From: <gregleck@epix.net>
Sent:
Subject: Weihsien film footage
Ř
I've
just returned from a trip to
> regarding Weihsien which I did not dig up whilst researching my
book.
> Once I get things in order I will probably pass them on to Leopold to
> add to his site.
>
> On a related topic, I have finally, thanks to the recent release of
> personnel records, identified the Philip Malmstedt who was a film
> cameraman and may have taken film footage of Weihsien in the days after
> liberation. Pamela Masters has mentioned this person and the film he
> shot in August 1945. Knowing he was a member of the
> down the area where the film could be held at
>
> Greg Leck
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent:
Subject:
film
footage from World War II
Troy Sacquety, our premier researcher about the Office
of Strategic Services (OSS), has recommended the following site :
copy/paste in your browser:
http://www.realmilitaryflix.com/
You'll find fascinating real life footage here --
including about the
Happy
New Year.
Mary
Previte
From:
"Tapol" <tapol@skynet.be>
To: <weihsien@topica.com>
Sent:
Subject: Re: Weihsien film footage
Ř
Dear
Greg,
> Thanks for helping me keep the website alive. New info is always welcome
and
> especially photos, documents and even short films ---
> Best regards,
> Leopold
From:
"Dusty Knisely" <jknisely@paonline.com>
To: <weihsien@topica.com>
Sent:
Subject: Re: Weihsien film footage
Ř
Greg,
> Swedish friend who came in and took pictures right after liberation and
> before we left on the train for
> maybe video when the military man returned to the
> PLEASE see if any of this got in with other things. I have tried to
find
> them and have never had any good fortune. Hopefully, Georgie
Knisely
> They were pictures of life in camp.
From: Tapol
Sent:
Subject: Fw: The Jap's uniform
Remember the Jap's uniform (in the guard tower)?
Best regards,
Leopold
----- Original Message -----
From: kim smith
To: Pander
Sent:
Subject: Re: The Jap's uniform
|
"After
reading the (to me) fascinating controversies here, I must tell everyone thta
Dad was a STICKLER about accuracy. I guarantee he took no artistic
license with the color, guns, caps etc. As I mentioned in my
just-previous E-mail, when doing historical commisions much later in life, he
would get permission to inspect inside the seams of historical uniforms to
see the unfaded (or less-faded) color of the original cloth. He thus changed
the historical record on at least one instance. My mother, a native
French speaker, once accompanied Dad on research for project on the
French and Indian war, looking at documents written in French. Mom
found a punctuation error, which had resulted in an historical figure's name
coming down through history, inaccurately! From: Pander <pander.nl@skynet.be> Dear Kim, Here is
an amusing link to read ---- It is about the colour of the Jap's uniform
& nobody seemd to agree about it and now, we finally have your
dad's painting in colour --- thanks to your blog ! http://www.weihsien-paintings.org/TedPearson/text/JapUniform.htm all the best, Leopold |
From: Albert de Zutter
Sent:
Subject: Re: Fw: The Jap's
uniform
|
I
have consistently maintained that the Japanese guards wore olive
green uniforms and were army, and not consular police. There was a civilian
authority, and in one of the writings of an American missionary who was
repatriated in September of 1943 is the statement that there was disagreement
between the Japanese civilian and military authorities. Further
evidence that our guards were army can be found in Father Scanlan's writings
in the chapter where he describes his transfer from Weihsien to Albert de Zutter |
From: Ron Bridge
Sent:
Subject: RE: The Japanese
uniform in Weihsien
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Let us settle this saga once and for all. I
have had numerous examples during the past ten years when I have been
establishing the names of thsoe interned or who were military PoWS of Japan
that the only truly reliable source of information was contemporary records and
documentation. Human Memory is selective and often blind in spots. Books
written in the 1950's are accurate but their was a tendency to use pseudonyms
there was then a dearth until the late 1980s and 1990 where quite clearly
memory failure has occurred
in November 1943 a repatriated Canadian (ex
Gripsholm) from Weihsien filed a report for the British Commonwealth
Governments reported that the Camp Commandant had been the Japanese Vice Consul
in Honolulu that is was of limited intelligence, incompetent and spoke no
english but that the police officials were correct in their behavior towards
internees. ( This is filed under CO.910/26 at the UK National Archives Kew)
in March 1944 The Swiss consul filed
a report through the Swiss Consul General in in
in August 1945 the Japanese submitted
documents to General MacArthur's staff during the discussions regarding the
surrender. Among those is a list of all POW/Civlian INternee Camps with their
controlling authority Weihsien is shown to be under the DEpartment of Foreign
Affairs ( I have seen the copy in the UK National Archives Kew but I ams sure
the same document will be availble in
in September 1945 the Duck Mission refers
to the Japanese Consular POlice authorities representin the Japanese
Government. Due to lack of US Manpower the Japanese were to remain responsible
for gurading the Camp walls. .... Major Staiger met the Chief of Consular
Police Koyanagi... and then met Mr Izu of the Japanese Consular Service who was
the Camp Commandant.at
Web site.
Having said that I have no doubt that by
1944 Japanese who were no longer fit for Combat duties were re-assigned to the
Consular police as camp guards, but that did not mean to say that they
were still in the MIlitary.
The Japanese Consular Police Uniform was
black serge ( for Temperate winters and Cold climates) and they wore a
khaki/green cotton summer uniform in the trpoics and in the Temperate Summer
months.
I my dealing with the Japanese
National Archives Weihsien which they had by different name as they could not
decypher the characters is in the Foreign Office Archives, other camps are
under the Japanese Navy and Japanese Army and those in
From: grannydavies@aol.com
Sent:
Subject: Re: The Japanese
uniform in Weihsien
The control of the Japanese guarding Weihsien
was military.not consular.We had proof when my father Algernon F. Evans
was dying in camp.My sister and her husband the Danish consul tried repeatedly
to get in to see him They were allowed in briefly by the commandant twice.The
Japanese consul in Tientsin was a friend,He gave my sister a 3month pass
to come to weihsien but informed them that he did not have jurisdiction of the
military camp of Weihsien.Phyllis Evans Davies
From: Ron Bridge
Sent:
Subject: RE: The Japanese uniform
in Weihsien
It is pretty obvious that 64 years later
nobody is going to agree despite the overwelming evidnce both pictorial and
documentarythat it was Consular POlice. The quote cited below by Phyllis
Davies is effectively correct as the jurisdiction was under the Tsingtao Consul
General.
But I close matters by quoting yet another
report from the debrieifng of the Gripsholm evacuees in NOvember
1943 " Discipline generally was under the control of a retired
Japanese NCO who had under him 40 Japanese Consular police."
As far as I am concerned having examined
the surrender documents, the contemporary camp documents inclduing reports by
the SWiss Consuls and International Red Cross raised at the time I am satisfied
that they were Consular police in Weihsien. Incidently having studied the
broader picture of all Camps
Shanghai all ten camps under civil
Control except
Hongkong initially military control
transferred to civil in late 1942 reveretd to military a year later.
NEI military control except
Rgds
Ron
From: Albert de Zutter
Sent:
Subject: RE: The Japanese
uniform in Weihsien
|
I am
curious as to whether you, Albert de Zutter |
From: Ron Bridge
Sent:
Subject: RE: The Japanese
uniform in Weihsien
Albert,
1 I am not just an intersted academic, I was in Weihsien Block42/Room 6 until
Sep 43 when we moved to Block 13 Rooms 10 & 11. I would also refer you to
Leopold's web site.
2 When I said Black they could have been
mid-night blue.
3 I have cited onyl a few official sources.
4 I leave you all with the thought of a
quote from " Shantung Compound" written by Langdon Gilkeyin 1966 when
his memory would have been fresh although he uses pseudonyms for the
" We were neither in
5 As at no source from written by inmates
during and after the war, red cross reports and surrender documents does any
mention made opf the guards being Japanese army other than by contributors to
this Topica Bulletin. I consider the case proven beyond any reasonable
doubt.
Rgds
PS I leave you with the thought that I have
been Vice Chairman 1997-2000 and Chairman 2001 of the Association of British
Civil Internees Far East Region and have spent many many hours in
studying the whole issue of internment in the Far East have been in constant
dialogue with the UK Government over an ex gratia payment including 3 High
Court and 3 Appeal Court cases against the Ministry of Defence. The the British
ex internjees who are readers of this column will know what that entailed.
From: Albert de Zutter
Sent:
Subject: RE: The Japanese
uniform in Weihsien
|
Thank you
for the information. You have some good sources to cite and so have I. I have
no doubt that the consular service was technically in charge and that there
was a civilian authority. But I equally have no doubt that the guards were
military personnel. |
From: David Birch
Sent:
Subject: RE: The Japanese
uniform in Weihsien
|
Thank you for this interesting discussion. As with |
From: Dwight W. Whipple
Sent:
Subject: RE: The Japanese
uniform in Weihsien
The reason
for the rounded end of the egg pointing up is so that the spoon fits better
into it.
~Dwight
From: David Birch
Sent:
Subject: RE: The Japanese
uniform in Weihsien
|
Ha, ha
!!! That's quite interesting! Hadn't heard that explanation
before! I do however recall reading in "Gulliver's Travels"
that quite a hubbub took place between two factions in one of the kingdoms.
The row was all over the question of which end of the boiled egg should be
broken in order to eat the egg. |
From: Albert de Zutter
Sent:
Subject: RE: The Japanese
uniform in Weihsien
|
I have
had two careers in my life -- a journalist twice and, in between, a
psychotherapist for 20 years. Both have helped me understand the
human condition. I understand the urge to place oneself "above the
fray," and take a bemused, superior position. I also understand the urge
to truthful accuracy -- a trait I recognize and very much respect in Like
David Birch, I was 13-plus when our seven rescuers dropped out of that B-24.
I rushed out, barefoot and clad only in shorts, and I was not frightened by
the sight of .45 caliber Tommy Guns pointed at us -- they were the "good
guys," after all. I didn't know till a few years ago that the Japanese
guards had orders to kill us all, and I'm glad they did not. I happen to
think, without definite proof, that they would not have done so, but then,
I'm kind of an optimist. Anyway, here we are, as Ron said, 64 years (not
quite) later. What does it matter what color uniforms the guards were wearing?
Not a damn bit. But it matters to me that I saw Japanese army uniforms from
the time I was six years old till the end of the concentration camp
experience, and I saw no difference between those I saw in In reply
to David, the vast majority of Weihsien prisoners NEVER referred to the commandant
as "police chief." I have noticed that it is only Chefoo kids (a
small minority), and some So,
snicker if you will, but
Albert de Zutter |
From: Joyce Cook
Sent:
The Jap officers who came to our house in
Later we went to WeiHsien being
the first group to arrive there and one of the last to
leave after liberation.
My recollection of the guards there is that they wore
khaki uniforms.
After some time in the camp my father was astonished
to meet a former civilian business acquaintance of his from
Joyce Bradbury
From: Dusty Knisely
Sent:
Subject: Re: The Japanese
uniform in Weihsien
Dwight, I love the egg answer, makes sense to me. Georgie Reinbrecht Knisely
From: Tapol
Sent:
Subject: Weihsien & Unit-731
Hello,
My little sister, Mary-Lou, born in camp (
She once told me that Father DeJaegher knew!
Knew what?
She told me to read Father
deJaegher’s chapter about Weihsien and that it had something to do with
Unit-731.
