LIFE1936-1948

In late 1948 The Chinese Communists were sweeping their way to victory and defeated and captured 400,000 Nationalist troops in Mukden. This was the beginning of the end for the Nationalists and they capitulated in May, 1950, thus ending the Chinese civil war that began in 1927. Mukden, now called Shenyang, became famous in 1931 when junior Japanese officers blew up a section of Japanese owned railroad and blamed Chinese dissidents. This provided the pretext for the Japanese annexation of Manchuria. Featured on the cover of the Nov. 8, 1948, LIFE is Helena Carter. She made a few B movies and faded into obscurity by the early 1950’s.

Imagine flying on A Pan American Clipper from San Francisco to Honolulu, Midway, Wake Island, Guam, Manila and Singapore in the fall of 1941…several weeks before Japan launched all out war in the Pacific including the bombing of Pearl Harbor! Clair Boothe Luce’s trip captures for the last time this Pacific area just before the Japanese unleashed their fury. Luce describes the beauty of the Pacific, the preparation for war with Japan, the fading hope for peace, and a glimpse of the lives of lonely, soon to be doomed American military. “Give us another six months and we’ll be ready” they tell Luce in Manila. On the flight with Luce is Sir Alfred Duff-Cooper who on his way to lead British Empire defenses in Singapore. His ineffective leadership caused him to be sent home from Singapore in just a few weeks. Thus he avoided being captured by the Japanese and he and his wife spent the rest of the war living in one of London’s finest hotels.