A Failed Return to China (1947-1948)

When Anna Bøg returned from Manchuria to Denmark in October, 1946, she was so exhausted and malnourished that she had to be hospitalized for five months. A tall woman, she weighed only 118 pounds on her return.

According to the reporter who interviewed Anna Bøg in Cedar Falls in October, 1947, "'They said that I and those in my party looked as if we had been dead and had risen again,' she said of that hospitalization period."

A year later, however, Anna Bøg was officially sent out again to China. Unfortunately, due to the political situation, the trip was not completed and she never again returned to her beloved China.

As she later related:

" [I]n the fall of 1947 I again was sent out to China. This time the festival was held in Aarhus Cathedral. I was sent out together with Dagmar Petersen* . . . We were first to visit our relatives in the U.S.A., and then wait [there] until the Mission Board sanctioned our return to China. However, after a year's waiting we were asked to return to Denmark instead."

While in America, Anna Bøg spoke at many meetings and visited relatives in Iowa and California. She had hoped to also visit Kirstine Nielsen in Los Angeles. Sadly, however, Kirstine died before Anna Bøg reached the west coast.

In early 1948, Anna Bøg wrote to the D.M.S.:

"[Kirstine] Nielsen died on Christmas morning. I had so much looked forward to visiting Mrs. Nielsen. We worked together more than 20 years in Siuyen. It is sad when the old pioneers pass away. There was something special about them."

On May 13, 1948, while in America, Anna Bøg celebrated her 60th birthday. D.M.S. commemorated the event by sending her its greetings in a short article in the missionary newspaper which was accompanied by the photograph above.

In 1948, Christian Rendtorff, the general secretary of D.M.S., wrote to Anna Bøg in America:

"[W]e hear about powerful disturbances in China, including in the area of our mission field. We hope that the fighting may come to a conclusion, however, enabling us to make arrangements concerning the future work."

Unfortunately, that did not occur. Thus, on November 5, 1948, Anna Bøg sailed from New York on the motorship Gripsholm, and arrived back in Denmark on November 17, 1948.

Two months after her return, Anna Bøg told of her 1947-1948 trip to America in an article published in the D.M.S. newspaper, the title of which can be translated as, "Scattered Impressions of My Journey to America":

"On the journey with the 'Mongolia' over the Atlantic, we were rocked and tilted quite thoroughly. We were only 12 passengers and it sailed almost without cargo. . . . One evening, while having coffee, we found out that I knew the captain. In 1919 when I sailed on my first long trip to China, he was the first mate of the Annam. And the first mate on the Mongolia had sailed on the M/S Malacca that our five missionaries sailed in to China after the war in 1946. He entertained us with highlights from that trip.

"Our first impression of America was a mixture of human races and foreign languages, now that we were in that large democratic land.

"And then on October 15, I was at home in Cedar Falls, meeting again after 13 years my family, many old friends, and the congregation I am particularly attached to [Nazareth Lutheran Church]. How good they were to me throughout the year at home.

"My first appointment was in Blair, Nebraska, where I met with a group of church ministers and teachers from Dana College. I received an invitation to speak at the students' morning prayers and to one of the classes, to an evening meeting in the church, and also to a women's meeting. In Blair, one finds a church publishing house and editors still publishing a weekly magazine in Danish.

"Dana College was overflowing with students. A nice new building was under construction for the library, where there also will be room for the theological faculty and more.

"I was permitted to speak about DMS's and China's cause about 100 times, not only in the United Church but also in the Grundtvigian, Presbyterian, and American Lutheran Churches, to morning worship services, evening meetings, Sunday schools, woman meetings, youth meetings, schools, clubs, at retirement homes, at private gatherings, etc.

"In Ponca City Oklahoma, in a Presbyterian congregation of 1,200 members the minister said before the morning worship service, "Let us all bow our heads and pray for China." There I spoke to a Bible class, a large youth meeting, and a women's meeting.

"In. . . a big American Lutheran Church, I spoke several times. After one of the meetings, the minister said, 'Write to us when you get to China. We will help support them.' 'Will you?' I asked. 'Yes, we will be happy to do it,' he replied.

"Up in Wisconsin, I had a whole series of meetings ordered by their District Chairman, and had a glorious Sunday in Denmark [Wisconsin], where I spoke to two morning worship services. There I received some 500 DKK for D.M.S. and lived in a blessed minister's home.

