Not Forgotten

By Michael J. English

The story is about how cruel and savage war affects mankind. Protagonist Jay is 7- years old when his navy captain father dies at Pearl Harbor. Growing up tormented by the horrific evil, cruelty, and atrocities of Japan's royalty and military, Jay crusades for justice on five unresolved issues including ex-P

• Language: English
• Publisher: Michael J. English Publishing
• Release date: Sep 6, 2023
• ISBN: 9781959483755

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© 2003 by Michael J. English. All rights reserved.

Book design by Michael J. English

Cover design by Justin M. English

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews, without the written prior permission of the author.

Author’s note:

This is a work of fiction. Except for documented history, the characters, incidents, and dialogues are products of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. The historical dates, events, and individuals actually involved with The Panay Incident, The Rape of Nanking, the attack on Pearl Harbor, World War II, the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal, and other reference history, are based on documented accounts.

National Library of Canada Cataloguing in Publication

English, Michael J

Not forgotten / Michael J. English.

ISBN: 978-1-959483-74-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-959483-75-5 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2023915736

Table of Contents

Chapter

Prologue

DECEMBER 1937

What’s an intelligent American woman like you doing here in China? asks Sandro Vincent, an Italian news correspondent.

You could call it missionary work, says Marie England, the single, thirty-three-year-old co-dean of studies at Ginling Woman’s Arts and Science College in Nanking, China. I am an educator, and one of God’s messengers. Besides, the Chinese people need people like me. Maybe I need them, too.

An educator, huh, says Vincent as he removes his sunglasses and reveals dark brown eyes. Marie likes his Italian accent. She’s met him, but this is the first time she’s talked with him. Is that why you’re always writing in that black book?

Oh, that. It’s my diary, says Marie, noticing this middle-aged Italian can’t be more than an inch taller than her own five-foot eight-inch frame. I try to be religious about keeping it up to date. What about you? Why are you here? It’s a scary and dangerous place to be.

My companion and I had to leave Nanking, says Vincent. We knew it wouldn’t take long for the Japanese to destroy Nanking. We didn’t want to be killed by stray bullets. Besides, the Japanese would be embarrassed if they accidently killed a couple of Italian news correspondents. Vincent is smiling. He looks like he’s trying to be funny to break the tension. thinks Marie. Perhaps we can talk more later. Vincent nods yes and begins to leave. He and Marie are on the starboard side of the upper deck on the American gunship USS Panay.

Sure, see you later, says Marie as she notices Vincent is wearing a wedding ring as he leaves, and she returns to updating her diary. She’s jotting down words describing the danger she’s left behind in Nanking. A lot has happened in the seventy-two hours since she left. Thinking about this makes Marie feel guilty for leaving behind Chinese students and friends who, she knows, are in harm’s way. If Marie can figure out a safe way to go back, she will. She keeps on filling pages in her diary.

The USS Panay is at anchor on the Yangtze River some twenty- seven miles upstream from Nanking, China, on this Sunday afternoon, December 12, 1937. Three days before, Marie boarded the American gunship as it left Nanking to protect American life and property. The Imperial Japanese Army was converging on the city in a semicircle using four combat divisions to trap everyone in their path against the Yangtze River.

Marie is one of the eighty people on board. In addition to officers and crew, the Panay is carrying fifteen American and European embassy diplomats, journalists, photographers, businesspeople, and Marie, an American schoolteacher. They are passengers because the American Embassy has strongly advised all Americans to evacuate Nanking. Marie has met and talked with George Atcheson, the senior American official on board. Atcheson is second secretary to the American ambassador to China, Nelson T. Johnson. Following orders, Atcheson has closed the Embassy in Nanking and brought Americans and two Italians to escape on the Panay. Atcheson insisted Americans leave on the Panay. He’s said that the Japanese military is dangerous and rumored to be doing dreadful things to the people in their path. Ambassador Johnson has already moved most of the embassy staff to Hankow, which is where Chiang Kai-shek has already relocated most of his Nationalist Chinese government. When Marie was given a tour of gunship, she learned that the Panay has a crew of sixty-five, including a company of four officers, forty-nine enlisted sailors, and twelve Chinese coolies.

