Michael Alderton (essarem) notes that General M.A. Cohen, A.D.C. to Dr Sun Yat-sen, had departed from Hong Kong for Canada on 5 December 1924, and, by the time of Dr Sun’s death on 12 March 1925, he was still only partway through his Canadian mission, the nature of which was speculated upon in a newspaper report of 3 March 1925: Troops in China. Morris Cohen, aide to General Sun Yat Sen, the South China leader, has come to Canada bringing secret instructions from Sun Yat Sen to leaders of the movement in the Dominion. It is thought that the ex-Canadian sergeant will attempt to recruit an army of fighters for his chief and, after equipping and training them here, will return to China with them.
On hearing the news of Dr Sun’s 12 March death, General Cohen recalls: My mission had proved longer and more difficult than I’d expected. Although the true state of Dr Sun’s health was a carefully guarded secret, I couldn’t help knowing that things were pretty bad and that made me all the more anxious to finish my task and report back to him. It was the middle of March and I was kicking my heels in a Vancouver hotel when I heard the news of his death. I took the next ship for China and on that passage I played no poker, I spent no time in the bar, and, in fact, I scarcely spoke to a soul onboard.
On 20 March, General Cohen had boarded the Empress of Australia at Vancouver bound for Shanghai. The Vancouver press recorded his departure: Passengers for Orient. General M.A. Cohen of Edmonton, on the staff of the late Dr Sun Yat Sen, and following a 3 month long stay in Canada, is returning to China on the “Empress of Australia” as a result of the death of the famous South China leader.
Also on 20 March, Dr Sun’s body was taken from the Beijing hospital where he had died, to lie in state at the city’s Central Park Garden. General Cohen recalls his late March arrival back in China: After arriving at Shanghai, I jumped onto the Peking Express. I was hurrying all I knew because I couldn’t tell how long the lying-in-state would last, and I wanted to see his face again. Dr Sun lay in Peking’s Central Park, where I joined the people from all the provinces of China who streamed past the bier. General Cohen goes on to describe how: On April 2, his body was taken to Azure Cloud Temple in Peking’s Western Hills. This was a Chinese funeral procession and his body was borne in a Chinese coffin. I left Dr Sun in the Western Hills and for a while I felt that I’d left the better part of myself there too.
The April 1925 event depicted in the image at the top of this page can best be described by General Cohen in his own words: Not long after leaving Dr Sun’s body in the Western Hills, I’d accompanied Mme Sun and Sun Fo and a few of his intimate friends and relatives to choose a site for a proposed mausoleum to house the Doctor’s body. In China the position of a grave is a matter of great importance. The surroundings have got to be just right. For days we had walked all over Nanking’s Purple Mountain, a famous historical burial ground – the great Ming Dynasty buried their Emperors there – till at last a site had been selected. Ever since then the building of the Mausoleum continued through wars and plagues and flood and famine, and finally, in the spring of 1929, it was complete and magnificent – worthy of the Great Doctor himself.
See also: 1929 - Gen. Two Gun Cohen, Dr Sun's protective companion & political party colleague | Gwulo