HI EVERYBODY!
Can't imagine why anybody would care to know anything about me, but they say I need to write this short autobiography in my own words, so here goes nothing!
First of all, you need to know that Mynx d'Meanor is NOT my real name. That came much later, as I will explain. My real name is Dong Mei Ying, which means 'reflects beautiful light' in Chinese. But, I like Mynx and that's what all my friends and coworkers call me, so we'll go with that.
I was born and raised in Singapore, the second youngest in a family of four sons and two daughters. My father is an importer of rice and other foods. My mother teaches mathematics at the British School. Our family is not wealthy, really, but we want for little and by local standards are considered quite well off.
When I was growing up, we spoke English at home, never Chinese, which is my parents' native language. The only time my mother and father would speak Chinese is when they did not want us to understand when they were talking to each other. I was born in the Year of the Rabbit, which means I am articulate, talented, and ambitious. Supposedly this also gives me an uncanny gift of choosing the right thing. This can be important in my line of work.
MY EDUCATION
I have always been a good student. My parents sent me to the British School in Singapore, where I got the best education available. Many westerners do not understand that education is very competitive in my country. Even as young children we studied very hard at school and did homework for a couple of hours every night.
After earning top honors at the British School, I was selected to attend the National University of Singapore. There I earned my diploma in business. I also studied languages: Latin, French and German. After graduation I worked for two years in my father's business. This was interesting but it did not fulfill my desire to travel and learn about the world.
I participated in a rigorous national competition and won a scholarship to the London School of Economics. This paid for my fees and books, plus a modest stipend to cover living expenses. I was a poor student, but it felt great to be independent!
The two years that I studied in London were the best and most exciting years of my life (to that point, anyway! Ha! Ha!). I was always a good student, but here they taught me how to think. Looking back, it is obvious to me that this is the great difference between East and West. In London I had to 'unlearn' my many years of traditional training before I could learn how to think. When I finally broke the mold that had been confining my mind, it was like being reborn. A veil was lifted and suddenly I could see so much that had been hidden from me.
In my opinion, the Japanese will never be able to defeat the Allies for the simple reason that, while they may be very smart, most do not know how to think. Thinking is simply another word for problem solving. Oh, the Imperial generals can make intricate battle plans and their lieutenants can follow orders precisely as given, but when things do not go according to the plan, all are lost. Americans and Brits think the Japs are somewhat less than human for this very reason. The truth is, most all Oriental people are like this.
Sorry. This is supposed to be my autobiography, not my philosophy on life. So, let me resume the story.
THE BLITZKRIEG CHANGES MY LIFE
In the summer of 1940, I had finished the course work and was busy researching my master thesis (topic: an economic analysis of building a new commercial airport for Singapore). Britain had declared war on Germany in September of the previous year. This did not affect life in London too much at that time, but in August German Air Force (Luftwaffe) began an intensive aerial bombing campaign of London.
The nightly bombings forced my school to close, so there was no way to continue my studies. My stipend had been discontinued, so I had to look for work. This was not a good time for a young woman to find a job - except in the military. I applied to join the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS), hoping to serve somewhere on the coast as an enemy aircraft spotter.
My initial interview, with Miss Blankenship, at the military recruiting office did not go well. She reminded me of the Vice Principal of my elementary school and was the most austere and humorless person I think I had met in London. I believe she was prejudiced against me for being oriental. At any rate, she didn't seem to understand that being from Singapore, I was as much a British citizen as her.
Fortunately, I spent only one long and uncomfortable day in her presence. She gathered all my school records and gave me a series of intelligence and aptitude tests. After that day, I heard nothing for over a week. One afternoon I received a registered letter from the U.K. Security Service, commonly known as MI5 (Military Intelligence, section 5). It instructed me to report to Thames House for further interviews and testing.
There I met with Lieutenant Genevieve Harker, a petite and perky young woman, who seemed very happy to see me. We discussed my history and education. She asked me a few questions about my future ambitions. Then very abruptly, she offered me a trainee position in MI5. She could not tell me exactly what my job would be, but that with my language skills, she expected it to involve translations. I accepted on the spot. At 3£ monthly, the pay was not great, but I knew this was all I was likely to find.
TO BE CONTINUED...