"One Sunday in Chicago, I spoke at Atonement Lutheran Church's morning worship service, Sunday school, and youth meeting. It was so good to revisit all the old friends again. When young, I spent several years in that congregation. When the minister introduced me, he said that I had been elected honorary member of the congregation.

"In Los Angeles there is a large Chinatown, and it was homey to see Chinese in the street. They have their own shops and a lot of restaurants that are popular with California's many tourists.

"I went in to see Dr. Nielsen's home. I recognized many of their things from Siuyen and heard their Danish neighbor tell about them. Their two hearts are now in Siuyen!

"While I was a guest in . . . the home of Dr. and Mrs. Eskildsen** in Sanger [California], the family and I went on a full day's trip up to the mountains and trekked from one large group of trees to another. It was also an experience to visit the Dr. Eskildsens in their American home. Like the rest of us, they came home from China poor, but now they are filled with God's blessing: a large [medical] practice and gifted children. His daughter is a nurse, the oldest son very musical, the youngest son, a painter.

"In Los Gatos, I visited a Chinese children's home for young girls and there met one of the former Korean missionaries. She had returned at the outbreak of war and was now the leader of this home. She told me the latest news from their mission field about the many new churches. Some 40 were built after the war.

"In Oakland, I visited the Chinese children's home for older girls. These homes are in the Presbyterian Church's home mission. The girls were on summer vacation and were down in Los Gatos. They work in the orchards during vacations. They split apricots for drying. These little Chinese girls donate a tenth of their earnings.

"I was in Oakland for a month. The friends of the congregation told me a lot about the young missionaries who had studied Chinese at Berkeley and on Sundays came to worship services in Oakland.

"During the entire speaking tour in the United States, in churches, in minister's homes and private homes, I was very lovingly received. Many promised to pray for China. When I look back over the year, it is with much gratitude to the many good homes from coast to coast where I was given hospitality and received gifts for the China mission. It was both uplifting and an inspiration to remain faithful in service."

Sources:
Bøg-Madsen, Anna; letter to D.M.S.; October, 1948.
Bøg-Madsen, Anna; "Spredte Indtryk fra min rejse in Amerika," Dansk Missionsblad, Vol. 116, Nr. 2, January 21, 1949; pp. 27-28. Translated by Marie-Jacqueline.
Bøg-Madsen, Anna; "The Old Missionary's Brief Story," Nazareth Lutheran Messenger (Cedar Falls, Iowa; 1971) Courtesy of Casey Welch.
D.M.S., "Frk. Anna Bøg Madsen 60 Aar.", Dansk Missionsblad, Vol. 115, Nr.10, May 7, 1948; p. 151.
D.M.S. Missionary Album for 1934
Gullach-Jensen, Thyra; D.M.S. i Manchuriet (D.M.S., Copenhagen, 1937) pp. 126, 112-115.
Rendtorff, Christian; letter to Anna Bøg-Madsen, 1948. From the D.M.S. archives in the Rigsarkivet. Courtesy of Kirsten Berggreen Buch.
Turnbull, A.B.; "Anna Madsen Survives under [Japanese] Rule, to Return to Manchuria Soon," Cedar Falls Record; October 25, 1947; pp. 1, 5. Courtesy of Casey Welch.

Image:
Anna Bøg Madsen at sixty years from the May 7, 1948 article cited above.
All D.M.S. items used with permission.
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*"Dagmar Petersen" - Dagmar Elizabeth Petersen was a nurse who was sent to China by the D.M.S. in August, 1937. She served at Changchun and Antung. Sometime after the 1947 voyage to America, she married Joe Vaby of Cambridge, Wisconsin.
**"Dr. Eskildsens" - Dr. Eskild Karl Eskildsen and his wife served in China from 1922 to 1940. Dr. Eskildsen was born May 10, 1887 in Kolding. His father was a bricklayer. From 1912 to 1922, he resided in America. He was educated at Dana College and the University of Nebraska. After receiving his medical degree in 1921, he worked as a surgical assistant at a hospital in Nebraska. On December 24, 1921, he married Louise Marie Andersen, born September 3, 1896 in Nebraska. She was the daughter of a minister. Their children were Lucile Marie (born in January, 1923), Edward Karl (born in July, 1927), and Roy Henrik (born in June, 1932). D.M.S. sent the Eskildsens to China on July 13, 1922. From 1924 until his departure, Dr. Eskildsen headed the medical mission in Suihua.