Sustained by Love thru the Wars

By Hi-Dong Chai

I hate war. War kills. War maims. War orphans. And it leaves a deep scar not only on the land that will take years to heal, but also in the hearts of those who are affected by the war. I am one of those who carry a deep emotional wound to this day, more than sixty years later. During World War II under Japan, my father was imprisoned because he was a Christian minister who refused to bow down to the picture of the Japanese emperor. My elder brother volunteered to join the Japanese military in the hope of having his father released from prison. He left home as a vibrant, fifteen-year-old boy and returned home as a worn-out, injured, eighteen-year-old man after the war; he died a year later. During the Korean War, two North Korean officers came to my house and took my father away because he was a Christian minister. He never returned. Sustained by Love thru the Wars is a story of love, sacrifice, faith, and suffering, all wrapped in one package. The heroine in the story is my mother as seen by her youngest son. Mother prayed without ceasing. Through her unceasing prayers, she was able to walk through the dark tunnel of trials and tribulations and lead us onward with love, grace, and absolute faith in God.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Jan 17, 2017
• ISBN: 9781635252224

Hi-Dong Chai

A native of Seoul, Korea, Hi-Dong Chai was educated in the United States. He received a PhD in electrical engineering. As an engineer, he worked nineteen years with IBM and fifteen years as a professor of electrical engineering at San Jose State University. He was recognized as a leading authority of magnetic actuator design. He published extensively in the field of magnetic aspects of electromechanical devices, including a book, Electromechanical Motion Devices, Prentice Hall. He is a holder and co-holder of fifty-two inventions that were either published in the IBM Invention Disclosure Bulletin or filed for U.S. patents. With all his professional accomplishments, he did not forget his life’s journey through Korea as the last son of a Christian minister. He did not forget his father in prison under Japan’s rule. He did not forget his fifteen-year-old brother, volunteering to join the Japanese military in the hope of having his father released from prison, coming home after World War II, and dying from his injury. He did not forget his father who was taken away by the communists during the Korean War, never to return. He did not forget his mother whose life had been shattered by the wars, but who led her last son with love and wisdom. After retiring in 2002, he decided to spend his remaining years sharing his life stories with the world. My Truest Hope was published in the August 2012 issue of Guideposts magazine. My Truest Hope won the award for Writers talk Challenge for Memoir by South Bay Branch of California Writers Club in February 2013. Also, Blossoms and Bayonets co-authored with Jana McBurney-Lin was e-published in October 2012, and the print version was published in 2013. Sustained by Love Through the Wars is a formally edited version of Shattered by the Wars, a self-published memoir published by Inspiring Voices of Guideposts magazine in 2013. Also in 2022, Austin Macauley Publisher in New York published his Poems: Story from my Heart.