Page 51 - moondani kyema
P. 51
ndani kyema, My Story - Ray Moore 51
above letter from Leila Williams, a wardrobe mistress with the school, writing to her
sisters in Australia:
Her mention of "two (being sent) to their parents in Kunming Yunnan" refers to David
Allen and me. David's parents were certainly there, but my parents were a
comparatively short distance from Xi'an and I should never have been sent so far to
the south. So the mistake seems to have originated from someone in Weihsien
having an inaccurate knowledge of our parents' locations.
At this stage, my parents heard from another missionary friend who wrote to them
saying, “There was great excitement last night when the four Taylor children walked
in. Your Raymond would have been with them, but he has been taken on to
Kunming with a fractured wrist.”
I was flown from Xi’an to Kunming in a bomber called “The Homesick Angel”. Before
getting on board, the navigator gave me a small block of chocolate, which I quickly
devoured. The unfortunate consequence of this was that I became airsick on the trip
and, because I was sitting on a pull down seat just behind the pilots and opposite the
navigator, he ended up with that chocolate and more, decorating his uniform. He
took it very well, and seemed to hold no grudges.
At Kunming I was taken to the local CIM mission home.
Here I stayed the night with David Allen and his family
(picture) and slept in a seemingly deserted wing of the
building.
Finally my parents received a telegram from the
missionary in charge at Kunming saying, “Raymond here
safe and well. Will send on to Hanzhong or Xi’an as soon
as transport is available.” Transport became available
almost immediately, once more per kind favour of the
American air force, and I was returned to Xi’an on
another bomber, minus my cabin trunk of precious
belongings, which I never saw again.
Back in Xi’an I was left at the airport and there seemed to
be no one there to pick me up. Fortunately there happened to be a friend of my
parents from another mission at the airport who saw me wandering around and
asked me who I was. When he discovered that I was the son of his missionary
friends, he took me to his home to stay until Percy could come and pick me up.
A couple of days later, Percy was able to make his way to Xi'an and catch up with the
son whom he had not seen for five years. The reunion with Percy was far from world
shattering. I was in bed when he arrived and he came in to the room to meet me.
My instinctive reaction was to duck under the bedclothes and hide from him.
With the help of a British army convoy, and in spite of landslides across the road, we
eventually arrived in Hanzhong. I walked up the path to the mission home and was
greeted with great rejoicing by Amy and youngest brother and a little sister whom I
had never seen. My other brother came home from a boarding school in Kalimpong,
India some weeks later.
above letter from Leila Williams, a wardrobe mistress with the school, writing to her
sisters in Australia:
Her mention of "two (being sent) to their parents in Kunming Yunnan" refers to David
Allen and me. David's parents were certainly there, but my parents were a
comparatively short distance from Xi'an and I should never have been sent so far to
the south. So the mistake seems to have originated from someone in Weihsien
having an inaccurate knowledge of our parents' locations.
At this stage, my parents heard from another missionary friend who wrote to them
saying, “There was great excitement last night when the four Taylor children walked
in. Your Raymond would have been with them, but he has been taken on to
Kunming with a fractured wrist.”
I was flown from Xi’an to Kunming in a bomber called “The Homesick Angel”. Before
getting on board, the navigator gave me a small block of chocolate, which I quickly
devoured. The unfortunate consequence of this was that I became airsick on the trip
and, because I was sitting on a pull down seat just behind the pilots and opposite the
navigator, he ended up with that chocolate and more, decorating his uniform. He
took it very well, and seemed to hold no grudges.
At Kunming I was taken to the local CIM mission home.
Here I stayed the night with David Allen and his family
(picture) and slept in a seemingly deserted wing of the
building.
Finally my parents received a telegram from the
missionary in charge at Kunming saying, “Raymond here
safe and well. Will send on to Hanzhong or Xi’an as soon
as transport is available.” Transport became available
almost immediately, once more per kind favour of the
American air force, and I was returned to Xi’an on
another bomber, minus my cabin trunk of precious
belongings, which I never saw again.
Back in Xi’an I was left at the airport and there seemed to
be no one there to pick me up. Fortunately there happened to be a friend of my
parents from another mission at the airport who saw me wandering around and
asked me who I was. When he discovered that I was the son of his missionary
friends, he took me to his home to stay until Percy could come and pick me up.
A couple of days later, Percy was able to make his way to Xi'an and catch up with the
son whom he had not seen for five years. The reunion with Percy was far from world
shattering. I was in bed when he arrived and he came in to the room to meet me.
My instinctive reaction was to duck under the bedclothes and hide from him.
With the help of a British army convoy, and in spite of landslides across the road, we
eventually arrived in Hanzhong. I walked up the path to the mission home and was
greeted with great rejoicing by Amy and youngest brother and a little sister whom I
had never seen. My other brother came home from a boarding school in Kalimpong,
India some weeks later.