Here is the extract (last pages …) http://www.weihsien-paintings.org/rdjaegher/text/ChapterXVIII.htm
“He
and two other camp guards were very young idealistic men who had been inflamed
by the propaganda of their own militarists and induced to throw themselves into
this "great and honourable war." They were wounded in the fighting on
the
Since
we would be included in the
It
was not just messages like ------- “
--- all camps in
Nowadays, we know much more about Unit-731 situated near
Father DeJaegher was very fluent in Chinese and very
well accepted by the Chinese population. He was also very well
informed as to what was going on in many parts of
It seems to me that he must have known that everything
possible had to be done to prevent us – civilian captives in Weihsien –
from going up North. To
We were all in relatively good health and excellent material for the
Japs’ experimentations on humans. Furthermore there were many children in our
group.
A question to our historians:
Our Japanese captors could exterminate us at any time & place they
wished. Historians have found written orders for that.
Do you think that my hypothesis about Unit-731 is plausible?
Best regards,
Leopold
From: Fred &
Coral Dreggs
Sent:
Subject: Re: Weihsien & Unit-731
Dear Leopold,
To cut a long story short, there are 491,000 pages
on the internet dealing with the subject "Unit - 731". I have never
heard of it and am now astonished to read that a unit such as that
really did exist and has dreadful matters attached to it reminiscent of Dr.
Mengles(?) in German concentration camps etc. I have not yet read what has
appeared on the net but am bringing this to the attention of readers.
Regards.. Fred aka Alfie
From: Tapol
Sent:
Subject: Re: Weihsien & Unit-731
Dear Everybody,
This URL brings you to a recent & interesting TV documentary about
the subject. Its in French but there are many other videos in English, as Fred
mentions in his message. First time I heard of 731 ---- must have been in the
mid-eighties. It's a real nightmare!
Best
regards,
Leopold
From: Ron Bridge
Sent:
Subject: RE: Weihsien & Unit-731
Unit 731 is one thing but to link it with Weihsien is ridiculous. I have
seen much on Unit 731 and at no time did Weihsien feature as a possible source
of humans for laboratory experimental use.
I have just read through all the reports written both during the war and
by the Duck and other release teams and there is no mention whatsoever of a
move to
Readers of this bulletin board should realise that the whole of all
internment camps lived on rumour it is a very natural human activity and when
there is no auhtoriative news of events they are invented and then embellished
at each telling, with optimists giving one slant followed by pessimists turning
it round.
Ron
From: Albert de
Zutter
Sent:
Subject: RE: Weihsien & Unit-731
|
I don't think it's correct to dismiss Leopold's
hypothesis about Weihsien and Unit 731 as "ridiculous." The two
soldiers cited in the passage of Father De Jaegher's book did say there was a
plan to move all the camps toward the north, and since we were the " Albert de Zutter |
From: Tapol
Sent:
Subject: Re: Weihsien & Unit-731
Dear Ron,
Nonsense?
I don’t think so.
The author was a very intelligent man. His book was written after the
war and he had ample time to correct and modify his prose before the book was
published. He could have not written this short paragraph about
The fact is that he wrote that paragraph and that he explicitly mentions
“
What message did he want to send us?
After the war and as a Catholic priest he was close to the entourage of
Mr. & Mrs. Chiang Kai-shek and
certainly had knowledge of a lot of very confidential information. The
negotiations for the possession of all the scientific data concerning 731 took
place then. All that was “Top Secret” and of course he couldn’t write that in
his book. He would have been immediately censored.
Furthermore, when the war ended, the Japanese destroyed Unit-731 and
with it --- all the compromising documents were burnt in
No wonder you can’t read any official report about this.
---
So, if Father DeJaegher writes that we could have been sent to
I hope that one day; a historian will find some written evidence about
all this.
Not all has been said about WWII and some things, we will never know.
Best regards,
Leopold
From: David
Birch
Sent:
Subject: RE: Weihsien & Unit-731
|
As far as I am concerned,
I'll go with |
From: <gregleck@epix.net>
To: <weihsien@topica.com>
Sent:
Subject: ONI report on Weihsien
Ř I've uncovered a report from the Office of Naval
Intelligence based on
> an interview with a missionary internee who was part of the 1943
> exchange. I'll pass it on to Leopold for the website.
>
> In it, the missionary tries to make the case that a raid could be made
> (long before the end of the war was in sight) to free the internees.
> This had just been done in the
>
> I have never come across any primary source documents to suggest that
> this was seriously considered (the Chinese had their own wild scheme to
> free Weihsien) but I suspect that intelligence like this was available
> to the Duck Mission.
>
> I also came across a list of equipment carried by members of the various
> humanitarian missions.
>
From: Gay Talbot Stratford
Sent:
Subject: Re: Weihsien & Unit-731
Dear Friends,
The fecent flurry of e-mails concermimg Weihsien and
There is no doubt that Father de Jaegher was an intelligent man and a
fine priest. He and his 'news team' risked' their lives to bring news and
hope to the adults in camp. He was an unsung hero, and I have no
difficulty in believing what he said.
Facts are facts of course, but all the facts are not yet in-- and may
never be.
One of our sons is married to a Japanese girl who knew nothing about the
war, except for the dropping of the atomic bombs. But in recent years an
exhibit of camp 731 has been touring
Gay Talbot Stratford-----
From: "Tapol"
<tapol@skynet.be>
To: <weihsien@topica.com>
Sent:
Subject: Re: ONI report
on Weihsien
Ř Dear Greg,
> I'd gladly add that document to what we already have --- mostly thanks to
> Norman Cliff's scrap-books.
> http://www.weihsien-paintings.org/NormanCliff/history/DOCUMENTS/1944-Oct18-TiptonHummel/ConditionsInWeihsien.htm
> On the website, I added a short cut on the main frame:
> "Documents&Archives" ----
> Best regards,
> Leopold
From: rod miller
Sent:
Subject: Situation reports Chinese camps
Hello
I'm not sure how interested you are but in the file below there are some
references to Weihsien.
Due to the file title you probably haven't seen them before.
There are daily sitrep reports for August 1945.
If you want to look at these files in date order you start at the back and work
your way to the front.
Pages 224 to 197 have mentions and there maybe others as I didn't go right
through it.
Page 25-28 is a list of Australians at Weihsien.
For the link below to work you will have to be logged into the Australian
National Archives as a guest http://www.naa.gov.au/collection/recordsearch/index.aspx
Then click the link below.
http://naa12.naa.gov.au/scripts/imagine.asp?B=237699&I=1&SE=1
Title
Australian Prisoners of War and Internees.
Series number
A4144 Control symbol
810/1945
Contents date range
1944 - 1945
Access status
OpenLocation
Canberra
Barcode
237699
Regards
Rod
From: Ron Bridge
Sent:
Subject: RE: Situation reports Chinese camps
Rod,
Many thanks I had seen some of the messages as they were in the UK
National Archives. But as always there were some nuggets.
RGds
Ron
From: Ron Bridge
Sent:
Subject: RE: Situation reports Chinese camps
Rod,
Just as a matter of info I am now understandign why there were so many
discrepancies in numbers the NAA documnets referred to give a host of
Australians many of whom I knew or were friends of my garndparents or parents
and the Camp documnet list as British (UK) and many of the children in the
China Inland Mission SChool Chefoo who were in Weihsien and who had bee born in
China of Australian parents have UK Birth Certificates. It could be belt and
braces as with Australia emerging on it's own in the Commonwealth post the 1931
conference British enjoyed extra-territoriality and were not sbject to
Chinese law where there was some doubt re Commonwealth Countries.
Thanks again thinking of me
Rgds
Ron
From: rod miller
Sent:
Subject: RE: Situation reports Chinese camps
Ron
The reason I stumbled across this file is because I was researching the Australian
POWs at
Between January and September 1942 the Australian internees in
Its a complicated story to do with the British exchange but the Japanese
desperately needed 800 Japanese we had interned in
they weren't getting them.
At
Rod,
Just as a matter of info I am now understandign why there were so many
discrepancies in numbers the NAA documnets referred to give a host of
Australians many of whom I knew or were friends of my garndparents or parents
and the Camp documnet list as British (UK) and many of the children in the
China Inland Mission SChool Chefoo who were in Weihsien and who had bee born in
China of Australian parents have UK Birth Certificates.
This would be the trick, as for the exchange the British Government would be
counting the heads as British where as the Australian Government would be
counting them as Australian. I believe it was all about numbers and who was
going to be returned on the exchange, people the British Government wanted, or
people the Australian Government wanted. As you've pointed out to me before, in
the British files people from the dominions were all named as British. The
thing is
It could
be belt and braces as with Australia emerging on it's own in the Commonwealth
post the 1931 conference British enjoyed extra-territoriality and were not
sbject to Chinese law where there was some doubt re Commonwealth Countries.
Have a look at http://www.passports.gov.au/Web/PassportHistory.aspx The words 'Australian Passport' replaced 'British
Passport' on the cover of an Australian passport in 1949. No wonder the
Japanese were confused.
Thanks
again thinking of me
You survivors of Weihsien are living history. Like all internees you can tell
us what happened, which is terribly important, but you can't tell us why it
happened. It is the "Why" factor that interests me.
I enjoy the lively debate in here. I can tell you that the Rabaul nurses who
were interned in
I think historian Margaret MacMillan http://www.margaretmacmillan.com/index.html summed it up nicely during a recent visit to
History is a process, and there is not one truth about the past, just as
there is not one truth about the present. It will depend in part where you're
looking at it from. What we have to try and do, in both history and in
confronting the present, is recognise that our view is a limited one and it may
not be the only one. And try and be aware of other angles and other aspects. We
have to sort out what people think they believe and what we think we believe
about the past from what actually happened. We have views on the past which are
simply not borne out by the evidence. And I think that's what good history
does, it respects the evidence and it tries to deal with evidence that doesn't
fit in to a particular picture.
Maybe a lesson in that for all of us...
If I find anything else I'll let you know.
Regards
Rod
From: Tapol
Sent:
Subject: Re: Situation reports Chinese camps
Dear Rod,
I too appreciated your last messages. The Australian archive link is a
very interesting one. I took out the documents about Weihsien and will transfer
them to the Weihsien-Paintings website. That will come in the “Documents &
Archive’s” chapter I don’t know how yet --- but I’ll find a way.
That very last paragraph ― written by Margaret Mac Millan ―
is marvellously said. The frontier between history and legend is sometimes
difficult to define. I’ll be ordering that book very soon. I am actually
reading a book about “Hirohito & the making of Modern Japan”, by Herbert P.
Bix. There is still much to understand about that part of the planet. So many
questions still unanswered.
Best regards,
Leopold
From: rod miller
Sent:
Subject: Re: Situation reports Chinese camps
Dear Leopold
If your interested you can listen to Margaret MacMillan on the links below.
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/latenightlive/stories/2008/2298060.htm
http://www.lowyinstitute.org/Publication.asp?pid=850
If you wish to see her give her speech you can watch it here. This will require
a fast broadband Internet service.
She mentions
http://www.themonthly.com.au/tm/node/1283 Part 1
http://www.themonthly.com.au/tm/node/1281 Part 2
Rod
From: <gregleck@epix.net>
To: <weihsien@topica.com>
Sent:
Subject: Duck
>I recently came across
some information about the Duck Mission. I know
> the only member whose fate is unknown was Eddie Wang, the Chinese
> interpreter. A list gives his Chinese name as Cheng Han Wang.
