From: MTPrevite
To: Weihsien@topica.com
Sent: 1/6/2010 7:00:56 A.M. Eastern Standard Time
Subj: Let's salute Tad Nagaki on his 90th birthday
Tad Nagaki will celebrate his 90th
birthday on January 25. Tad is the only American member still living from
the "Duck
Tad is a widower who lives alone.
His children are dead. At age 90, he still farms in
I plan to write a Letter to the Editor to
the Hemingford Ledger saluting this American hero on his 90th birthday. The
Ledger is the weekly newspaper that covers the county where Tad Nagaki lives. The editor tells me that
half of his readers live in
Would you join me
in writing Letters to the Editor from around the world to honor
Tad?
Ledger editor Aaron Wade
is delighted with this proposal and has promised me he will print your letters.
Don't worry if you've sent letters in the past. This is a different
newspaper, a different audience.
Even if you have no specific memory of Tad
Nagaki, you can write what you saw and
felt and how you celebrated the day the Americans parachuted from the sky to
rescue us. Who can forget that day? You can thank Tad for his
part of that rescue that gave you freedom.
1. Address your letters via e-mail to
2. Include in the subject line: 90th birthday salute to Tad Nagaki
3. Include your name and the city and country from which you are writing.
4. Deadline: Letters should be sent on or before January 14.
Thank you for joining me in this birthday
celebration.
Mary
Previte
-----
Original Message -----
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent:
Subject:
Weihsien info forwarded
from Angela Elliot
|
Weihsien Camp
Located two miles east of Weihsien, the American
Presbyterian Compound in Weihsien was known by the Chinese name of
"Courtyard of the |
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent:
Subject:
Letter to the editor from Carol Orlich for Tad Nagaki's 90th
birthday
Letter to the editor:
To Aaron Wade, Editor, Hemingford Ledger
From: Carol Orlich,
Widow of Pvt. Peter Orlich, member of the
Weihsien
Liberation
team
The
Subject: Honoring Tad Nagaki on his 90th
birthday
My one big wish and prayer is that my Pete were
here. He was a member of the team that liberated the Weihsien
Concentration Camp, along with Tad Nagaki.
Pete was radio operator on the mission, and, at age 21, the youngest member of
the team.
If Pete were alive, he would be in
Pete, himself, desperately wanted to be a member
of the team to liberate Weihsien. But he wore glasses and didn't think he would
be accepted to parachute. When they were giving the eye exam to volunteers
for the mission, Pete hid his glasses and memorized the eye chart by
listening to the men in the line in front of him. They
also did I.Q. tests. Pete was selected for the team.
But on the first practice jump, his glasses almost flew off his
head. From then on, whenever he jumped, he always taped his glasses
to his head.
My Pete didn't talk much about this rescue, but
my family considers their father and all members of the team as World War II
heroes.
I, myself, can't even imagine jumping out of an
airplane at 400 feet. You are a hero, Tad Nagaki.
I wish you a healthy and joyful birthday.
Carol Orlich, widow of Pvt. Peter Orlich
The Queens,
NY
From: Albert de Zutter
Sent:
Subject:
Re: Letter to the
editor from Carol Orlich for Tad Nagaki's
90th birthday
Mary, please forward to Carol Orlich
When I reached the spot where our rescuers had converged after landing I
remember, as a skinny 13-year-old weighing perhaps 85 pounts,
standing perhaps two feet from him, looking up at a crew-cut young man with
glasses taped to the sides of his face as he stood looking over me toward the
major (I surmise) who must have been saying something. I am happy to know the
identity of the rescuer whose appearance stays most distinctly in my mind.
Possibly one of the reasons he made such an impression on me (aside from the
taped glasses, which I had never seen before) was his youthful appearance.
Believe me, at that moment Pete Orlich, Tad Nagaki and the others were to us the equivalent of angels
dropping out of the sky.
Albert de Zutter
From: Ron Bright
Cc: Brightaway@aol.com ; AERA@yahoogroups.com
Sent:
Subject: Re: Amelia Earhart at Weihsien 1943-45?
Group,
I just recently ran into your web site and find this opportunity to
address the surviving Weihsein internees. I hope this
is the right format.
I am a long time Amelia Earhart reseacher. Years ago
I started to investigate the claim made by former OSS Lt, James Hannon, made
circa 1987, that he believed a woman at the Weishein
camp was in fact Amelia Earhart. She was comatose, emaciated, and held in a
part of the Japanese side of the Assembly camp for years and attended to by a
nun. Prior to the
During the past few years. I have corresponded with Desmond Powers, Dr Nordo, Mary Previte, Pamela
Masters and several other internees as well as interviewing some of the
Yet even today, some of the Earhart researchers believe that Hannon, who
came forward in 1987, believe that Earhart was hidden there and may have
been known as the "Yank". Hannon based his belief on a telegram that
George Putnam received in Sept 1945, unsigned. but indicated that the
camp was "liberated with volumes to follow," and say "love
to mother". Hannon believed that was a message sent via the State Dept
from Amelia.
I have read several books, the "Duck Report" but can not
find any confirmation that Earhart was interned at Weihsein.
Major Steiger in charge of the liberators says he
knew nothing of any unknown female and that was not his mission.
Thus in trying to close this chapter, I am soliciting any input concerning
the woman held in the Japanese quarters or anyone having any knowledge that
Earhart was held there. In view of the significance of this alleged
imprisonment, I think it is worth pursuing.
Please feel free to ask any questions or post comments pro or con.
Thanks in advance. And I especially wish to thank Pamela Masters for her
input on this claim.
Ronald E. Bright
Bremerton, Washingto, USA
Amelia Earhart Researcher
360 479 3640
From: Dwight W.
Whipple
Sent:
Subject: Re: Amelia Earhart at Weihsien 1943-45?
Ron~
Your subject line indicates 1943-45.
Many of us were repatriated in September of 1943 just after a group of students
were interned from Chefoo and perhaps other places. Do you have any
indication when in 1943 you suspect that she would have arrived at the camp?
~Dwight
W Whipple
From: Ron Bright
Sent:
Subject: Re: Amelia Earhart at Weihsien 1943-45?
Dear Dwight,
I will go thru my investigation again, but as I recall the
possible arrival of "
AE" was late 1943 or so. Since noone knew
exactly who Hannon was referring to, it is impossible, I think, to put a date
on any arrival.
"The Yank" may have been who Hannon mistakely
thought was AE. Her arrival can be determined.
Supposedly Earhart was in
The internee that wrote the famous Love to Mother telegram to
Putnam , after an extensive 2 year investigation , was most likely Amed Kamal. Many recall him at
the Camp. (he is deceased).
Mary Previte has interviewed
Hannon in person.
Ron Bright
From: Tapol
Sent:
Subject: Re: Amelia Earhart at Weihsien 1943-45?
Dear Ron,
I
questioned Father Hanquet on that subject. A young Catholic Missionary in his
early thirties at the time of our imprisonnement. He
was part of a group of very well informed persons such as Father de Jaegher and his answer was quite categorical.
"If an
American -- whoever it might be -- was detained in the Japanese part of the
camp we would have known it. No such thing ever happened!"
---
we never talked about the Amelia Earhart subject again.
Best regards.
Leopold
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent:
Subject:
Letter from John Taylor honoring Tad Nagaki
Letter to the Editor to honor Tad Nagaki
From John H. Taylor
I honor you, Tad
Nagaki, on your 90th birthday. I honor you for your
heroism in liberating Weihsien – for liberating me.
I remember eating eggs shells and
abominable food that often made me gag.
I remember a boil on my leg that wouldn’t heal and daily roll calls, numbering off in
Japanese – “ichi,
nee, san, she….” I remember freezing
our fingers making coal balls with a recipe of mud and coal dust.
But, oh, do I remember the day the
Americans came. The unfamiliar sound of
a low-flying plane interrupted us in a music class in the church right there by
the gate. Forget the music! Were we about to be bombed? We rushed out, gazing at the sky. There we
saw the American star on a plane as it flew so low over the ball field. When I saw the parachutes, I dashed through
that barrier gate into the gao-liang fields to welcome you American heroes.
After almost three years in Japanese
concentration camps and after 5 ½ years of not seeing Daddy and Mummy, what
does a hungry, 74-lb., 11-year-old remember of liberators? FREEDOM.
Then the B-29s brought candy and
chewing gum. I stuffed about five sticks of gum into my mouth all at one time
and chewed them all day until my jaws ached and then saved the wad so I could
chew it all again.
Your coming told us the war was over. You were one of seven brave young men who
volunteered for a very dangerous mission.
Thank you, Tad Nagaki. You gave us FREEDOM. You opened a door to a whole new world of
opportunities.
John H. Taylor, MD
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent:
Subject:
Re: Amelia Earhart at
Weihsien 1943-45?
I talked to Major Stanley
Staiger, Jim Moore, Tad Nagaki, and
Jim Hannon face to face. Staiger, Moore, and Nagaki
were adamant: they knew nothing of Amelia Earhart or "the
yank" in Weihsien. They told me -- repeatedly -- they did not
believe Jim Hannon's story.
In the many times I talked to Hannon, I
never challenged his stories. I listened. When I first visited him
and his wife in
Mary Previte
From: Ron Bright
Sent:
Subject: Re: Amelia Earhart at Weihsien 1943-45?
Leopold,
Thanks so much for your input. It certainly seems unlikely that the famous avatrix Earhart would have gone unnoticed at Weihsein.
Ron Bright
From: Ron Bright
Sent:
Subject: Re: Amelia Earhart at Weihsien 1943-45?
Mary,
Thanks for the information. If you recalled, I talked to you many years ago. As
I remember, you were visiting with Hannon in
It was in 1971 that Hannon brought out the possibility that Earhart was at Weishein in his book "Savages". Hannon was a
close friend of Joe Klaas who wrote the "Amelia
Earhart Lives" book, suggesting that Earhart survived. I think
Hannon was influenced by this scenario.
Ron Bright
From: Ron Bridge
Sent:
Subject: RE: Amelia Earhart at Weihsien 1943-45?
I had long exchanges with the late James
Hannon in writing and on the phone and have no idea where this suggestion came
from he could not tell me the source of what he was investigation, it had
" just kind of happened". She is not listed in any of the numerous
list of inmates that I hold, sadly the Swiss US records had been destroyed when
I started on the hostorical analysis but I have a
copy of the SWiss Consular British records which include
next of kin date of birth, passport details Etc . Hannon's idea was that
she was one of three women with mental health problems who were living in a
block behond the Japanese HQ block( Blocvk 45 or 46) I think that if she had been there Langdon
Gilkey would have mentioned it in "Shangtung
Compound." after all that was writte in 1964/5
from his notes taken in Weihsien.
In answer to Dwight Whipple there were odd
people drifting in and out throughout the latter stages of 1943. The main move
out was the RC Priests ansd Nuns on the 15 and 17
August 1943 the Gripsholm evacuees in the
first ten days of September 1943 whilst the Chefoo School moved in in early Sept 1943. In 1944 the only movements other
than the escape were medical cases going for treatment generally to
For those that do not knwo me I ahve accumualted a data base of over 100,000 names and it
includes all British Civilians and nearly all
RGds
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent:
Subject:
Re: Amelia Earhart at
Weihsien 1943-45?
I am interested in
In my meeting with Jim Hannon and his wife
in
Major Stanley Staiger had both a strong will and a
gripping personality -- who fought off a strong challenge when head of a
failed
Ron Bright, yes, I remember getting phone calls from
several members of the Amelia Earhart Association.
Mary Previte
From: Ron Bright
Cc: pamela@hendersonhouse.com
; Brightaway@aol.com
Sent:
Subject: Re: Amelia Earhart at Weihsien 1943-45?
