REMINISCENCES OF ALICE MOORE
In November, the Americans chosen to be exchanged for Japanese civilian prisoners started off early in the morning, smiling and happy. Those of us left behind looked sadly at our departing friends. Had we known that we should have another two years in camp, we should have been even more depressed.
With their departure, certain changes were made in ...
WEIHSIEN
by Ruth H. Kunkel
This is a small village in North China, west of Tsingtao. Years ago a school was started there by the Presbyterian mission and it was there that eventually eighteen—hundred and fifty civilian prisoners of war were held.
On the day of the attack on Pearl Harbor which was December 8, 1941, in China, we were called to the Japanese Embassy where the Ambassador was as shocked as we were. His wife was an ...
[excerpts] ...
HELEN BURTON
September 1948
... letter to the family ...
..."Cleaning latrines in Weihsien for the citizens of the Land of the Rising Sun was enough for me of the non-American way of life. etc...
... Way back in the beginning before there was an American School in Peking, the Peking Mother's Club organized the Peking Primary School for the purpose of educating foreign students from kindergarten through the fifth grade. In 1915, Miss Ruth Johnson was made principal and ...
Excerpts of letters from Ruth Kunkel and friends:
“THE WHITE ELEPHANT SHOP” IN WEIHSIEN
It was found that some people had taken to camp articles which they didn’t need. So Helen Burton of “The Camel Bell” in Peking, got permission to use a small shed as headquarters for exchange. To pave the mud floor, we scrounged bricks when the guards weren’t looking. No goods were ...
'NUMBERED SAFETY PINS'
Ruth looked in vain for the No. 790 alien who had been exchanged for her. As the Gripsholm and the Jap boat met, the Americans were able to talk with the Japs they were being exchanged for. “A pretty sad and sorry looking lot, they were too. I don’t think they looked forward to going home somehow!”