Online Memorial Tribute

Back to Photo Albums  Start SlideShow  Return to Memorial

Fearing reprisals if detained by enemy forces, Dr. Lu had burned his Nationalist Chinese and U.S. military papers. Lacking the British or Canadian medical license that would have allowed him to practice medicine in Hong Kong, Dr. Lu decided to apply for graduate medical training in the United States. He typed and sent letters to 15 programs inquiring about internships. Asbury Hospital in Minneapolis replied with an acceptance offer. Upon receiving this good news, he and his fiancee looked up Minnesota on a map, and wondered just how cold this place might be. Alas, he could not come up with the necessary funds for the overseas journey. The weeks went by, and eventually he resigned himself to returning with his fiancee to Mainland China. But then he experienced what he would later call his miracle: Early one morning he woke up calling out the name of a friend. Star Liang was his roommate at West China Union University from 1943-1944, an English major, track star and soccer player; now a commercial pilot. The two had not been in touch for quite some time. Dr. Lu went down to the harbor and got on the ferry from Hong Kong island to Kowloon on the mainland, where Star lived. He wasn't exactly sure how he was going to find Star. On disembarking from the ferry, there were hundreds of people crowding the pier in Kowloon. Then he heard someone call out to him in Cantonese: "Lo Luk!" (If we ever made a film about his remarkable life, the Hollywoodized line might go "Yo! Sam!") It was Star, who just then was heading for the Hong Kong airport to pilot a plane to Singapore, and just happened to be at the pier at that time. Dr. Lu told him about his plight and without hesitation Star lent him the necessary funds. Dr. Lu flew from Hong Kong to San Francisco, then took trains from there to Minneapolis. He arrived in September 1949, 3 months late for his internship. Nevertheless, Asbury Hospital generously allowed him to stay on. After a few months he had saved enough money to pay back Star's loan. One year later his fiancee Wen-Gien (Jennie) arrived for her internship in Madison, Wisconsin. They were married on June 30, 1951 in Madison.