Sun Li-Jen '27: A cadet until the end

Sun Li-Jen was born on December 8, 1900, in Jinnu, Lujiang, Chaohu, Anhui, China. Before his time at the Virginia Military Institute (VMI), he studied at Tsinghua University for civil engineering. During this time, he excelled both scholarly and athletically. Sun Li-Jen was awarded a Boxer Indemnity Scholarship, that allowed him to enroll at any American Institution. Sun decided attending Purdue University was the best choice for continuing his Major in civil engineering. However, tensions grew between China and Japan over the fallout of the First Sino-Japanese War and the ever-increasing aggression between the Republic of China (ROC) and the communist faction. Sun Li-Jen chose to matriculate into VMI as a Second-Class Rat, a term that may be as foreign to members of the VMI Community as the name Sun Li-Jen. While at the Institute, Sun quickly rose to prominence for his righteous character. Sun embodied the values on which Col. Lewis T. Preston founded the Institute, and with his knack for basketball, was a boon in company athletics. Sun finished his first-class year as a proud Private, the backbone of the Corps. After May 16th, 1927, he decided to take a tour of Europe and Japan to learn about the advancements being made in the military industry as countries started to fall to radical political ideals and build up arms once more. Sun made the long and treacherous trip back to China and enlisted in the Chinese National Revolutionary Army as a corporal in 1928, where he served in the finance department until his heroic actions in the Battle of Shanghai. Serving as the Commander of the National Salt Gabble Brigade, then-Colonel Sun was severely wounded by grenade fragments and only saved through the actions of an anonymous student who volunteered to donate his blood. After recovering from most of his injuries, the grenade fragments in his bones stayed with him, Gen. Sun took his New 38th Division, by order of Chiang Kai-shek, to defend the vital Burma Road, the main artery of Chinese Logistics. In that theater of war, Sun led an army of 1,300 Chinese soldiers to rescue an army of 7,000 British troops encircled by a mass of 8,000 Japanese infantry and armor. Despite the superior numbers of the Japanese 33rd division, Gen. Sun led his army to victory and saved the allied soldiers destined to die at the hands of the Japanese. For his actions, the King of England decreed that Sun be awarded the Commander of the British Empire medal. That honor gave him honorary Knighthood in the Order of the British Empire. While unable to stop the Japanese momentum in taking over Burma Road, Sun's star never wavered. Military leaders across the Burma Theatre knew the impact that Gen. Sun had on the battlefield. So, when his army incorporated, in 1943, into the American trained New 1st Army, commanded by General Stilwell, Sun's division earned the honor of being the "tip of the spearhead" in the offensive operations set out to push Japanese forces out of India and East Asia. During this time, Gen. Sun fought countless battles against the Japanese, many of which he won, achievements many of his Chinese contemporaries couldn't relate to. After the defeats of the Japanese by Col. Sun, he earned the battle-won nickname "Rommel of the East." An impressive nickname for an impressive leader and soldier. In 1945, General Dwight D. Eisenhower invited Gen. Sun to tour the European theater and experience fighting in terrain other than dense jungle. Following this, Gen. Sun returned to Asia in time to march his army to Canton for the Japanese surrender. Almost immediately after the conclusion of the greatest war mankind ever fought, the Chinese civil war resumed between the Nationals and the Communists. General Sun once more became the hero that China needed. Even without the direct support of the Allied powers, he was still able to turn the tide in his favor. The Communist army had a saying: "As long as we don't have to fight the New 1st Army, we are not afraid of the Central Government's million troops." In the battle of Siping, Gen. Sun took a critical railroad junction from the People's Liberation Army, delivering a severe blow to the logistical ability of the Communists. But there was no time to rejoice in this victory, for Gen. Sun was one of few leaders advancing the ideals of the Nationalist party. Many Chinese military leaders mistrusted Sun Li-Jen due to his foreign education and strong relations with American officials, not to mention them being jealous of his ability to win the wars he fought. These Whampoa (Republic of China Military Academy) educated officers saw Gen. Sun as an outsider, a threat, especially since he didn't adhere to the idea of following orders without questions. General Du Yuming, a trusted adviser to Chiang Kai-sheik, accused Gen. Sun of repeated insubordination and disloyalty to the Nationalist cause, even though it was Gen. Sun's love of Country that drove him to seek a military education at VMI in the first place. Trusting Gen. Du Yuming's reports of Gen. Sun being unfaithful, Chiang chose to remove Gen. Sun from the fight and bring him home as "Deputy" Commander-in-Chief and Commander of the Army Training Command to wean his ability to earn glory and favor with the people. It is likely that Chiang Kai-sheik, even this early, was growing jealous of Gen. Sun's ability to lead successfully, not relying on hazardous tactics as Chaing Kai-sheik did. An example of Chaing's concerning strategies was his intentional destruction of the damns near Kaifeng, allowing billions of tons of water from the Yellow River to rush to the coast, killing hundreds of thousands of Chinese just to ensure the Japanese couldn't capture some cities that he Nationalists were unable to defend. Another was Chaing's tactical decision to retreat his army and government that left civilians as cannon fodder in Nanjing (Romanized as "Nanking"), at the mercy of the invading Japanese army. Unlike Chaing Kai-sheik, Gen. Sun was able to find military success without such concerning degrees of action and sacrifice. After being tasked with the training of the Nationalist Army, Gen. Sun formulated separate areas for training troops. Those on the mainland would be trained to the standard of the Whampoa military officers to appease their egos, and the soldiers that were sent back to Taiwan, or Formosa as it was called during this period, would be trained in the effective military