The port that serves Tientsin is Tanggu and opens on to the Gulf of Chihli (now the Bohai Sea). From Tanggu, the coastline runs south and eventually arrives at the port of Chefoo, Yen T'ai, situated on the Yellow Sea in Shantung Province, a distance of about 300 miles. It is a deep-water anchorage and an excellent, well-protected harbour not subject to silting. It is known for pongee silk cloth and tussore silk yarn. It has a long, dry summer and is noted for fruit growing, particularly grapes. Unfortunately, in the 1940s it was not served by rail and access was by mule trains, carts or motor trucks.
Early in 1941, Dorothy, John and their children moved into a Chinese postal house in Chefoo. On December 7th, 1941, without declaring war, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. On the same day, John was arrested in the street on his way back to the office after lunch, and put in solitary confinement. He was accused of being a British spy.
Their coolie came home in tears, saying that John was so upset that he was almost crying. 'A big lorry,' he said, 'full of Japanese soldiers forced him to get into the truck and then they drove away.'
Later, on the same day as John's arrest, a Greek lady whom they knew came to say that all the British and American men had been arrested, but John was the first. They had been confined in the unheated summer hotel in Chefoo. The Greek lady, being neutral, was able to keep the families who had had their husbands arrested updated with the news of their menfolk. [click here]
The prisoners remained in the hotel for the next six weeks. Dorothy was allowed to visit John once a week to bring him food and any necessary clothing. For Dorothy, these weeks were a nightmare. She had to submit to having the house searched several times by the military who were looking for documents which would incriminate John as they were convinced that John, being British, was spying for his country; as he was a Chinese civil servant, they thought that he was also spying for the Chinese.
Having taken over all control of the Post Office, the Japanese stopped John's salary; lack of funds became a problem. The household at this time consisted of Dorothy's parents, the three children, the two amahs, their cook-boy, and Dorothy herself. They ate the cheapest foods: cornmeal bread and peanut oil. A friend who kept two pigs gave them a piece of bacon which lasted for a long while. Each member of the family was given a scrap from time to time as a treat. People were generally very kind. The Greek owner of a small grocery shop sent a message to say that Dorothy and her family could have anything they needed and pay only when John had returned home. For Dorothy's children, the house seemed empty without their father. All the luxuries of parties and outings ceased because of money and travel restrictions; their lives had changed for the worse and it had become a dark and empty period.
During the cold winter of 1941, Philip Raitt recalls what happened to bring them Christmas cheer and warmth:
'A gaily-dressed entourage arrived at our house singing carols, accompanied by instruments. The group was from our school the China Inland Mission School. They brought in a small, live Christmas tree, baskets of fruit, cakes and a feast of cold cuts and preserves. Gifts were loaded on to our outstretched arms. The servants looked elated and clapped in happiness and wonder. The group stayed for the afternoon and enjoyed cocoa and cake while we decorated the tree. I know that this was the best Christmas I ever had as a child.'
Dorothy and her family had only been living in the Chefoo postal house for eleven months when they were told they had to leave immediately. Fortunately, the China Inland Mission owned a good deal of property in the town and lent them one of their summer cottages; it was far from convenient and always bitterly cold in the winter when the water in the bedroom pitcher froze at night.
The cottage was not searched but on one occasion, as Dorothy wa returning home, she met a Japanese civilian by the gate who demanded to search the house: 'I asked him to show me his documentary authority, he drew a revolver and said "this is my authority" so he and his companion came in and strolled about the rooms, chattered and laughed a bit and left.
On another occasion, Dorothy had been to a tea party; her father came to escort her home. As they started down the hill, they came upon wooden barrier across the path. Dorothy shouted for someone to move it but nothing happened. They stood and waited; still nothing happened. In the end, Dorothy gave the log barring their way a shove, and down the hill it rolled with a lot of noise. A soldier appeared and shot at them number of times. Dorothy heard the bullets whiz past her face but that was all. The officer in charge called Dorothy into the guardhouse and apologised most profusely when she complained at length in poor Chinese. He said it was a mistake on the part of a raw recruit.
