Charlie Two Shoes and the Marines of Love Company [Hardcover]

Michael Peterson (Author), David Perlmutt (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1998

This is the tale of an eleven-year-old Chinese boy, Tsui Chi Hsii - better known by his American name Charlie Tsui, or Charlie Two Shoes - who was befriended by a company of U.S. Marines sent to China in 1945 shortly after the end of World War II. Malnourished and often cold, Charlie lived in a mud hut just beyond the barbed wire protecting the men of Love Company, 4th Marines, 1st Marine Division. The Marines gave him food and clothing, taught him English, sent him to church, and paid for his schooling. But when the communists took over China in 1949, Love Company was forced out of the country, and Charlie was left behind. Back home the Marines moved on with their lives, yet they could not forget their young friend. Charlie, refusing to denounce his connection with the Americans, suffered immensely at the hands of the Maoist government. After thirty-five years, seventeen as a political prisoner, he finally managed to contact some of his old Marine Corps friends. They, in turn, joined together again to help bring Charlie to America. Numerous obstacles had to be overcome, but eventually, with irrepressible pluck, Charlie made his way to the United States in 1983, and two years later he was able to bring his family to this country as well - a true realization of the American dream.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

At the end of World War II in 1945, some U.S. Marines stationed in northern China befriended an 11-year-old boy who brought them food and firewood in exchange for money. The men nicknamed the resourceful lad Charlie Two Shoes and promised to bring him to the U.S. when their tour of duty ended. This heartwarming account tracks Charlie Two Shoes' life in China and his eventual reconciliation with his marine comrades nearly 50 years later. When relations softened between the two countries in 1980, the 45-year-old married father contacted his former marine buddies by mail. After years of bureaucratic haggles, Charlie Two Shoes and his family came to the U.S., where they remain today. A captivating chronicle of an amazing odyssey. Sue-Ellen Beauregard

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: US Naval Institute Press (November 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1557506728
• ISBN-13: 978-1557506726
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,267,722 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars On A More Personal Note, December 31, 2004

By 

N. Walker (North Carolina, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Charlie Two Shoes and the Marines of Love Company (Hardcover)

My boyfriend bought me this book for Christmas, and I was thrilled. Not only am I a social studies teacher and a history buff, but I am priviledged enough to know Charlie Two Shoes. He owns a business in the town where I live and is always there with a smile and a friendly word. He autographed my book with the inscription "May God bless you and yours with health and joy." When I went by today to thank him for the inscription, he told me that there is a lot of history in this book that is not often told. While I have not yet finished the book, I have enjoyed what I have read so far. No matter what crimes have been committed by one of the authors, you should take the time to buy this book and read the interesting true life story of a truly wonderful man.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Compelling story of friendship and perseverance, July 6, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Charlie Two Shoes and the Marines of Love Company (Hardcover)

Charlie Two Shoes is a fascinating story of one man's friendship with a group of US Marines and his incredible perseverence in getting re-united with them. Peterson and Perlmutt tell the story through Charlie's eyes and those of his Marine pals. They give us an intriguing look at life behind the Bamboo Curtain. More amazing than Charlie's budding friendship -- he was around the Marines for about four years as a teenager -- is his enduring perseverance in keeping his dream of a reunion alive. The dream survived decades, including years in a Chinese prison and more under house arrest in his small village. After all that, his eventual reunion in the U.S. had drama of its own. One Marine buddy turned out to be more interested in his own fortunes than Charlie's,and Charlie's efforts to stay got mired as much in domestic politics as international. A good read by gifted writers.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An epic of faith, courage and loyalty set in war torn China., February 1, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Charlie Two Shoes and the Marines of Love Company (Hardcover)

Charlie Two Shoes and the Marines of Love Company is not only an inspiring story about friendships and loyalty, but also an excellent retelling of some little known American history. Set in Northern China starting at the end of World War II and continuing to recent times, the reader will learn about the atrocities visited upon the Chinese peasantry by the Japanese, the communist take over of China and America's futile efforts to stop it, the severe poverty and starvation the Chinese people endured, and the political repression and corruption that continued for years. Into the shadows of these desolate and hopeless conditions, the warmth and charity that the American Marines and missionaries brought with them to China and to a young boy, nick-named Charlie, shine brightly. The reader is invited on a journey through Charlie's life of joys and travails, but is pulled aside by the authors from time to time for some excellent and concise description of the historical context. Thus this true tale of friendship and suffering also enables the reader to also learn the larger story of the historical events which ultimately were its cause.