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The Adventures of Eddie Fung
Chinatown Kid, Texas Cowboy, Prisoner of War
Edited by Judy Yung
Eddie Fung has the distinction of being the only Chinese American soldier to be captured by the Japanese during World War II. He was then put to work on the Burma-Siam railroad, made famous by the film The Bridge on the River Kwai. In this moving and unforgettable memoir, Eddie recalls how he, a second-generation Chinese American born and raised in San Francisco's Chinatown, reinvented himself as a Texas cowboy before going overseas with the U.S. Army. On the way to the Philippines, his battalion was captured by the Japanese in Java and sent to Burma to undertake the impossible task of building a railroad through 262 miles of tropical jungle.
Working under brutal slave labor conditions, the men completed the railroad in fourteen months, at the cost of 12,500 POW and 70,000 Asian lives. Eddie lived to tell how his background helped him endure forty-two months of humiliation and cruelty and how his experiences as the sole Chinese American member of the most decorated Texan unit of any war shaped his later life.
Judy Yung is professor emerita of American studies at the University of California Santa Cruz. She is co-author of Island: Poetry and History of Chinese Immigrants on Angel Island, 1910-1940 and the author of Unbound Feet: A Social History of Chinese Women in San Francisco.
Quotes:
"A remarkable chronicle of a boy from Chinatown who in his journey through life acquires a wealth of insight and wisdom." - Franklin Ng, California State University, Fresno
"An unusual and riveting contribution to Asian American history." - Valerie J. Matsumoto, University of California, Los Angeles
Reviews:
"Eddie drew on his past life experiences to endure incredible hardships, while treating each new adversity as a learning opportunity for survival. Judy Yung has done a superb job editing Eddie's reminiscences - she and he proved to be such a great team that they got married in 2003!" -Asian American Comparative Collection
"Reading Eddie Fung's memoir, The Adventures of Eddie Fung: Chinatown Kid, Texas Cowboy, Prisoner of War, one marvels at Fung's gumption to attempt the outrageous, his ability to survive incredible hardships, and his honesty, innocence, and curiosity. . . . Judy Yung, an American studies professor at U.C. Santa Cruz realized Fung embodied an oral historian's dream: a fantastic memory, a sense of humor, and a dedication to getting the story right." -AsianWeek National
Table of Contents:
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Growing Up in Chinatown
2. A Chinese Cowboy in Texas
3. A Good Soldier
4. A Prisoner of the Japanese
5. A POW Survivor
6. Learning to Live with Myself
Chronology
Notes
Bibliography
Index
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Pub Date:
2007
ISBN:
PAPER:
0-295-98754-5
978-0-295-98754-5
Price:
Paper: $22.50
Subject Listing:
Asian American Studies, World War II, Memoir
Bibliographic information:
227 pp., 37 illus., 2 maps, 6 x 9 in.
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