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My Grandaunt, Sister Astrid Erling (Ancestry.com)
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Inga
Astrid Kristina Ärling (Erling) was born on January 6, 1907 in
Hässjö, Västernorrland, Sverige (Sweden). Her mother died when
she was 3 years old and her father left her and her younger sister in
foster care in Sweden while he moved to Chicago, Illinois, remarried
and started his second family. Astrid did not see her biological
father again until she was 20 years old. From ages 3 – 6 years old
Astrid lived in Sweden with foster families and experienced the
deaths of two of her foster mothers.
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The Ahlgrens- Astrid's foster parents. (Ancestry.com)
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In the fall of 1929, she began nurses’ training at Immanuel
Deaconess Institute (Augustana Lutheran Synod) in Omaha, Nebraska.
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| (Northomahahistory.com) | |
After completing her training, Astrid requested assignment to
India. Her request was denied and she was assigned to China. In
November 1932, Astrid sailed for China and began language school in
Peking. No English was ever spoken in the classroom and she attended
class 6 days a week.
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China 1928-1937 (unimaps.com)
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From there
Astrid went to Hsuchang Missionary Hospital in Honan Province where
she was the nursing school director, OB nurse, and treasurer of the
hospital. They had 22,000 outpatients and 982 inpatients.
However, world events would soon devastate their community and
challenge them professionally and personally in ways Astrid had never
imagined.
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1940 Augustana Lutheran China Missionary Conference (E. Christensen)
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In 1937 the Japanese invaded China. Hsuchang was isolated from the
rest of occupied China which made getting medical supplies extremely
difficult.
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1937 - Red arrow pointing to Astrid's location, Hsuchang, Honan Province (thinglink.com)
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In June 1938, The Chinese Nationalist Army destroyed levees
flooding thousands of square miles of land, creating a “no man’s
land” - making it difficult for the Japanese to cross and,
unfortunately, for supplies to get into Honan province. Between 1938
and 1947, this environmental disaster killed more than 800,000 people
and displaced nearly four million people. For several years the
Japanese were only 60 miles north of Astrid’s hospital, on the
other side of the Yellow River.
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1938 Yellow River Flood (inews.com)
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On December 7, 1941, the Empire of Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and
the United States declared war on Japan the following day. The
American missionaries were now at risk of capture and internment in
Japanese concentration camps.
Then, during 1942 – 1943, there was an extreme drought, locust
infestation, and great famine. The exact number of people who died
from starvation varies greatly from a million to tens of millions.
At the Hsuchang Missionary Hospital, Astrid and the other medical
staff treated hundreds of starving people suffering digestive
obstructions from eating tree bark, grass, thistles, and dirt. In
addition to the millions who died, perhaps a further three million
fled their homes seeking food elsewhere.
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| 1942-43 Great Famine, collecting bark to eat. (disasterhistory.org) |
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In the early spring, 1944, the hospital staff received a letter
and then a telegram from the United States Consulate warning them to
get to a place of safety as they expected the Japanese to cross the
Yellow River.
Two trucks were used to evacuate the American
missionary wives and children west to Hsing Ping and the hospital
stopped admitting new patients. Astrid and two missionary doctors
stayed behind with the Chinese staff and nursing students to care for
the few remaining patients.
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Dr. Carlson and Aunt Astrid helping patients. (E. Christensen)
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Early on the morning of April 20, 1944, Astrid, the remaining
hospital staff, and nursing students fled on foot, on bicycles or in
ox carts. Astrid rode a bicycle, along with fellow Augustana Lutheran
Medical Missionary, Dr. Carlson. (Dr. Carlson’s pregnant wife
and two young daughters, Erleen and
Faith, had already been evacuated to Hsing Ping).
They cycled from Hsuchang to Kiahsien. They waited there two days
for the other hospital staff and nursing students on foot to catch
up. But there was bad news, the Japanese were only 10 miles away.
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(U.S. Army Military Institute)
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THE 300 MILE BIKE “RIDE”
Astrid and Dr. Carlson once again rode away on their bicycles.
The roads were packed with people fleeing west so they stayed off the
roads and rode on cart paths or through wheat fields. That evening
they arrived in Linju.
The next morning they began riding again. They were strafed by
Japanese aircraft and the roads were bombed. Several times they had
to throw their bicycles to the ground and take cover wherever they
could. Once the planes left, they continued to Iyang.