Mary,
I have files and files of the Weishein
claim, but I have not made any report. I did make a report on my investigation
into the "Love to Mother" telegram from Weishein,
that appears in the Tighar.org group. The fellow was Kamal
who was a friend of George Putnams in
I never talked with Hannon, so I have no idea where he
thought Earhart was. In one newspaper account, [Hi Desert Star,
He claimed that a "mysterious message" was radioed
into the camp that one prisoner out of the 1500 was going to be evacuated
differently. While he was away, he said, a supposed American Col arrived in a
Japanese Betty Bomber and took out the woman he thought was Earhart. She
disappeared.
Of course this account lacks details. I think from other
sources Hannon claimed that the woman was held in the Japanese quarters where
she was attended to by a sister "Mary Ann", and thus noone in the camp would know.
It is an interesting story but I doubt if there is any
public interest now.
Ron Bright
From: Ron Bright
Sent:
Subject: Re: Amelia Earhart at Weihsien 1943-45?
Thanks for the information. I wonder if you have any next of kin, date
of birth and other identifiers for Ahmad KAMAL, who was at Weishein
until it was liberated. His wife was with him..I have
a list of some 1900 internees and the messages each sent out after the camp was
liberated.
Would appreciate
it very much.
Ron
From: Ron Bridge
Sent:
Subject: RE: Amelia Earhart at Weihsien 1943-45?
Ron,
He and his wife both born 1914, nok Mrs C Kamal lived in
LAX I have sent you separate e-mail direct. They were American of Tartar origin
However they lived in Block 19 Room 3 next
door to Bobby Bridger now known as he author Pamela Masters she may be able to
give you more detail
Rgds
Ron
From: Pamela
Masters
Sent:
Subject: Re: Amelia Earhart at Weihsien 1943-45?
Hi Ron (Bridge) --
Just for the record, my name in Weihsien
was Pamela Roberta Simmons, and I was known as Bobby; that's
where my married name, Pamela Masters, comes from.
I believe Bobby Bridger's given name was Barbara, and
that her married name is Backhouse. We gals like to keeps records straight,
especially as we lose our maiden names and a slice of our identity when we get
married.
As I said, just for the record....
PAMELA MASTERS, Author/Publisher
"You don't read her books...you LIVE them!"
Henderson House Publishing
Ph: 530-647-2000
Fx: 530-647-2002
www.hendersonhouse.com
From: "Donald Menzi"
<dmenzi@earthlink.net>
To: "weihsien"
<weihsien@topica.com>
Sent:
Subject: Weihsien Guards
Ø
> Here's another minor item, probably not of interest to most of us, but
maybe worth a footnote at least.
>
> Some of you will recall the extended and rather heated debate about the color of the Weihsien guards uniforms, initially generated
by Smith's wonderful picture of a regular army soldier in one of the guard
towers. Some people recalled only dark blue consular guard jackets and
denied that there were any other kind there. Others distinctly remember
olive uniforms on at least some of the guards. Since Smith's painting was made
after Weihsien's liberation and the soldier was actually protecting the
compound from potential guerilla attacks, it doesn't
prove anything either way about the guards before then.
>
> In this regard, I was interested to note the following sentence in
Christine Helsby's "Our POW Christmas,"
recently posted to the topica list.
>
> "I turned to look out at the great stretches of brick wall, bristling
with strands of electrified barbed wire, broken at intervals by menacing
pillboxes that were manned by one of the omnipresent olive-uniformed Japanese
guards."
>
> Although I wasn't there, I will bet that the consular guards did the
internal policing while regular army troops manned the watchtowers to guard
against outside attack. This seems to be confirmed by several drawings made by
camp artists.
>
From: gdavidbirch@yahoo.com
To: news@ledgeronline.com
Sent: 1/14/2010 12:27:41 A.M. Eastern Standard Time
Subj:
90th Birthday
Salute to TAD NAGAKI, WWII AMERICAN HERO!
|
TAD NAGAKI |
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent:
Subject:
Ledger story to honor Tad Nagaki on his 90th
birthday
Editor Aaron Wade of the weekly Hemingford (
The stories and letters will also be
available online, starting Friday, January 22.
I can only describe Aaron Wade as THRILLED at
having this mega-story for his newspaper and for his readers. He says the
fact that most people around
Thank you to all who have sent Letters of
congratulation to celebrate this American hero.
Mary Previte
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent:
Subject:
Saying happy birthday to
Tad Nagaki -- in person
Tomorrow, I fly to
Thanks to so many of you who wrote letters to the
editor to salute Tad Nagaki, the last living
member of the American team that liberated the camp.
You can go to this web site to read all of those
letters and an article about and photos of Tad Nagaki.
http://starherald.com/articles/2010/01/21/hemingford_ledger/news/doc4b58c97be737b752317946.txt
Click on Letters from Weihsien.
Mary Previte
From: Ron Bright
Sent:
Subject: Re: Saying happy birthday to Tad Nagaki -- in person
Mary P.
During your visit , if appropriate, I wonder if you could ask Ted whether he
was aware of a young female, comatose, under the care of fellow
Thanks in advance,
Ronald Bright
Senior Researcher
Amelia Earhart Research Assoc.
Bremerton, Wa.,
360 479 3640
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent:
Subject:
Re: Saying happy birthday
to Tad Nagaki -- in person
I asked Tad Nagaki
last week -- once again -- about this story. He has told me repeatedly
that he knows of nothing of any occurrence like this. Stanley Staiger and
Jim Moore were almost vehement in their comments to me that no such
thing happened.
Please keep in mind that Weihsien was a very small,
tightly-packed compound where keeping secrets was very difficult.
Mary Previte
From: Ron Bright
Sent:
Subject: Re: Saying happy birthday to Tad Nagaki -- in person
Mary,
Thanks for your help. I am convinced that Hannon simply made a mistake by
adding up the wrong dots in ascribing Earharts
presence at Weihsein in 1945.
Best,
Ron Bright
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent:
Subject:
Reporting on Tad Nagakis 90th birthday celebration
While I’m still bubbling over with joy and delight, I
want to write to you about
Tad Nagaki's 90th birthday
celebration on Saturday in
Tad's two grandsons and grand daughters-in-law who
live in the
On three walls of a banquet room, the
grandchildren had posted huge enlargements of stories about Tad along with
photographs, sketches, and letters to the editor from former Weihsien
internees that had flooded in last week to the local weekly
newspaper. These letters came from
I watched in awe as some 200 people poured
in throughout the afternoon -- some in cowboy boots and cowboy hats, some
in sneakers -- all of them full of stories about this modest farmer and his
family and what he has meant to them and to this farming and ranching
community. Most stayed for hours to chat and celebrate. They
inched along the walls, reading the enlarged newspaper stories and
letters to the editor. Folks seemed especially fascinated with an
enlarged photo of a baby bonnet now on display in the Smithsonian's
Being challenged with all things electrical, I
was awe struck by the arsenal of cameras, recording devices, enlarging machines
that Tad’s grandchildren used
to create these wall displays and to record the highlights of the
evening. Jason, the elder grandson, works in an engineering
firm, so enlarged the articles, sketches, and letters to the
editor with a copier that reproduces blueprints.
About 60 family members and close friend from as
young as a 3-year old great grand daughter to 90-year-old Tad took part in
the dinner -- held in the same private banquet room.
Following the dinner, the grandchildren asked me to
tell the story of the liberation of Weihsien and Tad's part on that liberation
day -- recording the whole proceeding -- including Tad's reluctantly
cutting his birthday cake -- surrounded by grand children and great
grandchildren. (No, there were NOT 90
candles.) What a thrill to stand with a big American
flag next to me and Tad seated up front, not three feet away, and to tell
the story and to add little-know details about Tad's athletic
prowess at a local high school and his being chosen from 250 Nisei volunteers
to be part of the 19-member Nisei unit in the Office of Strategic Services
Detachment 101 that operated behind Japanese lines during World War
II. I told them the story of how I tracked down all these heroes in
1997. What a hug-the-world
day! I'm still pinching myself to
believe that despite fog-bound flight cancellations I could be
part of this celebration.
Can you believe it --Tad even let me hug him? O, my!
Believe me, this family and community salute
to this modest farmer warmed every corner of my soul about the well being
of
“From scenes
like these
Old
Watching this celebration on Saturday, I saw
Some of you may not know that Tad's wife died in 1996
and all three of his sons are dead. He has two grandsons and, I
think, 7 great-grandchildren. They were all there to celebrate with him on
Saturday. Tad lives alone on his farm.
In spite of an adventure with a dead battery in my
camera, thanks to the local Radio Shack, I got some photos of Tad on
his farm with its windmill and giant tractors.
As you know, Tad is very shy about being the focus of
any public display, so I was surprised beyond belief that
he consented to -- or at least didn't ban -- this celebration. If
ever I saw one, this was a lovefest that included
townsfolk like the owners of the
Mary Previte
From: Pamela
Masters
Sent:
Subject:
Re: Reporting on
Tad Nagakis 90th birthday celebration
Thanks Mary for a lovely story -- I found
myself living every moment of your visit along with you. Now I am waiting, as
I'm sure we all are, to see some of the photos that were taken, especially
those of our friend and hero, Tad.
Thank you for keeping these 'good
memories' alive.
Love -- Pamela
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent:
Subject:
Re: Reporting on
Tad Nagakis 90th birthday celebration
I was too exhausted today to get my photos
printed. My travel was far more exciting than I'd have
liked. Fog canceled the last lap of my
flight so in order to arrive in time for the Saturday celebrations at Alliance,
I had to fly in to a small airport 50 miles away, rent a car, then drive
it to Alliance in the dark and in the fog -- of course, in an unfamiliar
car and on unfamiliar highways. Going home, I had to drive the 50
miles back to return the rental car. (Sigh!)
Because the grandchildren were snapping photos all
day, I've asked them to forward photos.
By the way, when I took Tad out for Saturday
breakfast, I asked him again about the Jim Hannon story of "the
yank" or Amelia Earhart in Weihsien. As many times as I've asked
him, Tad had never wavered in his response: He knows nothing about
such a thing and he cannot imagine any unusual happening like that would
have escaped the attention of Major Staiger in a camp under Staiger's
jurisdiction. He doesn't believe any such thing
happened.
Mary
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent:
Subject:
Re: Reporting on
Tad Nagakis 90th birthday celebration
Horrors, Audrey!
I don't have Tad's cell phone number because I've never been able to connect
with him on that number. Tad says he usually leaves his cell
phone in his truck.
His home number is 308-762-2968.
Tad actually got to blow out some birthday candles
yesterday when the folks from the Trinidad Bean Company took him out to
lunch. January 25 is his actual birth date. (Tad
grows pinto and white beans on his farm, so he likes to hangout at
the bean company in the winter. Tad's such a regular there that those
folks told me that if Tad doesn't show up every morning to drink a cup of
coffee and read the newspaper, they get ready to send out the search
team to make sure he's all right.
Mary Previte
In a message dated
Thanks for update. what is Tad's
cell phone number--I was going to call --but am away from home so don't have
cell phone number with me. Audrey
From: berean@xplornet.com
Sent:
Subject:
Re: Reporting on
Tad Nagakis 90th birthday celebration
So glad you got to visit Tad on his birthday weekend.
Enid Graham Fischer's birthday is on the 24th of January. I called
her--she is widowed now and in a retirement home.
