Kuo, a graduate from the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts, originally set out to depict the history of her family’s aluminum cookware manufacturing business. “My grandpa told me he used to buy warplanes left behind by the Japanese army after World War II to make pots. I always asked myself the credibility of these stories,” Kuo said. Her wondering turned into the documentary “Searching for the Zero Fighters” (尋找1946消失的日本飛機), and the film led her to another discovery. Over 8,000 Taiwanese youngsters were recruited by Japan to make warplanes during World War II. After returning to Taiwan, some of them ended up joining the “Taiwan Military Training Regiment” (台灣軍士教導團) and embarked on a sad journey that would last for almost half a century.

The Men Forgotten by History

The time was 1949, the Nationalist Party (the Kuomintang) was losing China to the Communist Party. The Kuomintang had no choice but to relocate the government to Taiwan.

As increasing military power was a major priority then, the Kuomintang soon set up its first army base in Kaohsiung in 1950. It was known as the “Taiwan Military Training Regiment” and led by the then Commander of Taiwan Defense Command Sun Li-jen (孫立人).

Sun, educated at the Virginia Military Institute in the United States, was best known for his leadership during the Chinese civil war and against the Japanese army in WWII.

The regiment recruited over 4,000 men in their late teens and early twenties, some volunteered while others were drafted. The men would later become officers of new army recruits when they completed the training. What they had hoped for turned out to be a mirage, as the whole regiment was put on “suspension of duty” when they ended their 21-month training.

It was all because their leader, Sun, was arrested for allegedly trying to overthrow Chiang Kai-shek’s regime with the CIA in 1955.

The “suspension” was not a “discharge of duty,” said Chang Fan-chou (張方州), head of the self-formed “Taiwan Military Training Regiment Discharged Members Association.” “We were told that we were still on duty, but only to serve in our hometowns,” Chang said, “We should be on call at all times to propagate government policies and execute orders.” The recruited, all in their prime, could only stay at home and wait for the government to assign them new tasks.Sun remained under house arrest until 1988. Prior to his release, no one dared talk about Sun or his army, and the name “Taiwan Military Training Regiment” along with its 4,500 men faded into oblivion.

Life After Suspension

In Kuo’s documentary, the veterans spell out their painful stories after the suspension order. “No one knew who we were. We were completely given up on,” an elderly man said in the film. Because the veterans were never officially discharged from the army, it was difficult for them to pursue further education or find decent jobs. Many of the veterans could only take on odd jobs, barely making a living. “Even our children don’t believe our stories,” these men said in the film.

In 1998, the government agreed to turn their suspension order into an official discharge order, finally granting them the official “veteran” status that they had sought for almost half a century. However, their newly found honors came without any of the benefits entitled to other veterans. Kuo said the government originally agreed to compensate the men with NT$2 million. The idea, however, never passed the Legislative Yuan as many government sectors said they had no idea that such a regiment existed, according to Kuo.

Sun’s name was eventually cleared in 2001, with the Control Yuan’s investigation concluding that Sun had “no intention of staging a coup,” but the men of the 1950 regiment are still waiting for an answer from the government. The men, who were passionate youngsters hoping to defend their country, are now over 80 years old, with a third of them having already passed away. Kuo hopes her documentary will let more people know that in the nation’s short history of 100 years, a group of men who loved their country were forgotten.

The documentary, a nominee in this year’s Golden Harvest Awards, will be screened around the nation from April 5, with two special screenings on Thursday, March 24, at National Taiwan University and Sunday, March 27, at the Eslite Tunnan Bookstore.