Henry C. Whittlesey

Henry C. Whittlesey was a writer and a member of the Dixie Mission. His literary work has been collected by his daughter Ruth Schroeder in "Sidelights of the War".

He was also a member of the Dixie mission (1944-5), an American observation mission to Yan'an, China, to investigate and consider establishing official relations with the Chinese Communists.

Born and raised in China, Henry Whittlesey moved back to the United States before going to college. After marrying Jane Bernard, who gave birth to his first child Julia (Feeley) in 1942, he was summoned to help the American government explore means of cooperating more closely with the Communists in China as Roosevelt became increasingly dissatisfied with Chiang Kai-shek's government (Carter, 10-13).

It was during this trip that the burgeoning thirty-year-old diplomat began to reveal his nascent literary talent. While preparing for his mission in India and then engaging in talks with the Communists in Yenan as part of the Dixie mission, Whittlesey began "to mother" his short stories, as he put it. In barracks, caves and trips through the mountains, Whittlesey described the life of a G.I. not involved in military activity, but constantly exposed to war-time danger.

These stories are marked by idosyncratic bursts of whit (esp. "The Irrigating Chinese" and "China's Independence Day Celebration"), fearless exposure of less redeeming character traits to probe psychological depths ("Indian Haircuts" and "G.I. Drivers Abroad") and the creative use of language (creation of words, verbs, well-conceived repetition, etc.).

On February 2, 1945, his life tragically ended on a reconnaissance trip to the south of Fouping (Memoires of Colonel Peterkin). Though the circumstances surrounding his death remain murky, he and a photographer entered a supposedly safe town to continue the organization of a chain for evacuating downed pilots. (Carter, 60) According to Carter, Japanese snipers were still in the town and shot both Whittlesey and the photographer. Subsequent attempts by the Chinese Communists to retrieve their bodies failed. (Carter, 60-1) According to Colonel Peterkin, Whittlesey and the photographer were captured by the Japanese and executed, but the guerrillas (Communists) managed to recover their bodies after a pitched battle and bury them at Chengtu. (Peterkin, appendencies to memoires)

References

*Carolle J. Carter, "Mission to Yenan: American Liaison with the Chinese Communists 1944-1947" (Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 1997).
*Henry C. Whittlesey, "Sidelights of the War", Ed. Ruth Schroeder (New York: Transfer Art, 2006)