One of my most memorable experiences living in Hualien is an afternoon in the harbor.

It was probably during the summer of 1966 or 1967. During that time Hualien harbor was open to the public and Taiwan was one of R&R destinations for American GIs sent to the Vietnam War. My elder brother, George, was in high school at that time and I was in primary school. Oftentimes George loved to bring me, his kid brother, along when he went out. On a peaceful afternoon we rode a motorbike to the harbor. There was an American warship docked in the harbor. It looked like it was at the end of their R&R break with only a few hours left before they headed for Vietnam. An American GI was lingering around on the dock. He and George started a conversation. That GI must be not more than a few years older than George. He asked for a joyride on our motorbike and went around the harbor. Afterwards they exchanged addresses for further correspondence.

After about a month, George received a returned letter. He reached out to this young American boy shortly after they met and that GI was killed in Vietnam before the letter got to him.

Two innocent boys attempted to form a friendship during a turbulent time. The relationship lasted for a short time before it was extinguished. That Vietnam War cemented the position of Taiwan as an ally of the U.S. while the presence of American military force in the Asian theater forever extinguished the hope of unifying China and Taiwan at that time. Taiwan’s reliance on U.S. was accentuated by the military cooperation, later expanding to economic and other areas.

Sentimentality of the young American GI

Innocence of all parties in the story

Much less dramatic and shorter version of “Miss Saigon” with Taiwan as background

Ephemeral nature of life

Mentalities in that era

 

譯文

我在花蓮最難忘的經歷之一是在港口度過的一個下午。

 

那是1966年或1967年的夏天。在那段時間，花蓮港是向公眾開放的，而台灣是美國派往越南戰爭軍人娛樂休息（R＆R）的目的地之一。

 

我的哥哥鄭力原(英文名喬治)當時就讀花蓮中學，我還在小學讀書。很多時候喬治喜歡帶著我-他的小弟弟，出去遊玩。

 

那時是個寧靜的下午，我們騎著摩托車前往海港。有一艘美國軍艦停靠在港口，離他們的休憩結束時只剩下幾個小時，就要離開前往越南。

 

一個美國大兵在碼頭上徘徊。他和喬治開始了對話。這個美國大兵比喬治年長不了幾歲。他借了我們的摩托車去兜風，繞著港口跑了幾圈。之後他們交換了地址以便進一步通信。

 

大約一個月後，喬治收到了退回來的信。喬治在他們見面後不久就寫了一封信，可是這位年輕的美國男孩，在信件到達之前，已經在越南過世。

 

在那個動蕩的時期，兩個天真無辜的男孩試圖建立友誼。可是這個關係只持續了很短的時間就熄滅了。

 

越南戰爭鞏固了台灣作為美國盟友的地位，而美國軍隊在亞洲戰區的存在永遠熄滅了當時統一中國和台灣的希望。軍事合作加強了台灣對美國的依賴，後來更擴展到經濟和其他領域。

 

最後，我想表達的是： 年輕美國大兵的感傷；我們當初的純真；這樣的經驗及感受，令人聯想到在那個年代生命的無常?

 

 

鄭力達

教育學歷:

花蓮空軍子弟小學（現為鑄強國民小學）

台中一中初中

台中一中高中

台灣大學

肯得基大學碩士

紐約科技大學博士

 

工作經歷:

Megadata 程式工程師

Siemens Data Switching Systems 軟體系統工程師

NYNEX Science & Technology 科技研究員

紐約佩斯大學（Pace University）通信教授

美國對中國通信業考察團成員

UNDP中國寬帶課程組織、課程培訓

C-cation 總裁

北京正信達通信科技 總裁

北京華夏復興通信科技 總裁

Natural Lighting Systems總裁

RTB Ventures總裁