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elaine.tooley@gmail.com [weihsien_camp]
To:weihsien_camp@yahoogroups.com
Sun, 26 Oct 2014 at 19:59
[weihsien_camp] Re: Tsingtao -- Eugenia "Jenny" Riskin Richardson

Good afternoon!

I'm the researcher/writer that Mary Taylor Previte mentioned who is working with the Richardson family.

After stumbling on some additional research, it looks like Eugenia Richardson and her husband, James Carroll Richardson, might have arrived at Weihsien from Tientsin. Jenny had originally remembered Tsingtao, but based on some newspaper articles, they may have been in Tientsin.

I've also recently found that they lived in Block 32. Most in that block were British. Perhaps that rings a bell for someone. If so, I'd love to ask a few questions.

Thank you, one and all, for all of your help as I try to help a family learn about their mother's experience.

Enjoy your day,
Elaine Tooley





Dwight Whipple
To:mtprevite@aol.com
Cc:lornablack@mac.com,leopoldpander@yahoo.com
Sun, 26 Oct 2014 at 17:37
Re: [weihsien_camp] Dwight Whipple's memories of experincer in Tsingtao BEFORE Weihsien

Mary,

I believe that my brother, Elden, was in your class. He will be 84 in January and Lorna is three and a half years younger than he. Perhaps some sort of electronic copy of our Tsingtao/Weihsien saga could be sent to you and/or Leopold.

I’ll ask my sister who is copied, along with Leopold, on this email.

~Dwight





'Tapol' leopoldpander@yahoo.com [weihsien_camp]
To:weihsien_camp@yahoogroups.com
Fri, 24 Oct 2014 at 09:46
Re: [weihsien_camp] A question about Red Cross food packages

Dear Larry,

Did you also read the account of the incident in Pamela Masters’ book: “The Mushroom Years” (pages 227 +++). I quite like that account ! Of course, the names are not the real ones !!

I remember questioning Father Hanquet (when he was still alive) about the incident. He told me the whole story but – of course – no names.

... best regards,
Leopold

From: mailto:weihsien_camp@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Thursday, October 23, 2014 4:32 PM
To: weihsien_camp@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [weihsien_camp] A question about Red Cross food packages

Dear members,

I've lurked in this group for several years and enjoyed reading the posts. I've long been fascinated by the stories of WW II internees of the Japanese of which, fortunately, there is an extensive literature.

One of the most interesting stories I've run across is the saga of the American Red Cross parcels in Chapter VI of Langdon Gilkey's book, "Shantung Compound." (David Mitchell has a shorter account of the incident in his book.) I share Gilkey's interest in what he calls "men and women under pressure."

Would anybody care to comment or offer additional details on this story? Is Gilkey's account substantially correct and complete?

Thanks for any comments.
Larry Clinton Thompson





Mary Previte mtprevite@aol.com [weihsien_camp]
To:weihsien_camp@yahoogroups.com
Thu, 23 Oct 2014 at 14:31
[weihsien_camp] Dwight Whipple's memories of experincer in Tsingtao BEFORE Weihsien

Dwight has written this account in response to questions from a writer who is researching Weihsien.

Here’s what I remember about our life in Tsingtao (Qingdao) under Japanese control before and during internment in Weihsien. I've included what we were told by our parents:

On December 8, 1941 (it was Dec 7 in Pearl Harbor) a column of Japanese soldiers marched up the road to our house in Tsingtao (Qingdao), Shantung Province, China. We were immediately put under house arrest and a guard was placed at the gate of our walled compound. In addition, all means of communication and transportation were taken: e.g. radio, station wagon, bicycles, motor cycle (which they couldn’t start and we refused to start it for them), telephone. As time went by we were given permission to leave the premises for first an hour a day (to do shopping, etc), then extended to three hours a day. We lived walking distance to the beach and used the time to go swimming when the weather warmed up.

This arrangement lasted nearly a year and then we were moved on October 27, 1942 into a nearby hotel, the Iltis Hydro, with about three hundred others (Americans, British, Dutch, Philippinos, Greeks, Norwegians, Armenians and Persians). Interestingly enough, a good friend, a German doctor, was an immense help while we were interned at the hotel. We had two incidents which required hospitalization (my brother’s appendectomy and my aunt’s delivery of her daughter). In addition, this doctor was able to bring us food items and bring news from the outside world.

