A CHINA JOURNEY LETTERS FROM CHINA MARY FRANCES BUCKHOUT MCVAY 1939 – 1943 Helen Huntington Smith and Mary Frances Buckhout - Ingtai - 1941 Introduction This is a complete, unabridged copy of the letters of Mary Frances Buckhout, a graduate of Mount Holyoke College who became a missionary for the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions to teach in China from 1939 to 1943. She entered China as a young, naïve outsider who was warmly welcomed into the established community of missionaries, most of whose families had been there for generations. Her heartfelt, often graphic, letters to her family and friends tell the story of a young woman’s physical, emotional, and intellectual journey as she experiences a world beyond her small hometown of South Hadley, Massachusetts. Through her eyes, the love of the missionaries with whom she worked and the plight and resilience of the people of China during the Sino-Japanese War and World War II—their love of life, of family, and of friends—comes alive. Her letters home describe the close-knit missionary community, her deep desire to emulate them, and her admiration of and concern for the Chinese youth she taught. This is not only her story, it is theirs. This is also the story of H. [Harley] Vilroy “Bill” McVay, who left the family farm in Hudson, South Dakota and the promise of a college scholarship to join the United States Navy. The toll of hard times during The Great Depression, the instability of his future, and his concern to help support his aging parents drew him to into the armed services where he was assured not only an income, but food, clothing, shelter, and the certainty of life-long medical care. Bill left home on April 19, 1933, just short of his 19th birthday, and enlisted on April 22. Five years later, while attached to the USS Sagres, he was assigned to the American Consulate in Foochow, China, as a radioman for their communications facility. There he met and married Mary Buckhout in 1941. This story is told in their own words through letters, diaries, U.S. Navy personal logs, and oral histories taken in later years. Also included are letters and oral histories from friends and family. Many of their letters were passed from one person to another, each one adding comments to the letter as it moved along. Oral histories were gathered beginning in 1999. Footnotes are included for historical reference and clarity. The historical setting is taken from various sources and due credit is given. The original letters and diaries will be preserved in the special collections of Yale University Divinity School Library, New Haven, Connecticut, as part of the China Records Project. Initiated by the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. in 1968, the aim of the project is “to insure the preservation of the personal records of former 2 missionaries to China and to provide a central repository where these papers would be available to historians.” 3 Prologue “Last year at this time I would have thought anyone simply crazy who would have told me I’d be in China this year—1940,” wrote Mary in an early letter. She loved to travel, but her travels had been confined to New England and to the family home, State College, Pennsylvania. Not until she graduated from Mount Holyoke College and realized she had no future plans did the prospect of travel to China become a real interest. “That was something out of the blue,” she admitted in an interview1 sixty years later. “I had graduated from college and I was not employed and I had not taken any teaching courses because I just decided I wouldn’t teach, and out of the blue this letter came from the head of the American Board for Commissioners of Foreign Missions in Boston. I had been recommended to go as a teacher for one of their schools out in China, a girls’ school, Wen Shan, in Foochow2, and would I be interested. “Well, I thought, it can’t hurt. They must know something about my college education. I never took any teaching courses so I said I would go, be a three year stint. I’d been happy to travel. I think that’s what got me interested: because I could travel, and they would pay my way, you know. And of course, the salary was nothing. I mean just pitiful, enough to get me by when I got there.” There were, however, other considerations. In 1938 the war between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan had been raging on and off for 44 years. Two major outbreaks were separated by intermittent fighting until 1937, when Japanese forces began a systematic conquest of the country. In November of that year they took the seaport of Shanghai, not far from Foochow, Mary’s final destination. Despite pleas from the Chinese government, the United States retained its policy of non-intervention while Western Europe became more and more preoccupied with a German dictator threatening their tenuous post World War I peace. “I wasn’t scared. I think my father and mother were upset because Japan, at that time, was pushing down the coast and really working its way into China. They wanted the coastal area so they could do something more. At the time there wasn’t much feeling that the Americans would be involved, but there were many people who knew the Orient, knew the Chinese and knew the Japanese, who were really skeptical and who thought eventually we would be involved. 1 All quoted recollections, unless otherwise noted, are from an oral history taken by Melissa Martin, May 9, 1999, Granby, Massachusetts. 2 Now known as Fuzhou. 4 “Anyway, they were still sending missionaries over there. There were some that were going back on the same ship that I was to take. Going back with their families, their little kids, and so forth. They had been home on a furlough and they were going back to continue their work teaching; some of them were doctors or nurses. Anyway, they accepted me. And I got ready to go and left here the latter part of August of 1939.” Though Mary had no overt opposition from her family, her sister, Harriet, admitted, “We thought she was crazy. I thought I would never see her again.” On June 25, 1939, Mary began her journey to China. On September 3, 1939, Britain, France, Australia, and New Zealand declared war on Germany. Canada joined the Allies on September 10, marking the beginning of the Battle of the Atlantic. 5 Chapter 1 Moving Out Tues. A.M. June 25, ‘39 Mom, Well, the G.A.B's 1 have given me notice that I've to leave here this weekend. I've written Doris.2 She wrote me a dandy note saying they'd come for me if possible, so I set this Sunday (next) for them to come down - all of them - have dinner here and bring me home afterwards. It would be much easier for me since I've accumu1ated a few more piles of clothing, but if they can't come I’ll come along on the train. Tell Helen3 the choir is just swell to want to give a party – it’s O.K. by me and Chesterfield would be the nuts. I do want to see Meg before she leaves for Maine. Peg is fine – doing a lot more – but she still tires quite easily. Irueia4 can do the 1ifting for her when I leave. They insist that I go now since there is so much I have to do. I’1l have to – maybe – have diphtheria shots from Dr. Lang. Katherine is giving me my last typhoid and my vaccination this week. Don't be surprised if I hobble home! Peg just took Jay5 over to have his hair cut. She got him a toy drum and is making a harness for him. Jay has marvelous rhythm. Betsy6 is getting so she sings now - picks up a lot of tunes that Jay knows. I expect to get my official appointment either today or tomorrow. The committee is probably convening at this very moment. By the way – thanks for sending down my clothes. I got threw [sic] very promptly. Peg and I are going in town today – so there’s much to do. See you Sunday – Lots of love, Mary Dover, N. H. July 26, 1939 Dear Mrs. Buckhout, Thank you and your family for the lovely weekend in your home. I enjoyed it so much. I am so lucky to have this “pre-view” of Mary, and I know how much she is going to mean to all of us who work together in and around Foochow. Yesterday I had a wonderful letter from the young Chinese minister in our Diongloh7 Church. It was written partly for the church. I have always thot [sic] of him as a brother. 1 The G.A.B.’s – George Atherton Buckhout, Mary’s brother, and his wife, Peg (nee Margaret Sauer), with whom Mary stayed before leaving for China. They lived and worked in Bridgeport, Connecticut. 2 Doris – Doris Smith Buckhout, the wife of Mary’s oldest brother, William. They lived in Hadley, Massachusetts. 3 Helen – Helen Buckhout, Mary’s youngest sister, who was living in South Hadley and attending Mt. Holyoke College at the time. 4 Apparently a housekeeper. 5 Jay – George Atherton Buckhout, Jr., son of George and Peg. 6 Betsy – youngest daughter of George and Peg Buckhout.