Marie feels alone as an American woman in this struggle to survive, deep inside China. She thinks about how different it would be if she had stayed in Indiana. It’s been eleven years since she graduated from the University of Indiana. Instead, Marie joined the United Christian Missionary Associates, which assigned her to Shanghai,

China. After three years there, Marie thinks back and remembers how happy she was to be promoted and relocated to her position at Ginling in Nanking. The three years since have gone by so quickly, she thinks.

Marie agonizes about the most difficult part of being in China is being separated from her younger sister Victoria Winston, her nephew Jay, and niece Elizabeth. They are in San Diego, where her sister’s husband Edward is a captain in the US Navy. Marie starts a letter to her sister.

Marie sits near an awning. It is painted with a large insignia that replicates the American flag.

It is one of two large awnings that cover the gunships fore and aft decks.

No one can mistake that flag, now, can they? asks Lieutenant-

Commander James Hughes, the Panay’s commanding officer, who’s come up from behind Marie. Good afternoon, Miss England.

Oh, Commander, hello, says Marie.

You’ve taken many. precautions to protect the ship. That’s good to see. Marie shades the sun away from her hazel eyes as she turns to make eye contact with Hughes. Thank you, again for giving me the protection of your ship. Marie notices that the Commander, standing within six feet of her, appears nervous as he lifts his binoculars and searches the riverbanks and sky.

The Commander, still on the lookout, speaks again in a concerned, resonant voice. I had my crew paint these two large American flags on the awnings just two weeks ago, so the Japanese pilots can see them. Now, only a blind fool can mistake the Panay as Chinese.

What is it with the Japanese, anyway? asks Marie. Why are they brutalizing the Chinese? I don’t understand. Marie feels sad for these people who she’s grown to love.

Who knows? I don’t, says Hughes. It’s not right. You know it, and I know it. Right now, my focus is to make sure we don’t get caught in the crossfire of the fighting. Marie senses anger and concern in Hughes’ voice. One thing is for sure, if any of the Japanese see our ship, they will see at least one of our three American flags. Our large flag is just too large to miss. It’s twenty-six by thirty-two feet in size, the size of four 1937 Ford Coupes parked side by side. I’ve taken these precautions because of the almost daily Japanese air raids on Nanking. Miss England, you know how bad it is. You’ve been in Nanking.

Oh, it’s been horrifying, says Marie. For the rest of my life, I’ll never forget the sound of air raid sirens. The Chinese had to keep evaluating because they were helpless against the Japanese airplanes.

The bombing there has been relentless, says Hughes as he keeps searching with his binoculars. And now, with these flags out, anyone with 20/20 vision, be they on shore, another vessel, or at 1,000 feet in the air, cannot confuse the Panay to be anything but American. From a distance, one of the crew is beckoning the Commander.

Commander, sir, Major Pearl is here to see you below, shouts Lieutenant Arthur Tex Anders, Panay’s Executive Officer. Anders is below deck.

I’ll be there in five minutes, shouts back Commander Hughes.

Have him meet me in the Wardroom.

You aren’t taking any chances, are you Commander? asks Marie. Yesterday, Lieutenant Anders told several of us passengers that the US Embassy in Nanking has furnished the Japanese with a description of the Panay and our other American ships on the Yangtze. Marie moves her shoulder length brown hair away from her face, and because of noises coming from nearby ships, she moves closer to Commander Hughes’s to hear his comment before he leaves.

We aren’t taking any chances with these gun-happy Japanese, says Hughes. The Brits and Germans have also provided them descriptions of their ships. The Japanese are supposed to be using the information to brief their army and navy, so we don’t have any accidents.

Before you go Commander, I want you to know that your officers and crew have been very helpful, says Marie. Please thank them.

Good, says Hughes. Oh, Miss England, if you have any special needs onboard, please let Lieutenant Anders or me know. I know it’s not easy being the only woman on the ship. Hughes leaves for below, looking like other duties need his attention.

After Hughes leaves, Marie puts aside the letter she started to her sister Victoria and makes entries in her diary about her recent conversation. All of the Commander’s precautions are reassuring about her circumstances. Yet she fears all the more for her Chinese friends and their families who had not left Nanking by the time she did. She worries and then is distracted by more of the noises coming from nearby boats.

