September 2, 1997, was the one-hundredth day of my father's passing away. He was generally a soldier, having gone through a forest of guns and a rain of bullets. He was wounded in several parts of his body – stomach, legs, and wrists. On the wrists alone, there were three bullet holes. Unexpectedly, when my father came to visit us in our small town of Cary, NC in Oct 1996, he suffered an attack due to gallstones and had to undergo an operation. Three days after his being in the hospital, we were told that a cell analysis revealed the presence of cancer. After half a year of unsuccessful treatment, he passed away in Veteran General Hospital in Taipei, Taiwan, at the age of seventy-six. My father was an ordinary person during the turbulent era during which he lived. Born on August 26, 1920, in Yanlin County, Hunan Province, China, he survived numerous disasters during his life. On a personal basis he was generous toward others and devoted to his career. The only luxury he was in the habit of partaking was a cigarette after every meal.
Excepting his experience with the Eight Years anti-Japanese invasion several years after the War against the Communists, and his three decades of service at Taiwan Sugar Corporation, his greatest success was the endowment of education on our five brothers and sisters. Although today we are neither millionaires nor nobility, we all have good jobs and enjoy a happy family life. We all follow our father's instruction that we should be responsible toward society and country. I myself am a special son, the eldest, who was usually expected to be the most responsible and live my life by the strictest discipline. Father stressed the importance of education, and I still remember reading the well-know novelist Chu, Zhi-ching's "The Shadow of My Father's Back". That article describes Chu's feeling when his father saw him off at the railroad station. The shadow of his father made that an unforgettable experience in his life.
Father also watched out for our health. The most memorable experience was my departing from Taiwan for the States for graduate study. My father saw me off, standing there with his white hair and running tears. The experience is still fresh in my memory. He said, "Kaozon, you have no friends or relatives in the States. Please take care of yourself. One thing you should keep in mind is to never destroy yourself by excessive study." Those words moved me to tears whenever they slipped into my mind at Penn State University. During the elementary school years, my father took a bicycle and escorted me to school everyday. My father's love can never be erased from my heart.
Our family "Wei" originated in Baiziwei, Liangping Prefecture, Guangdong Province, and belonged to the Hakka group. Two hundred years ago, our forefather Wei Jinjun moved to Yanlin County, Hunan Province. Including my father, nine generations of Wei's lived in Hunan. From the twenty middle names of our clan one can discern that fact. The twenty words are: "Jin Zhen Xian Guo Zhao Zhu Wang Zong Kung Kao Zhong Xiao Chuan Jia Shi Wn Zhang Fu Sheng Chao." My father belonged to the generation of Kung, and his name was Kung-yi My grandfather was one of the richest men in his local county, located in the Jingang Mountain region, which was also the center of much clandestine activity from bandits roaming in the deep mountains. The bandits' murder of my grandparents and one uncle and his wife in the 1940's were disasters for our clan. Thus, my father was determined to join the Nationalists Army from the time he was 15 years old. He participated in the battles of Xiusui and Gaotan against the Japanese invaders of that era and also defended Chang-sha and Heng-yang of Hunan province. He was badly wounded in Ganan and retired from the army. However, the new recruitment policy made him a soldier again in place of his brother. The reason for the replacement was that, my father felt that my brother, who had no military experience, would die in the battlefield.
After the Second World War my father went to Taiwan to restore Chinese territorial sovereignty. It was in Taiwan that he met and married my Taiwanese mother Ms. Deng, Green. In the 1950's and 1960's in Taiwan, most of the families were as poor as church mice, and my father's low income had to sustain so many people. When he worked in Chang-hua County, Ci-chou village in Taiwan Sugar Company, my mother had to work as a seamstress to obtain additional income to feed and clothe the family. Then we moved to Mu-shan Division, Taipei, where my mother worked in the kindergarten to supplement our income. Both my father and my mother had to work hard to make ends meet. After Taiwan Sugar Company moved from Chang-hua County to Taipei, we resided in Mu-shan Division. On the weekend my father even took us to Taipei to buy some military shoes and clothes, and to buy some left over fat meat for family nourishment. The fat meat was really the most nourishing food we had. Recalling that, I feel quite sad over those years of hardship. It was during those difficult years that I was wounded while experimenting in the chemistry lab. Then further hard times followed when my grandfather died and my father had to undergo a stomach operation. We five brothers and sisters struggled through several schools: Most of them were the well known high schools and universities in Taipei, then several universities abroad. During that time the officials and coworkers at Taiwan Sugar Corporation showed especial concern for our family. We will never forget that. Our experience with Taiwan Sugar Corporation will be forever born in mind. Father was an Administrator of logistics affairs. That was a difficult job that required him to do the preventive and aftermath work during typhoon and other calamities. I remember after one typhoon my father brought several workers to mend our apartment roof. Unfortunately, the slippery roof caused one of the workers to fall from the second story of the building to the ground. Father rushed to pick up the unconscious worker whose face was full of blood. Father immediately called an ambulance to take the worker to the hospital. He was very happy to hear that the worker recovered.