On March 20, 1943 (we remember this date because it was our mother’s birthday) we were taken by truck and then train to Weihsien, Shantung. We were, I believe, the first to arrive and we scrounged around for items to furnish our meager room assignment (Block 1). We spent six months there until we were repatriated to the US in an arrangement between the US and Japan to exchange civilian prisoners. We travelled by truck, train, ferry to Shanghai, boarded the Teia Maru (a Japanese vessel commandeered from the French) and sailed to Goa, India via Southeast Asia. At Goa we transferred to the MS Gripsholm, a luxury Swedish liner that brought a boatload of Japanese civilians from New York. The exchange was made at Goa and we continued our journey via Port Elizabeth, South Africa; Rio, Brazil; and north to New York. Our journey by ship was two months in length and a very exciting and memorable adventure for us kids!

Elaine, my sister, Lorna Whipple Black, has compiled an extensive number of letters, diaries and journals of our family into a book that has been published. Part of the book details our time in China including the war years. The book is “Heritage of Faith, A Chronicle of the Otis and Julia Whipple Family.” I believe it is still available through www.amazon.com and www.barnesandnoble.com

This may be more than you wanted to know but it is a sparse sketch of our movements from Dec 8, 1941 to Dec 1, 1943. After a week or so in Philadelphia we travelled by train across the country to our family home in Bellingham, Washington arriving just before the most glorious Christmas ever!

~Dwight W Whipple





Mary Previte mtprevite@aol.com [weihsien_camp]
To:weihsien_camp@yahoogroups.com
Mon, 20 Oct 2014 at 22:05
Re: [weihsien_camp] Tsingtao -- Eugenia "Jenny" Riskin Richardson

Dwight,

May I forward your e-msil address to Elaine, who's researching Jenny Riskin? Perhaps she would like to ask some questions about your experience in Tsingtao.

Mary





thewhipples@comcast.net [weihsien_camp]
To:weihsien_camp@yahoogroups.com
Mon, 20 Oct 2014 at 06:43
Re: [weihsien_camp] Tsingtao -- Eugenia "Jenny" Riskin Richardson

Mary,

we have the same dates and places: 1943 from Tsingtao to Weihsien but Eugenia apparently was older than I or my siblings so her name is not familiar to me. Perhaps my parents would have remembered but they have been gone for some time (1986 and 2004). There are fewer and fewer of us left!

~Dwight W Whipple
Olympia, Washington USA





Mary Previte mtprevite@aol.com [weihsien_camp]
To:weihsien_camp@yahoogroups.com
Cc:johnhoyte12@gmail.com,e.v.goldsmith@ntlworld.com,psbazire@yahoo.co.uk,pat@patrickgoodland.plus.com,rictordk@q.com Mon, 20 Oct 2014 at 03:06
[weihsien_camp] Tsingtao -- Eugenia "Jenny" Riskin Richardson

Someone who is working to record the Weihsien experience of Eugenia "Jenny" Riskin Richardson - born in 1920 has contacted me with question. She writes, "Eugenia 'Jenny' was a Russian-born woman who grew up in China. In 1942, she married James Richardson, an employee of British American Tobacco. I believe he was 10 years older than she was. They had been in Tsingtao, China, before being sent to Weihsien in 1943. She would have been in her early 20s when she was interned."

If you were part of the Tsingtao group in Weihsien or one who knew Eugenia "Jenny" Riskin Richardson in Weihsien, would you get in touch with me so I can connect you with this family?

Thank you,
Mary Taylor Previte





Mary Previte mtprevite@aol.com [weihsien_camp]
To:weihsien_camp@yahoogroups.com
Cc:rwbridge@freeuk.com
Sat, 4 Oct 2014 at 14:30
[weihsien_camp] The 70th anniversary reunion in Weifang of 2015

I have received this message from Sui Shude in Weifang. Mr. Sui was our wonderfully-helpful liaison for the 2005 reunion there.

I hope this information helps you plan now for August 2015.

