Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1540425
68 PCB007 MAGAZINE I OCTOBER 2025 H A P PY 'S T EC H TA L K # 4 4 For some time now, I've wanted to share my obser- vations about living and working with the Chinese. If you plan to stay in the electronics profession, spe- cifically printed circuits, China will have a profound effect on you, and I hope some of my experiences will help you. My Historic Connection to China It is ironic that I would end up working with the Chi- nese. My father was a farm boy from Wisconsin who fought alongside the Chinese to defeat the Japa- nese on the China-Burma border during WWII. My father took many photos and had stories that he later shared with us kids. I remember the story he told of shooting an Indochinese leopard he saw lurking in a tree, its eyes glowing. It looked ready to pounce and to kill. Fearing for his life, my father took the shot, and the leopard landed right in the back of his jeep. As a boy, my father used to trap, skin, and trade muskrat pelts to the local Native Americans, so it was no issue for him to take the leopard back to the local village and trade the meat to the village leader in return for tanning the pelt. He carried that pelt with him throughout the war, brought it home, and I grew up with it on the living room floor. That expe- rience had such a profound effect on my father, and even 60 years later, he still remembered many words in Mandarin. by Happy Holden, I-C onne ct0 07 Memories of the 'Mystery Systems of the East' H a p py 's fat h e r c a r r y i n g t h e l e o p a rd t h ro u g h c a m p d u r i n g W W I I . ▼