Marie puts down her pen and looks out across the Yangtze River at the three Standard Oil Corporation tankers that are traveling with the Panay. They are nearby at anchor. Small boats are making a lot of noise taking the crew from one tanker to another.

Marie looks out at the tankers and finds it interesting that while their captains are either American or European, all three of the ships have Chinese names. She squints her eyes and makes out their names: the SS Mei Ping, Mei An, and Mei Hsia. Earlier at breakfast, Marie met the captains but not their crews, who are all Chinese. These three American tankers have traveled upstream with the Panay the past fifteen miles. It appears many of Standard Oil’s shore employees are also traveling with the tankers. Marie is sure they, too, must have left the Nanking area to wait out the end of hostilities, and what most informed foreigners seem to think will be the inevitable surrender of the Chinese to the Japanese military. Marie notices that the tankers, like the Panay, are flying large American flags. Marie notices one of the captains from a distance of sixty feet and remembers him from breakfast. He voiced his appreciation to Commander Hughes and his officers for being able to travel with the Panay during these perilous times.

Still looking out at the three tankers, Marie thinks about how these men all seem to hold a special comradeship with one another. They are like brothers. Marie remembers from breakfast how Commander Hughes told the Standard Oil people that the Panay’s officers stand ready to assist them. The Commander pointed to Panay’s mission statement mounted on a polished bronze plaque on a wall in the wardroom where they were eating. Hughes said, This is a perfect fit. Afterwards, Marie stood next to the plaque and read it: For the protection of American life and property in the Yangtze River Valley and its tributaries, and the furtherance of American good will in China.

Marie’s thoughts drift back to the odd-looking American gunship she’s standing on. This seems more like a river boat than a gunboat, but then, it’s armed for battle, she thinks. The first day out from Nanking, the Executive officer, Tex Anders, provided Marie with a book that contains the history and background information about the Panay and the Yangtze Patrol. Marie found it interesting and read it thoroughly. She learns that the USS Panay is one of eight gunboats that form the American Asiatic Fleet, referred to by the Americans in China as the Yangtze Patrol. The ship was built in Shanghai in 1928 and was named after the Island of Panay in the American colony of the Philippine Islands. The Panay has a sister ship in the fleet, the USS Oahu, which was also built from the same identical plans and specifications. Every one of the eight gunboats in the fleet has been designed to operate on the Yangtze River. Marie looks back through the pages in her diary and sees her entry that the Panay weighs 450 tons and is considered small and is only lightly armed for a ship of war. Marie’s looks up and around the ship to locate the two three-inch guns and eight thirty caliber Lewis antiaircraft machine-guns she said in her diary is the ship’s armament. She accounts for them all, though she has to move to both sides of the ship to find them.

Marie hears the ship’s engine fire. She remembers how the engine room takes up nearly two-thirds of the ship. That’s a lot of engine to only generate a top speed of fifteen knots, she thinks. According to Executive Officer Anders, what gives America the right to navigate the Yangtze River and protect American lives and property is the 1860 Treaty of Peking with China that ended the Second Opium War. From the history she’s read, it seems America won navigation rights on the Yangtze after helping to subdue the terrorist Mandarin Yen in 1858. As an American, Marie is grateful to have the protection of the Panay.

She tires of writing in her diary, and so she goes down to the Panay’s wardroom to see what the ship’s Chinese coolie cooks are putting out as luncheon food. It is nearly 1:00 PM. When she arrives, there is another American officer she’s not met who’s talking. This is an army major who’s apparently just arrived by land from Nanking. He is sitting with Commander Hughes and Executive Officer Anders and briefing them about the situation in Nanking. Marie helps herself to some Chinese food and sits at the other end of the same long table, and she listens while she eats. Other passengers and crew gather around and listen, too.

"That’s what I am trying to tell you, sir.

Nanking’s nearly lost, says the major. The Chinese are losing badly."

Major Peal how can that be? asks Commander Hughes. When Chiang Kai-shek left Nanking four days ago, he left behind nearly 90,000 troops under Tang Sheng-chin’s command. Hell, they had enough men and ammunition to hold out for three or four months. What the hell is happening, Major?