>
> According to a list of equipment I found in the National archives, the
> team carried 38 and 45 caliber pistols, as well as carbines with folding
> stocks. No mention of Tommy or
submachine guns.
>
From: "mailto:pamela@hendersonhouse.com" title="pamela@hendersonhouse.com">Pamela
Masters
Sent:
Subject: Re: Weihsien & Unit-731
Just a thought -- As Unit 731 was unknown to any of
us internees till after the war was over, I can't see how we could have been
spreading rumors about it in the camp.
Pamela Masters-Flynn
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent:
Subject: William Smith -- Thought you might like this...
Kim Smith has sent me
this fascinating biographical sketch of her father Willam Smith, an
Mary Previte
-----Original Message-----
From: kim smith <kim5888@sbcglobal.net>
|
http://www.tfaoi.com/aa/3aa/3aa117.htm |
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent:
Subject: English version of Weihsien Camp documentary
Since I'm visiting
Mr. Sui told me what a good
response Weihsien had during the Olympics, so the People's Government of
Weifang is planning what they'll do next to improve the concentration camp
site. He said plans include improving some of the rooms in the hospital
to use them for display purposes.
The People's Government of
Weifang hopes to create a Weihsien Concentration Camp web site in Chinese and
English.
Mary Previte
From: Tapol
Sent:
Subject: new photos
Dear Kim & Weihsien friends,
Thanks to Kim, we have a brand new set of photos in "avant
premičre" :
http://www.weihsien-paintings.org/KimSmith/PhotosSketches/Weihsien_Camp/p_WeihsienCamp.htm
there are a lot
more to come but this is the first batch. My final layout is not yet ready but
I am sure that you will be all happy to give your comments on these first
pictures.
Don't forget to give the number of the picture --- more details about
the immediate surroundings --- and the names of the people you think you can
recognize! I'd be happy to add all that on the website.
Best regards,
Leopold
PS Ted, isn't that you on picture "w009"?
From: Kim Smith
Sent:
Subject: Re: new photos
|
Please, let us know which photos you recognize by
the code at the bottom! It's so exciting to find out who they are! |
From: Albert de
Zutter
Sent:
Subject: Re: new photos
|
Kim, In picture 007, the nun at left is probably
Sister Hiltrudis of Albert de Zutter |
From: grannydavies@aol.com
Sent:
Subject: Re: new photos
Picture 13, that's Phyllis Evans in the middle bottom row. could
be ChristianeChatham above me, am not sure. Phyllis
From: Albert de
Zutter
Sent:
Subject: Re: new photos
|
In picture 002, the second person from the left,
I believe, is Alice Gerber. |
|
|
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent:
Subject: English version of Weihsien Camp documentary
Since I'm visiting
Mr. Sui told me what a good
response Weihsien had during the Olympics, so the People's Government of
Weifang is planning what they'll do next to improve the concentration camp
site. He said plans include improving some of the rooms in the hospital
to use them for display purposes.
The People's Government of
Weifang hopes to create a Weihsien Concentration Camp web site in Chinese and
English.
Mary Previte
From: Dusty
Knisely
Sent:
Subject: Re: English version of Weihsien Camp
documentary
Wow, Mary, you are helping also to advertise us. Can't wait for
the English version. The Chinese one was wonderful! Sui Shude has
much to be proud of.
What memories it brings back from recent years also!!! Georgie
Reinbrecht Knisely
From: David
Birch
Sent:
Subject: Re: English version of Weihsien Camp
documentary
|
Looking back to the period 1943 - 1945, Weihsien
Camp, interestingly, brings back a flood of nostalgic memories to me. I was
eleven when I came to Weihsien with the contingent from Chefoo, and thirteen
when I left a few weeks after being set free by the American airmen. |
From: "Terri
Stewart" <tksweaver@verizon.net>
To: <weihsien@topica.com>
Sent:
Subject: Re: English version of Weihsien Camp documentary
Ř This is exciting news! I watched most of the 5-part
series but would have loved to have listened to it in English. When that
version becomes available I can forward it to my family that has been following
some of this history.
>
> Terri Stewart
From: Estelle Horne nee Cliff
Cc: expeditions@biosearch.org.uk
Sent:
Subject: GCS Russell
|
From Estelle Horne nee Cliff I received this email from Peter Overton,
grandson of Gardiner Russell who was in Weihsien, and in fact died
there. He was a trader in Does anyone remember him?? Estelle
Dear Estelle, Thank you very much for your help. I am gradually piecing together my
grandfather’s life and you have provided another snippet by telling me that
he was one of the first to enter the camp – presumably shortly after the My mother was born in In a way my researches are trying to put
together a broken family. Since I know practically nothing about Gardiner
Russell, a living contact would be fantastic. I suppose anyone who knew him
on a personal level would probably be at least 90 by now, since they would
probably have to be in their 20s in the camp to have really engaged with him. Thank you again for your prompt reply. Peter Overton Hilltop Farm Welbourn |
From: Albert de
Zutter
Sent:
Subject: Re: GCS Russell
|
I can't say I remember Mr. Russell, as I was 10
years old when the After I wish him luck in finding someone more
contemporary with his grandfather. Albert de Zutter |
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
To: weihsien@topica.com ; roycampbell@eastlink.ca ; patrickgoodland@freenet.co.uk ; lauchlan@fctvplus.net ; sametcalf@hotmail.com ; douglasrosie@ntlworld.com ; neil.yorkston@gmail.com ; henrylack@homechoice.co.uk ; jeromeandestellehorne@yahoo.co.uk ; jht3@msi-professional.org
Sent:
Subject: WEIHSIEN
Meggie
Li,
producer of the WEIHSIEN
If any
of you has helpful connections to television media outlets in
Mr. Sui
Shude tells me that Weifang paid 800,000 renminbi ($100,000 in
Mary Previte
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent:
Subject: Re: WEIHSIEN
Yesterday
I received an e-mail from Meggie Li, who produced the
5-part WEIHSIEN
Because
Meggie interviewed a good number of you for this series, I
wanted to drop you this note. If you thought you were just telling a
story, read part of Meggie's first
paragraph as she
comments on creating this documentary:
"It
is my pleasure to meet all of you who were internees in Weihsien
Camp," Meggie writes. "You
have given us good lessons about love, forgiveness, tolerance."
Mary Taylor
Previte
From: Tapol
Sent:
Subject: screen captures
Hello all,
http://www.weihsien-paintings.org/CCTV/ScreenCaptures/p_ScreenCaptures_01.htm
--- a new link,
I also received the De-Luxe box with the DVDs of the TV documentary
about Weihsien. Magnificent work. I also have a extra copy for my sister
Janette and a copy for Father Hanquet's family. Unfortunately I don't
understand Chinese but the story is very comprehensible and the interviews are
in English. I'm just as impatient as you all are, to be able to
vision the 100 minute English version when it will be ready.
On the Weihsien-Paintings' website, I added a new page with screen
captures. I know many of you by name but not visually. Could you help me
complete the names of those who were interviewed?
I guess that "066" is Pamela Masters, --- "053" is
Estelle Cliff --- "032" is Peter Bazire --- "085" is
Stephen Metcalf ---
If you click on the number just under the image you will get a postit
with the caption. If you click on the image --- it will
There are also a lot of family photos from your personal albums --- it
could be interesting to know more about those pictures --- when? where? who?
---
Could you help me with the captions?
Thanks again ---
Best regards,
Leopold
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent:
Subject:
James
Hudson Taylor III
Overseas
Missionary Fellowship announces the death of James Hudson Taylor III
James Hudson Taylor lll, great-grandson of the founder of the China
Inland Mission, died early this morning
James Hudson Taylor lll was born on
As a 12-year-old boy, he was interned in Weihsien Concentration Camp for
three years, when the whole of
Camp life was a tough and cramped existence. Summers were often
blisteringly hot, and the children had to contend with swarms of flies and
rats. Jim Taylor, interned with his brother and two sisters, also had the
company of his grandfather in the camp. He was always to remember his
grandfather’s sure faith during this testing time. He wrote ‘I
saw in Grandpa how the patterns of life had been set. Every day
began with praise.’ The camp was liberated on
James Taylor returned to the
In June 1955 James and Leone arrived in
In 1970 he was appointed founding president of China Evangelical
Seminary (CES) in
In 1979 James Taylor received an unexpected invitation to become the
seventh General Director of what was by then the Overseas Missionary
Fellowship, succeeding Michael Griffiths. He took up this position on
When James Taylor handed the leadership to David Pickard in 1991, he
& Leone relocated to
In 1993 the marriage of James and Leone Taylor’s son, Jamie, to Ke Yeh
Min from
Dr James Taylor received honorary doctorates from
His ten years of service as founding president of
Dr Taylor’s book on the life of Hudson Taylor’s father-in-law Even to
Death: The Life and Legacy of Samuel Dyer, co-authored with Irene Chang, will
be published this year.
Two Festschrifts, each planned to celebrate James Taylor’s 80th
birthday, will be released shortly. They honour a man who pressed into service
an unusual combination of ten talents and high energy, all infused with a love
of Christ and a humble spirit.
OMF International
God’s Grace to Nine Generations (OMF Singapore 1999)
p18
Published by OMF HK, ISBN: 978-962-8402-13-7
From: gkapo@sbcglobal.net
Sent:
Subject: Re: James Hudson Taylor III
|
Dear Mary My condolence on the death of you brother. George Watts- Weihsien |
From: Dwight W.
Whipple
Sent:
Subject: Re: James Hudson Taylor III
We also send
our condolences, Mary. In reading the notice of your brother's death
including some of his life story we are reminded of so many familiar names and
places. Our father and mother, Elden & Evelyn Whipple, as well as our
future step-mother, Marian Carleson Whipple all went to
~Dwight W. Whipple
From: Tapol
Sent:
Subject: Re: James Hudson Taylor III
Dear Mary,
--- from
One of his last pictures dated February 14th of this year :
http://www.weihsien-paintings.org/JamesTaylor/indexFrame.htm
Nicky, Leopold and
Janette Pander
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent:
Subject: Re: James Hudson Taylor III
Thank
you so very much, Dwight.
I
said my goodbyes to my precious brother in a wonderful week with him last month
in
Mary Taylor
Previte
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent:
Subject: Re: James Hudson Taylor III
Thank
you so very much, George.
I
said my goodbyes to my precious brother in a wonderful week with him last month
in
Mary Taylor
Previte
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent:
Subject: Re: James Hudson Taylor III
You are
such a comfort, Leopold. Thank you so very much. I took that
picture on my goodbye visit to my precious brother last month in
I
will fly out next week for the memorial service.
I am
still working on getting a disk for you that includes my brother's
Weihsien bird watching diary that includes color sketches. The folks who
copied it didn't know how tro scan to me so big and amount of material.
Mary Taylor
Previte
From: Kim Smith
Sent:
Subject: Re: James Hudson Taylor III
|
I am SO sorry Mary for the loss of your
brother. |
From: Mitch
Krayton
Sent:
Subject: Re: James Hudson Taylor III
It with deep
regret to learn of your loss. Your brother's life was full of giving and
caring. You and your family should take great pride in his legacy work and the
impact he made with the Chinese people.
I was not in Weihsien, I am just doing research on a biography for one of you
who was. I am a fascinated observer on this list by the depth of love you all
share for each other after such a traumatic period together in the camp. And
that you understand how important it is to preserve your history.
