Chinese Stick To Ward Road Home Despite War Two unsung Chinese heroes of the Shanghai war have just been discovered by the "Shanghai Mainichi,"—protecting their family in a safely barred alley way off Ward Road Throughout the hostilities in the vicinity, the two men stood guard over the house and fed nine mouths,—two more than there were when exploding bombs signalled the commencement of the holocaust.
Employed as watchmen at 403 Ward Road, the two men, Chen Wang-yang, 48, and Chen Wang-teh, 40, refused to join the panicky multitude that streamed past their house throughout those dreadful mid-August days. With shells bursting around and fires slowly eating their way into the Wayside area, the two brothers laid a stock of food and securely nailed the gates to the lane.
Then, with stark terror in their hearts, they began a two-month vigil. In day-time, Japanese soldiers marched cautiously past the lane and heavy armoured cars rumbled by. At night, Chinese snipers crept stealthily by, towards the burning waterfront area, while Chinese shells bit greedily the neighbouring houses and the pavement.
As the food supplies began to near their end, the wives of the two brothers bore children. Listening in fear to the thunder of guns. and to the cries of their hungry brood, the women implored the men to seek safety south of Soochow Creek.
"We refused", one of the men told the "Mainichi." "We told our wives that wherever we went, hungry wolves would scratch at our doorway. "And then hada very hard time, for we could find no food and our children cried."
Food became plentiful when Japanese soldiers discovered the two families, hiding in the lane, "Now; said the man, "we don't want to leave this place for anything." And he showed the reporter a large tin crammed with bread, given to them by soldiers and sailors.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.