Taipei Times
Date: Sep 19, 2015
“Were it not for the hunchbacked seasoned soldier who phoned my family in the middle of
A soldier crawls over rocks under the baking sun during a military training drill on Dec. 30 last year in Kaohsiung.
軍事特訓中，軍人頂著艷陽在岩石上匍匐前進。攝於去年十二月三十日，高雄。
Photo: Tsai Ching-hua, Liberty Times
照片：自由時報記者蔡清華
the night, I could not have lived to this day,” says Hsueh Chao-chi, former chief of staff in then-Kaohsiung mayor Yeh Chu-lan’s administration. Hsueh hopes that he can find his savior from his army days and express his gratitude to him with NT$1 million.
Hsueh, who is 48 years old, says that as he reached middle age and reflected on his past years, he felt especially strongly about the nice things that have happened in his life, which could not have been possible without a phone call placed 23 years ago.
It was in the fall of 1992 that Hsueh was chosen to be dispatched to a special forces unit in Penghu, where he endured special rookie drills and, as a result, suffered multiple symptoms, including hematuria. He was then sent to a military clinic, where he lay on a bed, dying.
He faintly recalls that in his most helpless hours a seasoned soldier came to his side, speaking to him in Hoklo, “Give me a phone number. I assure you I will make the call. If your family cannot save you from the military, you will most certainly draw your last breath here.” [FULL STORY]
