 words at war I reject you oh yes with you I will have nothing to do until you come to me until I welcome you over the slain bodies of the invaders of my enemies death do you hear me China and I reject you that is the young voice of China the voice I heard in the cities in the villages along the riverbanks in the malarial swamps in the hills where the guerrilla fighters hide and strike from that is the voice I heard for the 12 years I lived in China words at war the national broadcasting company in cooperation with the council on books in wartime brings you another in its series of radio adaptations of important war books tonight the story of a woman who has lived and worked with the guerrilla armies of China the battle hymn of China by Agnes medley if you listen to my voice it is only because I can tell you something some little something about your ally in this war the people of China first in a hospital not the spick and span and sanitary hospital you know no more like a hovel the straw pallets on the floor are crammed close together there are more than enough wounded to fill them the people in this village behind the battle lines in the streets outside are noisy carts pushing their way through the jammed streets some of the carts bringing in more wounded and the constant tramp of other soldiers going up to meet the enemy in this place called a hospital I saw one wounded soldier crouching beside the straw pallet of another wounded man I went up to them I spoke to the crouching soldier this is your friend soldier yes you should be on your own cot you're wounded they'll put someone else in your place he is worse off than I am he carried me what is his name he will tell you but he doesn't open his eyes he's looking at you now yes his eyes are very brown his name is Wu where does Wu come from far away from here in a small worm eaten village he was a farmer we attacked a Japanese garrison this morning yes I know we killed them and killed them and killed them until they brought up more troops then we retreated we didn't know I didn't know we were wounded you must have known must have we didn't we just found out we couldn't walk the spikes of bamboo the Japanese had driven into the earth about their defenses pierced our feet your naked shoeless feet we could not walk on our bleeding feet but who thought he could walk better than I he carried me the blood he had so little of seeping out of him look he's opened his eyes again my name is Wu see how thin he is no food he cannot resist death but he carried me on his bleeding feet soldier my friend yes Wu is dead yes I know I saw him shut his eyes forever you must lie down too you should sleep Wu is beyond help no I shall sit here I cannot sleep anyway I shall sit here till they put my friend Wu in an unpainted wooden box hammered on the lid and they will lower the wooden box into a small hole in the hillside until it is covered over the board will be put over his grave saying on it the date of his death the army he served with and his name Wu then the windy rains will come blowing over him soaking into his grave at last the grass will grow over it and he will be forgotten the one whose name is Wu and at last some child some farmers kid will come looking for wood to make a fire he will find the board over Wu's grave he will break it for kindling for kindling death I reject you oh yes with you I will have nothing to do until you come to me until I welcome you over the slain bodies of the invaders of my enemies death do you hear me China and I reject you see don't you how it came about after 12 years that my life became to me like a something you pack in a bundle and carry with you but you're not surprised if you lose it no not in China you set with invaders ruthless tenacious I think you understand the fall of 1939 I was given permission to go into the region north of the Yangtze River into guerrilla country along with a company of military teachers and the first medical unit to aid the guerrillas a few nurses and a doctor we would have to cross through enemy hell territory about a hundred of us I had my little life in a bundle packed and ready silence silence commander Fung Darfi will speak to us my comrades the area we are going to cross is a battle zone before night we will be where there is almost continual fighting we will travel only at night hide during the day on the March there is to be no talking no smoking or lighted matches no flashlights this happens to be the time of the month best for our travel because the moon does not rise to one or two it'll be dark therefore you must follow the person ahead of you if he steps up you step up down you step down some of the way will be treacherous a few minutes now for final preparations then we start even our shoes must be of cloth so we will make no noise on the March no wake people sleeping in the villages we will pass through and I have a special bodyguard silo a young tough guerrilla fighter that means forward it's time Miss Medley we're about to march I'm ready so I don't be frightened I will guard you I'm just a little nervous we are underway no spy must be allowed to know we are on the March what a rich supply of corpses we would make for the Japanese if any did no sound must be made only the soft padding feet of many men and women they may be firing at us and as we wait to see if the firing is at us I see in the darkness the resting shapes of the others and I think this is their land and they the rightful owners must steal through it like thieves but it is still there's still there so bad so bad we start again Miss Medley we're coming to a village it's the mongrel dogs curse their nasty little throats they give us away they may wake people up no one's staring will be through this village in a moment or so spy must know of our passage no spy must know of these hundred people making their way to the young river to the land where the guerrillas are fighting but I'm tired walking all night carrying my