It’s chaos, Commander, says Major Peal. Just after you left Nanking three days ago, the Japs dropped leaflets from their airplanes. Here, I brought some. The major takes a stack out of his brief case and puts it on the table in front of Commander Hughes.

Who here reads Chinese? as Commander Hughes as he looks around the table and wardroom for help.

I read Cantonese, but not Mandarin, says Marie.

Read this, will you please? asks Hughes.

He passes one of the leaflets down to the end of the table to Marie. She looks it over and reads aloud.

Commander, says Marie, "It reads as follows:

‘Protect innocent civilians and cultural relics in the city. Surrender now. The soldiers of the Emperor will be harsh and relentless to those who resist and kind and generous to non- combatants and Chinese troops who entertain no enmity to Japan. Surrender within twenty-four hours. Otherwise, all the horrors of war will be let loose.’"

But Major, they didn’t surrender by the deadline given by the Japs, did they? asks Lieutenant Anders.

No, but these leaflets hurt the fighting spirit of their troops, says Major Peal. When Tang refused to surrender, the Japs began a furious bombing campaign the day before yesterday. The Chinese were helpless.

But what about the Chinese air force? Couldn’t they keep the bombers away from the city? asks Lieutenant Anders.

That was their Achilles heel Lieutenant; Chiang kai-shek took their air force with him when he left, says Major Peal. The Chinese have had no air cover, so they’ve been ‘sitting ducks.’ Their communications broke down, too. And then, too many of their troops are new, tired, hungry, or exhausted. Yesterday, the Japs had already started penetrating several front-line positions. And then, it happened, Commander, just like I told you.

Chiang’s actually ordered Tang to retreat, says Commander Hughes, looking bewildered and puzzled. It’s a little late for that now, considering the Chinese troops have their backs up against the Yangtze. That’s right, sir, says Major Peal. As you know, the only way out of Nanking is through the harbor, and they don’t have enough boats or time for that. When I left this morning, the Japanese had already broken through into several parts of Nanking. The city’s lost, sir.

Any word about the civilians at Ginling College? asks Marie, afraid for all the Chinese not able to leave.

Ma’am, the Europeans in Nanking have established a neutral International Safety Zone, and it includes all of Ginling College. They are trying to protect everybody inside the zone, and they’ve marked off a two- or three-square mile area downtown. That’s all I know, Ma’am.

Thank you Major, says Commander Hughes. You’ve given us good intelligence, even if it’s not good news.

There’s something else, sir, says Major Peal. The commander of the Imperial Japanese Army is Prince Yasuhiko Asaka, a Lieutenant General, who’s Emperor Hirohito’s uncle. Our intelligence reports that General Asaka has given the order that no prisoners will be taken alive.

This news sends a chilling fear through Marie’s body. She can’t eat because her appetite is gone. She feels sick and has tingles up and down her spine. Marie tries to stand but she feels faint and must take hold of the table to keep from falling. She sits back down and collects herself. When she lifts her head up, she makes eye contact with three or four people, and each of them looks frightened. A few people are acting angry. Marie realizes they are in a life and death struggle.

Feeling stunned, Marie stands and goes out on deck trying to calm herself, knowing she could become hysterical but doesn’t want to. She doesn’t want to upset anyone else; and she doesn’t want anyone else to upset her either. Slowly, she regains composure. She tries to have her mind think of things that are calming, like her love for flowers. But that doesn’t work. That’s ridiculous, she thinks.

She thinks about being in Shanghai five months earlier. She remembers that the war started while she was there. It was during July 1937 in Shanghai that this stupid war began, she thinks.

The Japanese used a hoax to stage an incident on the Marco Polo Bridge and made it the excuse to invade China, are the words an American army officer spoke to her. He told Marie that it was on that bridge, just outside Peking, that the Japanese allege a Chinese man fired shots at Japanese soldiers. Marie was told the truth that the Japanese made the story up to justify opening fire, and so hostilities could be escalated into a full invasion. Other American officers said that this invasion of China follows the same pattern Japan took six years before, when in 1931, they invaded and occupied Manchuria.

Just as with Manchuria in 1931, the Japanese military seem intent on seizing China’s raw materials, food sources, land, and treasures. American Navy people have told Marie, too, that at first, the Chinese put up a defense against the Japanese.

