Wen Bon: A Naval Air Intelligence Officer behind Japanese Lines in China in WWII (War and the Southwest)
Books / Hardcover
ISBN: 0929398777 / Publisher: University of North Texas Press, November 1994
An officer on an intelligence recovery team which searched out downed enemy planes, Winborn lived in Chinese villages rather than at military bases and, equipped with cameras to fulfill his duties, he captured numerous scenes of both military and civilian life in China during the 1940s. The memoir intersperses Winborn's engagingly-told account of his military career in China with his experiences as a red-blooded, "can-do" Texan with correspondingly 1940s American attitudes and ideas. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.
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Winborn was a Naval lieutenant attached to the 14th Army Air Force to serve as a Technical Air Intelligence inspector. Learning that an enemy plane was down, a team of one or two Americans plus a Chinese interpreter would sally forth to wherever the plane might be, bringing back intelligence of the capabilities of enemy airplanes. Compilations of this data made it possible to keep tabs on Japanese manufacturing plants, indicating which were the most suitable bombing targets. Winborn tells his story in an informal, understated, conversational style that ranges from the humorous to the poignantly tragic. Each American was given a Chinese name, i.e. a transliteration in Chinese characters which when spoken sounded something like his name in English. Winborn’s was “Wen bon,” typically pronounced “Wunbun.” The best interpretation of its meaning is “the pen is mightier than the sword.” A small neat stone “chop,” or stamp, with “Wen bon” and characters for “his chop” carved in it, served as Winborn’s legal signature anywhere in China.At the end of World War II, Winborn was ordered to Shanghai, where he and other junior officers steeped in the unconventional ways of southeastern China contributed their “can-do” talents to the Naval Air Priorities Office.
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