I wish now
that we would have asked Tad to drive us by his farm--when we visited
him. Will look forward to seeing the pix you
took of his farm house--is his windmill a typical
I have a very
long Christmas letter--on e-mail. Not sure you would want to have to pour
through the pages--so I will just attach a picture of our windmills--
We are still down
here in
In the Janie
Hampton proof--she didn't know who was getting married--it was Miss Ruth Green
and Buddy Price--think that is what Kathleen said--they saved up bread to make
her a wedding cake. using jam go hold it together==and Buddy wrote them
thank you notes--The girls had them over for this party-
I will write that
to Janie--I am sure someone else would have already told her that. Janie
asked me to scan my log book that I had from camp--so I did--a good thing for
me too--as I have that as a copy too. Jenn
Bevan was our sixer.
We have just got
back in contact. Jenn and her husband vacation
in
If I remember
right--you got together with your parents in
Will close for
now--thanks for taking the time to write. We are in limbo right now
waiting for Mahlon to have his quadruple bypass heart
surgery--on the list--Angiogram was Dec. 7th--and no call yet from the
hospital. Receptionist said it wouldn't be in January and might be during
the Olympics in
Love,
Audrey
From: Tapol
Sent:
Subject:
Re: Ledger story to
honor Tad Nagaki on his
90th birthday
Dear Mary,
Hello,
--- by now, you must be safely back home
from your adventurous trip to
The Hemingford Ledger, you wrote, would
have a complementary article about Tad's birthday celebrations on January 28. I
had a look on their website but found nothing. Maybe I took the wrong URL ??
It would be great to have a few pictures
to share ---
Best regards,
Leopold
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent:
Subject:
Re: Ledger story to
honor Tad Nagaki on his
90th birthday
The editor did not attend any of the celebrations
on Saturday, January 23. However, I did forward to him a couple of
photographs. I got the impression that he intended at least to use a
photo with a picture caption. I sent photo and caption along
for him to use.
Perhaps this will appear next week.
He tells me he has received wonderfully positive
feedback to his printing of the story and letters about Tad.
Mary
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent:
Subject:
Photos of Tad Nagaki on his 90th birthday
Because the Weihsien Topica network is so large,
I'm unable to successfully scan to you through the network the photos of Tad Nagaki on his 90th birthday. You can view the photos
on the Weihsien web site.
Mary Previte
Below are the picture captions.
To view the pictures, go to www.weihsien-paintings.org
Leopold Pander, creator of the site, instructs
as follows: Then go to the far left margin and click on The Magnificent Seven. Scroll all the way down to
the section on Tad Nagaki's
90th birthday. Click on the name Mary Previte.
HUGS FOR A HERO
Weihsien liberator, Tad Nagaki,
gets a hug from Mary Taylor Previte at his
90th birthday celebration in
At age 90, Tad continues to farm -- growing beans,
corn, and wheat on his farm in
The birthday celebration was a birthday gift
from Tad's two grandsons who live near
WEIHSIEN LIBERATOR, TAD NAGAKI, 90
years old, is pictured here on his farm in
Photo by Mary Taylor Previte
The photo was taken by Mary Taylor Previte
on
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent:
Subject:
BBC Radio 4 -- Girl Guides
in Weihsien
BBC Radio 4 plans to broadcast a radio program
about Chefoo Brownies and Weihsien as a way to celebrate this story from
the history of "Guiding" in this its 100th
year. The BBC Radio 4 producer is working with Janie Hampton, the author
who has incorporated recollections from many Weihsien-ers
for a book about "Guiding" that will be released this
year. In this book, Janie includes a long,
fascinating chapter about Brownies and Girl Guides in Chefoo and
Weihsien.
Mary Previte
From: Estelle Horne nee Cliff
Sent:
Subject: Re: BBC
Radio 4 -- The Tungchow Piracy
|
There is also to be a programme on BBC Radio 4 on
the Tungchow piracy. I was contacted by a Ms O'Dea
in this connection, but as I was too young to be on that trip, she got in
touch with Margaret Vinden Holden and others. But she told me the time: Estelle
Cliff Horne |
From: Tapol
Sent:
Subject: The Children Of Weihsien ---
Hello,
:-)
Do
you remember ------
By
the way, is everybody OK? ---- in good health and happy ----
---
Something
new : ---
It
is still experimental, but here are the first 35 pages. I would very much like
to have your opinions about what could be a ---- "photo album" !?
It
is not on the website and I don't think it will be of any interest to those
outside our Weihsien circle!
here
is the URL:
http://www.weihsien-paintings.org/I_Remember/ALBUM/p_one.htm
Best
regards,
Leopold
From: Donald Menzi
Sent:
Subject:
Re: The Children Of Weihsien ---
Fantastic!
Donald
From: <jknisely@paonline.com>
To: <weihsien@topica.com>
Sent:
Subject: Re: BBC Radio 4 -- Girl Guides in Weihsien
Ø
>
> WOW! We keep getting in the news! Love to see the program and
read at least the chap about "us". Thanks for keeping us
up to date! Georgie Reinbrecht
Knisely
From: Tapol
Cc: Janette
& Pierre @ home ; Zandy @ home
Sent:
Subject: The Children of Weihsien
Dear
all ---
For
all of you who have been printing the pages of the Album : "The Children
of Weihsien, 1943 - 1945"
I
just finished page "68"
http://www.weihsien-paintings.org/I_Remember/ALBUM/p_one.htm
I
still have a lot of paintings, sketches & photos for the layouts to come
--- but no more texts !!!!
I
did make a scan on all our Topica messages on the word : "remember".
----
Now,
I need your help (if however you appreciate what I am doing !!)
What
else do you remember? ---- write to Topica ---
----
The
pages will keep on coming as soon as I have the appropriate texts.
Just
one simple rule: begin with "I remember" ----
Thanks
in advance &
Best
regards,
Leopold
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent:
Subject:
Re: The Children of
Weihsien
What an extraordinary record,
Leopold!
I see my sister Kathleen, my brother Jamie -- and
read his memories. They're both gone now. Jamie died just a year
ago. Without your collecting these stories, these photos, these paintings
-- the record would be lost for ever.
Thank you a thousand times, Leopold.
Mary Previte
From: Tapol
Sent:
Subject:
Fw: The Children of Weihsien
Dear Mary,
Thanks for your encouragement.
As I wrote previously, there are still
many more paintings to be printed and they are waiting in my computer's
directory for new "I remembers" ---
so, --- what else do you remember?
Everyday life?
the cesspools?
the Japs ?
"no-can-do", King Kong and the
others ?
the hunger ?
the hospital ?
the conflicts ?
the good times ? and the bad ones ?
the cold in the winter & the heat in
the summer ?
the shoes ?
our clothing ?
just after the war?
did you have nightmares ?
etc. etc.
I am sure that there is still much to
remember about before the flame burns out !
Make it short and start with : "I
remember"
---
thanks in advance to everybody for your
contribution.
---
Leopold
From: Kim Smith
Sent:
Subject: William Arthur Smith: An American GI in
|
Just wanted y'all to know that I'm mounting an
exhibition on Dad's work in |
From: "Laura Hope-Gill" <laurahopegill@aol.com>
To: <weihsien@topica.com>
Sent:
Subject: RE: The Children Of Weihsien ---
Dear Donald,
I was on this list years ago. My father and uncle were babies in the
camp, children of Dr. Donald Hope-Gill and Grace Hope-Gill. I am pleased
to see you still here.
These paintings and memory statements are powerful and poetic. Thankyou.
Sincerely,
Laura Hope-Gill
From: "Donald Menzi"
<dmenzi@earthlink.net>
To: <weihsien@topica.com>
Sent:
Subject: RE: The Children Of Weihsien ---
Nice to hear from you, Laura. Leopold deserves all the credit for this
one.
Donald
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent:
Subject:
Girl Guides and
Brownies in Weihsien -- BBC broadcast
To help celebrate 100 years of Girl Guides,
BBC will broadcast a half hour program a week from today,
Monday, March 22 at
BBC titled the broadcast, Captured By
Pirates, taken from one part of the story in which some of the
A very big thank you to author Janie Hampton,
whose book on Girl Guides has triggered interest by the BBC. Thanks
to the miracle of the Internet, many of you contributed Girl Guide,
Brownie memories, and related art work to Janie. Janie's
interest in the Weihsien part of the story was triggered when she found
in Girl Guide Museum near
Producer Beth Odea
has sent me the following note:
"Presenter Kate Silverton was so impressed that
she wants me to try and get the programme extended! Not possible,
alas.
Our programme is called Captured by Pirates, and
it goes out
This is the BBC Radio 4 web site, where you
will be able to listen to the programme after it's broadcast, for a week,
via the BBC iplayer
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/radio/bbc_radio_four
"
Mary Previte
From: Gay Talbot Stratford
Sent:
Subject: Re: The Children of Weihsien
I found an old autograph album which i ha kept in WeiHsien. There on one page were the
signatures of five Catholic bishops.
Memories came flooding back of that first Easter in
camp, when Easter Mass was celebrated in the assembly centre. These five bishops
stood in a line facing hundreds of priests, nuns and lay people. The ancient
hymns soared, Gregorian chant resounded and echoed from wall to wall
expressing the faith and hope even in this place. It was unforgettable.
We lived in block 6 , right next to the hall, and
during the numerous services, I heard and came to love all manner of hymns.
Sunday evening ended with the Salvation Army 's rousing sing song at
Again, the ball games took place right under our
window. For the evening games of baseball, I used to stand tiptoe on a bed to
watch these exciting games. The priests were enthusiastic players. The Dutch
priests were new to the game but entered into the spirit calling
"lope lope” (run run)
to encourage the black robed men as they ran with full beards flying..
I have an entry from Tod Nagaki
which I will try and send to his family.
More to follow.
Regards to all,
Gay Talbot
Stratford
From: Gay Talbot Stratford
Sent:
Subject:
Re: BBC Radio 4 -- Girl
Guides in Weihsien
Mary,
Thank you for all your input.
I have a note that Tod Nagaki
put in my autograph album that he might like to have. I will send it to
the Leopold's web site as well.
I wonder if you could send me Tod's
email address.
Best wishes,
Gay Talbot
Stratford
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent:
Subject:
Re: BBC Radio 4 -- Girl
Guides in Weihsien
Tad Nagaki's address is:
I know Tad will enjoy hearing from you. And
I know Leopold will be delighted to receive more for his Weihsien web site.
Mary
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent:
Subject:
BBC Radio 4 broadcat today, Monday, March 22
Try listening on this site to
this remarkable BBC broadcast about Girl Guides and Brownies
in Weihsien . The program is called CAPTURED BY PIRATES.
Mary Previte
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00rdwm5/Captured_By_Pirates/
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent:
Subject:
Press -- The Times on
Captured by Pirates
From: beth.odea@bbc.co.uk
Subj: Press
about Captured by Pirates
The Times
March 22, 2010 Monday
Radio Choices
BYLINE: Chris Campling
Captured by Pirates Radio 4,
Kate Silverton's show starts off being about one thing, then spends the bulk of
its 30 minutes being about something else entirely. First - in 1935 Margaret
Holder, then aged 8, and her chums were kidnapped by pirates in the
Radio Times - Pick
of the Day
Monday 22 March
Captured by Pirates
The 1935 raid on the SS Tungchow as it emerged from
the Yangtse river will not go down as one of the
greatest success stories in pirating history. The villains were hoping for a
vessel laden with gold bullion, but what they got was a cargo of oranges and 70
British schoolchildren. The pirates were perfectly pleasant to the youngsters,
apart from taking all of their pocket money. Six years later, the same children
- who'd been on their way to a British missionary boarding school on the
From: Donald Menzi
Sent:
Subject:
Re: the children of weihsien
Leopold,
Is it possible to add an index, listing
the artists and authors?
Possibly using the blank space to the
right of the numbered boxes.