From 1947 to 1980, for 34 years, he witnessed the economic recovery of Taiwan. When Taiwan was restored to China, Taiwan's economy was in a deep recession due to exploitation by the Japanese government. Taiwan's economy was mainly agricultural. Sugar production was Taiwan's major industry. Sugar manufacture was scattered throughout the island with 28 factories and 4 general companies. International currency was derived primarily from sugar exportation. Taiwan exported 800,000 tons of sugar and exchanged numerous dollars. During the era of new reconstruction, workers from all over Taiwan contributed to the country's growth. Father, a member of Taiwan Sugar Company, felt proud to have done his part for the reconstruction.
After retirement father came to the States every year or two to visit us. Every time he first went to Kao-hwa's home in Los Angeles, then to Lee-sha's home in New Jersey, and finally to my home in North Carolina. He made a humorous analogy by saying that he was deaf due to the language obstruction, since he spoke only limited English, and he was lame by his inability to drive a car. I worked for IBM in China between 1984 and 1986 as a System Engineer and tried to persuade him to visit his home town in Hunan Province. He was very stern and said he would not do so until the Nationalist government allowed direct travel to China. He did go to visit when the Nationalist government issued a new policy. In April 1993, at a time when I was visiting Taiwan in order to formalize a Sister City relationship between Cary, NC, where I currently live, and Hsin-Chu City, Taiwan. We both went to visit Beijing and the Great Wall. During the 1994 Thanksgiving holidays in NC, we presented him with a surprise party at MandarinHouse Chinese Restaurant, Duham NC, in order to celebrate his 72nd birthday, and we even invited Cary's mayor Koka Booth to attend. The mayor delivered a special speech for my father. Father was elated but complained about spending so much money. Today we regret that we had not prepared a special birthday party for him every year, but now we don't have the chance. In the summer of 1995 we visited the Bahamas with both my mother and my father. I remember that he was very happy on the cruise, saying that he had never been on such a big ship in his lifetime. At that time we also made plans to visit Europe, although those plans were not realized.
When Father came to visit our home in October, 1996, a miserable event befell us all. He went to the hospital for surgery and was diagnosed with cancer. After the operation, Father and my mother went back to Taiwan where he undertook treatment for the cancer. The treatment was unsuccessful and he passed away on May 27, 1997. Fortunately, before his death, we took a family photo, with my five brothers and sisters present, in the hospital. That day he was in good spirits because he had just received a blood transfusion. Kao-hwa happily made an introduction and then recorded my father's will. Father made a few statements to everybody and was recorded by video machine and tape recorder. Father specifically gave some instructions to my son Addi, that he hoped Addi would continue practicing Kung-fu but for the betterment of his heart and to improve self-discipline, not to hurt others.
In June we all went back to Taiwan again to attend the ceremony, paying last respects to my father. We felt heart-broken when we saw father in the coffin. Tears were running down our faces. Father ! We hope you saw your family and children's families come back to pay last respects to you. The ceremony was attended by many of father's former friends, colleagues, former officers, and neighbors. I was so saddened by the loss that I got no chance to express my sincere thanks to everybody. I hope this article will convey our gratitude to all of our friends and relatives.
When father passed away, the North Carolina governmental organizations for which I am currently work gave me a large gardenia which was planted in my front yard. The gardenia serves as a memorial token to my father, prompting me to think about him. My best friends Chuck-kung Lee and Philip Chow and myself donated some money for two Chinese schools in Raleigh N. C. to establish "Bu-Cheig Wei Scholarships" commemorating my father. Father! I wish you a peaceful sleep! Mother and we will always love you and miss you.