Mary Taylor Previte

Begin forwarded message:

> From: 隋 >
Subject: The 70th anniversary reunion in Weifang of 2015
> Date: October 4, 2014 5:19:29 AM EDT
> To: "Mary Previte"
>
>

Dear Mary Taylor Previte,
> Hi! Sorry for the late response.
> I transfered your email to Wang Hao, director of the Foreign Affairs Office of Weifang, and few days ago I talked to him also about the 70th reunion in 2015.
> 1. On August 14, a news-releasing conference has been specially held in Weifang that the Weifang Municipal People's Government will sponsor a reunion in August 2015 for the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the camp.
> 2. The specific plan for the reunion is being made, but Mr. Wang said that in general, the plan of this reunion will follow the frame of the reunion in 2005, but easier: There will be a opening ceremony; a new and big exhibition museum will be opened at the celebration, and other commemorative activities.
> 3. Former Weihsien internees and their families from around the world will be invited to Weifang for the celebration on August 16-18, 2015, Weifang Municipal Government will be responsible for their hotel room, food and activites for two or three days during the celebration and reunion. and Also many media reporters, jounalists, TV and film producers, and Weihsien study experts and writers will be invited to the occasion.
>
> Further information will be attached. The Leopold Pander's new Weihsien group on Yahoo address will be important for distributing further formal informatrion, later.
>
> Regards,
> Sui Shude

>
> E-mail: suishude@sina.com
> E-mail: suishude@gmail.com
> Foreign Affairs Office of Weifang People's Gov.
> 6/F of Sunshine Tower, No.6396 East Dongfeng St.,
> Weifang, Shandong, P.R.China 261061
> Mobile: +86-13905369362
> Tel/Fax: +86-536-8233692




Estelle Horne estelle.m.horne@gmail.com [weihsien_camp]
To:weihsien_camp@yahoogroups.com
Fri, 3 Oct 2014 at 14:52
[Attachment(s) from Estelle Horne included below]
[weihsien_camp] Fwd: Jesus Loves Me in Chinese [1 Attachment]

Hello Alison

I had to use the Weihsien address because yours was incomplete.

Here is Jesus Loves Me as rquested. My late brother Norman Cliff gave me a hymnbook in this format. Do you know how to pronounce pinying?
X = sh Q = ch Zh = j C = ts

Greetings,
Estelle

PS What was your maiden name? Let me know if you don't get the attachment.





Terri Stewart tksweaver@verizon.net [weihsien_camp]
To:weihsien_camp@yahoogroups.com
Thu, 2 Oct 2014 at 03:13
Re: [weihsien_camp] Another Weihsiren documerntary in the wortks.

I thank you RKS and Mary for your posts on the times surrounding internment in the various camps and if you were able to be in contact with house servants and locals after the camps. Those are the kind of background stories I wanted to read about and I appreciate your contributions. My great-aunt (Ruth Kunkel) was able to contact a few people (some ex-pats and a couple of Helen Burton's girls) when she returned to China, but most moved on in one way or another because of the Communist Government, as did she when she left China for good in 1952. She taught for a time in Istanbul (English, Latin) at an American college for women, then retiring in Palma, Mallorca. She never returned to the US.

I find it very interesting and strangely comforting on how everyone connects with their similar and dissimilar experiences during the war. Hearing about the camp songs, roll call, making coal, laundry, all the necessities of life and learning to live without many of those things, lots of humor to keep spirits up and supporting each other no matter what, especially keeping life as normal as possible for the children. A herculean effort and it worked! Bless you all!

Terri

On Sunday, September 28, 2014 9:44 PM, "rks@wideopen.net.au [weihsien_camp]" wrote:

Terri, I can report my mother's experience. She lived in Chingwantao prior to internment in Weihsien and their household was the usual expat one with servants, whom my mother adored as she didn't see much of her parents (it has always reminded me of Mary in 'The Secret Garden'). After she and my grandmother left Weihsien and reunited with my grandfather in India they were repatriated to the UK for a few months, but returned to China when my grandfather was offered his old job back. My mother says when their ship arrived at the wharf, all but one of their old servants was lined up to greet them, beaming. Once the civil war worsened they had to leave. My mother and grandmother left in 1947. My grandfather was placed under house arrest and in 1948 escaped hidden in a farm cart to Korea. Before he left he gave the servants gold bars as inflation was rampant. They never returned to China again or found out what happened to their servants.