Guizhou, he was bestowed the rank of Master Sergeant Driver, transporting war materials along the perilous China-Burma Road.
He narrowly escaped death twice at Gongguo Bridge when Japanese planes suddenly appeared and bombed the bridge and strafed the company and tucks.
Once when the Gongguo Bridge was destroyed by the Japanese bombing and the convoy could not cross the Lancang Jiang River, Lee resourcefully suggested the building of a floating bridge with empty oil drums and planks which enabled the convoy to pass through again, barely after 10 hours! This was considered as an ‘innovative triumph’.
This was, of course, a heavy blow to the Japanese who thought that they had successfully cut off the route for at least three months, before the bridge could be restored.
Later, Lee’s quick action also helped the Chinese army to capture a Tibetan spying for the Japanese.
Lee was later flown to India in 1942 where he joined the Allied ‘Z’ Special Force and trained in guerrilla warfare and as a paratrooper for the Allied Forces’ plan to mount a counterattack against the Japanese army in Malaya during World War II.
Two other Sarawakians in the Z-Force were Chua Gin Teck and Zhang Wen Shun of Kuching.
Just as they were about to be sent and air dropped into the Malayan jungles to fight the Japanese, WWII ended with the surrender of the Japanese Army in September 1945.
In 1942 when a major advance by the Japanese Army along the upper Salween River was halted at Huitong Bridge near Tengchong, the retreating Chinese troops blew up the bridge. The Chinese had been beaten and battered beyond human endurance.
It is believed that during this battle, Xu Qixin from Sibu became the first Sarawak Volunteer Mechanic who sacrificed his life, when his truck was bombed by Japanese planes.
After the Huitong Bridge was blown up, many of the Nanyang VDMs lost their jobs and left behind in Yunnan to fend for themselves, even as odd job workers. Some followed the Chinese Expeditionary Force into India while some others joined the Allied Forces in India where they were trained as paratroopers in preparation for their counter-attack in Malaya.
Only half returned
After the war ended, fewer than a thousand returned home to Southeast Asia while several hundred remained in China.
Among them, only about half of the Sarawak Chinese Volunteers returned home. Because of the complications involved in repatriation efforts, some could only come back in 1947 or later.
“The epic story of the Sarawak Volunteer Mechanics and Drivers (SVMDs) is not only an episode in world history but also an integral part of the Sarawak Chinese history as well as that of Malaysian history,” said Dr Lim.
Dr Lim and her late husband Dr Fong, played a crucial part in restoring this piece of history which has almost been forgotten by the younger generation. Both of them managed to dig up the available resources from various sources as well as collecting first-hand information from the surviving unsung heroes before they passed on.
Without their research and books, the Sarawak VMDs would have gone unnoticed and unrecognised and be forgotten.
After a long search, Dr Lim also flew all the way to Canada to interview another Sarawak Volunteer who had migrated to Canada, Thomas Liao Ping, in June 2012, to record his life story during the war in China.
Among the five from Sarawak that Dr Fong and Dr Lim managed to interview were Teo Tian Shu, Yap Kee Ping, Fong Chen Piao (all from Kuching), Lee Ah Liew (Lundu) and Kho Hai Seng (Serian).
All of them were already octogenarians when the five of them met for the first time after the war at a gathering on July 2, 1998 in Kuching, together with the first China Consul-General Wu Deguang. However, they had all passed on due over the last few years.
The last of the five who passed on was Lee Ah Liew on May 3, 2018, at 100 years old.
The detailed accounts of the interviews with other volunteers and their descendants, archival documents and photographs related to the volunteers are published in Dr Lim’s books for future reference by the younger generations.