Donald
From: Tapol
Sent:
Subject:
Re: the children of weihsien
Dear Donald,
The main idea is that the
"album" is completely random. I chose not to mention any names for
the texts. What I did do was to mention the copyright symbol © with the name of
the author of the painting or the name of the person to contact. I might have
missed a few !! give me the page numbers for the corrections.
There might be "horrible"
spelling mistakes! --- let me know. If you recognize a text that you want
deleted (for a personal reason) --- let me know too.
There are NO numbers on the pages.
You can chose the order you wish best. It is just the cover page that comes
first.
----
What I can do -- when it is all finished =
when I have no more photos &/or paintings &/or texts --- is to
replace all the "numbers" with thumbnails.
---
It is just an "album" for our
pleasure! & for our kids & for our grand children ---- just to remember
!
Leopold
From: Donald Menzi
Sent:
Subject:
Re: the children of WeiHsien
Thanks, Leopold,
The reason I asked was so I could see if
you used any of my grandmother's paintings as illustrations, without having to
open all of them individually. The thumbnails would be helpful.
Donald
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent:
Subject:
Re: the children of WeiHsien
Leopold,
What a marvelous collection
of memories! I very much like your new format.
My only problem is struggling to read the small print
-- even with my tri-focals.
I'm encouraging Alison Holmes to send "I
remembers," and today I also dropped a note to Georgie Knisley.
Mary
From: Tapol
Sent:
Subject:
Re: the children of WeiHsien
Hello,
Mary, you can zoom the picture by clicking
at the top of your screen: the "+" symbol in a circle.
Donald, ---- I got complementary
explanations from my nephew. I always learn better from the younger generation!
I made a merge for the first 91 pages ---
hope you find the URL/
http://www.weihsien-paintings.org/I_Remember/ALBUM/Weihsien98Low.pdf
the original size was 144Mb = quite big
!!! I reduced it to 14Mb ---
--- I printed a page on A4-paper. Seems to
be OK.
What do you think?
--- all the best,
Leopold
From: Tapol
Sent:
Subject: from Gay's autograph book:
Dear
Gay,
Thanks
very much for sharing the Tad Nagaki-page of
your autograph book with the Weihsien Paintings' website.
here
is the URL:
http://www.weihsien-paintings.org/ChSancton/pages/p_AutographTadNagaki.htm
It
is also linked to the Magnificent Men's chapter. (leftFrame
& scroll to the bottom)
---
anybody
else has autograph book pages to share with "our" website?
(memories?
IRemembers? stories?)
---
Best
regards,
Leopold
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent:
Subject:
Re: from Gay's autograph
book:
What a wonderful addition to the Weihsien web
site, Gay. Great! Thank you so very much.
Mary Previte
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent:
Subject:
More response from
the BBC broadcast on Weihsien Girl Guides and Brownies
The BBC broadcast about Weihsien Girl Scout
and Brownie troops continues to spread its ripples. As you
may guess, the half hour BBC broadcast included only a small portion of
lengthy interviews conducted with each of the participants.
Last week, portions of that emotion-packed
broadcast were re-broadcast in a BBC feature called PICK OF THE WEEK.
Here is a note I've just received from Beth
O'dea, producer of the program. Beth
writes:
"And today I've had a letter from the
Beth O'dea"
Mary Previte
From: Tapol
Sent:
Subject: autographBook
Dear
Gay,
Thanks
very much for sharing 8 extra pages of your autograph book with the
Weihsien-Paintings' website.
Here
is the direct link to the first page (& click on the arrow for the next 8
extra ones):
http://www.weihsien-paintings.org/ChSancton/Gay/AutographBook/p_AutographTadNagaki.htm
Best regards,
Leopold
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent:
Subject:
Re: autographBook
Dear Gay,
What a treasure you have given us with these pages
from your Weihsien autograph book!
Today, I shall mail to Carol Orlich
the page written by Cpl. Peter Orlich. She will
be ecstatic to get this record. I'm also fascinated that Peter Orlich signs his rank as Cpl.
When he arrived in Weihsien, he was T/5 Peter Orlich,
but by September 7 (the date on this autograph page), he had been promoted to Corporal.
Fascinating! I knew that Major Staiger had promoted Tad Nagaki while Tad was still in Weihsien, ( Peter Bazire's Weihsien diary mentions this), but your
diary is the first I've learned that Peter Orlich was
also promoted while he was still in Weihsien.
By the way, Gay, were you still in Weihsien on September
7? Tad Nagaki's memories to me said
he had left the camp to set up an Office of Strategic Services
(OSS) base in
Bless you for adding this to Leopold's web site.
Mary Previte
From: Gay Talbot Stratford
Sent:
Subject:
Re: autographBook
Mary,
Thank you for your e-mail.
We arrived in camp in March of' 43 and left in about
October'45. Our leaving date was postponed several times as the Communists
kept blowing up the railway line.In the end we were
moved out on a transport plane with seats along the side only.
We returned to the mining area near Tangshang where there was fighting between the Kuomintang
and the Communists.
Best wishes to you and yours.
Gay
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent:
Subject:
Japanese Surrender-
Amazing Footage
Japanese Surrender- Amazing Footage
|
From: Tapol
Sent:
Subject: your autograph book
Dear
Gay,
Thanks
for the new text. I liked it very much and added it as a new page to your
autograph book.
go
to:
http://www.weihsien-paintings.org/ChSancton/Gay/AutographBook/p_FromGay.htm
---
and click on the arrow for the next pages.
Best regards,
Leopold
From: Pamela
Masters
Sent:
Subject: Gay Talbot
Dearest Gay --
It's so great to hear from you.
Margo, my oldest sister, kept in touch with your darling mom, Ida, all through
the years, and kept Ursula and me posted on "The Talbot Family."
Margo and your mom are both gone from us now, but they are together again...as we will be some day.
I can't get over your autograph
album. Apart from all the fantastic signatures you got from our
"Liberators", I just about fell off my chair when I saw my old entry
of the two kids doing the lindy hop (at least my version of it), signed by
Roberta Simmons, from whence the name "Bobby" came. And then Ursula's
entry of the singing bird -- which I will be forwarding to her. What touched me
most was the date: They were both done in the spring of '42 -- our last spring
in darling old
Do keep in touch -- I send Ursula's
love along with mine. -- "Bobby"
(aka Pamela Roberta Simmons Masters-Flynn)**
(** No wonder it's hard for people to keep in
touch with all us gals!)
PAMELA
MASTERS
From: Brian Butcher
Sent:
Subject:
Re: Japanese Surrender- Amazing Footage
Thanks Mary,
A few months ago I stood where this ceremony took
place and remembered what it cost in lives to end the war and to set us free.
This week I spent a few days with a friend from
Brian
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent:
Subject:
Japanese Surrender-
Amazing Footage
What an amazing experience it must have been,
Brian, to be at the site of the formal surrender! Is there some
kind of monument to commemorate the event?
Your mentioning your Chinese friend's
feeling bitter about Japanese atrocities against the Chinese during the
war reminds me of a powerful speech former Weihsien internee, Stephen
Metcalf, gave at the Eric Liddell monument near the hospital during
our 2005 reunion there. In Weihsien, Eric Liddell had made
Stephen his assistant in sports activities for young people in the
camp. Stephen was so moved by Eric's message about LOVING YOUR ENEMIES
(in other words, the Japanese), that Stephen dedicated his life to
serving God as a missionary to
Excerpts from Stephen Metcalf's
speech at Weifang, 2005:
"Eric
Liddell has been one of the many lives that has influenced and inspired me, as
I set out on a missionary vocation in
"The
little ship that took me to
"After a number of years of language study I was baffled to find
that the Japanese had deliberately made it a taboo to talk about the war. If I
mentioned the war, I noticed peoples faces froze. Soldiers who had returned
from the war often were too ashamed to even talk to their families. They had
failed their ancestors and broken their army vows to their Emperor, that they
would never surrender. Occasionally when
they were drunk they would open up and talk to me about the war. In the
following years, every school child
seemed to make a School trip to
"One year the city I was living in decided to have a big Exhibition for Peace. I was approached by a
"In
1989, the war time Emperor died and to our astonishment people around us began
asking us about the war. Teachers, students, church people. Even the TV began
to show war documentaries. It seemed they had fought for the Emperor, but now
the spell was broken. By 1995, we had retired and were living in
"Then he told me that he had had to take his graduating students on
a trip to
"Actually there has been a lot written about the war by Japanese
war veterans. Some of the books expose
the war crimes, but most people never read that kind of book. School
textbooks not published by the Government
are quite realistic in their accounts of the war, but then the teachers skim
over these because the curriculum is already overloaded.
"Unfortunately forgiveness is something that has to be mutual to
bring about harmony and peace. Reconciliation is dependant on forgiveness, and
forgiveness is dependant on an act of the human will. This means that
forgiveness is a very personal matter. National pride and patriotism are a
great hindrance to international reconciliation. China today is
unwittingly sowing seeds of hate and
anger in the hearts of their youth and children by showing them graphic
documentaries of the Japanese atrocities perpetrated by the Japanese army over
60 years ago. Jesus prayed. “Father
forgive them for they know not what they do.” I’m afraid this problem is going
to fester on. Only an understanding of God’s love and forgiveness can put
an end to such tidal waves of malicious
evil."
This paper
was given at a gathering sponsored by Keiko Holme’s
Agape Reconciliation Movement, by Stephen. A. Metcalf October
2003. People can contact Steve in
From: sametcalf@hotmail.com
To: mtprevite@aol.com
Sent: 4/21/2010 1:20:14 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time
Subj: Weihsien
Kids
In the photo that follows the
one of the aeroplane & parachutes, there are a lot of faces that
appear familiar to me. I am only GUESSING, but I wonder if it is not some of
the American party that travelled home on the Gripsholm.
It looks like Mr Griffin on the top right. He may have met the group when
they arrived. On the top left looks like Heaver Andrews, then Martha
Philips. the Novak girl. Mrs Smail & Jimmy
in front. I'm afraid I'm not very helpful, but if you ask somebody who
travelled home on the Gripsholm. I'm sure they would
know.
By the way my biography by OMF is to be published on August
the 1st here in the
Stephen A. Metcalf
Flat 2,
Tel +44 (0)20 8767 4257
From: Tapol
Sent:
Subject:
Re: Weihsien Kids
Dear Stephen,
Could it be the page 17 — of the Weihsien
Children's album? If then, have a look at page 110. I guess that these photos
have been taken at ± the same moment, after our liberation by William A.
Smith. His daughter, Kim Smith should be able to confirm this. It would be
great to recognize the people on the photo(s) — I could then add them to
"our" website:
http://www.weihsien-paintings.org/KimSmith/PhotosSketches/Weihsien_Camp/p_WeihsienCamp.htm
Send me the names to add in a "who's
who" page ----
Best regards,
Leopold
P.S. I found your book on Amazon. I'll
order it asap via Amazon.uk ---
From: "Dwight W. Whipple" <thewhipples@comcast.net>
To: <weihsien@topica.com>
Sent:
Subject: Tsingtao
Ø
Does anyone remember where the Iltis
Hydro Hotel was in
> beach was it near? And which direction from the downtown area?
We will
> be in
> distance from the hotel where we were first interned after our house
> arrest on
> ~Dwight W. Whipple
From: Kim Smith
Sent:
Subject: Re: Arthur Hummel....
|
I have been looking for a photo of Weihsien escapee
Arthur Hummel as a young man, to see if a pencil portrait done by my father,
William A. Smith, is possibly him. Would any of you have a photo of
him, or is there one already posted that I have not found? Ambassador
Hummel became a friend of the family, and I may contact his widow, but I
thought I'd appeal to y'all first... |
From: Tapol
Sent:
Subject: Fw: Arthur Hummel....