You and your brother, Mary, give the rest of us hope in these trying times we
now live in.
Mitch Krayton
From: grannydavies@aol.com
Sent:
Subject: Re: James Hudson Taylor III
thank you for the news of James Hudson Taylor III Phyllis
From: liuyanyan
Sent:
Subject: links of the
documentary
Dear everybody:
This is wang guiying ,vice mayor of weifang people's government,and
also former director of foreign affairs office.I put the links of the
documentary below so everybody interested can see it.
I am so moved by all of you and thank you sincerely.
guiying wang
part 1 http://news.xinhuanet.com/video/2008-10/15/content_10198552.htm
part 2 http://news.xinhuanet.com/video/2008-10/15/content_10197312.htm
part 3 http://news.xinhuanet.com/video/2008-10/15/content_10197245.htm
part 4 http://news.xinhuanet.com/video/2008-10/16/content_10204583.htm
part 5 http://news.xinhuanet.com/video/2008-10/17/content_10209086.htm
微软地图实时路况，为您节省的不仅仅是时间！ 立即查看！
From: Gay Talbot Stratford
Sent:
Subject: Re: James Hudson Taylor III
Mary,
You must be so proud of your brother and his life well lived. I
pray for you all and with you, give thanks for a beacon of faith.
Gay
Talbot Stratford
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent:
Subject: Re: James Hudson Taylor III
What a
beautiful message, Mitch! Thank you so very much.
Yes,
Weihsien connected us in ways that changed our lives forever. I, for one,
am grateful for everyone's help in preserving this history. I
wish you might have experienced the memorable, 60-anniversary
reunion that celebrated our liberation. Officials in Weifang have
earned our everlasting gratitude for preserving this chapter of their history.
Mary Taylor
Previte
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent:
Subject: Fwd: Weihsien
From: hampton.oxford@dial.pipex.com
To: lauchlan@fullchannel.net, e.v.goldsmith@ntlworld.com, JohnHoyte@aol.com, jeromeandestellehorne@yahoo.co.uk, kathywfoster@talktalk.net, philip.holder@ntlworld.com, MTPrevite@aol.com, rwbridge@freeuk.com
Sent: 4/9/2009 6:26:52 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time
Subj: Weihsien
Dear Weihsien Brownies and
Guides
Marian Lauchlan
has lent me her Kingfisher Log Book from the 1st Chefoo Guides. They were
asked a list of questions during their 4th meeting in 1943.
I wonder if any
of you can answer some of these questions now? Just a few answers would help me
with my book about Brownies and Guides during the second world war.
If you know any
other Weihsien children who might know the answers, do pass this on.
Many thanks,
Janie Hampton
www.janiehampton.co.uk
www.chauncymaples.org
"How much
do you know about Weihsien?" compiled by 'Lefty' ( Miss ? Priestman)
1.
How many
water towers are there in this compound?
2.
What is
Mrs. George Washington's real name and her community job?
3.
How many
loaves are baked in the bakery every day, on average?
4.
What is
the number of the block named
5.
At what
time on the clock face was the moon at
6.
What is
the height of the sprays in the showers from the ground?
7.
What is
the name of the lady in charge of female labour at Kitchen one?
8.
How many
books are there in the library?
9.
In which
direction does the weathervane on top of 23 point?
10.
How many
families live in houses on the compound?
11.
What is
the width of the South playground?
12.
What
rank comes next above Captain in the Salvation Army?
13.
Which
girl in the Guides is the lightest in weight?
14.
How many
circular plain glass windows are there in the church?
15.
How far
is it from the steps of 23 to the Gateway opposite?
16.
How many
people are fed at Kitchen one?
17.
What
would six medium-sized apples weigh?
18.
How far
is it from the wall of the ladies’ showers to the wall of the baggage room?
19. Who lives at number
20. What is the height from the ground to the top of the archways in the
porch of 24?
ends/
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent:
Subject: Weihsien Brownies and Girl Guides -- book in progress
From: hampton.oxford@dial.pipex.com
To: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent: 4/9/2009 8:44:47 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time
Subj: Re: Weihsien
Dear Mary
Many thanks for passing this on. It will be interesting to see how much
people can remember after 65 years!
My book is coming along nicely. I have some great stories from Guides in
I feel that writing this book is such a privilege, allowing me to find
so many wonderful people. A log book in the
Have avery happy Easter, Janie
Janie Hampton
www.janiehampton.co.uk
www.chauncymaples.org
----- Original Message -----
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
To: hampton.oxford@dial.pipex.com
Sent:
Subject: Re: Weihsien
Janie,
I've
forwarded your request to the entire Weihsien Topica network. I'm sure
you'll get som answers.
How is
your book coming?
Mary Taylor
Previte
From: Pamela
Masters
Sent:
Subject: Re: James Hudson Taylor III
Dear Mary -- I've been in and out of the hospital for since 3/20 and
have only now opened up my e-mail. I am so sorry to hear about your brother.
What a wonderful life he led. For all of us who truly believe, it is never
good-bye just aur revoire, but it is
still so very hard to say. My sympathy goes out to you and your nearest and
dearest -- Love Pamela (Masters Flynn)
From: "Jonathan
Henshaw" <jonathan.henshaw@ualberta.ca>
To: <weihsien@topica.com>
Sent:
Subject: writing project
Hi everyone,
My name is Jonathan Henshaw and I am a graduate student at the
of a research project that I am doing on Weihsien. Just after my
undergrad, I lived in Yantai for six months, very close to the old
with a former internee there-and it was at that point that I became
more interested in the camp.
I've spent some time looking at the Weihsien paintings website, and
wanted to ask all the folks on topica if they knew of other written
accounts of the camp that had yet to be published or find their way
online. In particular, I am interested in the following:
*the report written by Dr Augusta Wagner comparing Weihsien with a
camp for interned Japanese in the
online, and contacted the website owner, but he no longer had a
complete copy either;
*anything written that states that Mr McLaren did indeed testify on
behalf of the commandant at the Tokyo War trials. I've looked in
Norman Cliff's two books, "Prisoners of the Samurai," and
"Courtyard
of the
*something more specific about those that became snitches for, or
collaborated with, the Japanese guards. Some of the published memoirs
vaguely mention these folks, but I wonder if there are other written
sources out there;
*and finally, any written work that paints a clearer image of the
Japanese guards and commandant-they appear so seldom in so many of the
works that I can't help but be curious.
This message has become rather long, but I would certainly appreciate
it if anyone could point me in the right direction, or put me in touch
with someone who might know more on the above. Also, if you have any
questions or comments about my project, please don't hesitate to write.
Thanks in advance for your attention on this, and for having taken the
time to share your stories. And happy easter!
Sincerely,
Jonathan Henshaw
PS: if possible, I would certainly appreciate being added to the list.
From: Tapol
Sent:
Subject: Re: writing project
Dear Jonathan,
"*anything
written that states that Mr McLaren did indeed testify on
behalf of the commandant at the Tokyo War trials. I've looked in
Norman Cliff's two books, "Prisoners of the Samurai," and
"Courtyard
of the
In
Happy Easter ,
Leopold
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent:
Subject: Re: James Hudson Taylor III
Pamela:
Thank
you so very much.
I do
hope you are mending
Have you
received a deluxe copy of the Weihshien Camp
Happy Easter,
Mary
From: berean@xplornet.com
Sent:
Subject: Meeting with Tad Nagaki
I thought you might enjoy reading about my visit with Tad Nagaki.
Audrey Nordmo Horton
From Audrey Nordmo Horton January 30 was a momentous day for my husband
and me. . We met Tad Nagaki in person and we both thanked him for rescuing me
on
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent:
Subject: : Meeting with Tad Nagaki
Audrey:
Please
forward your photos to Leopold Pander, tapol@skynet.be , so he can put them on his Weihsien web
site,. We all want to see them. Tad Nagaki , age
89, is the last living American on the
Mary Previte
From: Tapol
Sent:
Subject: Tad Nagaki,
Dear Audrey,
Hello :-))
Go To: http://www.weihsien-paintings.org and click
on: "the Magnificient Seven"
There is already a link for Tad Nagaki in 2007. I added a New link for
2009.
http://www.weihsien-paintings.org/The7Magnificent/Tad_2009/leftFrame.htm
The text and the pictures you sent to me are now visible ---
Could you send me captions for the pictures. Of course, any new
documents are always welcome.
Best
regards,
Leopold
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent:
Subject: Another Eric Liddell movie?
The Eric Liddell story is seriously on the radar screen of Walden
Media of
Walden Media is the
team that, with Walt Disney Pictures, co-produced "The
Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," a $200
million dollar film adapted from C. S. Lewis's children's book of the same
title. In 2007, Walden Media also produced "Amazing
Grace," the award-winning film about how English statesman and
reformer, William Wilberforce, stopped the slave trade in
Who would play the part of
Eric Liddell?
Ken Wales, who is the Executive Producer, is thinking of Ioan Gruffudd
who played the part of William Wilberforce in "Amazing
Grace." And where is the film likely to be shot?
Walden Media is owned by
Philip Anschutz, an oil magnate, media mogul, the owner of the Regal
Entertainment Group -- the largest motion picture exhibitor in the world
(it operates nearly 20 percent of all indoor screens in the US) -- and a
growing force in Hollywood.
Anschutz has already made
his mark in
To improve the culture, I
can't think of a better story than Eric Liddell's.
By the way, Anschutz has
been ranked number 33 on Business Week's 50 Most Generous Philanthropists
List.
Mary Previte
From: "Terri
Stewart" <tksweaver@verizon.net>
To: <weihsien@topica.com>
Sent:
Subject: Re: Another Eric Liddell movie?
This is really a cool follow up to Eric's story as well as those who knew him,
in and out of camp. For those on this list who may not know the actor
Ioan Gruffudd, he played Captain Fantastic from the recent Fantastic Four
movies. You know, the super hero who could stretch like rubber.
Terri Stewart
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent:
Subject: radios in Weihsien
How many
radios did internees have in Weihsien? I know the Japanese suspected
that internees had at least one radio and searched for them.
Top-secret
information like this, of course, was hidden from almost everybody
and certainly youngsters like us -- and from snitches in the camp. I
remember that wartime news filtered down to us
Long
after the war, Jackie Graham, a
If
someone needed a radio tube, it must have been for a radio that internees had..
Mary Previte
From: Pamela
Masters
Sent:
Subject: Re: radios in Weihsien
The only person I knew who had access to a radio was Bobby Grandon,
famous for ringing the bell in the bell tower building (#23) on VE Day. If you
recall, he rang the bell around
PAMELA MASTERS, Author/Publisher
"You don't read her books...you LIVE them!"
Henderson
House Publishing
Ph: 530-647-2000
Fx: 530-647-2002
"http://www.hendersonhouse.com">www.hendersonhouse.com
From: Dwight W.
Whipple
Sent:
Subject: Re: radios in Weihsien
I seem to
remember that Didi Sayles (sp?) had a radio or had access to one. I
remember his name because I am called Didi (little brother in Chinese) by my
family.
~Dwight Whipple
From: Bob Bradbury
Sent:
Subject: Re: radios in Weihsien
I did not know whilst I was in the camp about any radios. I only knew
the honey pot men dropped messages in silk or paper usually hidden in their
nostrils but their information mainly related to the advances made by the
communist fighters. That was enough to frighten everybody. I do not
remember who rang the bell late at night but it signalled us to go quickly
to the ballfield to be counted. Winter and summer in sometimes atrocious
weather.