But within a month, the Japanese gained control of the Tietsis and Peking regions and then invaded Shanghai. But Marie somehow let herself think the Chinese would stop the Japanese there. After all, Shanghai had been the New York City of China. The Chinese resist as long as they can but are forced into a long retreat. The American officers say that the Chinese match up well against the Japanese in numbers and fighting spirit, but they are at a disadvantage when it comes to weapons and equipment. The Japanese have air superiority and more tanks—just too much might for the Chinese. It shocked Marie when Shanghai fell in November 1937. She realizes Nanking is next. And now, less than a month later, Marie’s worst fear is happening—Nanking is being destroyed, along with its people.

From all that Marie has seen and heard, the Japanese soldiers seem to have been let loose by their commanders to be barbarians and desecrate everything in their path. News spreads of the massacres in Shanghai. The Japanese move towards Nanking. This causes half the population of Nanking to evacuate. This leaves less than five hundred thousand Chinese there to face the attacking and cruel Japanese military. Marie remembers that’s when she decided to leave Nanking.

Suddenly, Marie hears a scream, Battle stations, battle stations, we’re under attack. It’s 1:30 PM. Marie ducks down low against a railing and looks around to see what’s happening. According to one of the shouting crew, three large Japanese two-engine airplanes have been spotted at high altitude and are dropping bombs.

Within a minute or two, one or two of these bombs strike on or very near the bow of the Panay. Another bomb strikes very close to the SS Mei Ping. The damage from the first bomb attack cripples the forward three-inch gun, seriously injures six crew and passengers, wrecks the pilot house and sick bay, and disables the radio equipment. Engine power is lost. The hull is also cracked, which has led to flooding and raises concern that the ship may sink. In a matter of minutes, Marie sees a foot and a half of water deep below the forward deck. Marie feels terrified and finds a safe spot until the airplanes pass and it’s safe again.

Despite the lookouts giving the ship’s company a few minutes’ warning to take cover before bombs landed, Marie can see that flying fragments and the blast have already injured too many. The Commander, Executive Officer, several sailors, and the Italian journalist Vincent have been hit by flying fragments. Marie is afraid but has the presence of mind to help and not freeze up and hide.

Marie gets to the bridge and sees Commander Hughes is down on the ground with an injury to his left leg, and his face is seriously cut. Chief Quartermaster Lang says he and the Commander just made it to the pilothouse when the first bomb hit the water just off the bow and just forward of the bridge. Commander Hughes was thrown hard against the engine-room telegraph, which sticks up like a fireplug, says Lang.

Let’s try to help him, says Marie, as she bends down to see how badly he’s hurt.

"Damn it, I’m hurt.

Help me down," says the Commander, who seems just as mad as he is hurt. Chief Quartermaster Lang and Petty Officer Wisler relieve Marie and help the commander down the ladder to the main deck and into a narrow passageway to some shelter, where he’s propped up.

All hands take cover; we’re being bombed, yells Lang.

A sailor soon waves one of the American flags at the Japanese aviators; they are making a mistake, this is not a Chinese vessel. America is neutral in this conflict between Japan and China. Just the same, Japanese aviators continue to attack as if they are acting on orders.

Marie finds Executive Officer Lieutenant Anders, and he’s wounded in the throat by bomb fragments and cannot speak. With Commander Hughes hurt, Anders writes down orders to check on casualties. Ensign helps Anders tally an injury list.

Photographer Norman Soong enters the pilot room, too. He says he was on the top deck dozing in the sun when he heard the howl of airplanes. Then, the alarming crash of the first bomb brings splinters of wood, steel, glass, and water raining down all around him; he started taking pictures and found a safer place for cover.

Marie sees Petty Officer Wisler grab some ammunition and fit it to the top of one of the Lewis antiaircraft guns and he tries to find a target to shoot.

The Japs have bombed us, someone yells out.

Let’s get some thirty-caliber ammo up to the guns in the deckhouse, says Fireman First Class McCabe just as he gets hit in the shoulder by shrapnel. Bullets strafe the deck. Marie hits the floor, covering her head, unable to control the trembling in her body; she is frightened so much she can hardly breathe. She says two prayers. But she knows there is much more to do.

