REMEMBERING HISTORY: A senior citizen shows a portrait he drew for Nancy Fry while she was in Nantong, Jiangsu Province (WANG GUANGXIANG)

APPLE OF HER MOTHER'S EYES: Young Fu Enlin (NANCY FRY)

The Japanese army soon arrived in Nantong. The Christian Hospital's medical personnel tried their hardest to rescue local citizens and wounded soldiers.

Despite the raging war, Fu Enlin grew up in the arms of her American mother. After the Japanese attacked America at Pearl Harbor in 1941, the Japanese army expelled American medical workers at the hospital. After living in China for more than 20 years, Nancy was forced to leave her beloved daughter.

In her article, Fu Enlin wrote, "On that cold morning, mother held me in her arms and put her tearful face on mine. As she put me down to board the car, I cried, yelled and rushed toward her. But under the bayonet, mother had to leave."

Thereafter, Nancy never returned to Nantong.

History unveiled

To find the long lost daughter as soon as possible, the Jianghai Evening News published Dennis Fry's search for Fu as its headline story. On the afternoon after the story was printed, calls from readers poured in, mostly from Fu's colleagues and neighbors. One call was from Fu herself, who invited reporters over to share her story about her American mother.

Fu told reporters that after leaving Nantong in the winter of 1941, Nancy entrusted Fu to her nanny. From 1942 to 1949, Nancy sent money every year to pay for her daughter's living expenses and education. The remittances stopped in 1950 for historical reasons.

After finishing junior middle school in Nantong, Fu was assigned to work in a factory making zippers. She retired in the early 1980s. She and her husband have two sons and a daughter, and two grandsons and a granddaughter. Fu said that it was a great pity that her American mother did not live long enough to see her happy life today, and she could not return her mother's love.

Historical records have offered more details about Nancy's life in Nantong. An official with Nantong's historical archives said Nancy came to China in 1921 as a volunteer in the Nantong Christian Hospital. The hospital was built in 1906 with $5,000 from a donor in California. In the early 1930s, the hospital had more than 100 beds and employed seven American medical workers and more than 10 Chinese employees. The hospital also had a nursing school. The hospital waived some charges, gave discounts to poor patients and offered free treatment for extremely poor residents.

Records from Nantong Christian Hospital, which later becomes Nantong First People's Hospital, show that American medical workers treated and saved many Nantong citizens from 1907 to 1941. Nancy was one of those dedicated people. On the morning of August 17, 1937, Japanese planes bombed the hospital, instantly killing 19 medical workers and patients and wounding many more. During the bombardment, Nancy did not seek shelter. Instead, she saved more than 10 wounded Chinese patients in the gunfire and treated dozens of wounded passersby.

She once served as the head nurse and the president of the nursing school. Her students later became nursing experts in large hospitals in Shanghai and Nantong. Zhang Shubin, a 94-year-old in Nantong who was a student in the nursing school while Nancy served as its president, still remembers her.

On November 2, Dennis finally met Fu. He gave her Nancy's portrait. Fu shared with Dennis her memories of Nancy and the pictures that she left her. The two were in tears. Dennis visited the hospital his aunt once worked at and he was excited to see many records about her and to know that she is still remembered.

The author is a reporter with Nantong-based Jianghai Evening News