Heroic rescue forges lasting friendship

Editor's note: This year marks the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-45) and the World Anti-Fascist War. This series of special reports by China Daily presents how and why China cherishes and keeps revisiting the wartime friendship with its foreign friends.

Denise Wynne, a 76-year-old woman from Britain, has long been advocating for raising public awareness of a Japanese wartime atrocity and the Chinese people's rescue of prisoners of war, including her father, from a sinking ship in 1942.

In October 1942, the Lisbon Maru, a cargo vessel requisitioned by the Japanese army to transfer more than 1,800 British POWs from Hong Kong to Japan, was torpedoed by US forces off Dongji Island of Zhoushan in Zhejiang province.

As the ship started to sink, Japanese soldiers tried to prevent their prisoners from escaping before abandoning the ship. Over 800 British POWs drowned or were shot dead by the Japanese troops, and Chinese fishermen risked their lives and saved 384 British POWs.

Wynne's father, Dennis Morley, passed away in 2021, and she noted that he was the last survivor of the Lisbon Maru. "Before he died, he told me to honor the Dongji fishermen on his behalf," Wynne said.

"My father was very emotional to think of all the POWs being trapped below deck and the ship was sinking. Then to finally escape and jump into the sea to be shot by the Japanese!" she wrote in a letter sent to the production team of Dongji Rescue, a movie that recalls the Lisbon Maru incident and is now being shown in China.

"My dad remembered the Chinese fishermen as being angels coming along to rescue them all out of the hell, because he said it really was a hell," she said.

During his state visit to Britain in 2015, President Xi Jinping took the Chinese fishermen's rescue of POWs on the Lisbon Maru as an example, stressing that the friendship forged by the Chinese and British people during the war will never fade and has become a valuable asset in bilateral ties.

In 2022, Wynne wrote to Xi to express her support for building on the friendship between generations of British and Chinese people.

In her letter, Wynne suggested a monument be built in Zhoushan to allow people to pay tribute to the brave Chinese fishermen and the British soldiers who were entombed in the sea beneath.

Xi, in a reply letter, encouraged family members of the survivors to make efforts to further advance the bilateral friendship. He told Wynne that he had instructed relevant departments to look into her proposal of building a monument in Zhoushan for the Lisbon Maru rescue.

In May, Wynne traveled to China to attend the unveiling ceremony of the Memorial for Dongji Fishermen's Rescue of British Prisoners of War in Zhoushan.

When recalling the moment she opened and read the reply letter from Xi, Wynne said she was moved to tears, and she expressed her appreciation for Xi's honoring of his words. "I'm very honored that he replied to me. President Xi said he would look into it, and … he has done it," she said.

As a witness of this special bond forged between the two peoples because of the wartime rescue, Zheng Zeguang, Chinese ambassador to the UK, met Wynne at her home in 2022 to deliver Xi's reply letter to her.

Zheng also attended events related to the Lisbon Maru, including a Spring Festival reception hosted by the Chinese embassy in the UK for the families of Lisbon Maru survivors in February and the premiere of the documentary The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru in March in the UK.

When attending and addressing a reception held last month by the embassy to celebrate the 98th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, Zheng said "it should never be forgotten that China and the UK were allies and fought shoulder to shoulder during the war", and the peoples of China and the UK "made enormous contributions to the global victory against fascism".

He revisited the story of the Lisbon Maru rescue in 1942, noting that in the same year, the Chinese Expeditionary Force successfully rescued British troops besieged by the Japanese army in Myanmar.

"We should remember history, honor those fallen heroes, cherish peace and strive for a better future, and this is why China holds a series of important commemorative events to mark the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-45) and the World Anti-Fascist War," he said.

As this year also marks the 80th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations, Zheng said countries must "resolutely defend the outcomes of the victory in World War II, firmly uphold true multilateralism and steadfastly safeguard world peace, stability, fairness and justice".

Anthony Jones, chairman of the Lisbon Maru Memorial Association, is the grandson of Thomas Theodore Jones, a Lisbon Maru survivor and a UK Royal Navy telegraphist. He also attended the unveiling ceremony of the memorial in Zhoushan in May.

"Amid the horror of that day, a light of humanity shone through — the bravery of local Chinese fishermen, who risked their lives to save strangers. They went out in small boats, pulling men from the water, showing courage and compassion that will never be forgotten," he said at the ceremony.

He voiced appreciation for all those who have a connection to the tragedy — descendants, researchers, supporters, filmmakers and "those who have worked tirelessly to ensure this history is not forgotten".

"Your dedication helps keep the memory of the Lisbon Maru alive, and your efforts are woven into the legacy we honor here today," he said.

Such lasting efforts made by the Chinese and British people in preserving evidence of the wartime atrocity and revisiting the friendship forged through rescue are now making a difference.

Following its UK premiere in March, the documentary The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru hit screens at cinemas in Britain on Friday.

A review of the documentary by Phil Hoad in The Guardian said the British wartime tragedy has been "told with potent empathy", and the documentary "excavates the emotional wreckage on all sides".

Hoad mentioned the prevalent silence practiced by the tragedy's survivors, "including the Japanese civilian captain later convicted for his role", and that their descendants "knew nothing about the ordeal" before the facts were brought to light.

British actor Kevin Lee starred in the movie Dongji Rescue, and his character is based on a real British high-ranking POW.

"When I first read the script, I was shocked," Lee told Variety in a recent interview.

"I'd never heard of the Lisbon Maru incident, yet here was this deeply moving story of ordinary Chinese fishermen risking everything to save British POWs. As a Brit who's lived in China for over a decade, it hit me on many levels," he said.

Lee has played antagonists in some Chinese films. "But Dongji Rescue let me step into truth and empathy," he said.

zhangyunbi@chinadaily.com.cn

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