By Alexander Dworkowitz
When Maolin Yang's two children emigrated from China to the United States in 1999, he wanted them to prove their love for their adopted land.
After they studied English at Queensborough Community College for a year, Su and Bo Yang, living with their father and stepmother in Flushing, enlisted in the U.S. Army at their father's urging.
“A lot of different people think that Chinese people only are in business and never serve the country,” Maolin Yang, a veteran of the Chinese military, said through a Mandarin translator. “I wanted to change that image.”
But in recent weeks, Maolin Yang has begun to agonize over his decision.
His daughter, Su Yang, is stationed in Iraq. A 24-year-old corporal with a tank maintenance crew, Su Yang has become ill with an infection, her father said.
Su Yang sometimes calls home but more often she calls her 25-year-old brother, Bo Yang, in Germany, who is easier for her to reach, her father said.
Maolin Yang and his wife, Nan Li, want to see their daughter return home. But with the post-war unrest persisting in Iraq, they are unsure when they will be able to see her again.
Su Yang told her relatives she was unhappy with her medical care, her father said.
And she recently told her brother she needed him to send her a parcel, asking for instant noodles, toilet paper and feminine hygiene products, her father said.
“In raising my children, I was very, very strict,” Maolin Yang said in a recent interview at the Sheraton LaGuardia East Hotel. “If the situation wasn't very bad, she wouldn't call for help.”
While unable to find specific information about Su Yang's situation, U.S. Army spokesman Bruce Zielsdorf said all soldiers fighting in Iraq were getting adequate medical care.
“We not only have the best soldiers in the world, they are the best taken care of,” he said.
Maolin Yang, however, expressed concerns about his daughter, saying she had told him and her brother that she had suffered from heat stroke and mosquito bites.
Nan Li also worried about her stepdaughter.
“For a female soldier to stay there so long with no bathing, no anything, it's cruel,” she said through the translator.
Su Yang, who has a green card, joined the U.S. military before she could become an American citizen. Her brother, who also had a green card, was able to return to the United States to make a June appointment with the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services and has since become a citizen, Maolin Yang said.
Su Yang, however, missed the appointment, and her father worried about her status.
Mark Thorn, a spokesman for the New York office of the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services, said Su Yang's tour of duty would not jeopardize her citizenship application.
“No one who is serving their country in Iraq will lose a benefit because they missed an appointment,” he said.
Maolin Yang, a friend of former Queens Democratic district leader Ethel Chen, met with the staff of U.S. Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-Bayside) about his daughter's case.
Ackerman's press secretary, Jordan Goldes, said his office had contacted the Army on July 24.
“We did intervene on their behalf and contact the Army,” Goldes said. “We are obviously very concerned about this. It's a serious matter, and we've asked the Army to investigate.”
Reach reporter Alexander Dworkowitz by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 718-229-0300 Ext. 141.