little bundle of life who may not snatch it from me in the darkness rest the daylight is about to break we can rest now Miss Medley and eat a little food snatch a little sleep hidden from the eyes of the enemy then at night we're on the March again the battle is never done maybe Chinese snipers maybe Japanese still the marching goes on without lights without talk as quiet as possible I look there are shadows ahead in that village as if they were waiting for us there are people moving don't be frightened their friends who knew about coming shadows you see our long tables with a little food on them or they could scrape together and hot water for you to drink but do not speak to them don't even say thank you that is an order even a whisper many whispers make a great voice take the food drink the hot water and move on all I can do is press the hand of the Chinese woman whose face I cannot see offering me a cup of hot water he'll get the rest of them going Japanese will know there are strangers in this village they have silenced it to save us and perhaps it was that little child I see returning like a ghost in the darkness to where we're eating and drinking in silence before we go on marching until daylight again when we rest it will be dark soon again comrades we will be on the March we are nearly at the banks of the young see we're about to go between two enemy garrisons there will probably be fighting between them and our guards do not stop if you hear fighting go on until you reach the river there you will take boats and remember once we are crossing the river itself there will be no retreat I know some of you are sick from malaria some of you have sore feet we have come many many miles but now you must summon all your strength for the supreme effort now comrades so far we can see the moon the trader moon is coming up and in its light we can see the broad expanse of the young we can see the boat waiting for us we are almost there almost almost do you hear that sound it is the creek of oars we are in the boats in the middle of the young dimly you can see the outline of the shore and there are no gun boats of the Japanese in sight and only now is I'm here there's friendly Chinese forces calling to each other through the night I remember that in my haste I did not even say goodbye or thank you to Tsai forgive me Tsai miss medley yes what would you do if the Japanese should come now not that they will come now but if they should I have a pistol and if I couldn't use that there is the young see to drown in earlessness oh look miss medley the shore is coming into view yes and then the prow of our boat touches the shore grinds on the beach we are safe and there are people waiting to welcome us to the land of the guerrillas we are safe at last I came to the land of guerrillas by boat and I left for another part of their land by boat but there in between the trips over the water I met a child his name shun guo wa listen I shall summon him up out of my memory guo wa guo wa that's miss medley yes you wanted something something I can get you a bowl of hot water a pencil take your time guo wa get your breath I'm all right I'm your orderly aren't I I'm supposed to look after you aren't I that's why I come when you call yes guo wa but guo wa is not here with me he's still in china with the guerrillas I hope he is still alive a thin little boy I remember when I first saw him his small melancholy face looking up into mine and I'm not tall the other soldiers call me one of the shiokui well that means little devil doesn't it oh but they do not really mean it that way it is just a name for us how old are you guo wa I am 10 I am 11 maybe I am even nine no no I can't be nine I am much older than that I am 11 don't you know no one ever had the time to tell me my father died a long time ago and my mother could not count nobody else seemed to care no miss medley I I don't know exactly how old I am do you mind very much mind no I don't mind he stands there waiting to be sure that I don't really mind waiting looking up outside in the camp the cold wind is blowing I suppose I shivered not from the cold of the wind but of the world guo wa guo wa yes miss medley you won't be offended will you if I say that you have lice oh yes of course I have I have watched lice all my life if you have few you must scratch but if you have many you don't itch anymore you have a headache do you have headaches guo wa oh yes many times but I get over them I watch everything that happens miss medley even lice even lice maybe I should learn more about them even look if I get the hot water will you go while will you let me give you a bath will you I will heat the water myself and I will bathe myself is that permitted oh yes of course only let's do it now now at once as you wish so at last I sat watching the fire tongs get red hot on the charcoal fire while in a corner of my hut guo wa bathed himself in a wooden tub look miss medley how clean I am getting myself look I see how did you come to be here with the gorillas oh I wanted to be I was a beggar boy but I didn't wail and moan or beat my head in the dust so I didn't make much but why are you here you haven't told me because I am a poor man and this is poor man's army I wanted to join it at once even if I was little that was only because I didn't eat enough and I heard that in this army everyone learned to read and write then I was sure so what did you do I asked a policeman where the gorillas were he shook me and told me to go home but I had no home so I asked and asked and then there was an old man he told me that if I walked straight north I'd find the army and I did I walked and walked and walked you're glad that you did I wouldn't know anything if I hadn't come here I still have a lot to learn a lot to learn I sit and watch the iron tongs get hot metal turning from red slowly to almost white in the heat of the coals and I think of this boy who trudged toward this army toward learning toward