Soon, there is a second attack. This time, Marie takes a peep and sees six single engine biplanes that are concentrating their bomb runs on hitting the Panay. To Marie, it seems like another twenty bombs have been dropped this time. Many almost hit the ship, which produces by particles and shock, enormous damage to the gunboat, crew, and passengers. Sandro Vincent, the Italian journalist Marie has talked with earlier, takes a bullet hit through his side from a machine gun blast. They’ve hit me. I am dying, he says.

We need a doctor; it’s for Vincent, someone shouts. Marie takes cover and closes her eyes. God, please stop these airplanes, or we will all die, she prays. When Marie opens her eyes, it’s as though God has answered her prayer another way. Fortunately, Marie sees that Dr. Grazier, Panay’s medical officer, is not hurt, has heard the calls, and has begun to administer first aid to Vincent and the other wounded. Marie tries to assist him but is blocked and must take cover to avoid bullets. Seaman First Class Hebard gets hit in the right buttock by a piece of shrapnel. As soon as one airplane finishes passing by, it seems like another airplane follows and fires.

The second round of attacks lasts about twenty minutes and includes machine gun bursts from at least two of the planes. Marie remembers because she’s on the floor in the wardroom across from where the wall clock has fallen. Marie just knows that the Japanese pilots seem intent on sinking the Panay. Two or three more bombs land nearby, but none make a direct hit. Marie can see that the Panay is covered with areas that have scattered patterns of bullet holes that look like colanders. The Japanese fly so low Marie can see their faces. By now, all the Panay’s guns are operating, and some hits are made. However, water is gushing in, flooding the office and forward area.

All during the attack, American cameramen on board have tried to photograph everything as a record of what has been done. Fox Movietone employs one of the two newsreel men, and Universal Pictures employs the other one. Both have been shooting film from the beginning, and they resume even as they are forced to shore. Once, when there is a break in the attacks, Marie jots some things down quickly in her diary.

Of the eighty crew and passengers, Marie and Lang’s quick count for Executive Officer Anders comes up to an estimate of fifty that are wounded or injured; four of these are grave: two sailors, a civilian captain of one of the Standard Oil tankers, and the Italian journalist Vincent. Anders has by now received damage reports and shows the realization on his face that Marie already knows the ship is flooding, dead in the water, and will soon sink. Marie has seen the flooding.

Get all small boats alongside and prepare to abandon ship, orders Anders in writing. Panay’s two small boats are launched. The first one put into the water is the twenty-six-foot motor sampan, and someone starts its motor. Soon, the second twenty-two-foot pulling sampan is also lowered into the water. Some of the crew begins to row and then start its outboard motor.

Get all small boats alongside. Can we run the ship aground? If not, abandon ship, writes Anders after he tries again to speak but cannot. Since the gunship has lost all power, is flooding, and is a sitting target, most all aboard know it must be abandoned.

The evacuation begins with the wounded. Marie is ordered and leaves on the first boat. During the sampan evacuation, airplanes continue to circle back and come in low near the water and strafe sailors and passengers trying to get to shore. One biplane strafing attack sprays bullets across the bow of the twenty-six-foot sampan and wounds three. to the west shore bank of the Yangtze. As everyone gets to land, all of them hide under the riverbank and anywhere else there is cover. On shore, Marie is aghast to see that the airplanes continue to attack. She sets up an aid station for the medical officer to treat the wounded. Dr. Grazier arrives on the next boat with his medical bag and begins providing care. And still the airplanes keep circling around and attacking survivors in the water. Marie is certain the Japanese want no witnesses to survive.

In the meantime, through the brush she’s hiding behind, Marie notices that the tanker Mei Ping has taken a terrible hit. She is on fire. Her captain steams the ship towards the east bank of the river. The Mei Hsia, while not hit yet, is filled with gasoline and oil and, if hit, will be a floating bomb. Marie can tell that the ship’s captain has a wise purpose when he steams the tanker to the east bank where it will be less of a target, and the distance gives a little more safety to the Mei Hsia and the Panay. By now, the Mei An is grounded on the Yangtze’s west shore bank, down river from the Panay’s survivors.

