This is a photograph of the "ruins of Wuchow [now Wuzhou] Center Mission. Directly hit by a Japanese demolition bomb destroying three fourths of the three story building. The remainder had to be completely wrecked. Loss estimated at one million Chinese dollars or twenty five thousand U.S. currency at the current rate of exchange. Two priests and three Sisters and about twenty Christians were in the chapel on the first floor, about 60 people were packed into a shelter in at the back of the chapel, no one was even slightly injured or shocked. One priest on the top floor, Fr. Sprinkle was buried in the ruins but was only injured. The three Sisters that are in the picture are Sisters Agnes Virginia Higgins, Chanel Xavier and Herietta Marie Cunningham. Fr. Lynch is standing in the spot where Fr. Sprinkle was buried. Fr. Reilley is just in back on Fr. Lynch." Born in Ohio, Fr. Sprinkle came to Maryknoll in 1926 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1935. After ordination he was assigned to Wuchow, South China where he earned the title "the most bombed priest in China", managing to escape numerous air raids. At the war's end he took over the Pingnam mission where he opened a dispensary. In 1951 he was imprisoned by the Chinese and was under house arrest. He left china and was assigned to Taiwan in 1952. -- Born in Massachusetts, Fr. Lynch came to Maryknoll in 1928 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1938. He was assigned to the Wuchow mission in China. He spent six years in Wuchow and in 1945 he was awarded the Emblem for Meritorious Civilian Service for his work as a Contract Chaplain in China. After the war he returned to Tanchuk, Kwangsi and in 1951 the mission was closed. He was held a prisoner for one day and later expelled from China. He then began work in Taiwan where he spent the rest of his life. -- Born in Massachusetts, Fr. Reilly came to Maryknoll in 1933 and was ordained to the priesthood on June 16, 1940. Following ordination Fr. Reilly was assigned to Wuchow in South China. He served there behind the Japanese occupation lines throughout World War II. He was Vicar General of the Wuchow Vicariate and was assisted by his close friend Bishop Frederick Donaghy in establishing the first Kwangsi Catholic mission school called Sacred Heart Primary School. He avoided imprisonment by the Communists and eventually left China for Hong Kong in 1952. For the next 41 years he worked in Hong Kong setting up clinics, domestic industries, welfare projects, food distribution among the many refugees. He built several churches and academic institutions in this area.
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