Read Online A Full Life: Reflections at Ninety by Jimmy Carter - Free Book Online

waves, I would have been lost at sea. It would have been impossible for the ship to return to the same site, and finding me in the dark would have been a hopeless effort. The next morning I made a report to the captain, but with a minimum of dramatic effect, just telling him that I had been swept from the bridge, landed on the afterdeck, and recovered without injury.
    Our ship continued to suffer a heavy pounding, and some of the topside fittings, including our radio antennas, were washed away or damaged. After some hasty repairs, we were able to receive but not transmit messages. It was mandatory for submarines to report our status and positions at least every eight hours, but we were unable to do so. Inquiries from Hawaii began to arrive with increasing urgency and frequency when our status was not known, and eventually a message was sent to the Pacific Fleet stating that the Pomfret was presumed lost and all ships and planes should be on the lookout for floating debris and possible survivors in the general area westward from where we had last reported. We were then about six hundred miles south of Wake Island, and Captain Williams decided to remain on the surface and turn northward to reach the small navy base as quickly as possible. During the three days required for this journey, we realized that our families had been notified of our presumed loss. In fact, all the wives living in Hawaii were informed, but Rosalynn was still in Georgia and never received the heartbreaking news. After reporting our survival and receiving repairs for three days, during which the storm subsided, we continued our voyage.
    In addition to training under simulated wartime conditions, our taskwas to visit the Philippines for a courtesy call and then go to the major port cities of China, where we would conduct antisubmarine warfare exercises with ships of Nationalist China, Australia, Great Britain, and the United States.
    I had been especially proud of General Claire Chennault and the Flying Tigers, who fought alongside the Chinese against Japanese invaders during the early days of World War II. Later I followed the civil war in China as well as possible from the news media, hoping that Nationalist forces could prevail over Mao Tse-tung’s Communist troops. Georgians were proud that Chiang Kai-shek’s wife had been a student at Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia. When World War II ended, I strongly supported President Truman’s decision to send General George Marshall to China to negotiate a peace agreement between Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Tse-tung. But his mission failed, and the civil war escalated. I was disturbed later when Senator Joe McCarthy blamed Marshall and others for successes of the Communist forces and was glad when Marshall was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
    The American government was completely committed to its alliance with Chiang Kai-shek and his forces, and our visit was designed to give them some psychological support and demonstrate that the Communist forces had not succeeded in their effort to control the mainland. It was obvious to us when we arrived that the Nationalists had already lost the war, having been driven from most of China but being permitted to remain in a few seaports along the eastern shore. We began our tour in Hong Kong, moved to Shanghai, and then to a longer stay in Tsingtao (now Qingdao). Because of the ongoing conflict and the uncertainty of its outcome, we always tied up at the pier heading out to sea and kept a substantial part of the crew onboard for a potential rapid departure. We could see the campfires of Mao Tse-tung’s Communist troops on the nearby hillsides and observed the Nationalists recruiting boys and young men at gunpoint. On one occasion, the jeep carrying our captain strayed beyond the city and was hit by bullets, but no one was injured. Most of the shops were boarded in front, but potential customers were admitted through side or rear doors, and merchandise was offered at