There was no regular transportation between Saigon and Hanoi except under the authority of the French Admiral or the British General Gracie. At the time, there was only one plane in Saigon, a C-47, with bucket seats down the aisles. One of our OSS…
The Weldebreton Prison had originally been the Prins Hendrik Fort, which was built to defend against the British. Once the need for it had passed they turned it into a prison.
Kenneth had been working for several years, off and on, on a book about an American adventurer named Walter Gibson. Gibson had gotten crosswise with the Dutch, and they had thrown him into a prison called Weldebreton. He had been tried for various…
After the British-Thai negotiations ended in Bangkok, Kenneth travelled over to Saigon and called on the High Commissioner, who was Admiral Georges Thierry d'Argenlieu. He had been sent out by DeGaulle. The Admiral gave Kenneth a nice lunch, with a…
Kenneth tells of the Landon's different career spurts. He describes them as quite fortuitous, as Margaret wrote her book, and the war spurred great interest in Southeast Asia. Kenneth was also fortunate in that he was the only one in the Foreign…
Upon being asked about Thailand in the modern day, Kenneth makes his assessment. He reports that they will always survive and be independent, as they really know how to get along.
Kenneth tells of the lak muang. This post was supposed to hold a spirit who would protect the city. Traditionally, someone was crushed or impaled by the lak muang, and their spirit would stay in the area. Kenneth recalls seeing many of these in his…
Kenneth recalls the Siamese wedding he attended. After blessing the hand of the couple, he sat down at the stairs. This caused quite some dilemma, as many of the bigwigs of the town were there. As to not be impolite and through confusion, they ended…
One of the reasons Margaret and Kenneth resigned from mission work had to do with the role of the national church in Thailand vis-a-vis the missionaries. They both believed the mission was absolutely backward and without vision, that the mission…
When Kenneth tried to have Harvard take Prince Damrong's library he got on the telephone and called the heads of various departments, including Dr. Keyes DeWitt Metcalf, the head of the library and the most famous librarian in the U.S. at that time…
The Landons inadvertently paid their servants more than necessary. By the time they left the town, one of their servants, Ah Sim, owned three shops on the marketplace. She hadn't owned any when she came to the Landons.
The Landons were learning about 30 new words a day, and memorizing two verses from the Siamese New Testament. Each week was a significant advance in their learning of the Siamese language.
Paul Fuller invited the Landons to his house for tea and to meet the Prince and his daughter, who was an expert tennis player and who asked Margaret to be her tennis partner in a tournament in February. Kenneth also was asked to become member of the…
Kenneth speaks of the disturbance in China that started in March of 1927 and filled the country. It was a civil war between the Kuomingtang forces of Chiang Kai Shek and the various warlords of the country. It has been a guerrilla area ever since.
Kenneth reads an account of his ordination from the Meadville newspaper. It was May 10, 1927 (contra an earlier account in which Kenneth insists that it was April 19, 1926). The articles describes the hymns, the sermon, and the ordination prayer…
Kenneth preached his last Sunday at Columbus. He only had his final Bible conference to do before leaving for Siam. He talks about his travel arrangements, the shipment of his car to Siam, and his travel expenses.
Kenneth was called in to New York in April for further examination because the doctor suspected a heart problem. The heart specialist cleared him, but the mission board doctor remained skeptical. Finally, after a long interview, the doctor…
Kenneth had wanted a good pictures of both his father and mother since college days, and for his birthday that spring of 1927, they sent him pictures which they had specially framed and which he kept the rest of his life.
Kenneth was given money from the church to pay the note off on his car and take it with him to Siam. Mrs. Ridgeway presented Kenneth with the gift and tried to make a speech, but she began to weep instead. Other people in the congregation began to…
Kenneth talks about taking Margaret out for a walk every day pretty much against her will. "I guess I'm incorrigible; I never improve," Kenneth says. Each day they would walk farther and Margaret was getting stronger.
Kenneth and Margaret left their apartment and stayed for free at the seminary. They began to pack, applied for passports, and bought things they would need in Siam.
On January 19 Kenneth wrote his parents to announce Margaret's pregnancy. "And Mother, if you have loads of good advice for Margaret, I know she'd appreciate it," he wrote.
Kenneth tells about his decision to go into mission business and to do so rapidly. This upset Margaret, but it was Kenneth's way of doing things, and it will always be thoughout his life. He reads about his visit to New York to talk with people on…
While at Princeton Kenneth met a missionary called Van Ness. He tells how the preaching of this missionary urged him again for mission. Kenneth then met with Mr. Speer the next week in New York to discuss his desire to go to the mission field.