A few years ago Bob and I visited Armic Baliantz' wife Armen, known
as Tsolik in her
As a matter of fact she gave me a letter in her handwriting detailing a
vicious beating they inflicted on him in the presence of Tsolik WHILST SHE WAS
ACTUALLY GIVING BIRTH in the camp hospital demanding to know whether he
was going to name the baby Douglas (or Arthur) after the Supreme Allied
Commander, General Douglas MacArthur. Despite his beating Tsolik answered,-"I cant tell you
because the baby is only half born and I do not know whether it is going to be
a boy or girl"
At the
time of our visit to Tsolik she told me that her husband Armic had
secreted a radio receiver under the altar in the Church in the camp and
that he used to listen to it during the Sunday services.
I
have always wondered why, if there were radios in the camp we did not know of
the atomic bombs and impending capitulation. Maybe it is true the committee
knew but did not allow it to be spread amongst the internees. I certainly wasnt
told maybe because I was only 17 2/12 years old at capitulation.Joyce Bradbury
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent:
Subject: Re: radios in Weihsien
Amazing
how grown ups shielded us younger internees from some of the
horrors of the horrors of the camp.
Mary Previte
From: Estelle Horne nee Cliff
Sent:
Subject: Re: radios in Weihsien
|
I remember a story that my aunt, Marjory
Broomhall, headmistress of CIMGS, told me years later. She said the Japanese
(a Jap officer?) came to an internee who was known to be good radio
technician, and asked him to repair his radio. The man found the fault easily
and fixed it. But he said to the owner that he needed a certain part, with a
long name, and drew the supposed part on a piece of paper. The Jap spent the
rest of the war hunting for the spare part, while the internee enjoyed the
use of the radio. I know no names. Has it occurred to you how ironic the situation,
that the people who became calculator suppliers to the world, took an hour to
reconcile their figures at each rollcall? I was in the matric class - little me and seven
or eight boys. Our classroom was in the hospital attic, where the boys' dorm
was. The teacher put a map on the flipchart, hand drawn I guess, showing us
the pincer movement of the Allies on And suddenly it was all over. Pa Bruce came to
talk to us, recommending that we do our exams straight away. Nothing would be
lost if we failed, but if we passed we would not have to go back to school
for two more years 'at home'. (They had saved the half-year We got our results the following April. Pa had
taken the two sets of papers written in camp, to I've met one or two white-haired men who were
part of the Class of '45. I'd like to hear from them! Where are you guys?? Estelle Cliff Horne |
From: Jonathan
Henshaw
Sent:
Subject: Commandants
Dear Mr Pander,
Thank you for the suggestions on where to look at the Weihsien-paintings
website. The information on Goyas was really helpful. If it isn't too much
trouble, I have a few other questions.
1) Commandants and Chiefs of Police: different memoirs seem to indicate
different people in charge, with a Mr Izu and Mr Koyanagi coming up most
frequently...but other people have also mentioned: on page 217 of "A Cross
in China: The Story of My Mission," Sister M. Servatia, O.S.F., mentions
that on her arrival at Weihsien, the commandant was a man called Mr. Sukigawa,
and he had an aide, Mr Ibara. A Red Cross report from Aug. 1944 agrees, mentioning
a Mr Tsukikawa as being commandant. Can anyone point me to a source, or recall
who was in charge of which aspects of the camp, and at what time?
2) I came across mention of an unpublished memoir called "This is Leo's
Life," by Lionel (Leo) Harold Twyford. Is there any chance someone might
have a copy of this, or would know where a copy might be found?
Again, thanks all for the suggestions, patience, and advice.
Sincerely,
Jonathan Henshaw
From: Estelle Horne nee Cliff
Cc: hampton.oxford@dial.pipex.com
Sent:
Subject: Re: Weihsien
|
I don't know any of the answers either. They were
obviously an exercise to go out and measure. I think Lefty (i.e. lieutenant) was Connie Mann,
CIM Hospital Matron, Chefoo. I visited her at a nurses' retirement complex in
She sent it to the then new HQ in She told me that when we left Chefoo, there were
no restrictions on what could be taken for the community, and she packed up
the contents of the hospital, every dressing and even empty bottles, which
delighted the Weihsien doctors when the boxes arrived. All those photos that were taken of the Weihsien
and Chefoo scout troops were, I believe, for Japanese propaganda, but did you
notice that none of us had shoes, and we were trying to hide our feet?! Estelle Cliff Horne |
From: Bob Bradbury
Sent:
Subject: Re: Commandants
Dear Jonathan. I am glad my advice to you to contact WeiHsien Topica
seems to be bearing fruit. I particularly remember Mr Koyanagi,
Commandant. I remember he inspected the inmates during a roll call very
early in our incarceration. He was wearing full dark coloured Japanese
Officer's uniform. When he saw my father (Edmund Cooke) he said to
him, "Cooke! What are you doing here?" and my pop said, "We are
your prisoners now" They then had a conversation about their
business associations in Tsingtao before the war and pop told us he had no idea
Koyanagi was connected to the Japanese army. The next day Koyanagi
brought water melon and fresh eggs to our rooms for us. Pop told him that
because we were prisoners he could not accept the gift and asked him to take
them away. He said it would not look good to the other prisoners.
Koyanagi tried to get pop to accept them but he was adamant and he took them
with him. I was present when they met and also I noticed other prisoners nearby
were astonished my father had had business dealings with our
commandant before the war. My father was Manager of Jardine Matheson in
I knew Leo Twyford Thomas in camp and later in
From: Bruce Henderson
Sent:
Subject: Inquiry on Weihsien and Chefoo - Henrietta
Henderson
Hello, I hope this email everyone well.
I have been doing family research, and recently began digging into the
life of an amazing woman, named Henrietta Henderson (born 1897), who as a
member of the missionary group at Chefoo. She made several trips to
Is there any chance you know anything about this
lady, or know where I could do more research?
Thank you very much, I greatly appreciate it.
Bruce Henderson
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent:
Subject: Re: Inquiry on Weihsien and Chefoo - Henrietta Henderson
Our
Contact Overseas
Missionary Fellowship (formerly the China Inland Mission)
Mary Previte
From: "Bruce
Henderson" <sigalarm@gmail.com>
To: <weihsien@topica.com>
Sent:
Subject: Re: Inquiry on
Weihsien and Chefoo - Henrietta Henderson
Fantastic, thanks for that
information. We suspected that she was at
Weihsien, and it's good to have more information. A bit more on
Henrietta, in regards to her missionary service (from the CIM
archives):
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Mr Henderson,
I am happy to say my further research as yielded some success. I have
consulted the original minutes of China Inland Missions’
Council. The China Council operated in the field and was composed of
senior CIM missionaries including the Superintendents of provincial
districts. The minutes record discussion of individual missionaries
and detailed records of arrivals and departures from
Unlike the CIM register, these China Council minutes confirm that a
H.G. Henderson served as a missionary with the CIM. She is recorded as
first arriving from
The minutes further record that
Missionary Certificate’ on
Certificate’
in 1930. Her Superintendent, a Mr. Taylor, is recorded to have ‘made
appreciative reference to her excellent work, but spoke of her having
suffered rheumatism, and to her being tired’. Her request for a
furlough was granted and
America
1931
The minutes record a second request for a furlough on
1938
The
Its aim was to provide an education for the children of missionaries
and the business and diplomatic communities.
Christian boarding school, run in accordance with the
the
Further trips recorded in the minutes include:
Departure to
Return to
Departure to
Return to
I hope that the above helps to elucidate the life of H.G. Henderson.
Only a small proportion of the original records of the CIM have
survived but these do include some records of the
possible that these include further references to
work.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Since then, my cousin Sally has done a bit of digging into her travels
and come up with this list of her travels to and from China:
HENRIETTA GUNN HENDERSON’S TRAVELS (b.1897)
CHINA INLAND MISSIONARY
ARR./DEPT. DATES DESTINATION
SHIP NAME &
OTHER INFO.
Arr:
Dep: Set. 24th 1930 Hong Kong via Yokahama Japan
‘Hikawa Maru’
to
Victoria British Columbia Only Japanese passenger
ship to survive WW2
Arr: Nov 24th 1930 Montreal via Quebec to London
‘Ascania’
via Plymouth Used in WW2 ‘39 to ‘49
Sept. 27t 1931 England
to USA
Oct. 27th 1931 USA to
China
Dec.13th
1938 Shanghai China to Victoria B.C.
‘Empress of Canada’
H. recorded as speaking Chinese.
Arr: Feb. 10th 1939 New York to Southampton
‘Aquitania’
Luxury Liner
via Cherbourg
Served as Merchant Ship,
Hospital & Troop ship in WW1 & troop ship in WW2.
Dept:
Issued
during WW2.
Under Japanese occupation.
Oct. 28th 1945 To England
Arr: Dec. 5th 1945 Hong Kong to Liverpool
‘Oxforshire’
Renamed:
Safinar-E-Arab
Oct. 25th
1946 To China
Arr: Dec 9th 1949
Liverpool ‘Duchess of Richmond’
to St. John’s Brunswick Destroyed by fire at
Liverpool docks 1953.
Jan 1st
1952 Hong Kong to London
‘Chusan’
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From the looks of it, she returned to China after a brief recovery in
the UK after being freed from Weihsien, and was likely continuing her
work until the communists kicked her out.
Thanks again, and I would dearly welcome any additional information on her.
Bruce H
From: Estelle Horne nee Cliff
Sent:
Subject: Re: Inquiry on Weihsien and Chefoo - Henrietta
Henderson
|
Yes, Miss Henderson was on the staff of the
Chefoo Schools. I wondered why I could not remember what she taught us, The
reason is obviously that she was the housekeeper, and not a teacher. Let me just say that the staff were to be much
admired, because they had all applied to be missionaries, and then were sent
to teach or look after foreign children instead. They took their calling very
seriously, and were a wonderful example of Christian living to us as we grew.
BUT more than that, when things grew dangerous, and all our foundations were
moved, they SO continued in serene assurance of their faith, that we were
very seldom afraid. We children did not know what COULD happen to us,
but THEY DID. The control of our lives and movements was taken out of the
hands of those given responsibilty for us, and were in the hands of ruthless
enemies. But they sang with us: God is still on the throne, and we believed
it too. The debt we owe them is incalculable. Estelle Cliff Horne |
From: Jonathan
Henshaw
Sent:
Subject: Article from The Times
Hello All,
Here is something I came across in The Times which I thought might be of
interest to you, another recollection:
From out of a clear blue
sky; every reader tells a story.(Features).The Times (
Full Text:COPYRIGHT 2008 The Times
Byline: Jenny Pagliaro
Each week, a Times reader writes a personal tale
about a memorable moment in his or her life. Today, Jenny Pagliaro remembers a
summer's day in 1945.
It was
The hot weather was rather soporific and our
singing was lacklustre. However, we were brought to our feet by the sound of a
plane roaring over the church roof and we knew straight away it was not a
Japanese aircraft. As it roared over for the second time, we tumbled out on to
the ball field and saw it turn to come in again for the third time. It was
indeed an American B24. As we waved and shouted the belly of the craft opened
up and out fell seven airmen whose parachutes billowed as they floated to the
ground and we could see that they would land in the bean fields outside the
walls.