Dear Kim,
Hello :-)
have a look
at this link on the weihsien-paintings' website
http://www.weihsien-paintings.org/rdjaegher/pages/page01.htm
I hope that
someone will be able to help with a better picture !!
Best regards,
Leopold
From: Kim Smith
Sent:
Subject: Re: Fw: Arthur
Hummel....
|
Thank you,
Leopold! Now I remember I did see this many moons ago. And it
does verify that the drawing I have may be him. I can only find
pictures of him online as an older man. Maybe someone will come
up with something else as well! |
From: Tapol
Sent:
Subject: Fw: Fw: Arthur
Hummel....
Dear Kim,
I'd love to
have a copy of that drawing for the Weihsien Paintings' website ---- if it is
OK for you!?
I thought I
had a portrait in
Thanks in advance,
Leopold
From: Kim Smith
Sent:
Subject: Re: Fw: Fw: Arthur Hummel....
|
I'm not seeing
the drawing on the website; perhaps I did not send those drawings. If I
did, and it wasn't put on the site, there is a drawing of a beautiful young
man, looking to his right, and wearing a mandarin style shirt (you can only
see the neckline) |
From: Tapol
Sent:
Subject: Re: Fw: Fw: Arthur Hummel....
Yessssss
--- I have it. :-))
This
portrait will come with the next page of The Children of Weihsien's album.
To be
honest, I didn't find it on the website either --- I'll have to fix that asap !
Best regards,
Leopold
From: Kim Smith
Sent:
Subject: Re: Fw: Fw: Arthur Hummel....
|
Ohh,
maybe! Perhaps I can find photos of him (Wedemeyer)
from the era. Do you also think that drawing is of Arthur Hummel?
That was an educated guess by either my mother (who didn't meet him till
several years later) or by Elizabeth McIntosh. Another clue is that I
only have a high-quality PHOTO of the drawing, done professionally, which
usually means that Dad gave the original to the subject. Since he
became good friends with Arthur, this makes sense. Also the fact that
the subject is wearing a Chinese-style shirt. |
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent: Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Subject:
Re: Fw:
Fw: Arthur Hummel....
p007 doesn't look like Tad Nagaki
as I recognize him from 1945 snapshots Tad gave to me.
Mary Previte.
From: Kim Smith
Sent:
Subject: Re: Fw: Fw: Arthur Hummel....
|
Oh,
right! I tthink that was a temporary caption
on the scans before you, Mary, and I communicated with Tad. Leopold, coould you take that caption off the picture?
Thanks, Mary and Leopold! |
From: Tapol
Sent:
Subject: Re: Fw: Fw: Arthur Hummel....
Dear Kim,
The caption
of 007 is deleted.
By the way,
many of your dad's photos taken in Weihsien include Chinese and Japanese
soldiers. At first I wondered who was who! Finaly,
I looked at the shoes. The Japs had boots and the Chinese wore Chinese
sandals and a kind of a bandage up to the knee.
--- all the best,
Leopold
From: Kim Smith
Sent:
Subject: Re: Fw: Fw: Arthur Hummel....
|
Thank you,
Leopold! |
From: Pamela
Masters
Sent:
Subject:
Re: autographBook
(Somehow my earlier response got lost in
cyber-space...)
Dearest Gay --
It's so great to hear
from you. Margo, my oldest sister, kept in touch with your darling mom, Ida,
all through the years, and kept Ursula and me posted on "The Talbot
Family." Margo and your mom are both gone from us now, but they
are together again...as we will be some day.
I can't get over your
autograph album. Apart from all the fantastic signatures you got from our
"Liberators", I just about fell off my chair when I saw my old entry
of the two kids doing the lindy hop (at least my version of it), signed by
Roberta Simmons, from whence the name "Bobby" came. And then Ursula's
entry of the singing bird -- which I will be forwarding to her. What touched me
most was the date: They were both done in the spring of '42 -- our last spring
in darling old
Do keep in touch -- I
send Ursula's love along with mine. -- "Bobby"
(aka Pamela Roberta Simmons Masters-Flynn)
From: Kim Smith
Sent:
Subject: Re: autographBook
|
|
From: Gay Talbot Stratford
Sent:
Subject: Re: autographBook
I am delighted that the entry in the album was important to you.Unfortunately I do not remember your Father but since
Mother and your Father were involved in the Weihsien art scene, they may
have known each other quite well. Great friendships were forged
there.
Best wishes to you and yours,
Gay T. Stratford
From: Kim Smith
Sent:
Subject: Re: autographBook
|
He was one of
the |
From: Tapol
Sent:
Subject: "our" album,
Hello,
Here
is the new short-cut to the first 160 pages all in "one" file. It is
81 Mo-big so --- give it a little time to download on your computer --- (± 3
and a half minutes on my computer)
http://www.weihsien-paintings.org/I_Remember/ALBUM/Album160.pdf
Enjoy !
Best regards,
Leopold
From: Kim Smith
Sent:
Subject: Re: "our" album,
|
This is SSSOOO incredible. What an amazing
document. I'm going to print it out in its' entirety and send a copy to
my Mom and siblings, since this adds so much more |
From: Tapol
Sent:
Subject: BackCoverPage
Hello,
http://www.weihsien-paintings.org/I_Remember/ALBUM/PDF/BackCover.pdf
click
on THIS link
please,
---- could you help me?
I
tried to make a back-cover-page with the names of all the children
(that is us!) who wrote on "topica" since the year 2000.
I
must have missed a few names ????
I
must have made a mistake in your age in 1945! ????
I
also added the next generation: Have I got it all correct ????
Please
let me know ---
Thanks
Leopold
From: Donald Menzi
Sent:
Subject:
Re: BackCoverPage
Leopold,
A truly great work.
In answer to your request, Gladys Swift is
the daughter of Hugh Hubbard, who is mentioned several times as an expert on
birds. I don't know about your other attribution for her.
By the way, I found that I was able to add
page numbers easily in Acrobat, which helps in referring to selections, or in
letting my grandchildren, who visited Weihsien during the 2005 celebration,
know where to look for paintings by their great-great grandmother, Gertrude
Wilder. Would you consider adding page numbers for such purposes?
Donald
Menzi
From: Tapol
Sent:
Subject:
Re: BackCoverPage
Thanks Donald, I corrected that. (for the
next edition---)
In fact, no, I did not intend to add page
numbers at first. All the "I remembers" are little stories by
themselves and there is no specific order. Once all the pages are printed, you
can put them in the odrer of your choice. Some longer stories have to be grouped however.
Leopold
From: Tapol
Sent:
Subject: camp size
Hello,
Do
you remember this debate we had about the size of the Weihsien
Concentration Camp allocated to ± 1500 prisoners?
We
had this debate in 2005 just before the 60th anniversary celebrations in
Weifang ---
---
Nobody
present at the celebrations measured the size of the hospital. !!
---
I
remember (in 2005) writing to Google about having a "high definition"
photo of Weifang and I explained why I wanted it. It was simply to superpose
Father Verhoeven's map on the nowadays existing
houses of the Camp. They answered that they could take photos specially for me
by satellite and that it would cost me --- I don't remember how much, but it
was a heluvalot of money !!
---
Well,
today we have a high definition map of Weihsien (without asking
anything) --- Thanks Google :-)
---
With
this 'I remember' project "The Children of Weihsien" I stumbled on
our 2005-messages about the size of the camp. (Very amusing)!!
I
made a new superposition of the camp (Google Earth) and Father Verhoeven's map ---- :
go
to:
http://www.weihsien-paintings.org/I_Remember/ALBUM/PDF/182.pdf
and
go to: page 4
It
is extraordinary because Father Verhoeven's map
coincides almost exactly with the reality:
-
Jap house left = OK
-
Jap house right = OK
-
Block 50 = OK
-
Jap house just in front = OK
-
The Hospital = OK (Father Vehoeven's hospital is
much longer in the N-S axis !!)
-
Blocks 59 & 60 = OK
-
Block 23 = almost OK --- but we know that Block 23 was recently demolished and
replaced by a new building almost at the same place.
The
Google Earth software allows me to measure distances, so I did:
295
* 112.8 = 33276 m²
128.8
* 26.3 = 3387.44 m²
142.5
* 83.7 = 11927.25 m²
---
all put together = ± 48591 m²
so,
we can reasonably affirm that ±1500 prisoners lived for 2½ years in ± 49.000 m²
c.q.f.d.
Best
regards,
Leopold
From: Tapol
Sent:
Subject:
Re: camp size
Hello,
Had a look on Internet:
American football field = 91.4m * 48.8m
=4460.32 m²
Camp size = 48591/4460.32 = ±11
football fields
Does this seem to be correct ?
--- all
the best,
Leopold
From: Pamela
Masters
Sent:
Subject: Re: camp size
Hi Everyone -- It's been along time since
I dipped my oar into Weihsien Topica's friendly
waters, but I don't know why everyone's trying to figure out the size of the
camp. It was completely contained within the original mission school compound,
which included faculty housing (used by our Japanese captors) and I
understand there are copious architectural drawings on file. For the
life of me, I can't remember the name of the mission right now, but believe it
was Presbyterian. Anyhow, I recall seeing the drawings several
years back and they were to scale, in sharp detail. Good luck
looking them up.
Have
a great day -- Pamela
From: Tapol
Sent:
Subject:
Re: camp size
Sorry, mea
maxima culpa --- I must have got some of you mixed up with the European
metric system.
To make it short, let us say that the camp
was 325 yards at it's widest and 238½ yards at its longest --- from the main
gate to the Jap boundary wall.
All this, of course, measured with
Google Earth. (tools/rule)
The camp surface is:
- 12 acres or
- 58309 square yards
Best regards,
Leopold
From: Ron Bright
Sent:
Subject: Re: camp size/Kamal
Pamela,
Perhaps of interest is a new book "A Mosque in
Not surprising is your old friend Ahamd Kamal, one of the internees at Weihsien.
If anyone is interested I could summarize a bit of the non fiction book.
Ron Bright
From: Pamela
Masters
Sent:
Subject: Re: camp size/Kamal
Hi Ron -- that sounds intriguing. If no one else is
interested in your kind offer, I'll go ahead and order Ian Thompson's book. I
read an excellent book, Islamic Imperialism, several years back and it was an
eye-opener. I can't find my copy of it right now (guess I lent it to
someone), so can't give you the name of the author.
Thanks for keeping us in the loop -- Pamela
From: Ron Bright
Sent:
Subject:
Re: camp size/Kamal
Pamela,
Since Kamal was sort of a flashy guy at Weilhsein, I thought you would like to read the chapter on Kamal by Johnson. Kamal turns out
later became a huge influence in the 6h0s and 70s in Islam in
The book "Mosque in
Ron
From: Mary
Broughton
Sent:
Subject: Re: camp size/Kamal
Ron, I would very much like to read that chapter too and a summary
of the book. It is all so relevant now with the rise of Radical Islam.
Thanks, Mary
From: Ron Bright
Sent:
Subject: Re: camp size/Kamal
Mary,
In view of the complexity of Kamals background, even
prior to the Weihsein experience, his movements in
Ron B
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent:
Subject:
Weihsien children from
Marjorie Harrison Jackson
A MEMORY OF CHRISTMAS AT WEIHSIEN
by Marjorie Harrison Jackson
of
I remember the last Christmas at Weihsien -- 1944, I guess.
Our ever-inventive Chefoo teachers encouraged us daily with our Bible reading
and prayer and singing that the Lord was with us and we would be delivered.
Christmas could have been dismal that last year of the war. There were no
Red Cross packages, no money, and nothing to buy, so we all decided to
get into
our trunks, yes, the very same ones we had put our clothes, books, treasures
into the night before the Japanese marched us off to concentration camp on
Temple Hill.
