When I was a kid, my paternal grandfather often took me to the street coffee vendor where he played Chinese chess with his friends and enjoyed coffee. When I was ten years old, I could beat my grandfather’s Chinese chess game occasionally. He told me about his time when he lived in North Vietnam, his time in the French army, how lucky he survived in wartime, and many more.
We often see many Koreans or Chinese protest against Japanese officials when they plan to visit the shrine of Japanese soldiers who died in WW2. I know why. My grandfather told me that Japanese soldiers committed atrocities in Vietnam(Japan overthrew the French in Vietnam before 1945) such as they killed women no matter they were pregnant or not by mutilation of their vaginas with bamboo sticks or swords. They also killed men and children without any reason. Now we look at Japan, it is a peaceful country with the lowest rate of murder or violent crimes in the world. Its citizens are against the government participating in any military operation outside of the country. Japan proactively contributes to world development.
He told me that he was recruited as a soldier to fight for the French. One time he was lucky to survive a roadside landmine. He and other soldiers were carried on a military jeep. The jeep carried over its capacity, so he could not stay in the jeep. He voluntarily got off the jeep and walked to the military base, it was easy to make him a target for any snipers. Later on, he got the news that the jeep hit a roadside landmine, and almost soldiers on the jeep died. Other times, he got shrapnel in his chest, and he had surgery to remove the shrapnel. The surgery operation was successful, he survived this time too. You know how was medical technology in the 1940s.
One time I asked him: why did you work for the French? He answered that even though, the French treated the Vietnamese terribly but the French respected freedom of religion. If he lived under Nguyen’s Dynasty rule, he wouldn’t practice his religion. I reminded him that the French would behead people who challenged French rule. He emphasized that the French would only behead people who opposed them. If you lived under Nguyen’s Dynasty, it would behead all your family members and relatives. It is called nine familial exterminations. Many people admitted that colonial rules were cruel, but they also brought something new that better than pre-colonial rules. For example, the modern government, and educational system, embrace sciences and reduced blindness in religion. Ten years ago, I watched on Youtube, I saw people were beheaded. I thought the executioners were Taliban or terrorists. Later I found out that, the beheading executions occurred in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia where the US, EU, China, Russia, and all countries established relationships. Even though, I support the death penalty but carried out by beheading is not acceptable and inappropriate in 21 century.
Luckily, Saudi is the only country in the world carrying out capital punishment by beheading. I hope that Saudi will change its method of execution, so people don’t see the head falling off the body that our forefathers watched one hundred years ago.