With one accord we rushed for the gate, which the
Japanese guards were trying to close. We slipped through and, rather like a
covey of partridges, disappeared among the beanstalks in search of our
rescuers, who were crouched with drawn pistols fearing an attack from Japanese
guards. They were met instead by a mob of children!
We escorted them into the camp, passing the guards
who had barricaded themselves into the sentry box. Then ensued a time of
celebration with thanksgiving services in the church, speeches, parties,
chocolate and chewing gum. Peace at last, seeing parents again, and going home
to
One of the airmen said that when he saw us shouting
and waving on the field he jumped out without his parachute and it was thrown
after him - my hero, Pete Orlich.
Copyright (C) The Times, 2008
Sincerely,
Jonathan Henshaw
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
To: weihsien@topica.com ; sipabit@videotron.ca
Sent:
Subject: Re: Article from The Times
Thank
you, Jonathan.
I'll
forward this to Carol Orlich, liberator Pete Orlich's widow. She'll
love it.
Pete
Orlich, age 21, was radio operator and the youngest member on the
rescue team. Pete desperately wanted to
be chosen for the rescue team, but feared he would be excluded
because he wore glasses. So when candidates were moving through the
medical screenings, he took off his glasses and memorized the letters on
the eye chart by listening to the men in front of him calling out the
letters. To keep his glasses from flying off his head during his
parachute drop from the B-24 (The Armored Angel) , Pete taped his
glasses to his head with pink medical tape.
That's
how 10-year-old Teddy Pearson remembers finding Pete in the
gaoliang stubble.
Teddy
got to Pete Orlich before anyone else.
Here's what Teddy remembers
of Pete:
"I remember I was the first to reach
(American rescuer) Peter Orlich. He had a brush cut (flat top!) when I first
saw him. He did not have his cap and he had his glasses taped with pink
'medical' as opposed to Scotch tape around his temples. I remember this very
clearly. He was standing (as I remember) in a field of stubble, (Kaoliang? ) I
remember him assuming I was a Chinese, maybe I looked like one? when he saw me,
barefoot and only wearing shorts. Who knows, but he pointed to some printing in
Chinese on his shirt or jacket or vest. There was printing all over in
different languages. There was also the stars and stripes. I said to him in my
impeccable English, ''Excuse me, sir, but I don't read Chinese.'' He then asked
me if I was from the camp, and how did I get out, so I told him the gates were
opened. Then he wanted to know where his fellow jumpers were. I walked him back
to the camp, and as we got closer I got pre-empted by some adults :-(
."
Mary
Previte
From: Albert de
Zutter
Sent:
Subject: Re: website
|
Dear Leopold, I read most of the text you provided. While the
story of her marriage and subsequent disappointment is interesting, I found
what she was told about the Weihsien camp questionable. If we had a
"tennis club," I didn't know about it. Yes, we played tennis, and
we even had some tournaments, but we played with bald tennis balls and cracked
rackets and had to tie pieces of cat-gut together with knots around to
restring rackets. But beauty parlors? Come on! It sounds like she was
recounting Japanese propaganda. And not a word about the gaoliang for
breakfast and the "stew" -- which was no more than a thin soup --
and hot water for lunch and supper, and the fact that all but those who
worked in the kitchens were underweight and malnourished (I was assigned by
Dr. Chang to eat in the hospital for two weeks because of my emaciated
condition). I concede that the Japanese were looking to the future, as she
reports, and that they treated us at Weihsien better than they treated people
at many other camps, but there was also some unnecessary meanness, as Joyce
Cooke Bradbury reports -- dumping the meat supply on the ground and not
allowing our people to deal with it until it started to spoil, etc. I'm sure
we are all grateful that our guards were told there might be a reckoning
after the war and that they should avoid atrocities -- which they did. But
the conditions at Weihsien in no way resembled those at a vacation resort, as
the author claims. Albert de Zutter From: Tapol < Dear Gay, Thanks very
much ---- I dont think
that you have to transalate the whole thing... Just the texts highlighted in
green would be perfect. Those texts are interesting because directly
connected to Weihsien and/or the presence of the American troops in Thanks in
advance for all our English speaking friends --- Best regards, Leopold http://www.weihsien-paintings.org/books/LeGueDuCiel_JacquelineDubois/02.pdf http://www.weihsien-paintings.org/books/LeGueDuCiel_JacquelineDubois/04.pdf ----- Original Message
----- From: Gay Talbot Stratford Sent: Subject: Re: website Leopold, If you need help with the
translations, letme know.Hope you are both well. Gay ----- Original Message
----- From: Tapol Sent: Subject: Re: website --- one of the latest entries on the website,
extracts from a book written in French by Jacqueline Dubois, mention quite a
few names of Weihsien prisoners and she also mentions the Swedish
representative as: Ralph Engström. Is this Mr Egger? I'd be grateful if
somebody could volunteer to translate these texts into English --- ? best regards, Leopold |
From: Ron Bridge
Sent:
Subject: RE: website
Engstrom who was Sweedish was tied up with the International Red Cross
Egger the SWiss consul
PS if you want a little info the London Daily Mail did an
article on me yesterday 16 May 09. The reporter and editor's pen changed a few
things I was not allowed sight before publication. See
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1181629/It-happened--I-child-Japanese-prisoner-war.html
From: Tapol
Sent:
Subject: Re: website
Dear Albert,
Many thanks for your reaction. --- and that is why we must correct all
forms of false-information about Weihsien and other camps (all over the
world) during WWII. (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article5663726.ece)
Have a look at http://www.weihsien-paintings.org/NormanCliff/Aftermath/TheNorthChinaMarine/p-01.htm This
article published in May 1946 mentions that we were rescued by an "unarmed
Australian team" ---- and that we did not suffer !! (click on the
book-picture for the complete text) http://www.weihsien-paintings.org/NormanCliff/Aftermath/TheNorthChinaMarine/txt_TheNorthChinaMarine.htm
I'd like to have more reactions about this French text and this is where
the website becomes interesting. The texts will be added to the webpage
mentioning Jacqueline Dubois' book. It must be known that she got it all wrong
because many people (like her) think that we had a jolly good time during two
years and a half !!
Dear Ron, Thanks for your link --- I'll add that too on our website
(hope the author won't mind though)
Best
regards,
Leopold
From: grannydavies@aol.com
Sent:
Subject: Re: website
There was a ralph engstrom in
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent:
Subject: Weihsien in documentary, "SO VERY FAR FROM HOME"
|
Mary, In conjunction with Memorial
Day (May 25) here in the The program includes vintage footage unearthed at
the National Archives, including scenes of the Weihsien Presbyterian Mission
compound circa 1934. Some of those who attended the 2005 60th
anniversary of our liberation reunion at Weihsien are featured in this film. SnagFilms is a free site, but you'll need a
broadband connection. Here is the web address: http://www.snagfilms.com/ Mary Previte |
From: Mitch
Krayton
Sent:
Subject: Re: Weihsien in documentary, "SO VERY FAR FROM HOME"
Mary,
Thanks for this tip and for keeping the memory alive.
No one should ever forget what you all had to endure.
Mitch Krayton
From: Terri
Stewart
Sent:
Subject: Re: Weihsien in documentary, "SO VERY FAR
FROM HOME"
|
Wow. Just spent the hour watching this movie and
being able to grasp more of what my great-aunt (Ruth Kunkel) wrote about in
her letters of the camp, including the guard nicknamed Gold-Tooth. Thank you for
passing this info along and I have now passed it onto my family to view. Terri Stewart |
From: "Mitch
Krayton" <mitch@digital-res.com>
To: <weihsien@topica.com>
Sent:
Subject: Re: Weihsien in documentary, "SO VERY FAR FROM HOME"
Ř My wife Linda and I watched this incredible
documentary and were
> speechless. The narration and editing were compelling. The quality of
> the video was superb. The heartfelt and honest emotions of joy, pain and
> reunion were clearly captured in the interviews.
>
> How wonderful that everyone's faces, voices and photos are now preserved
> in such a compelling manner. I hope that Leopold can post a link on his
> site and that someone can get a copy to archive in case this link
> disappears. The only issue for me was that the audio was out of sync.
> Could be a result of the transfer from
> because that did little to spoil that story for us. We feel like we know
> each of you a bit more so thanks for sharing.
>
> Mitch Krayton
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent:
Subject: Re: Weihsien in documentary, "SO VERY FAR FROM HOME"
Thank
you so very much for this response.
I'll
pass it along to the producer, Bill Einreinhofer.
Mary Taylor
Previte
From: Dwight W.
Whipple
Sent:
Subject: Re: Weihsien in documentary, "SO VERY FAR
FROM HOME"
I echo the
comments re the Weihsien documentary and sent it to others in our family who
also were interned there. We arrived in the camp on
~Dwight W Whipple
From: Ron Bridge
Sent:
Subject: RE: British and Commonwealth Internees of
Dear
Weihsien readers.
I
realise that this will not affect or interest many readers, but to some out
there I think it might be of interest . To forestall the inevitable
inquiries the list of names is NOT available on any web site.
On
Ultimately
copies will be placed in the Impwerial War Museum London, and the
Rgds
Ron Bridge
This
Memorial Book has been placed in St Michaels Cornhill, a church nearest to the
Bank intersection in the City of
At
the time, the term "British" encompassed all of His Majesty's
subjects in the
The
indigenous inhabitants of Hong Kong, the Straits Settlements, Burma and other
Far East Colonies are not included unless they were actually interned, which is
not to say that they did not suffer under Japanese rule.
The
Japanese did not incarcerate all Caucasian British as they permitted some of
the aged and infirm to remain out of the camps but under some form of curfew. These individuals are not included.
The
precise number of British civilians interned by the Japanese during World War
Two is not known. Immediately post war, various documents represented the
number as ranging from 15,012 to 18,486. However, studies made in the 1950s
suggested that 19,800 British passport holders were interned together with 870
Australians, 80 New Zealanders and 200 Canadians making a total of 20,950
of
whom 1,000 died in captivity.
This
Memorial Book includes the names of 19,217 Civilian, 1,551 Dominion and 32
Colonial, a total listing of 20,800,
compiled from surviving camp nominal rolls. At the side of each name is an
internment camp, in most cases this is the only camp in which the individual
was interned. However, for some people the precise camp has not been
identified, and a geographic area is quoted. For others an arbitrary choice has
been made, notably in the former Netherlands East Indies where people fleeing
Included
are civilians who, although evacuated in late 1942 to southern
No
attempt has been to differentiate Merchant Navy personnel, as those captured in
port were generally treated as civilians, and those captured on the high seas
as military PoWs. (There are numerous exceptions to this rule, especially in
the case of those captured in the
was
little consistency in treatment of non military Britons.
This
Memorial Book is not intended to be an exhaustive source of genealogical data,
neither can it be considered the legal basis for establishing internment by the
Japanese. The events occurred over 60 year ago and it has not always been
possible to obtain forenames from the often fragmentary camp lists which have
survived in a myriad of British and foreign institutions. Given the
limitations, the omission of any forename, or indeed any individual is
regretted. Deliberately omitted are Dates of Birth, Dates of Death and Maiden
names. These were considered, but the concept rejected for reasons of
consistency, of space and on the basis that the data was only available in some
cases.
For
general assistance in the preparation of this book I am indebted to Richard
Gunning (Once of Stanley Camp)
Finally,
it must be re-iterated that whilst every care has been taken in compiling this
Book from all known sources throughout the world, it cannot be considered
definitive evidence of internment by the Japanese for any legal purpose
whatsoever. Any omission or inaccuracy will almost certainly be due to the
incomplete nature of the records. For
any
and all mistakes, the compiler offers his sincere apologies.