When the next boat load of survivors arrives on shore, Petty Officer Lang gets out and reports that the Executive Officer Tex Anders has stayed on board to get confidential papers out of the ship’s safe. Soon, the last of the survivors arrive, which includes Tex Anders. Anders writes, Safe blocked and jammed shut, which means he had to abandon the contents.

There goes $40,000, says Commander Hughes, now one of the wounded ashore on the ground.

Ashore, survivors hide anywhere there’s cover to keep from being seen by the attackers. Executive Officer Tex Anders sends two enlisted men back to the deserted Panay to obtain needed medical supplies and stores. Marie and the others watch and pray the two men will succeed. They make it back to Panay and soon finish and get back into their small boat. However, as they head back to shore, the Japanese launch a motor boat from the opposite river shore.

Marie could hardly believe her eyes. The Japanese soldiers have the audacity to board the Panay, and once on board, they open fire with a machine gun on the two men returning in a sampan. Thank God those two brave men made it back to shore unharmed and with the needed medical supplies and stores, thinks Marie. Before long, the Japanese soldiers leave the Panay, and minutes later, the ship sinks. Marie hears some survivors say they are suspicious that the Japanese boarded the Panay to set explosive charges and probably took any secret information they could about the ship’s antiaircraft guns. Once Marie calms down, she thinks the Japanese boarding party wanted to be sure the ship would sink.

In any case, at 3:54 PM, an hour and twenty minutes after Panay is first attacked, Marie watches the gunship roll over to the starboard side and sink. At that moment, Marie feels vulnerable like never before. But as she looks around at all the survivors, Marie feels lucky to be alive. People are clinging to the ground. This ordeal is not over yet. Before dark, Marie will see all three Standard Oil tankers either sunk or destroyed by the Japanese.

As the smoke clears and the airplanes leave, Marie speaks with the three cameramen. One comes to her for a bandage for his leg and then takes her to the other two. They are convinced they have captured the whole attack on film, especially the action of the Japanese airplanes that caused the gunship to sink. Eric Mayell of Fox Movietone was able to film most of the attack with his newsreel camera. Norman Alley of Universal shoots nearly fifty-three hundred-foot rolls of movie film. Norman Soong of the New York Times shoots seventy-five still photographs and gets at least ten shots of the attack, the ship sinking, and a few already of the adventure taking place on shore. All together, they estimate they have enough film footage to fill a thirty-minute documentary. They are convinced they have conclusive evidence that the Japanese deliberately attacked the American gunship with the intent of destroying it. Alley wraps his film and camera with waterproof canvas and buries it after the attack, so it will not get into the hands of the Japanese. Later, when it is safe, Marie goes with Alley to recover the camera and film.

Marie talks with more than a third of the survivors, and most believe the Japanese will try to find them and probably try to murder them. The new fear of being found on land and murdered has replaced the fears they had on the Panay when it was attacked.

Now on foot, Major Peal assumes command and lays out a plan to evade and survive until the Yangtze Patrol can be summoned to the rescue. Like others, Marie is drained of emotion after being afraid for so long. She tries to help the wounded, not just to help them, but to take her mind off worrying about herself, her friends, and what will become of the world. The Commander has to be carried, along with twelve others who are badly wounded. Four of the wounded, including Vincent, are slowly dying. They travel at night, hide during the day, and travel away from the Yangtze River to avoid Japanese patrols.

Days later, traveling by foot, they reach Hohsien, China, where they are rescued by other gunboats of the Yangtze Patrol. Four have died, including the Italian journalist, Vincent. Others are not far from it. Like the others, Marie is weak, cold, and hungry.

Marie is among the first Americans and Europeans to witness and taste firsthand the evil and dangerous behavior of the Japanese military. She has learned how ruthless the Japanese military can be. On the very same day as the Panay’s sunk, witnesses confirm that the Japanese have also fired on two British gunboats, the HMS Ladybird and Bee, killing a sailor and injuring several others. The Japanese are also reported to have dropped aerial bombs and hit the HMS Cricket and Scarab.

For Marie and the other Panay survivors, it has been an ordeal, and they have no doubt that the Japanese pilots involved had blanket approval from their superiors to sink any non-Japanese vessel on the Yangtze River. From now on, Marie will put