1945 Kmt During the War
In 1945, KMT lost their war and control and withdrew from Mainland China. During the retreat, tens of thousands of families were affected. Some of them were separated permanently: husbands and wives, father and sons, sisters and brothers. Most of them never came back to Mainland and they had never met with their families or the beloved ones again. The withdrawal was so sudden that many of them did not have a chance to say goodbye. In some cases, young men were caught up on the way they were going to school or going to market by the army officers whom were looking to recruit them by force in exchange for monetary subsidy from the central government in order to grow the military forces.
For those originally living in TW under the Japanese colonial regime, they did participate in the war and fight for the Axis camp. Some of them were sent to southern pacific region and defend the outlying islands there. After the war, though they were in Chinese origin, many of them were tried in the martial court for the war crime and finally many of them were sent to prison for years. After they were released and went back to TW, they were not able to locate their homes and their families. On the other hand, some of the TW men were recuited by KMT and joined the last few war on Mainland. In the end, they did not make it to return home, which was on the other side of the TW strait.