Making Our Home Across the Seas

Born in landlocked Hunan, Henry Ho left the Chinese countryside to study literature at university. But with World War II raging, his patriotism and passion for adventure inspired him to leave school and enlist to defend his country. A naval cadet, he was soon dispatched to Portsmouth, England where he and fellow crewmen were trained by the Royal Navy to take command of the HMS Aurora, a light cruiser that would become the SS Chongqing, the most powerful warship in China and flagship of the Nationalist Navy. Thus began a lifetime of adventures across the continents of Europe, Asia, and North America as he and his wife, Peggy, sought to make for themselves a home across the seas. Like many members of the Greatest Generation, Henry spoke little of his past, but his love of the written word motivated him and Peggy to vividly chronicle modern Chinese history's impact on their lives in numerous essays and short stories. Spanning five decades, their writings are first-person historical accounts that bear witness to their perseverance, survival, and humor as they find love and raise a family along their immigrants' journey from post-war China to Taiwan and ultimately to America.

At a time when the value of immigration in the United States is under question, even assault, this book is a timely reminder of the wealth of perspective, experience, and commitment that immigrants bring to America and the breadth of opportunities that America affords to immigrants who willingly sacrifice the lives they have nurtured in the old country to adopt the United States as their own while seeking the American dream.