That Christmas, we looked into our trunks. Each of us girls picked out a
gift to swap with one of our Lower School Dormitory roommates. I had my
teddy.
Could I possibly part with it? We had decided this was the only way we
would
get a present at all.
So part with teddy I did, and I received a lovely necklace which was already
several years old, and, believe it or not, I still have that necklace and wear
it now and then -- loaded with memories.
My Sunday School class gave me a big, soft teddy in recent years when they
knew I would be needing lots of hugs. I named him Agape (Greek for
uncionditiional love), and I finally felt I had my
teddy back. Does anyone know what
happened to my teddy? And who was the former owner of my silver necklace?
(Majorie Harison
Jackson lives in
From: Tapol
Sent:
Subject: autograph book
Dear
Joyce,
Thanks
very much for the three new pages from your 'Autograph Book'
go
to:
http://www.weihsien-paintings.org/cooke/AutographBook/p_StewDents.htm
"Autographs"
are very personal — so I quite understand — but I am grateful to have
them for the website.
---
To
all those who send me copies of their treasures I say "Thank you" and
I would also like to add: ---- "Keep 'em
coming"
all
the best,
Leopold
From: Dwight W.
Whipple
Sent:
Subject: Re: the Children of Weihsien:
What a great compilation of pictures and stories!
Seems to be quite a bit of duplication but nevertheless a wonderful
historical document. And
more to come?!
~Dwight W
Whipple
From: Tapol
Sent:
Subject: thechildrenofweihsien !
Hello
all,
finished
---- so far !
283
pages for your pleasure :-)
is
everybody OK?
anymore
"I Remembers"?
----
here
is the link to the complete file = 133 Mo (took me a little more than 4 minutes
to download on my computer)
http://www.weihsien-paintings.org/I_Remember/ALBUM/TheChildrenOfWeiHsien.pdf
Towards
the end of the album there are a few URLs on some pictures (i.e. boy scout
photos etc.) you can click on them and see what happens.
---- enjoy
----
Best regards,
Leopold
From: Tapol
Sent:
Subject: Re: the Children of Weihsien:
Hello
Dwight :-)
--- it is
true that some incidents come back quite often ---- and written in different
words ----
A "psy" should be able to explain that ---- why do we
remember things and forget others.
Why do I
remember so well where I was when I got the news of JFK's assassination?
How is it that we all remember so vividly
Anyway,
---- it is quite amusing to read ! (for us! ---- ex-prisoners---)
---
I had a
good time compiling the whole thing :-)
Best regards,
Leopold
From: kim smith
To Weihsien
Sent:
Subject: William A. Smith's exhibition....
|
The reception
for my father's exhibition of drawings and memorabilia from his time in |
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent:
Subject:
"Pandemonium...ecstasy!"
- The day our American liberators came –
65 years ago
Liberation Day, 65 years ago.
Here' are excerpts of what Langdon Gilkey wrote
in his book, SHANTUNG COMPOUND. On that day, Gilkey, a
college professor, was a cook in one of the Weihsien kitchens.
The boy who spread the word
ran through the kitchen yard screaming in an almost insane
excitement, "an American place, and headed straight for us!"
We all flung our stirring
paddles down beside the cauldrons, left the carrots unchopped on the
tables, and tore after the boy to the ballfield.
This miracle was true;
there it was, now as big as a gull and heading for us from the western
mountains.
As it came steadily nearer,
the elation of the assembled camp -- 1,500 strong -- mounted. This
meant that the Allies were probing into our area, not a slow thousand miles
away! And people began to shout to themselves, to everyone around them,
to the heavens above, their exhilaration:
"Why it's a big
plane, with four engines! It's coming straight for the camp -- and look
how low it is.! Look, there's the American flag painted on
the side! Why it's almost touching the trees!... It's turning
around again.... It's coming back over the camp! ...Look, look, they're
waving at us! They know who we are. They have come to
get us!"
At this point, the excitement
was too great for any of us to contain. It surged up within us, a flood
of joyful feeling, sweeping aside all our restraints and making us its
captives. Suddenly I realized that for some seconds I had been running
around in circles, waving my hands in the air and shouting at the top of my
lungs. I looked around briefly to see how others were behaving.
It was pandemonium, the more
so because everyone like myself was looking up and shouting at the plane, and
was unconscious of what he or anyone else was doing. Staid folk were
embracing others to whom they had barely spoken for two years; proper
middle-aged Englishmen and women were cheering or swearing. Others were
laughing hysterically, or crying like babies. All were moved to an ecstacy of feeling that carried them quite out of their
normal selves as the great plane banked over and circled the camp three
times....
Then suddenly all this sound
stopped dead. A sharp gasp went up as fifteen hundred people stared in
stark wonder. I could feel the drop of my own jaw. After flying
very low back and forth about a half mile from the camp, the plane's underside
opened. Out of it, wonder of wonders, floated seven men in
parachutes! This was the height of the incredible! Not only were
they coming here some day, they were here today, in our
midst! Rescue was here!
For an instant this
realization sank in silently, as a bomb might sink into water. Then the
explosion occurred. Every last one of us started as with one mind for the
gate. Without pausing even a second to consider the danger involved, we
poured like some gushing human torrent down the short road. This
avalanche hit the great front gate, burst it open, and streamed past the guards
standing at bewildered and indecisive attention.
As I rushed by, I caught a
glimpse of our guard bringing his automatic rife sharply into shooting
position. But his bewilderment won out; he slowly lowered his
gun....
Oblivious to all this danger,
yelling and shouting, jostling and pushing, we rushed through the narrow
streets of the neighboring village and out into the
fields. So intent were we on finding our parachuted rescuers that we
scarcely had time to savor the sweet feeling of
freedom that colored so vividly those earliest
moments....
About a half mile farther on,
we came to a field high with Chinese corn. My first sight of an American
soldier in World War II was that of a handsome major of about twenty-seven
years, standing on a grave mound in the center of
that corn field. Looking further, I saw internees dancing wildly about what
appeared to be six more godlike figures: how immense, how strong, how
striking, how alive these American paratroopers looked in comparison to our
shrunken shanks and drawn faces! Above all, their faces were new!
After two and a half years, we had come to assume subconsciously that everyone
in the world looked like the fifteen hundred of us --we were the world....
The Japanese would no longer
rule us! With this word, our cup of ecstasy ran over. The internees
picked up their discomfited rescuers on their shoulders, and in a wild cheering
procession reminiscent of a victorious high school student body bringing home
the winning coach and team, the internees wound their way back to the camp.
________________
Of this team of heroes, only Tad Nagaki
is living. If you'd like to phone him to say thank you or to tell him
what you remember about Liberation Day here is his telephone number:
Tad Nagaki:
308-762-2968
Mary Previte
From: Kim Smith
Sent:
Subject: Re: "pandemonium...ecstasy!" - the
day our American liberators came -- 65 years
|
I'd like you
all to know that my sister has just unearthed my Dad's orders to go to
Weihsien, and I will scan them and send them to Leopold. i must be careful, because they are stapled and they are
many pages. The orders describe the Duck Mission. I think this
will be a good addition to your records. |
From: Tapol
Sent:
Subject: Re: "pandemonium...ecstasy!" - the
day our American liberators came -- 65 years
Hello,
Thanks in
advance, Kim. I'll gladly add that to your chapter.
---- 65
years already ! time sure does go fast ---
Topica is soooo quiet!
Is
everybody OK?
Cheerio,
Leopold
From: Kim Smith
Sent:
Subject: Re: "pandemonium...ecstasy!" - the
day our American liberators came -- 65 years
|
I've noticed
the same, Leopold! Hellooooo
out thereeeee..... |
From: Donald Menzi
Sent:
Subject:
Re:
"pandemonium...ecstasy!" - the day our American liberators came -- 65
years
We're here (I think).
Let me just say that having Kim Smith in
the group is very exciting for me personally. I developed a strongly
positive feeling for your dad, Kim, first because of his painting of the
watchtower guard, and the controversy it generated as to whether it could have
been real (some former inmates insisting that Weihsien only had consular police
with pistols, not actual soldiers as guards, and others with firm memories of
bayonet practice, etc. supported by several of the camp drawings.) It make a
perfect image for me to use in my slide show to represent the period of waiting
for liberation.)
I remember the moment on the bus when I
saw someone reading a coy of his illustrated article telling about how things
were when he arrived, after the liberation, including a drawing of a young boy
wearing an oversized GI jacket, whom I later found was a member of this group -
Pearson, I believe.
Having even indrect
contact with you, Kim, provides living link to your father, whose work was
helpful to me in my small project. It also symbolizes how so many things
and people are interconnected, even when we don't realize it.
So thanks, Kim, for being here and for
bringing your father's presence to life for us.
Donald Menzi
From: Kim Smith
Sent:
Subject: Re: "pandemonium...ecstasy!" - the
day our American liberators came -- 65 years
|
Thank you so
much for your kind words. It has been very exciting for me as well, and
has helped to spark some interest in a more extensive Asian program at the
University where Dad's show hangs. People are quite fascinated with
this history of US and |
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent:
Subject:
Call from grandson of Lt.
William Zimpleman
Miracle of miracles!
This morning Ryan Zimpleman, grandson
of U. S. fighter pilot Lt. Willam Zimpleman phoned me from Indiana to say that he had just
found on the Weihsien web site (www.weihsien-paintings.org) and listened to the 1945 OSS interview with Lt. Zimpleman, following his being turned over to Lt. Jim
Hannon of the
Lt. Zimpleman had been kept safe
by friendly Chinese troops for 6 1/2 months in 1945 after he had
parachuted from his disabled fighter plane in
Ryan Zimpleman told me that he comes
from a family with a long and distinguished career in
How do you describe the excitement of man who has just
listened to the voice of his grandfather telling of
life-threatening bailout from his fighter plane in
I've included the transcript of this
interview below.
Do any of you remember Lt. Zimpleman's
being brought into Weihsien and turned over to Lt. Jim Hannon,
That was just 4 days before my brothers James and John, my sister
Kathleen, and I were flown out of Weihsien in a cargo plane to be reunited with
our parents. We had not seen them for 51/2 years!
Leopold Pander deserves our undying gratitude for preserving and making
accessible this astonishing record of every phase of our Weihsien
experience.
Mary Previte
INTERVIEW with Lt. William Zimpleman, September, 1945
Transcript taken from the U.S.
NATIONAL ARCHIVES
ANNOUNCER: At Weihsien, the
LT. ZIMPLEMAN: I am William V. Zimpleman. On February the 20th of this year, I left on
a fighter sweep from a base in Free China.
While over the target, I had the misfortune of getting… hhh…
ANNOUNCER: You came when you arrived at
the target, Lieutenant … You came down in a dive to strafe the target. Is that right?
LT. ZIMPLEMAN: That’s right. Uh.
Diving my last pass, I had steam come up in the cockpit, so I
immediately knew that I had been hit and had only a few minutes to plan my
escape.
ANNOUNCER: That’s when you were pulling
out of your last pass.
LT. ZIMPLEMAN: That’s right. That’s right.
ANNOUNCER: And what is that an indication
of – steam coming out from the cockpit?
LT. ZIMPLEMAN: That I’d received a hit in my
cooling system.
ANNOUNCER: I see. And that meant what? What would happen with a bullet in the
cooling system?
LT. ZIMPLEMAN: That my engine would soon be
out of coolant and would be too hot to run.
It would freeze.
ANNOUNCER: I see. And about what altitude were you when you
made this realization?
LT. ZIMPLEMAN: I was on the deck.
ANNOUNCER: Uh, you were on the deck?
LT. ZIMPLEMAN: Yes, I was on the deck. I was near the ground just a few feet.
ANNOUNCER: I see. I see.