The Japanese put out endless propaganda, which bore fruit in the behaviour of the young Chinese, but the British did not realise this until the war was over. This changed behaviour came as a shock when Dorothy and the family returned to Tientsin. She and John had always been fond of the Chinese, whether acquaintances, servants or others; they had treated the Chinese with the courtesy and respect due to good people and they had behaved in the same way toward Dorothy and her family 'Because the Chinese is naturally courteous,' Dorothy says, 'no matter his position in life, I imagined that they actually liked us, until after the Japanese occupation. It was only after that, that I noticed they did not like us but that it had seemed they appreciated our trust and friendship.'
For some months there had been rumours that all the British and allied nationals would be interned. Several men sent their wives and children home. [sic] Note: After the Pearl Harbor attack, no repatriations were allowed. In 1943, however, a prisoner exchange occured between Japan and the West by the Sweedish mercy ship: m/v Gripsholm. (see website)
Dorothy decided to stay behind with her husband and to remain in the Chinese Inland Mission summer cottage: 'I remember we spent that time in the cottage going for long walks and doing a great deal of mending.'
It was now imperative for John and Dorothy to reflect on what might happen at any moment: John could not work; were they doing the right thing by not returning to England with the children? It was in any event doubtful that they could get back, with war raging in Europe.
By now the Japanese had already overrun Malaya and the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia). On October 7th 1942, the US First Marine Division had landed, and were breaking out from the beachhead on Guadalcanal in the Pacific. The Battle of Cape Esperance was to start four days later. In the west, the British offensive 'Lightfoot', commenced at El Alamein on October 23rd. The further advance by the Japanese, who had already captured Burma, was halted by the commencement of the monsoon in May. By October, the tables were beginning to turn. Dorothy and John were out of touch with what was going on in the rest of the world; the only news they heard was the interminable propaganda broadcast by the Japanese which they did their best to ignore.
One fine October morning in 1942, a Japanese army truck drove up and their house was immediately overrun by armed soldiers. Dorothy and John were told that they, with their children, had to be at the Temple Mill Mission compound at noon. They were allowed to bring bedding, clothes, food and one piece of luggage per person: 'As we had made no preparations it was difficult to pack in a hurry and some belongings were left behind. The servants had to get out also and were in no state to help me.'
Dorothy took all the provisions she had stocked up that could be packed and also pots, pans, dishes and other kitchen equipment that could be carried: 'We also brought with us some ducks and geese that we had, and all this with a Japanese soldier in each room pointing his bayonet at one repeating, "quai, quai, hurry, hurry".' It was a scramble to hire enough rickshaws to transport all their things as their friends were doing the same: 'At last everything we could take with us was crammed on to the rickshaws.' The cook had managed to prepare hot food for them and had tied two or three pots of hot food to the axles of the rickshaws but they probably fell off; in any event, they disappeared.
When they reached the Temple Mill Mission compound, which comprised a number of detached houses, two schools and a hospital, families were placed in various houses where they were to live for the next eleven months. All the detached houses had been occupied by the Japanese at some time and wrecked.
As the families were not properly divided on the first night, fourteen people slept in one big room on the floor, on Dorothy's mattresses: 'There was too little water (which had to be pumped out of the ground), for washing and I seemed to be the only one with a jug and basin. We all shared the few tins of food we had with us and lights were out by eight o'clock at the request of an old couple who liked to sleep early.'
These uncomfortable conditions continued for about a week, after which the Japanese officer in charge, in collaboration with the committee who represented the internees, divided everyone among the rooms in the house. Dorothy, her children and the other British families had half, the other half was occupied by the China Inland Mission Girls' School, together with twenty or thirty girls, several teachers and their families. The headmistress was an old acquaintance of Dorothy from the days when she was at boarding school in Switzerland.
