Before the February 28 Incident in 1947, a Taiwanese militia defeated a Chinese army division and stored the confiscated weapons in a school. My father, who was a high school student at that time, went to the school and picked up a couple of grenades. He brought them back home and left them in a drawer in the front part of the house which was a grocery shop. At that time, the military police would go to students’ house to have random inspections because students were the main force of the rebellious. On that same day, they burst into the house and went straight to the back of the house probably because they didn’t think of anyone being reckless enough to leave contrabands in a shop where people come in and out. Miraculously, they found nothing and left. My father, with no hesitation, got rid of the grenades that night and threw them in a well nearby.

Imagine if the grenades exploded in the well? Or even, what if those officers found them? That could have been a straight death penalty sort of crime at that time. How things could have been completely different if anything went to a divergent path?

 

Submitted by 張弘政

Edited by Paula Chang