Shattered by the Wars
Hi-Dong Chai, born in Korea and educated in the United States with a Ph.D. in engineering, established himself as an authority in his field with numerous inventions and publications. He is an inventor/co-inventor of 52 inventions and author/coauthor of 40 technical papers. He also published a book, Electromechanical Motion Devices, Prentice Hall, 1998. He worked for IBM for 19 years in both engineering and management positions, took an early retirement in 2007, and went to teach at San Jose State University as a professor of electrical engineering.
After retiring from the university in 2002 as professor emeritus, he focused his attention on creative writing to share his life experiences under the four political system – Imperialist Japan, Communist North Korea, Democratic South Korea in its infancy, and the United States of America – and through the two wars – World War II in the Pacific and the Korean War – with the world. In 2012, Guideposts magazine published My Truest Hope, a story of his life in America. In the same year Blossoms and Bayonets, a fictionalized version of his family under Japan, co-authored with Jana McBurney-Lin, was published. In 2013, Inspiring Voices of Guideposts magazine published Shattered by the Wars, a story of his family during WWII under Japan and during the Korean War, in 2013. Currently, he is working on his American story, First Seven Years in America.
More of his work can be found on his website, www.hidongchai.com.
Synopsis: Shattered by the Wars
I hate war. War kills. War maims. War widows. 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.
Shattered by the wars is based on a story of my family in Seoul, Korea. It is a story of love, sacrifice, faith, suffering – all wrapped in one package.
Father -- a Korean Christian minister in South Korea -- gave his life for his God. He was in prison under Japan in WWII, and during the Korean War when Seoul was under the Northern army, he was taken away by the North. He never returned. 1942 -1950
Hi-Bum, my eldest brother, the brightest in my family, gave us much suffering because his Marxist views in the democratic South Korea. He was taken to prison by the South Korean police. When the Northern army entered Seoul during the Korean War in 1950, he was released from the prison. When the South recaptured Seoul, he disappeared and never returned. 1945-1950.
Hi-Seung, my elder brother, the dumbest in my family, gave his life to save his father in the Japanese prison during WWII. In 1942 he left home for Japan as a vibrant 15-year old boy as a volunteer soldier. In 1945 he came back home as an injured old man, and died from his injury a year later. 1942-1946
During the Korean War, when Seoul was freed from the Northern army, I and my mother fled Seoul. Without Father, we struggled to survive for the two long years. Then in 1953 during the Korean War, Mother put me -- her youngest 16 year old son -- on a boat heading for America so that he would be safe and get a good education.
Shattered by the wars is a story of love, sacrifice, faith, and suffering. The heroine in the story is my mother as seen by her youngest son. Mother prayed without ceasing; days and nights; when she was happy and when she was sad. Through her ‘Not my will but Your will be done’ prayers, she was able to walk through the dark tunnel of despair and distress, and led us onward with love and grace and absolute faith in God.
I wrote the story in the hope that the readers would seek harmony at home and peace in the world. I picture a scene where people from diverse cultures hold hands across the vast continents and over the deep oceans, form a huge circle, look at each other with broad smiles, and sing a mighty song of brotherhood. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if that day would come in our lifetime?
Proceeds
The proceeds from the sale of the book will go to the scholarship fund at San Jose State University. When I was teaching there I saw many students supporting themselves through school, and I set up a scholarship fund in my father’s name to help them. The book can be purchased on Amazon, http://amzn.to/1kjD9s5.