Dorothy's parents were placed with another group of people in a different compound and they were only able to see each other at Christmas. Rooms were allocated according to the size of the family. Dorothy, John and the children had a room twelve feet by twelve feet for the five of them as did the Murray family, also of five. Mr and Mrs Morrison, with only one boy, shared their room with the Anglican clergyman. The Rouses had a room for the four adults, while the two Roman Catholic priests shared a room with a Presbyterian Missionary. A Belgian lady had her three little daughters in her room.
There was a bathroom on the first floor for all these people but baths had to be shared as they could only be filled by heating pans of water one after the other and it took a long time. There was a huge kitchen in the basement. The housekeeping was shared among them all. The men pumped water and did the heavy work like stoking the furnace and carrying out the rubbish. The women cooked and the big girls of ten or older cleaned vegetables and helped generally. Camp food was basic: peanuts, bean-curd, cabbage and bread. Each family looked after their own room and laundry. Dorothy's job was to keep the bathroom clean and she also taught the little children reading and writing. The catering was done by a Chinese shop, the owner of which would be paid from a fund given to their committee by the Japanese. Dorothy remembers that it was four yen a day per person and they all ate well. As there was no dining room, food had to be eaten in the bedroom.
Philip recalls that on one occasion when as a young boy of seven or eight, he was part of a Cub Scout pack. Their Cub mistress broke into the locked Anglican Church and pilfered every Cub and Scout uniform that she could carry, together with flags and banners. On her return she was mobbed by scores of young boys who were eager to try on their new regalia. In spite of the noise that ensued, the Japanese guards left them alone.
Philip used to while away countless hours copying a painting that his mother cherished. It was a watercolour of a house she once occupied. At some point one morning, a lanky, skinny young man stopped and admired his 'masterpiece': 'He suggested a couple of changes and said he would return the next day and give me some tips on drawing'. He became Philip's first art teacher. After their first meeting, the young man and Philip sketched together on several occasions. The name of Philip's new friend was Eric Liddell, the Scottish miler who refused to run in the Olympics on Sunday as it was against his religion. His story is beautifully told in the movie The Chariots of Fire. Subsequently, Eric became a missionary in China.
In the winter it became bitterly cold and everyone worried whether they would receive any more coal. Come the summer, the temperature could rise to 50°C so that all who were able slept out in the open. Early in 1943, the camp commandant handed over his responsibilities to Major Kosaka, who arranged for a sandpit to be brought into the camp for the children to play in.
At the end of eleven months, in September 1943, they were all moved from this really comfortable and homelike internment camp in Chefoo to a much larger one in Weihsien near Tsingtao (now Qingdao), about 120 miles south of Chefoo as the crow flies. The internees were taken around the Shantung Peninsula on a small ship where they were packed together so tightly that if anyone wanted to turn over at night the only way was to stand up, turn, and lie down facing the other way. It was crowded, hot, smelly and tedious. Rats were the size of small dogs and motion sickness was prevalent. There was no food and no water but most people were too seasick to want it until they arrived at Tsingtao, forty-eight hours later. They were not permitted to buy anything.
After a train journey of about one and a half hours, everyone had to get out and then they were taken by truck to the internment camp at Weihsien, where they were to live for the next three years. As the truck drove up to the entrance John, who not only spoke Chinese but wrote it also, noticed three Chinese characters over the large gate, he whispered into Dorothy's ear: 'Courtyard of the Happy Way'.
The camp was a former university and perfect for their three-year internment, but far too crowded for 1,800 prisoners of whom a third were children. It had a high wall and only one exit. An easily guarded gate was used by guards and merchants who brought in the bare necessities of life, including some food, paid for by the Red Cross.
The people already there turned out in force to welcome the new arrivals and lined the road calling greetings to friends they recognised as they filed in. Some days later, Dorothy heard that the internees already in the camp were disappointed when they noticed that the group Dorothy and her companions were with consisted mainly of the very old or feeble and young schoolchildren.
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Early in 1941, Dorothy, John and their children moved into a Chinese postal house in Chefoo. On December 7th, 1941, without declaring war, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. On the same day, John was arrested in the street on his way back to the office after lunch, and put in solitary confinement. He was accused of being a British spy.