Once
of Weihsien Camp
March 2009
From: Mpether
Sent:
Subject: RE: British and Commonwealth Internees of
Dear Ron,
What a timely and thoughtful action yourself and ABCIFER.
Whilst the numbers of men, women and children still with us who
underwent the awful experience of internment throughout the
I have personal connections with the events through family being
interned in Changi, Sime Road and the camp at Iltis Huk in Tsingtao and have
formed friendships here in New Zealand with internees and POWs who were in
Sumatra, Java and Borneo.
Please let me know if you would like any assistance in approaching the
I would be interested to know what is happening
with the records of ABCIFER insofar as their archiving and would appreciate
your reply on that point.
Regards,
Michael Pether,
From: Ron Bridge
Sent:
Subject: Re:Marjorie McLorn
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have had an inquiry into the whereabouts or what hanppened to Marjorie
McLorn, b 1931 in Block 61 Room 9.
Her roommate Joyce Kerry is anxious to trace.
If she is on the topica circuit or if anyone knows her is please let me
know either by replying to this or driect on rwbridge@freeuk.com
Thanks
Ron
From: Fred &
Coral Dreggs
Sent:
Subject: Re: Weihsien in documentary, "SO VERY FAR FROM HOME"
Hi Mary,
Many thanks for advising about the availability of the above-mentioned
documentary.
I got on to the web address OK and located a small photo depicting what
appear to be internees lining up outside a sort of kitchen. This was found
under the heading of 'So Very Far From Home'. My problem is that I could
do nothing further from that point to in order to view the doc. Have I done
something wrong? Would you ,or someone who has been successful, please lead me.
With thanks in advance,
Regards, Fred (aka Alfie)
PS I do have Broadband.
From: Tapol
Sent:
Subject: Re: Weihsien in documentary, "SO VERY FAR FROM HOME"
dear Fred,
I have the same problem. I sent a message to snagfilms and got this
answer: (see below)
I haven't tried "mozilla" yet but I'll let you know --- My
computer had a "fatal error" recently so I'm trying to get everything
working again.
Dear Gay,
thanks for the translation --- In a day or two it will be on the website
--- in English !!
--- all
the best,
Leopold
From: Estelle Horne nee Cliff
Sent:
Subject: RE: British and Commonwealth Internees of
|
Dear Ron |
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent:
Subject: Fwd: Weihsien in documentary, "SO VERY FAR FROM HOME"
Here's a
suggestion from Producer Bill Einreinhofer that may help those of you who
have had difficulty connecting to the documentary about Japanese-operated
internment camps in
From: bill@paradox-communications.net
Sent: 5/27/2009 10:11:04 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time
Subj: Re: Fwd: Weihsien in documentary,
"SO VERY FAR FROM HOME"
|
Try this link. It should take you directly to the
film. http://www.snagfilms.com/films/title/so_very_far_from_home/
|
From: Pamela
Masters
Sent:
Subject: Re: Weihsien in documentary, "SO VERY FAR FROM HOME"
This is GREAT documentary -- totally in sync, and such fun to
watch! Thanks
again Bill for making it. -- Pamela
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent:
Subject: Raymond Hanchulak, Weihsien liberator
What
memories does anyone have of Raymond Hanchulak, medic on the "
Some
time ago, I recall someone's writing that Hanchulak had given him
his boots.
Scheduled
to give a speech later this month about my tracking down the heroes who
liberated Weihsien, I'd like more information about Raymond Hanchulak.
When I
tracked down members of the
Liberator
Tad Nagaki, close friends with Raymond Hanchulak, has helped with some
information. But I've felt frustrated to know so little about this
American hero.
Born
How I
wish now that I had started my search a few years earlier so that I could have
talked with Raymond Hanchulak and with Peter Orlich, who had died before I
started.
Mary Taylor
Previte
From: Mitch
Krayton
Sent:
Subject: Re: Raymond Hanchulak, Weihsien liberator
Mary
Instead of fretting over things you cannot change, please take pride in all the
marvelous and wonderful things you have accomplished on this project.
Think of the wonderful news you have given to Helen that helped make her
husband's memories even better.
Mitch Krayton
From: berean@xplornet.com
Sent:
Subject: Re: Raymond Hanchulak, Weihsien liberator
Thank you for what you have done. Years ago Kathleen and I
started calling the Steigers listed in the
But years ago I wrote James Moore (he answered as if he was writing to a
Houghton instead of a Horton) But he said he had not kept up with any of the
team---so again we dropped the idea of locating any of them. Really hadn't
given that much thought basing it on experience above. So please do
not blame yourself.
Before I was married I stayed with a college classmate in little
We were married 8 years and had four children before they met my
husband. They came home to 3 married children and 11 grandchildren they
had not met. They had met
Something interesting is happening in our daughter (who lives next door
to us) in her family. Her second oldest and oldest son is getting
married on June 12th. They started courting (no hand holding etc) the end
of January. Not too long after that they got engaged and now
getting married. Her family was in our church in
Now another interesting page of the story. Tiffanie has a 28 year
old cousin named Roy Taylor, (her mother's maiden name). Now he is
engaged to our oldest granddaughter next door, Elisia, who is 23 years
old. They have been engaged a week now. Their engagement
happened very fast but they are very agreed--they discuss the Bible all the
time on the phone.--8 hours driving distance away from here. We
will lose Elisia to the states unless God calls
Anyway, it has been exciting to see how God has kept these young people
for each other. Our grandson and fiancée will reserve their first
kiss for after the wedding.
He puts out a magazine for young men, called A Servant's Heart and has
been doing it now since he was 17 and he is now 21. She is
23. The family has leased a laser printer for their printing
ministry as they do tracts for people as well.
It was something how God impressed Mahlon that we should stop in and see
this family on our holiday last year--We had not seen them for several
years. And now all of this. The couple have over 40 grandchildren
already and 8 who do not have children yet. They are a Godly
family. all of the children and grandchildren are in church. And to
have had a tiny part inn their lives--God uses all the links and we were just
one tiny link.
Mahlon resigned the church January 18th--a young Canadian couple with
two sweet little girls have taken over the church--moved down in April. from
We have seen real answers to prayer and are so gratified with what God
is doing. We started the church. Then were able to buy a building
from a Lutheran group who were merging two congregations--the building has
been paid for a couple of years now. The former parsonage was
bought by one of our members-- an elderly lady who took on the job of
being caretaker of the property--she sold the house to the new pastor--the
house is right next door to church so it was so crucial to have the right person
there--so God answered prayer that way. She moved into a condo which is
quite an adjustment for her as she is very much of an outdoor person--and she
has always lived in a house.
Several years ago we were involved in finding a missing son for one of
our members--He was Canadian but had been loaned to the
What we couldn't understand is that she didn't want to put out a notice
in papers she knew to find him--didn't want to embarrass him--We didn't do
that--found him through other means.
Trust you are doing o.k. We hope to see Kathleen after we are
finished with the wedding. She is too tired to do any travelling anymore
and it is very doubtful she will get to wedding--They are very close to our
grandchildren as before her illness they would come up once or twice a year to
visit. we we would go down there.once or twice a year--.
We have our property up for sale since last July--we live off the grid so
it will take a special couple to buy it--We are waiting on the Lord's guidance.
He might just want us to stay here.
Love, Audrey
From: Tapol
To: weihsien@topica.com ; Greg Leck ; Albert de
Zutter ; Janette & Pierre @ home
Sent:
Subject: japanese guard uniform ---
Hello,
--- if you type in the search engine: "japanese guard uniform"
you will reach our interesting conversation about the colour of that uniform
---
http://www.weihsien-paintings.org/TedPearson/text/JapUniform.htm
Thanks to Greg Leck, we have an additional document attesting that it was
"olive" --- in summer!
best
regards & thanks Greg ---
Leopold
From: rod miller
Sent:
Subject: Re: Chefoo etc Woops...
Sorry I gave you the wrong
file.
It is this one that contains the report.
Title
Japan exchange of British and Japanese subjects - evacuation Agreement
Barcode
177535
Series number
A981
Series accession number
A981/4
Control symbol
JAP 116
Contents date range
1941 - 1942
Location
Canberra
Access status
Open
Date of decision
1 Jun 1973
"http://naa12.naa.gov.au/scripts/imagine.asp?B=177535&I=1&SE=1">http://naa12.naa.gov.au/scripts/imagine.asp?B=177535&I=1&SE=1
Rod
At 10:38 PM 6/12/2009, you wrote:
Hi
I've noticed some of you mention Chefoo in here.
There is a brief 1941 report on
Title
Japan - First Exchange of Civilians
Barcode
184378
Series number
A989
Series accession number
A989/1
Control symbol
1943/460/10/1
Contents date range
1942 - 1944
Location
Canberra
Access status
Open
Date of decision
7 Mar 1976
To view the file log into the archives as a guest http://www.naa.gov.au/collection/recordsearch/index.aspx
Then click on the link below.
http://naa12.naa.gov.au/scripts/ItemDetail.asp?M=0&B=184378
Covering letter for the report is on page 16, the report is page 17 - 21
Regards
Rod
From: berean@xplornet.com
To: Tapol
Sent:
Subject: Re: japanese guard uniform ---
Audrey writing. Miss Evelyn Davey, now Huebner chuckled when I
told her that there had been quite a discussion about color of guard
uniform. Without hesitation she said they were khaki--green --usual color
of uniforms.
From: Jonathan
Henshaw
Sent:
Subject: Visiting
Hi Weihsieners,
I am writing for advice on people/places to see connected to the camp since I
will be making a trip to Weifang at the beginning of July. I am currently in
Sincerely,
Jonathan Henshaw
From: "Donald
Menzi" <dmenzi@earthlink.net>
To: "weihsien"
<weihsien@topica.com>
Cc: "shude" <suishude@sohu.com>;
"Shude" <suishude@126.com>; "shude-1" <suishude@sina.com>
Sent:
Subject: Your Visit to Weihsien
Ř Jonathan,
>
> You should definitely make Sui Shude your main contact point in
Weihsien. He is with their the municipal government office that was key
in setting up the 2005 celebration and the documentaries about the weihsien
camp. He's also a great guy, extremely fluent in English and will be very
happy to help you. I've included the three email addresses that I have
for him in the cc line because I'm not sure which are still in active use.
>
> Enjoy the visit. They've done a great job in memorializing the Weihsien
camp and those who were interned there.
>
> Please say hello to Shude for me.
>
> Donald Menzi
>
> P.S. Any chance you're related to my old Hebrew professor, Richard
Henshaw?
>
> DM
From: "Tapol"
<tapol@skynet.be>
To: <weihsien@topica.com>
Sent:
Subject: Fw: Your Visit to Weihsien
Ř
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "pander" <pander.nl@skynet.be>
> To: <weihsien@topica.com>; "Jonathan Henshaw" <Jonathan.Henshaw@ualberta.ca>
> Sent: Tuesday, June 23, 2009
> Subject: Re: Your Visit to Weihsien
>
>
>> Dear Jonathan,
>> --- as Don wrote, Mr. Sui Shude is the best host you 
could ever have for
>> the
>> visit of Weifang and of course the "old" Weihsien
concentration camp. For
>> the website (http://www.weihsien-paintings.org ) we would all be eager to
>> share your photos/videos and experiences of your visit --- Do send
them my
>> way when they will be ready --- thanks in advance, --- Best regards,
---
>> Leopold
>> PS You will have all the info by clicking on the *.gif-file attached.
