Evening star., 1929-09-05

By the United States Marines he to-
can ltUes In the country's raging ct
BY SMEDLEY DARLINGTON
BUTLER.
Major General, u. 9. M. O.
(Copyrieht. 1929, by the North American
Newspaper Alliance.J
Our mission In Shanghai and Central
China was soon ended, for the Ma
tionalist army was entrenched there
and little possibility appeared Of an
outbreak In the Yangtse Valley.
In Northern China, however, we
feared trouble might develop when the
Nationalists took over the Tientsin-
Peiping area, for 1t seemed certain the
northern troops would evacuate as soon
as the southerners reached there. That
is what actually occurred later.
So the main body Of Marines moved
up to Tientsin, seaport for Peiping
Tientsin would have to be taken before
Peiping was invaded.
/ When we moved into Tientsin In
July, 1927, we had the largest unit Of
troops in Northern China. The jap
anese had the next largest. One Of the
| first incidents In Tientsin was interest
ing.
| It was at Q formal dinner given by
| Chinese officials. and Chinese girl
sat beside me. She asked If knew o
Lieut. Buckley of the Marines.
said that I did not know him. She
then told me he was in Tientsin in 1900
and had carried her to boat when she
and her family were moving out to
avoid attack.
Although did not recognize her,
recalled the incident and told her
the lieutenant's name was not Buckley
t>stk n,,tl Sak~
At that time, 1900, we Marines had
lived n a little compound go-down
(storehouse) owned by wealthy Chi
neSe merchant who lived, with his
family. across the street. A shell came
| through the roof Of the house and the
father rushed over to our barracks-I
was on duty as a lieutenant at the
time-and asked me to get him and his
family down to the river where they
had small boat. They were all
frightened and wanted to get down the
river TO safety.
The father spoke English, having
been graduated from Andover. told
him I would help. We had only Is
boat, and I gathered up Chinese child
and carried her to the boat and showed
them of.
The child was the girl who sat at
the table with me and asked about
Lieut.. Buckley"
A Chance for Action.
! When the United States Marines es-
tablished themselves In T1entsin in the
would be real need for our services.
In Shanghai during the late Winter
and early Spring the Invasion" Of
| China was bust" % far as the
Marines were concerned, for there was
no fighting. But Tientsin was different.
The Nationalist (Southern army, VIC
torious In the Yangtse Valley of Central
China, was on the march north Peking
and Tientsin were the main objectives
There was not much left to sack and
loot IN Peiping, but 1t was the seat Of
| the government, and as such highly
! desirable to the Southern generals.
Before Peiping could be occupied
however. TientSin must be taken. This,
the seaport for the capital, Is q city Of
well over SOC, 900, with banks stocked
with gold, warehouses and stores filed
with provisions and merchandise, and
| thousands Of huge homes and palaces
full OF valuables-an ideal city to invade
and loot
Even at that early date it seemed
certain the Southern forces would get
to Tientsin within IL months or so. at
which time the Northern army would
retreat, and that finally Peiping also
would fall. more or less peacefully.
! The task Of the Marines was to pro-
tect American lives in this area during
the turnover. when anything might
happen, and to carry out this job in
| such manner that no wounds would
be left to impair our friendship with
the Chinese.
We hoped and planned to talk the
Chinese out of attacking or injuring our
nationals in the area. Meantime, as
we were really fire-fighting force, like
| the fire department of an ycity, we
prepared for the worst
First We arranged refuge In Tientsin
for every American in the area. There
were several thousand within reach of
Tientstn and We provided a cot for each,
with the name on 1t of the individual
American who was to occupy IL in
emergency. Each billet was kept pro-
visioned constantly and stocked with
IS days rations for each American.
Even food for babies was on hand
Fuel, medical supplies and other neces-
stiles for the emergency entertain
ment" Of expected guests were on hand.
Refuge Is Organized.
AS it was impossible to send our
| bIOUPS-dIlU We I1dO nearly 4,UUU OILl-
| GERS and men in TientSin-all over the
vast area of Northern China, We or
ganized this refuge and sent word to
all Americans to come in nov or
when danger threatens" and "stay until
the storm blows over"
To play fair with the Chinese, some
thing We tried to do always, we made
it plain to our citizens that none was
to involve the United States in a row
with the Chinese by selfishly or stub
bornly remaining in the interior and
being shot up by bandits or undisci-
plined troops.
That was one step for the protection
of American lives.
To that time we had paid little at
tention to the situation in Peiping,
where detachment of Marines was on
guard at the United States legation.
One o'clock on q morning In Octo-
Der, 1927, was awakened to be told
| that the American ennsiil zeneral In