Yesterday Jean and I came to St. Luke's Church in Hualien, where our son has just started a new ministry. Our plan is that we'll stay here until tomorrow and then return to Wufeng with our two grandchildren so that they can spend ten days or so in their hometown during the summer vacation.
This afternoon our son invited us out for a short visit to the Pine Garden (see photos), which is not far from St. Luke's Church. The following is my translation of Tingshuo Bai Hudie Huilai-guo, especially made for you my English-peaking readers to read; I hope you'll enjoy reading this article.
《聽說松園白蝴蝶回來過》
It Is Said that White Butterflies
Have Returned to the Pine Garden
In the final stage of World War II, the front lines being so tense, many young people in Japan and its colonies (such as Taiwan and North Korea) responded to the call and joined the "Kamikaze Commando." They learned to fly, but not to land. They did sacrifice their precious lives to complete a suicide mission of no return.
The Japanese kamikaze team members stationed in Taiwan at that time were also known as "white butterflies." The white butterflies are free and unrestrained, dancing gracefully. From a distance, they look like cherry blossoms leaving their branches in late spring, swirling and dancing before they wither and fall. They, too, are like goose down snowflakes fluttering in the wind in a harsh winter; they don't really land until they've drifted down a long street.
Late at night, the night before leaving home, the door being ajar, the young man turned his back to his mother and packed his meager baggage. He took out the photo that had been packed and put it back on the table. Excited and passionate, he was sad for a while. "I'd better leave this photo to my mom as a souvenir," he thought. His mother turned her back to the faint yellow light and stood aside, watching the young man's firm back. She covered her mouth with a hand and wept, trying to swallow the cries of separation. She reached out and stroked her son's eyebrows, gently and carefully, for fear of hurting him. "If we can't meet again in this life, you must turn into a white butterfly and fly home anyway, to let your mother see you for the last time." After saying this, she burst into tears again, and the young man's chest felt hot and stuffy. As the days progressed, it was time for him to leave. He put on simple clothes, but he looked a bit solemn. When the plane took off, a pair of moist eyes reappeared in his mind, and he seemed to hear the lullaby his mother had hummed softly to him at night when he was a small boy. The tears welled up in his eyes, blurring his vision. And before losing weight on the plane, he dared not forget his mother's instructions. "Mom, I'm going back now."
On June 7, 1945, after the last special attack plane took off, the tragic history of the Taiwan Kamikaze came to an end. And yet traces of history still retain the shadows of the Kamikaze members' short lives. May those who yearn for peace not have to toss and turn; may those who care about their hometown not have to leave!
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相關文章 (See also)： The Pine Garden 松園別館 (B)
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