LT. ZIMPLEMAN: I pulled up to about 2,500 feet
and headed in the direction that I figured was the safest.
ANNOUNCER: I see. And what did you see underneath you? What was the condition of the terrain under
you?
LT. ZIMPLEMAN: It was a bay. All water.
ANNOUNCER: A bay. All
water. What did you do
then?
LT. ZIMPLEMAN: I prepared to bail out ‘cause I
knew I had only a few minutes -- and
headed for the nearest land, the nearest terrain that I figured the
safest.
ANNOUNCER: That was across the bay?
LT. ZIMPLEMAN: That was across the bay.
ANNOUNCER: About how wide was the
bay?
LT. ZIMPLEMAN: About ten miles.
ANNOUNCER: That must have seemed the widest ten miles you ever saw.
LT. ZIMPLEMAN: It looked very bad.
ANNOUNCER: And you moved the hell out until you got across the bay.
LT. ZIMPLEMAN: Just as I got to the edge of the land, it started spitting and froze …right near the
patch of land.
ANNOUNCER: I see. And then what happened?
LT. ZIMPLEMAN: I started losing altitude, but
I still hadn’t reached the part I had intended to… started for.
ANNOUNCER: What is the sensation of a
plane without adequate landing? What’s
the sensation of going down and out?
LT. ZIMPLEMAN: Like a rock. You go down very fast.
ANNOUNCER: You’re really conscious of
falling.
LT. ZIMPLEMAN: Yes, gliding, but a very steep
glide down.
ANNOUNCER: I see. And what plan did you have in mind then?
LT. ZIMPLEMAN: Well,
uh, to bail out when I got to the
least altitude to be safe.
ANNOUNCER: You had to open up your hood… of the…
LT. ZIMPLEMAN: I had released my canopy sooner…
ANNOUNCER: Yes.
LT. ZIMPLEMAN: Sooner.
ANNOUNCER: You released the canopy
immediately.
LT. ZIMPLEMAN: I released the canopy before my
engine stopped.
ANNOUNCER: I see.
LT. ZIMPLEMAN: To be safe.
ANNOUNCER: I see. And then you waited to what altitude before
you jumped?
LT. ZIMPLEMAN: About a thousand feet.
ANNOUNCER: You were watching the
altimeter. At a thousand feet you went
out. Did you fall clear of the
plane?
LT. ZIMPLEMAN: Yes, it was very … it worked
out very fine. The plane went straight
down. I missed the tail. It went right over me.
ANNOUNCER: And did you wait ‘til you had
seen the tail passed before you pulled the rip cord?
LT. ZIMPLEMAN: That’s right.
ANNOUNCER: Uh. And then did you see the plane handing?
LT. ZIMPLEMAN: No, I didn’t. No, I didn’t.
I was watching… (laugh)…
ANNOUNCER: You were busy.
LT. ZIMPLEMAN: …other things.
ANNOUNCER: Uh, did you see the plane
afterwards?
LT. ZIMPLEMAN: Yes, I saw the plane
afterwards. It was burning.
ANNOUNCER: Yes. And, uh, were you aware of an opening shock?
LT. ZIMPLEMAN: Uh, yes. I… But not much…very slight.
ANNOUNCER: I see. And then you had only a few hundred feet to
fall.
LT. ZIMPLEMAN: That’s right.
ANNOUNCER: What was your sensation coming
down as far as expecting trouble?
LT. ZIMPLEMAN: I expected enemy troops –
Japanese. I could expect nothing
else. I was near water and
everything.
ANNOUNCER: In that area there’s nothing
but Japanese.
LT. ZIMPLEMAN: Right near the target.
ANNOUNCER: And as you came down, did you
notice anyone below? Had anyone seen
you?
LT. ZIMPLEMAN: Yes, I could see many
people. Many people who had seen me were
coming out of the village.
ANNOUNCER: Uh, these were villagers.
LT. ZIMPLEMAN: Yeh,
that’s right.
ANNOUNCER: And, uh, when you landed, did
you land safely? Did you hurt
yourself?
LT. ZIMPLEMAN: Uh, I landed…when I landed, I pigeoned my ankle. I
started running, but it was impossible for me to get away.
ANNOUNCER: I see. And people came crowding around and said,
“Ding hao.”
And then you said, “Ding hao.”
LT. ZIMPLEMAN: No, I… No, I… Not long I was rescued by friendly
troops.
ANNOUNCER: Oh, Gol. They came right on up!
LT. ZIMPLEMAN: And kept the civilians
away. I had no contact with
civilians. They didn’t know where I
went.
ANNOUNCER: That must have been a relief to
you…to know what happened.
LT. ZIMPLEMAN: For the full length of time I was with them – which was 6 ½ months –
they kept me safe.
ANNOUNCER: And then Lt. Hannon, who had
come with the Duck Mission in
Weihsien, contacted you and you came
back.
LT. ZIMPLEMAN: That’s right. After this time, my first contact with my own
people – with the Duck Mission at Weihsien.
ANNOUNCER: Lieutenant, nice having you
back. I hope you’ll be home.
LT. ZIMPLEMAN: I’m very glad to be back.
ANNOUNCER: Thank you very much.
#
From: Dwight W.
Whipple
Sent:
Subject: Re: Call from grandson of Lt. William Zimpleman
Yes, Leopold does deserve a lot of credit for keeping
the past so close to us all these years later! Cheers, Leopold!
~Dwight W
Whipple
From: Donald Menzi
To:
weihsien@topica.com ; weihsien@topica.com
Sent:
Subject:
Re: Call from grandson of
Lt. William Zimpleman
What a wonderful story! And yet
another example of the fact that we never know or can even imagine the impact
of our actions in this life. Doing something good and doing it well, for
its own sake, not for the expectation of any reward, is always the right thing
to do - and sometimes is even rewarded with a story such as this.
Donald.
From: Tapol
Sent:
Subject:
Re: Call from grandson of
Lt. William Zimpleman
Dear Mary,
Well ! that is great news :-)
To be 100% correct, it is you, Mary,
who did all the work of getting these recordings from the National Archives for
us. I just did the technical work of getting it available for all of us to see
and hear.
However, I keep on hoping to be
able to retranscript a new diary to the website with
new findings about our captivity. It is true that we, the children of
Weihsien are now getting old but we still have the children, the grand children
and the great grand children who will want to know more!
Not later than yesterday, I had a
conversation with one of my neighbours, about family affairs during WWII
and about 3 of his aunts getting married to GIs and now living happily in America.
I told him, that thanks to our WeiHsien website an abandoned child found
her biological parents and that now, so many years later, everybody is
happy about it.
I think that we will still have
surprises with our Weihsien website. Out of the more or less 300 Italians
in camp, nobody has contacted us yet!
Anyway, as long as I can, I will
always be there to add whatever.
--- all the best,
Leopold
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent:
Subject:
Fwd: Seeking information
about Sister Eustella
Can anyone help provide information for this inquiry?
Mary Previte
From: donaldsande@gmail.com
To: MTPrevite@aol.com, gregleck@epix.net, gdavidbirch@yahoo.com, albertdezutter@worldnet.att.net
Sent: 8/29/2010 8:24:54 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time
Subj: Seeking
information about Sister Eustella
My father-in-law, now 94, was a US Marine
pilot stationed in
Thanks,
Donald Sanders
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent:
Subject:
Sister Eustella
-- miracles still happen!
What miracles continue to burst from our Weihsien
experience!
In 1984 -- to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the
ending of World War II, The Philadelphia Inquirer Magazine used as its
cover story my Weihsien story: SONG OF SALVATION AT WEIHSIEN PRISON
She sent me a copy of this TYPED book -- a collection
of memories and letters about these Franciscan Sisters who had served God in
How Donald Sanders got my e-mail address I do not
know. Maybe others of you can provide information for his
father-in-law, aged 94.
Mary Previte
From: Donald Menzi
Sent:
Subject:
Re: Sister Eustella -- miracles still happen!
Mary,
All I can say is, Wow! What
incredible connections have been and will continue to be made through this labor of love. All unplanned, unexpected and
unpredictable and - yes - seemingly miraculous, yet so totally ordinary slices
of real life .
Wonder what will be next?
Donald
From: "
To: <weihsien@topica.com>
Sent:
Subject: Re: Sister Eustella
-- miracles still happen!
Ø
Dear All,
> I think that you are talking about the book A Cross in
> the mission of Sr M Servatia
published by Cuchallain Publicatins
Ft Wayne
> Indian in 1989 I got a copy through Cardinal Stretch Unviversity.
> This mentions them getting out of WEihsien and gettign to Shanghai where
> they started trying toi retrieve their goods
> Rgds
>
From: "Tapol" <tapol@skynet.be>
To: <weihsien@topica.com>
Sent:
Subject: Re: Sister Eustella
-- miracles still happen!
Ø
Hello,
> try using the http://www.weihsien-paintings.org search engine.
Type:
> "eustella" ... and see what happens
:-)
> The Weihsien "episode" is in the "books" chapter
> www.weihsien-paintings.org/books/Servatia/txt_Servatia.htm
> enjoy.
> Sister Eustella is often mentionned
in the "I remember" album
> Best regards,
> Leopold
From: Gay Talbot Stratford
Sent:
Subject:
Re: Seeking information
about Sister Eustella
Mary,
I cannot help with the search for the two carved
boxes, but Sister eustella I remember well.
When we arrived at weihsien
in early Mrch , after three days in an overcrowded
train, we were taken to a two storey building and the first person to meet us
at the door was Sister Eustella with a smile on her
face and a cup of thin soup in her hand. She found a thin mat for the five of
us , that is parents and three children My sister Christine was seven months
old .
Throughout our stay , until Octber
!945, the sisters were an inspiration. What an example of faith in
action they were.!
Thank you Mary, for your continuing thoughtfulness.
Gay
From: Donald Menzi
Sent:
Subject:
Re: Seeking information
about Sister Eustella
By the way, it was not only the sisters.
The Weihsien camp diary of my grandfather, George Wilder, expresses his
great admiration for "those magnificent Fathers" - both for their
selfless service and for their prowess on the baseball field.
And this was from a Protestant missionary
who was sometimes critical of things that the Catholic Church was doing in
Donald
Menzi
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent:
Subject:
Sister Eustella,
Weihsien
Thank you very much for this information. I'm
busy tracking down all these leads, and will share the results with my
father-in-law - he will be delighted to learn what happened to the Weihsien
contingent.
Donald Sanders
Durham, NC USA
From: Estelle Horne nee Cliff
Sent:
Subject: Re: Seeking information about Sister Eustella
|
Yes, we lost a lot of our prejudices in Weihsien! My
old grandmother Alice Broomhall used to sit in the sun with the old Mother
Superior. Was Sister Eustella the
one who used to play baseball with the kids? I remember her round smiling
face. She was game for anything. These broad horizons were the best lesson we
learned. Estelle
Cliff Horne |
From: Laura
Hope-Gill
Sent:
Subject: Re: Seeking information about Sister Eustella
Hello,
My grandmother, Grace Hope-Gill, recalled
the presence of Trappist monks. She told me they would pray near the fences
while farmers from the surrounding area rolled eggs down under the fence. The
monks gathered the eggs in their robes. In the story, the monks would break
their vows of silence and pray out loud when guards came near so they wouldn't
be disturbed. Does anyone else recollect this?
Sister Eustella
is a lovely addition to the collective memory.
Sincerely, and best to all,
Laura
Hope-Gill
From: Donald Menzi
Sent:
Subject:
Re: Seeking information
about Sister Eustella
Yes, the black market was run by the
Fathers, under the leadership of a priest, Father Scanlon, whom I actually met
once in
Note that Langton Gilkey changes the names
of the people in his account (his "Darby" is really Scanlon.
