Lt. Col. Alfred Medendorp of the U.S. Army was killed in action on a tiny isle only a few miles from Amoy on September 3, 1954. Chinese shore batteries on what is now better known as Xiamen bombarded Little Quemoy (Little Kinmen) , half the size of its larger neighbor of the same name without that lesser sobriquet. Colonel Medendorp, originally from the national guard of the state of Michigan, was the first American officer of the U.S. Military Assistance Advisory Group to lay down his life for the defense of Taiwan. The September 3 artillery duel was a prelude to the Kinmen crisis of 1958, also referred to as the battle of the Taiwan Strait. A monument to the colonel, erected in 1992 while Gen. Hau Pei-tsun was premier, stands testimony to the U.S. determination to keep peace between Taiwan and China. Hau was commanding general of the Ninth Division deployed on Little Kinmen, called officially Lieyu or Fiery Island, which was bombarded twice as ruthlessly during the battle of the Taiwan Strait, which broke out four years later on August 23. The September 3 duel caused serious U.S. concern. Capitol Hill gave President Dwight D. Eisenhower authority to use force if necessary to defend Kinmen, a complex comprising fourteen tiny islands, one of them only about two miles off Xiamen, a larger island connected with the mainland of China by railway. Kinmen is 152 miles from Kaohsiung and 207 miles from Keelung, both on Taiwan. During the battle of the Taiwan Strait, 590 officers and men of the defense force were killed, with 2,200 others wounded and 24 missing in action. At least 80 civilians on the two islands died and 221 others were injured, most of them seriously. One more American colonel was killed on the first day of the crisis. The casualties were heavy because close to half a million artillery shells rained down on the 131.7 square-kilometer islands in the 44-day bombardment, which failed to pave the way for an invasion from the Chinese mainland. Half of them, 240,460 shells, fell on Little Kinmen. The People's Liberation Army did not make any attempt to land its troops on either of the Kinmens. On September 26, while the battle of the Taiwan Strait continued to rage, an LVT (landing vehicle tracked) carrying a press contingent capsized off Liolo Bay on Kinmen. Six war correspondents, including one from Japan and another from the Republic of Korea, drowned. All these servicemen and civilians did not die in vain. Peace has reigned between Kinmen and Xiamen, at first precariously and now expected to last as Taiwan is improving relations with China after eight years of hostile confrontation while President Chen Shui-bian was in office. 'Peace is so lovable,' said Lin Ma-teng, a veteran turned amateur historian who is now curator of a cultural museum on Little Kinmen. Pointing to a northeastern shore of Xiamen Island, about 3.5 miles away from Little Kinmen, Lin said skyscrapers have mushroomed over the past couple of years.'The Chinese are enjoying the peace as well,' he quipped, 'or they wouldn't even try to build anything.' That part of Xiamen is exposed to a Little Kinmen shore battery whose 240mm howitzer can take out any structure and annihilate its occupants if a war breaks out. The tiny isle is dotted with emplacements of similar artillery batteries that can also fire surface-to-surface missiles. They and the well-trained garrison are combat-ready, not for war but to make sure no hostilities occur by accident. No accident is likely after all tensions across the strait have been removed since May 2008, however. 'That has affected our business, ' a souvenir shop owner happily lamented. Hung Chih-ching, who worked as a reporter for the Kinmen Daily newspaper before opening his store, isn't much worried about a fall in his business resulting from a cut in troop strength on the island. He enjoyed a brisk business while there were 'many, many more soldiers.' 'My business has suffered a bit, ' he added, 'but I am happy for we do enjoy the peace.' Another storeowner likes the peace better. Hung Song-po sells peanut cake, the best of its kind in China.uMore tourists come, not just from Taiwan and China but from around the world, and they are all good customers,vhe beamed. The tourist boom, though not as large as was expected, has helped Kinmen sell its world-famous Kaoliang liquor. To an ever-growing number of connoisseurs throughout the world, Kaoliang means a fragrant, tasty and strong spirit like vodka that is made from sorghum, which Kinmen is best suited to grow. Kinmen Distillery, owned by the county government of Kinmen, chalked up more than NT$18 billion (US$600 million) in sales last year. Kinmen, which means Golden Gate in Chinese, has a population of less than 40,000. Relatives of Hiroyuki Yasuda, the Tokyo-based Yomiuri Shimbun correspondent killed in the LVT accident, came to Kinmen to witness his being enshrined at the Martyrs' Temple. His fellow Korean reporter, Choi Ping Woo, and four Taiwan war correspondents were honored as well in Kinmen's version of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. President Ma Ying-jeou took part in a memorial service for them on August 23, 2008 to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Kinmen crisis. 'Let Kinmen turn from a killing field to a peace plaza, 'Ma declared. Kinmen is transforming as such. The monument on Little Kinmen and the enshrining of the six journalists attest a future in which there will be no more war between the two sides of the strait. 