After two days in Iyang, the hospital staff on ox carts caught up
with them. It was decided that the staff (Chinese) would stay there
and set up a clinic while the missionaries (Americans) and nursing
students (Chinese) would continue to flee west.
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Refugees fleeing the Japanese (Ohio State University)
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From Iyang, Astrid,
Dr. Carlson, and the nursing students rode bicycles to Hsiunghsien.
There they decided that the nursing students would remain at the
temporary location of the Honan University Hospital to continue their
studies and treat patients.
Astrid and the other medical missionaries continued west on their
bicycles through the mountains. Many times they had to push their
bicycles uphill. Astrid’s bicycle did not have brakes so she could
not ride it down steep mountains unless she used her foot as a brake
on the front wheel!
Throughout the 17 days of travel, the roads were packed with
refugees and they were strafed many times by the Japanese. They
bicycled a total of about 300 miles from the start of their escape
from the flatland of Hsuchang to mountainous Lushih.
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| Astrid's Bike "Ride" to escape the Japanese. (E. Christensen) |
In Lushih, they sent
a telegram to Dr. Carlson’s family and missionary officials to let
them know they were okay and still moving west.
With the Japanese now only a mile behind them, Astrid and the
other medical staff managed to jump on a freight train with their
bicycles and luggage. They traveled via the railway to Hsing Ping.
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1940s Chinese Train like the one Astrid rode on. (E. Christensen)
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Once in Paochi, the missionaries began selling things to raise
funds in order for the group to charter a bus. Astrid sold her
bicycle, a typewriter (?!), and some other personal items. With the
proceeds the missionaries then traveled by chartered bus south through the mountains
to Chungking – which took 4 ½ days.
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(Carleton University Archives)
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Meanwhile, Dr. Carlson was recruited by the Office of
Strategic Services to return
to Honan province as an “Advance-base Chief.” Astrid then became
responsible for ensuring his family made it safely home to the United
States.
Due to the war, there was no passenger airline service. So,
finally, after waiting 4 months in Chungking, Astrid, Mrs. Carlson,
Erleen, Faith, and baby Jon Paul were able to get on a freight
airplane and fly to Calcutta (Kolkata), India.
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Farewell card made by Chungking missionaries. (E. Christensen)
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Astrid and the Carlson family arrived in Kolkata on October 17,
1944. Then they traveled to Bombay (Mumbai) where they waited 5
months for a ship to travel back to the United States. There were no
passenger ships due to the war so they sailed on a troop ship, the
USS General William Mann.
They left Mumbai on March 14, 1945 and sailed to Melbourne,
Australia and Noumea, New Caledonia to allow troops to disembark.
The few civilian passengers on board were not allowed off the ship.
On April 15, 1945, almost exactly a year from the beginning of her
journey, Astrid arrived in Los Angeles, California, United States of
America.
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USS William Mann (United States Navy)
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After WWII, in 1946, Astrid returned to the Xuchang Missionary
Hospital but left in 1949 when the control over all religious
activities and organizations was placed in the Chinese Communist
Department of Religious Affairs. All missionaries were excluded.
From 1950 – 1953, Astrid served as a missionary in Japan until
the Japan Evangelical Lutheran Church was established. She then
returned to the United States.
Astrid continued her nursing career. She taught nursing at the
Lutheran Deaconess House of Omaha, Nebraska and served on the
Lutheran Board of Social Ministry in St. Paul, Minnesota. Astrid
also nursed patients at Salem Home for the Aged in Joliet, Illinois,
Augustana Hospital in Chicago, Illinois, and Trinity Lutheran
Hospital in Ashland, Michigan.
Astrid died at the age of 91 on
August 9, 1998. She is buried in Lakewood Cemetery in Minneapolis,
Minnesota.
A life well-lived! Well done, Amazing Aunt Astrid!
Sources:
Christensen, Erleen. In War and Famine: Missionaries in China's
Honan Province in the 1940s. McGill-Queen's University Press, 2014.
Erling, Astrid. Astrid Erling to Marie Erling, Hsing Ping, China,
May 22, 1944.
Mitter, R. Forgotten Ally: China's World War II, 1937-1945.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2014.
Wade-Giles spelling / Pinyin spelling: in the order of Astrid’s
travels
Peking / Beijing
Loyang / Luoyang
Hsuchang / Xuchang
Honan / Henan
Linju / Ruzhou
Iyang / Yiyang
Hsiunghsien / Songxian
Lushih / Lushi
Hsing Ping / Xingping
Paochi / Baoji
Chungking / Chongqing