Please excuse the inserted symbols (@, =, A, etc,) which were substiuted for quotation marks and other special symbols
when I copied them from Word Perfect to MS Word and I haven't yet edited them
out. Fr. Scanlon, too, wrote a biographical account that included
Weihsien, but I haven't transcribed it yet.
Donald Menzi
===================================================================
Langdon Gilkey, Courtyard of the Happy Way [1][1]
With the advent of Spring, a marked change came over
the face of the camp. Where there had been rubble and dirt, there were now
bright patches of color in the gardens and neat
patios. These were only the physical evidences of a change that also occurred
on a deeper level. Within a few months this poorly prepared and, indeed, almost
desperate group had transformed itself into a coherent civilization, able to
cope with its basic material problems and day by day raising the level of its
life on all fronts. The food was almost palatable, the baseball league
enthralled everyone; and the evenings were now warm enough for a stroll with a
girl friend. The camp was almost becoming a pleasant place in which to live.
Not the least among the elements contributing to this
general state of well-being were the sources of Aextra@ supplies. Of course there was always the camp
canteen: a small store supplied by the Japanese and manned by a
It was, however, the black market that added the most
to our life during the first six months. Although I enjoyed its fruits as much
as the next man, I was never involved in the operation of this flourishing
industry. Even the most ingenuous, however, could not long remain unaware of
its existence. He had only to saunter past any row of rooms or dorm of a
morning to smell eggs frying on a newly made brick stove, or to have a friend
casually press upon him some succulent jam for his bread. When he stopped by a neighbor’s room, he was likely to be offered a little bacon
or chocolate, By-gar (Chinese whisky) or wine.
It was no time at all until the members of our group,
too, were buying eggs, jam, and sweets from Athose who knew.@ There were, as I found, a considerable number of the
latter. When I inquired whom one might contact for some of this marvelous manna, friends suggested the following: some of
the tough ex-army men at the end of our row; several businessmen over near the
wall in Block 54; two bachelors in Dorm 49; and so on. But the majority
replied: AIf you want to get eggs and jam cheap, and in great
quantity, see the Catholic fathers.@
During the middle of that first summer, at least
two-thirds of the internees had an egg to fry each morning. At one point in
fact, when the black market was at its height, we had so many that an extra hot
plate in the Peking kitchen had to be constructed to handle the long line
queued up for a stove. This meant that an average of about 1,300 eggs a day
were coming over or through the wall; an equivalent amount of jam, peanuts, and
sugar was there for the buying if one knew whom to see. Wherever there was a sheltered spot in the
wall, goods seemed to pour over. The Chinese farmers were eager for cash and in
summer they had plenty of produce to sell....
As it was apparent that the fathers were the major
source, I decided to find out how they worked it. The three hundred or so priests and monks
lived under horribly crowded conditions in the upper floors of the hospital
building and one or two adjacent small blocks. This was an area which was next
to the wall, and at the beginning quite out of sight of the guardhouses. Each
time I had been in their neighborhood, I had felt a
slight shock, for I was not used to this monastic world. Early in the morning
or late in the afternoon, I found that the yard around the hospital resembled a
medieval courtyard. A hundred or so priests in black and monks in brown were
there slowly pacing up and down near the wall saying their prayers.
I learned from one Passionist
father that the black market began at the hour of evening devotionals a couple
of weeks after camp started. Quite without warning, a covey of cabbages flew
over the wall into the midst of these praying priests. Immediately, so my friend noted with great
amusement, all purely religious concerns receded. The priests closed their
prayer books, scooped up the cabbages, and hoisted one another up high enough to
talk over the wall to the Chinese beyond it. Regular rendezvous spots and hours
were fixed, and if one of them did not work, they tried another.
The most successful and certainly the most intriguing
of the clerical egg runners was a small, bespectacled Trappist monk named
Father Darby. The strict rules of his order against speaking at any time were
temporarily lifted so that these monks could work with the rest of us. Thus
Father Darby was able to tell us a good deal about his life as a Trappist. He
explained to us that he had been in the same monastery for twenty-five years.
For that quarter century prior to coming to camp, he had not spoken more than
three or four words to any living soul. A charming, friendly little man, while
he was with us he more than made up for lost time. He would talk by the hour
with anyone who would listen to him. I am sure he was a devout Trappist, but
one summer evening I came to realize he had many other facets to his
personality. Passing by one of the camp’s more elegant patios, I saw a group
sampling By-gar. In their midst was Father Darby, dressed in a Asecular@ white summer formal,Creplete with white jacket, black tie and black
trousersCand regaling that fashionable audience with his Irish
stories!
Father Darby had a seemingly foolproof method of
receiving eggs undetected. In an obscure corner of the wall about a foot above
the ground, he had pried loose a few bricks. He would kneel down at this spot
and pull the eggs through the hole as a Chinese farmer pushed them from the
other side. If a guard happened along, two Trappist friends down the line would
begin a Gregorian chant.
At this signal, Darby would quickly cover the eggs
with his long monk’s robe and, already on his knees, be deep in prayer by the
time the guard reached him. He kept up this practice for two or three months
without being caught. Some of the guards were apparently more than a little
afraid of these Aholy men@ with their massive beards and long robes. But finally
one day a guard lifted Father Darby’s robe as he knelt by the wall. To his
surprise and the monk’s embarrassment, he found one hundred and fifty eggs
nestling there. Whatever the guards may have thought of the occult powers of
Western holy men, they certainly never gave them credit for being able to lay
eggs!
Father Darby was whisked off to the guardhouse. The
first trial of camp life began. The camp awaited the outcome of the trial with
bated breath; we were all fearful that the charming Trappist might be shot or
at best tortured. For two days, the chief of police reviewed all the evidence
on the charge of black marketeering, which was, to
say the least, conclusive.
At the end of the elaborate trial, the chief announced
his stern verdict. First, he said that because he was determined to stamp out
the black market, he would have to make an example of Father DarbyCadding parenthetically that it pained him Ato punish a man of the cloth.@ The camp heard this pronouncement with a shudder. And
so, said the chief, he was going to sentence Father Darby to one and one-half
months of solitary confinement! The Japanese looked baffled when the camp
greeted this news with a howl of delight, and shook their heads wonderingly as
the little Trappist monk was led off to his new cell joyously singing.
From that time on, the black market had a strange and
uneven history. During the fall of 1943, the Japanese reduced the flow of goods
to a trickle. They managed to catch some more of the internee leaders and put
them in Asolitary.@ Since they were not Trappists,
that was bad enough. But then they caught two Chinese farmers. To the horror of
the internees, they stood the Chinese up before a firing squad within earshot
of the camp.
David
Michell, A Boy=s War [2][2]
The black market really was a lifeline to survival for
many in camp. From the accounts that circulated in camp, the peak time of the
clandestine purchasing of food and other necessities was in the first months
of Weihsien Camp’s history. The Roman Catholic fathers expanded their calling
to include getting into the barter business. They acted as a conduit between
people in the camp and collaborating Chinese outside, exchanging cash and
valuables for eggs, bacon, fruit, jam and even chocolate. One method of
collecting orders was for a Chinese, with his body blackened and greased, to
shinny over the wall at night and pick up the Ashopping list.@ While doing
this he would also arrange the time and method of delivery. Since the Japanese
guards patrolled the walls constantly, the system called for great ingenuity.
Five of the fathers were Trappist monks. They had been
forced to forego their vows of silence, having been put by the Japanese into
one of the tiny rooms. Their joviality and good Aworks@ became a byword in camp, and fortuitously their room
was very close to the outside wall and made an excellent location for their
food-smuggling enterprise.
One of these monks was Father Patrick Scanlan, an
Australian of Irish ancestry. He became Chief Organizer of the underground
food supply operation. He looked the perfect friarCin fact some called him Friar ATucker@ (Aussie slang for food). His long brown robes just
seemed to match his red hair, rotund figure, and rosy complexion.
The chief egg supplier from the outside was a plucky
little Chinese Christian lady called Mrs. Kang. At night, with the help of her
little boys, she would funnel a steady flow of eggs into a drainage tunnel that
came in underneath the wall near the priests’ shack. If ever an egg business
got cracking, this one did. Scanlan recorded all his dealings in what he called
AThe Book of Life.@ With his partners he carefully distributed the eggs
and other food within the camp, making sure to escape detection by the guards.
Father Scanlan was very adroit in every aspect of the
operation. One time when he was sitting on a stool by the wall, as was his
daily custom, he had given the all-clear to those over the wall for the egg
delivery to begin. Just then a guard approached. Quickly he had to stop
putting the eggs into the bucket hidden under his robe and at the same time try
to signal a halt to the flow coming under the wall. Unsuccessful in stopping
the arrival of the eggs, he began to read his prayer book very loudly and then,
in the form of a Latin chant, called his partners to come and help.
However, the guard was in an unusually talkative mood
and decided to stop and engage him in conversation. In a few minutes the
cracking of egg shells and the telltale mess of raw eggs streaming out from
beneath his gown gave him away. With angry shouts of abuse, the sentry hauled
him off to the guard house, where he was given a sentence of fifteen days in
solitary confinement. When news of Father Scanlan’s
punishment got back to us, it was the joke of the camp. What was solitary
confinement to one who had had twenty-five years of silence as a Trappist
before internment?!
The priest was always one step ahead of the Japanese,
and even in solitary, he put one over on them. After about a week, Scanlan was
lonely for company. He decided to sing his prayers out loud in Latin, late at
night. Since his cell was in one of the buildings housing the soldiers, his
booming voice was keeping them from sleep. On hearing that these noisy
activities were his obligatory religious exercises, they hesitated to interfere.
They put up with the same routine one more night and then gladly sent him back
to us. As Weihsien’s egg hero was marched back into camp under guard, the
Salvation Army band fell in behind them, playing a march and soon a long train
of grateful mothers and children were part of the joyful procession. The
Japanese appeared not to get the point as the camp feted its benefactor’s
return.
The black-market business was never quite as
successful thereafter as the Japanese took much greater precautions. After a
new commandant was appointed, it became even more difficult, and supplies were
sorely missed. One Chinese was electrocuted while trying to smuggle in food;
his body was left to hang on the wires as a gruesome warning to others.
Norman Cliff, Courtyard of the Happy Way [3][3]
White Elephant and Black Market
In addition to the limited resources of the official
camp kitchens, there were other sources of supplies. There was the White
Elephant where cigarettes, soap, peanut oil arid other provisions could be
purchased. Internees without ready cash brought books and clothes which they
bartered for food. Cash for buying these
commodities came from AComfort Money@, brought by the Swiss Red Cross representative, Mr. Eggar, who took all kinds of risks to visit the camp
regularly. Internees had to sign a promissory note, undertaking to repay the
money after the war. In Chinese dollars the amounts received monthly sounded
large, hut with the rapidly rising inflation they in fact bought less and less.
Another factor in the battle for survival was the
black market. I watched this delicate operation in full swing. Going to chop
wood for fuel in an out-of-the-way part of camp, I stumbled on it quite
accidentally.
In between electrified wires were three Chinese, busy
passing over the wall below the wires boxes of eggs and some crates of bigar (wine). On this side of the wires were some
Through this adventurous exercise families with small
children were able to get eggs and other items not available at the White
Elephant, while thirsty bachelors could drink the bigar
to drown their sorrows. Initially the
goods were bought for hard cash, but as the war progressed I.O.U chits were
signed undertaking settlement after the war.
Early one morning I walked past the sports field to
see the corpse of a Chinese black marketeer hanging on the wires. The authorities
left it there for a while as an object lesson. On another occasion a group of
Chinese traders was caught and all were beaten up by the Japanese. On the whole
the marketing was carried out without such repercussions.
