Other Forces

Lin Wang

Lin Wang was not a typical World War Two veteran. He fought for both the Japanese and Chinese sides of the Second Sino-Japanese War (the China versus Japan part of WWII). Also, he was an elephant. Strangely, Lin Wang’s original name was Ah Mei, “The Beautiful.” The massive bull elephant pulled artillery cannons for the Japanese army in the thick jungles of Burma, until his unit was defeated by the Chinese troops in 1943. He continued his army service under Chinese command until the end of the war. Eventually, he was relocated to Taiwan, where he served as obstacle-moving muscle in a military base. Lin Wang also managed what so few war veterans achieve: a happy ending. The Chinese army released him from duty in 1952 and he found a new home in a Taiwanese zoo. There, he received his new, manlier name (Lin Wang means “King of the Forest”) and met a lady elephant who became his lifelong mate. Lin Wang went on to become the most famous animal in all Taiwan, and the longest-living captive member of his species. When he died in 2003, he was 86. The country mourned him with traditional funeral rituals as though he were a human being, lighting incense and burning paper money in his honor.