doctrine taught to him at VMI. During this period of Gen. Sun's life, he found purpose in training the future of Taiwan's military, but the distance from the Front and being able to fight for his country in person took a toll on his spirit.. He was able to get a letter to the 1951 Alumni Review, and in this letter, he writes, Dear Carmichael, It is nice to hear from a Brother Rat again after all these years. Your letter has recovered for me many memories of our happy days at V. M. I. memories which are very dear to me. Enclosed, please find my cash contribution of twenty dollars. I regret very much I can't do better. All has not been well with me since the end of the war. As you know, we won the war but lost our freedom. It has been and will always be my regret that I had not been in a position to prevent what had happened on the mainland. But though sad, I am not despondent. I have retained my faith in the fighting qualities of the Chinese soldier, a faith which is shared, I think, by our distinguished alumnus General Marshall. The situation here is admittedly desperate, but it is by no means hopeless. I have learned enough at V.M.I. not to give up a fight when we have yet faith in our cause as well as the men and the will to win. I have been engaged mainly with the training of troops since I came to this island three years ago. I cannot say that I am satisfied with the little I have been able to accomplish, but with perseverance and further sacrifices, we may yet turn the tide and regain for our people the freedom they have lost. Please accept my best wishes for you and yours and remember me to all the boys. Sincerely yours,Sun Li-Jen Even in his darkest moment, Gen. Sun still drew inspiration from "Mother I" and knew to NEVER SAY DIE. While Gen. Sun worked on bettering the soldiers of the Republic of China, sinister plots against him were unfolding. In 1950, Chiang Ching-Kuo, son of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, became director of the Secret Police. He was sent to the Soviet Union to be educated and become indoctrinated into believing in the superiority of their military doctrine over that of the Americans. So, Gen. Sun, a staunch supporter of America and her ideals, was a target, and it was only a matter of time until an attempt at defaming the famous general occured. It took five years for Chiang Ching-Kuo to gather enough resources, contacts, and compatriots to frame Major Kuo Ting-Liang, one of Gen. Sun's subordinates, as a communist through a "confession." Those opposed to Gen. Sun jumped on this opportunity to bring him down. They claimed that if a Communist spy was this close to Gen. Sun, then it was reasonable to assume that the general himself was a communist as well. Gen. Sun resigned from his position as Chief-of-Staff, and many saw this as an "admission of negligence" in rooting out all pro-Communists from the Army. He and hundreds of his officers were soon arrested, and there were no allies to count on. The only possibility of escaping death was by the reaction of the American Press. If no one carried, then the ROC would erase him from history without much protest. Thankfully, a majority of newspapers claimed the case was fraught with fraudulence and that it "couldn't hold water." Gen. Sun was not executed, but he was placed on house arrest indefinitely, and the ROC tried their best to erase all history involving him. The attempt to turn him into a ghost was unsuccessful. People flocked to the tennis courts to watch him play until the government ordered the citizens to stop visiting and Gen. Sun to stop playing. Gen. Sun remained in contact with friends and family through letters, but he never truly expressed how he felt out of fear for his family because he was under 24/7 surveillance, and his house was bugged. Gen. Sun lived in fear and isolation for over three decades, forgotten by the country he loved and disrespected by the people he saved. It took an extensive letter-writing campaign organized by Dr. Chung Chieh, the adoptive son of Gen. Sun, to a multitude of Taiwanese civilian and military officials demanding the release of Gen. Sun due to the charges being falsified. The release of a document from 1955 clearing Gen. Sun's name from any Communist allegations proved his innocence. Finally, a freeman at 89 years old, Gen. Sun, lived out the rest of his life reconnecting with the country he waited so long to experience. Just a month short of his 92nd birthday, he died at home, surrounded by family and loved ones. His funeral was attended by over 10,000 people and televised throughout the country. One of his last requests was to have both the Taiwanese and VMI flags draped across his casket during his wake. To grant these wishes, VMI historian Colonel Keith Gibson and an assistant rushed to New Market, took the very flag that flew over the battleground and shipped it to Taiwan to serve out a dying man's wish. During a recent Project Go trip to Taiwan, I accepted an invitation to visit Gen. Sun's house for a dinner sponsored by the Taiwan Alumni chapter. Although we'd never met these men before, the Ring they all wore spoke of the connection all VMI Cadets and alumni share. Introduced to General Sun's story before the dinner, and it left me speechless, both at the quality of his leadership and the fact the Cadets attending had never heard his name spoken before by Cadets or Alumni. Very few within the walls of VMI know the name. Even fewer the history. It is a shame that men such as Gen. Sun are lost to time. Bringing Gen. Sun's story and example to a new generation at VMI could be the start of a trend to remember, understand, and honor the men and women who've walked these barracks, just like the Cadets of today, and sacrificed more than many could ever understand. Under Memorial Hall, in the VMI Museum, there is a great display of a portrait of Gen. Sun, showing him wearing his class ring, a Japanese sword won in battle, and his uniform. &emsp;&emsp;The example Gen. Sun set through his life and devotion to VMI makes him a strong candidate to honor with his name placed on the 3rd barracks arch. Such recognition of his dedication to the VMI ethos would strengthen the connection of current and future Cadets to the Corps' past, tie the newest barracks to the Institute's history, remember a forgotten hero, and honor Brother Rats who've come from across the world to earn their Class, their Ring, and their Sheep's Skin. RAH Class of 1927!