Description: I COMBINE SHIPPING $1.50 per book. FREE SHIPPING for orders over $60. Send books to your check-out cart. E-Bay will automatically adjust shipping costs. PACKAGING & SHIPPING RULES: 1. Individual books Under $18.00 are shipped in padded poly envelopes. 2. Individual books Over $18.00 are shipped in a poly envelope inside a box. 3. Buy Three or more books and the order is shipped in a box.ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS LISTING:I hate war. War kills. War maims. War orphans. And it leaves a deep scar not only on the land, that will take years to heal, but also in the hearts of those who are affected by the war. I am one of those who carry a deep emotional wound to this day, more than sixty years later. During World War II, under Japan, my father was imprisoned because he was a Christian minister who refused to bow down to the picture of the Japanese emperor. My elder brother volunteered to join the Japanese military in the hope of having his father released from the prison. He left home as a vibrant, fifteen-year-old boy and returned home as a worn-out, injured, eighteen-year-old man after the war; he died a year later. During the Korean War, two North Korean officers came to my house and took my father away because he was a Christian minister. He never returned. Shattered by the Wars is a story of love, sacrifice, faith, and suffering, all wrapped in one package. The heroine in the story is my mother, as seen by her youngest son. Mother prayed without ceasing. Through her unceasing prayers, she was able to walk through the dark tunnel of trials and tribulations and lead us onward with love and grace and absolute faith in God. From a Book Review: In Shattered by the Wars: But Sustained by Love, author Chai Hi-Dong illustrates how conflict affects families. When we first meet the Chai family in the mid-1930s, Hi-Dong’s mother has just given birth to him, her 10th and last son. There are many years between the oldest and youngest so that when Hi-Dong is born his older siblings are already out of the house, some with their own families. He knows his mother and father and two closest brothers who are still at home in Seoul, Korea. At the time of his birth, the mid-1930s, war was still a few years ahead and the family lived lovingly and comfortably while Father tended his flock and Mother tended the family.The Chai family, because of Father’s prominent position – he is a clergyman and church leader – is well known throughout the region. His importance is such that he is called away for hours to minister to the needs of his church. In a time of war, as usually happens, such men are usually the first targets of the oppressors. Still, this is before the war and Hi-Dong grows up playing with Hi-Seung, a few years older, and living a carefree child’s life.That changes abruptly with the arrival of the Japanese. Father is taken and thrown into prison because he would not bow to a statue. His now-teenaged son, Hi-Seung, hearing that Father might be set free if he volunteers to serve Japan does just that and he drops out of the family’s life for more than three years. Meantime, Mother worries about her children and cares for Hi-Dong, her baby. Father comes home from prison, but he is changed. And, the family is changed as a result. Hi-Seung remains unheard and Hi-Bum, a few years older, goes off to his education.Ultimately the war ends and Hi-Seung returns. He had left a bright young teen of 15; he came back a sickened man, aged beyond his now 18 years with only a year to live. Hi-Bum, Hi-Dong’s other young brother, returns from his education, too, also changed. He abandons Christianity and turns to Communism, just as the Communist North starts its three-year war of stalemate on the South. War has already ravaged the family once as Father is changed, Hi-Bum is changed and Hi-Seung is sick. Within a year of his return, in fact, Hi-Seung is gone. Hi-Bum, who has rejected Father’s teachings, is ostensibly gone and Father is just changed and essentially gone.As war is renewed, the family feels, already reeling from its ravages, feels them even more deeply. First, the Communists overrun the region and round up local leaders and prominent people. Since Father is still a preacher, albeit more subdued, he is taken for a walk never to return. Later, as the tide of war changes, Hi-Bum disappears, too. And, South Korea and her allies, push the Communists out. However, the government is distrustful of families like the Chai. The authorities don’t believe father and brother are not at home and continually persecute Hi-Dong and Mother. Ultimately, Chai Hi-Dong, escapes persecution and goes to America where he settles and makes his life.Hi-Dong has seen and endured things that no child should have to endure. It breeds in him an intense hatred of war and a yearning for peace. He says it well in his Note from the Author: said “I hate war. War kills. War maims. War widows. War orphans. … I wrote Shattered by the Wars with my heart that had yearned for peace and brotherhood through my growing years, in the hope that the readers would seek harmony at home and peace in the world.”Shattered by the Wars is not a very long novel, but its impact is beyond doubt. Through Hi-Dong’s youthful and loving eyes you see how war torments and tears the bonds of even the closest family. War distorts life and imposes on people conditions they never expected to live through, but they do. The interesting thing is that the terrible conditions that war imposes on a family are also the conditions that allow family members to rise above and triumph. Ultimately, Hi-Dong comes to the United States, gains and education and works for IBM from which he retired.This is a true story. It is told, as noted, in simple, direct language. Its importance is this: it awakens one to the awful impact of war. However, it also shows that the bonds of love and family can hold true and allow people to triumph. Shattered by the Wars is important; it is an eye-opener. Anyone who is trying to understand the dynamics of war and its impacts should read it. It is a poignant, achingly true story. It is a story written in the hope that people will learn to “make love and not war,” as the mantra of the 60s stated.
Price: 14.4 USD
Location: Livonia, Michigan
End Time: 2025-01-19T14:43:50.000Z
Shipping Cost: 4.65 USD
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Return shipping will be paid by: Seller
All returns accepted: Returns Accepted
Item must be returned within: 30 Days
Refund will be given as: Money back or replacement (buyer's choice)
Book Title: Shattered by the Wars : but Sustained by Love
Narrative Type: Nonfiction
Publisher: Author Solutions, LLC
Item Length: 9 in
Intended Audience: Adults
Modified Item: No
Subject: History
Vintage: No
Publication Year: 2013
Format: Trade Paperback
Language: English
Era: 1950s
Item Height: 0.6 in
Author: Hi-Dong Chai
Genre: Biographies & True Stories, History, Military, War & Combat, Religion, Biography & Autobiography
Topic: Combat, Family History, Korean War, Memoir, Military History, True Military Stories, World War II, Military / Korean War, General, Christian Life / Family
Subjects: History & Military
Item Weight: 13.6 Oz
Item Width: 6 in
Number of Pages: 258 Pages
