Taipei Times
Date: Jun 30, 2015
By: Lin Ching and Chen Wei-han / Staff reporter, with staff writer
A big-hearted veteran soldier in Taoyuan, who was previously falsely imprisoned for 10
Former soldier Cheng Yung-ching, left, holds up a certificate in Taoyuan on Thursday. Photo: Lin Chin, Taipei Times
years, has donated almost his entire NT$4.2 million (US$134,710) compensation to take care of fellow veterans living in poverty and ill health.
Former army second lieutenant Cheng Yung-ching (鄭永清), 84, was falsely charged with joining an illegal organization and was subsequently sentenced to 10 years in prison in 1953, but the court recognized the case as a miscarriage of justice and paid him NT$4.2 million in compensation in 1989.
Cheng volunteered to join the army at the age of 14 and retreated from China to Taiwan with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in 1948.
Aspiring to a successful military career, he passed a reserve officer exam and was conferred the rank of second lieutenant in 1950, but was accused of joining an illegal organization after he pledged allegiance to a brotherhood with four close friends in 1953, which saw him spend most of his youth behind bars. [FULL STORY]
