He started out as a teacher in China and spent his final years
as a grandfather in the United States. But for most of life, Wang
Pei Chen fought the forces of communism and imperialism, crossing
paths with some of the twentieth century’s most famous and
infamous leaders.
Wang, who passed away Thursday at the age of 102 in Westminster
from heart and kidney failure, dedicated most of his years to his
military career. He is survived by five sons and 10 grandchildren,
five of whom are UCLA students or graduates. He also had five
great-grandchildren.
Wang joined the Chinese Nationalist Army in the 1920s after
communist forces attacked his village and killed his sister. Wang
rose to the rank of major-general and witnessed the Japanese
surrender on the Battleship Missouri, which ended World War II in
1945.
After Mao Zedong’s communist forces came to power in China
in 1949, Wang remained in uniform in Taiwanese military
intelligence until 1974.
He emigrated to the United States in 1978 to be with his family.
All five of his sons had already moved to the United States.
Wang’s sons remember him as a consummate professional
soldier, a man who put duty to country above self and even
family.
“He gave his full loyalty, full time, full heart … to
his job,” said one of his sons, Francis Wang.
It was only after Wang retired and came to the the United States
that he had time to spend with his children, said his son T.J.
Wang.
“He became a father, he became very tender,” T.J.
said.
A sports fan, he enjoyed watching the L.A. Lakers.
During his busy career, Wang met many people whose names fill
pages of history books.
After Wang entered the military, Chiang Kai Shek, leader of
China’s nationalist forces sent him to Tokyo for advanced
training. There he finished second in his class, and was presented
with a sword by Emperor Hirohito ““ he later used that sword
in battle against the Japanese army.
Wang used the blade to kill a Japanese sergeant near Shanghai,
who had managed to wound Wang in the throat with his bayonet. The
incident was not Wang’s only close encounter with death.
Once, his pocket watch caught an enemy bullet. He had the watch
replaced, and the second watch caught another bullet.
Not all of Wang’s military service was spent on the front
lines. He received further training in the United States where he
was a classmate of William Westmoreland, who would later command
U.S. forces during the Vietnam War. In 1937, he went to Moscow to
serve as military attache to Russia.
In Europe, Wang encountered three of history’s most
notorious dictators ““ Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler and Benito
Mussolini.
He would tell his family stories about how Stalin threw parties
on a near-nightly basis, where he was very sociable, but in
business, he often ordered executions, T.J. said.
Wang came across Hitler and Mussolini before the outbreak of
World War II. He did not know them very closely, and his
impressions of the two during the 1930s contrasted with their
reputations as bloodthirsty tyrants.
“He described Hitler as very smart, very calm,” T.J.
said
Wang remembered Mussolini as a “gregarious person,”
Francis said.
“He knew some of those world leaders before they were
known for their atrocities, when they were still known as human
beings,” said grandson Sean Wang, a graduate math
student.
After a car accident in Germany, Wang received a helping hand
from Hermann Goering, the second-most powerful official in the
Third Reich.
“That was my grandfather’s encounter with one of the
most evil men ever,” Sean said.
After war swept across Europe, Wang continued his job on the
continent, working with the Allies to acquire military supplies for
China.
Wang once went to a party in a bunker that Winston Churchill and
Gen. Bernard Montgomery also attended. During the festivities,
German V-1 rockets, known as “buzzbombs” were flying
above them.
Though Wang never wrote a memoir of his life, he often related
his experiences to his family.
“He would always tell his war stories at the dinner
table,” said grandson Alex Wang, a second-year pre-business
economics student.
Though Wang’s own teaching career was brief, he often
stressed the value of education to his family.
“He always wanted me to get a Ph.D … always pushing
me,” said grandson Andrew Wang, who received his
master’s degree in business administration from UCLA in
2001.
Unlike his sons, Wang’s grandchildren only have heard of
his army experiences through stories, and remember him more as a
member of the family.
“We see him as a grandpa … we never saw the military
side,” said granddaughter Joyce Sakonju, who graduated from
UCLA in 1995 with a degree in physiology.
With reports from Adam Foxman, Daily Bruin Contributor.