freedom at last I take the tongs out of the fire I pick up his little uniform and draw the hot iron tongs down the wet seams you are killing the lice yes it's clean now ready for you to put on now I know how to kill lice really miss medley yes goa I thank you you are both father and mother to me I thank you and I sat there staring at his little face and the little thin body now buttoned up in the D Laos uniform a long time it seemed before I asked him him goa how would you like me to adopt you adopt yes yes then then you would go somewhere and really learn learn about the world then you could come back here and teach the others what do you think of it I will have to think about it miss medley thank you for the bath and the way of killing life he was gone and he cared for my wishes all the time I was there in that gorilla camp nothing more was said of the adoption until the day I was to leave came in to see me very shy goa oh come in please do you said you wished to adopt me I did I meant it I have thought much about it I have talked to the other little devils yes well what did you decide I think we all think that all men must remain at the front you can adopt me after the final victory but goa after the final victory miss medley thank you I last saw him as I sat in the boat that was taking me to another gorilla camp he was washing his clothes in the water of the lake with some other boys he waved to me and called out pulled away from the shore he didn't wave anymore he stood perfectly still watching the boat that was taking me away who is laughing is a gorilla fighter his name is chun feng chun he's not more than 26 like the other wounded fighters who are sitting here he is named for life and the reason he laughs is because I asked him how he was wounded how it happened that his arm is stiff and his right hand uses it was very funny how that happened in our camp one night it was pouring rain all of us were feeling miserable the commander of our detachment came up to look at us he stood looking at us a long time and we looked at him before he spoke the Japanese are going to attack us at daybreak oh that's good who spoke I did it's good that we're going to be attacked especially when we know about it makes me forget my wet skin yes that is so and tomorrow the sun will be shining it will be hot and for all the sweat he'll have getting here we'll fool the enemy when he gets here tired and hot you'll find an empty village but we'll be back won't we we'll be back yes we'll march around the mountain and be at the enemy's back it sounds all right all right so the enemy arrived at daybreak so they marched and they marched and they marched and the sun got hotter and hotter and they marched right back to the village again and this time sitting in the middle of the road was an old man the only one left in the village the Japanese officer with a sweat streaming down him you old man old man where is the bandits we have come to save you from the bandits where are they I know all this because we were watching hidden tell me where the bandits are and I will reward you what did you say where are the bandits bandits I have never seen any and I'm a very old man I have lived in this village all my life I remember my father telling me and he was a very old man that his father had one seen bandits and the soldiers I'm afraid the heat has affected you you are hot and sweaty and sometimes people see things that aren't there when they're very hot you should not march so much it is hard on your soldiers you lie there are soldiers where are they you lie to me you lie to me I will run you through so there you lie don't you dead for all your trouble and sweating that was very foolish of you to come here officer you only met death even though I'm an old man who cannot read or write an ignorant Chinese I am alive and you are dead there is a lesson in that I guess and I guess you were the fool Japanese officer it was a very warm welcome and a very polite farewell and that John is how you got your wounds oh yes we all make our mistakes I was caught in crossfire while we were chasing them it was stupid of me I would know better next time now my arm is stiffen my hand is useless John yes Miss Medley now that you can't fight anymore what would you like to do you're still very young do I think I would like to work in a transport station there I might see a lot of people coming and going and I've not seen nearly as many people as I would like to and I'd like to learn how to work a radio why so I could hear messages from the whole world messages from the whole world perhaps now chun hears them who can't but perhaps his friend can and sigh to whom I forgot to say goodbye all the people of China messages from the other fighting peoples of the world let's say simply you have fought our battle for us even when we did not know it was ours but we know now and you people of China shall not be enslaved and we say this to you because we have heard the voice of young china death I reject you oh yes with you I will have nothing to do until you come to me until I welcome you over the slain bodies of the invaders of my enemies death do you hear me china and I reject you as the 16th program of words at war we have brought you a radio interpretation of passages from the battle hymn of china by agnes medley a reporter's record of 12 years in china the battle hymn of china was adapted by kenneth white of the nbc script staff the role of agnes medley was played by hester sander guard starting next week words at war will be heard on tuesday evenings at this time instead of on thursdays next tuesday we will present 83 days by mark murphy the amazing story of the survival of c-mini-c words at war is brought to you in cooperation with the council and books in wartime by the national broadcasting company and the independent radio stations associated with the nbc network this program came to you from new york 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