Life Story of a Foreign Medical Pathologist

This is an autobiography of a foreign medical graduate, who emigrated to the U. S. and became a Board Certified Pathologist with subspecialty Certification in Forensic Pathology and Skin Pathology. The author was born in 1931 in the Dutch East Indies, now known as Indonesia. He remembered growing up in Indonesia when it was a Dutch colony and attending a Dutch elementary school. He remembered the start of the 2nd world war when the Japanese forces invaded the Dutch East Indies. The author then attended a Japanese school where he learned to speak Japanese and Chinese. He remembered the attacks and bombing by American planes during the war. He remembered the surrender of the Japanese forces at the end of the world war in 1945. It was then that Indonesia proclaimed its independence. The Dutch with the help of Allied forces tried to reestablish their rule. Fierce fighting broke out between the Dutch and the Indonesian freedom fighters. In 1949 the Dutch lost the war and finally recognized Indonesia as a sovereign country. The author described his fond memories when he was a medical student. He wrote a chapter about his interesting medical education. In 1960 he graduated with an M. D. degree from the Faculty of Medicine of the Airlangga University in Surabaya, Indonesia. The author wrote about his residency trainings in pathology and forensic pathology in Indonesia and in the U. S. He described in detail what the requirements are to become a pathologist and what kind of work a pathologist does. He described his experiences as a resident in pathology and forensic pathology. He had to perform autopsies, conduct crime scene investigations (CSI) and testify in court as an expert witness. The author described life in Indonesia between 1964 and 1970. The economy deteriorated. Inflation persisted at a very high rate and corruption was widespread. Anti-Chinese riots broke out in many cities between 1965 and 1968. Being a Chinese-Indonesian the author did not appreciate the many dis