From: <sigalarm@gmail.com>
To: <weihsien@topica.com>
Sent:
Subject: Ettie Henderson - Continued Search
Ř Hello all, I can't thank the people on this list
enough for their help
> in uncovering the history of my relative, Henrietta "Ettie"
Henderson
> who was a member of the staff at Chefoo.
>
> Since the last time I have posted, have come into possession of
> additional information, and now I need your help again if you would be
> so kind.
>
> Below are links to 2 pictures taken at the Chefoo school in 1938, one is
> of the staff at the Prep school where we think Henrietta was, and the
> second was the girls school. It know it may not be possible, but
could
> you have a look and see if any of them match your recollection for her?
>
> Prep School Staff Photo:
> http://andstillipersist.com/wp-content/photo/scotland/Chefoo_Prep_Staff_1938.jpg
>
> Girls School Staff Photo:
> http://andstillipersist.com/wp-content/photo/scotland/1938_Chefoo_Girls_School_Staff2.jpg
>
>
> Thank you so very much for your time and your help.
>
> Bruce Henderson
> San Diego, CA
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent:
Subject: Another Eric Liddell movie
The
November-December 2008 issue of Mission Frontier reports in a
4-page article that another movie about Eric Liddell is in the works, being
produced by Wang Zi Yin, a Chinese Christian film maker based in
This Mission
Frontier article is being circulated along with letters encouraging
financial support of the production.
In
Weihsien, Stephen became Eric Liddell's assistant in athletic activities
and helped Eric mend broken equipment. Not long before Eric died, he gave
Stephen his running shoes. Stephen was so profoundly moved by Eric's
message of "Love your enemies" -- pray for the Japanese --
that in Weihsien Stephen made a promise to God that if God would get him
out of that place, he would serve God as a missionary to
Stephen's
moving speech at the Eric Liddell monument near the hospital in Weihsien
during our 2005 reunion celebration made headlines around the world.
Mary Previte
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent:
Subject: UPDATE on Weihsien Girl Guides and on Eric Liddell movie
Here's an update on a couple of Weihsien projects.
GIRL GUIDES and BROWNIES IN WEIHSIEN -- a
social history:
A book to celebrate 100 years of Girl Guides (called Girl Scouts in the
If you have your own stories or memories to contribute, send to hampton.oxford@dial.pipex.co.
ERIC LIDDELL MOVIE SEQUEL:
Movie producer Ken Wales reports that a financial backer in
Mary
Previte
From: Jonathan
Henshaw
Sent:
Subject: Notes from a trip
Hello Weihsieners,
I have written a short note in .pdf format about my trip up to Weihsien in June
that includes a few pictures-- it is available here: http://www.weihsien-paintings.org/JonathanHenshaw/VisitToWeifang/Letter_to_Weihsieners.pdf.Thanks to Mr Pander for putting it online.
The visit was a definite success for me, and I am really quite thankful, both
to all of you here, and to Mr Sui Shude and Mr Jeff Liu in Weifang and Yantai,
for their hospitality and kindness.
Sincerely,
Jonathan Henshaw
From: Mitch
Krayton
Sent:
Subject: Re: Notes from a trip
Thanks for this
wonderful report and photos. Thanks also for doing some additional research for
me about Helen Burton. This site has brought together a wonderful group of
people who won't let the past fade away.
Thanks again to all that make this possible.
Mitch Krayton
From: Carol Ann
Vaughn
Sent:
Subject:
Greetings.
I apologize if I am intruding on a personal list or thread.
I am researching the lives of Freddie Crawford and Minnie Crawford Jones
to complete a biography of Martha Foster Crawford and T. P. Crawford. It
has been ten years since I completed my dissertation about Martha
Crawford, and I am pleased to have access to more threads and people now,
thanks to the internet and on-line databases.
Martha and T. P. Crawford adopted Minnie and Freddie in 1876.
Minnie married the rather well-known British Baptist missionary Alfred Jones,
who was killed in a mudslide in 1905; and I am attempting to follow-up
on her whereabouts in the
Freddie Crawford was sent to the new
I plan to try to look at the CIM School Records, but if anyone here has
any ideas or suggestions for further possible areas of
investigation about Freddie Crawford in the
Sincerely,
Carol Ann Vaughn Cross
Core Curriculum
Birmingham, Alabama
From: Terri
Stewart
Sent:
Subject: Re: Notes from a trip
|
Thank you as well, Jonathan for the wonderful and
updated report and the pix of the buildings. I am glad to know that they are
being kept up in one way or another, even though I have never been there nor
likely will be able to make the trip (my great-aunt was there in the camp). I
appreciate what you have done! Terri Stewart (for Ruth Kunkle) |
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent:
Subject: Re: CIM School for MKs in Chefoo/Yantai
Ian Grant, editor of Chefoo School Magazine, says the
Mary
Previte
From: <sigalarm@gmail.com>
To: <weihsien@topica.com>
Sent:
Subject: RE: CIM School for MKs in Chefoo/Yantai
Ř Hello Carol.
>
> Having recently done a significant amount of research into Chefoo, I can
> possibly give you a bit of advice.
>
> The collection held at the Billy Graham centre in
> quite good. They have a large collection of documents associated
with
> the CIM, and some related to Chefoo.
>
> The collection at SOAS in
> photographs and information about Chefoo specifically.
>
> I strongly recommend contacting either archive:
>
> Ed Hood at SOAS: docenquiry@soas.ac.uk
> Wayne Weber at Billy Graham Center Archives: BGCArc@wheaton.edu
>
> They may even be able to let you know how much information they have on
> the people you are researching.
>
> Feel free to follow up directly with me if you would like as well:
> sigalarm (at) gmail (dot) com
>
> Sincerely
>
> Bruce Henderson
From: Jonathan
Henshaw
Sent:
Subject: More photos uploaded
Dear Weihsieners,
Leopold Pander has kindly uploaded a few more photos from my trip to
Weifang last month. The link is below:
http://www.weihsien-paintings.org/JonathanHenshaw/VisitToWeifang/Photos/p_photos_01.htm
Thanks again to everyone
who helped make the trip a success.
Best regards,
Jonathan Henshaw
From: "Carol Ann
Vaughn" <cavaughn@samford.edu>
To: <weihsien@topica.com>
Sent:
Subject: RE: CIM School for MKs in Chefoo/Yantai
Ř Dear Bruce,
>
> I cannot thank you enough for taking time to respond so helpfully to my
query. I am looking forward to pursuing these avenues you have mentioned.
>
> After a ten-year hiatus from this particular research, I am enjoying the
benefits of the internet. It has been more than ten years since I visited the
Chefoo area.
>
> I have located information about an Alfred Foster Crawford, the same age
of the man for whom I am searching, who survived the _Titanic_ disaster.
I hope that the school's documents will help me confirm whether or not it was
the same person.
>
> I found a lot of excellent material at Yale regarding the missionary
community's evacuation from Chefoo during the Boxer Uprising, and I am
interested in more on that as well as material on the missionaries' return in
1902.
>
> I have a sabbatical coming up in the next year or so, and I think this
will be my reason to visit the
>
> I appreciate being in contact with you. Thank you.
>
> Sincerely,
> Carol Ann
>
> Carol Ann Vaughn
> Core Curriculum
>
> cavaughn@samford.edu
From: Mitch
Krayton
Sent:
Subject: Re: More photos uploaded
Jonathan,
Thanks for the visual documentation.
Again, much appreciated. Leopold great job hosting as always.
Mitch Krayton
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent:
Subject: WEIHSIEN BIRDS -- Jamie Taylor's diary for a Naturalist Badge
Here's an introduction to WEIHSIEN BIRDS on Leopold Pander's Weihsien
web site http://www.weihsien-paintings.org/JamesTaylor/indexFrame.htm
Leopold has created a masterpiece with my brother's diary.
Mary Previte
Jamie Taylor’s Bird Watching Diary
1944 -1945
By Mary
In 1944 and 1945,
James “Jamie” Taylor, 14 years
old, filled a 4" x 6" notebook with
carefully-penned observations – about putting his hand into a
sparrow's nest and finding babies, counting bustards flying
overhead, welcoming flowers that announced the spring, listening to
cicadas beginning to buzz, numbering the leaves sprouting on a
plant. Logged to earn his Boy Scout Naturalist
badge, he wrote ordinary, boyish stuff .
Ordinary?
Jamie Taylor was
writing in a crowded Japanese internment camp in
The cover says
simply: J. Taylor Weihsien Birds. J.
Taylor was James Hudson Taylor, III, a student in the
In 1944, when Jamie started
writing his bird watching diary, we four
In a prison camp, how do
you arm yourself against fear? Our teachers' answer was to fashion a protective
womb around our psyches, insulating and cushioning us with familiar routines:
daily school and work details.
Structure. Structure.
Structure.
Our teachers taught us
exactly what to expect. They marched us off to breakfast for a splash of
steaming gao liang gruel (animal
feed, even by Chinese standards). They trooped us back to our dormitory, mug
and spoon in hand, to scrub the floor. We grouped for morning prayers, and
sang:
God is still
on the throne;
And He
will remember His own.
His
promise is true;
He will
not forget you.
God is
still on the throne.
We lined up for inspection.
Were we clean? Were we neat? Did we have our mending done? We settled down on
our steamer-trunk “beds” for school: English, Latin, French, history, Bible.
Structure. It was our
security blanket.
One of the predictable
routines was school. Yes, school would
go on – even in the shadow of guard towers. So would Boy Scouts and Girl Guides,
Cub Scouts and Brownies. We practiced semaphore and Morse Code during daily roll
calls. We practiced tying knots -- reef, bowline,
round-turn-two-half-hitches. Scout
leaders like Stanley Houghton and
Guide leaders like Inez Phare,
Brownie leaders like “Brown Owl” Evelyn Davey expected students to work
on badges. In the shadow of the barrier walls and under the eyes of uniformed
Japanese guards, we worked on badges – reading badges, hiking badges, folk singing badges,
naturalist badges. Yes, and do a good deed every day – even when your hands are
freezing from making coal balls to fuel the stoves or your knife or thumb nail is bloody from the
Saturday “battle-with-the-bedbugs.” Girl Guides were expected to embroider
badges for the Boy Scouts.
Written for his Naturalist
Badge, Jamie’s bird watching diary is so much more than a 14-year-old Boy Scout
training a sparrow or watching poplar catkins "beginning to fall
off." Its pages are punctuated with news and observations that
fascinated this 14-year-old about life in internment camp:
June
11 New bull not as large as the
old one which died of anthrax..
Dec. 2. Got stoves.
It's
a story of relationships:
Sunday
May 12 A boy threw a stone at a Crowned
killed it.
Thursday May 18
I put my hand into a sparrow's nest and
found babies, It was at block 60 under the tiles. I am sharing with
Beard (a class mate).
Tuesday
May 23 A
Jap gave us an egg so we put it under the baby rook.
Between the lines, it shouts triumph of the
human spirit.
March 29 Wednesday Hugh Hubbard gave a lecture on
April 17
Monday Mr.
Hubbard showed me some Bramblings in a willow tree.
Monday April 24. Saw
a Western China Blue and white Flycatcher.
Mr Hubbard had only seem it once before.
Were
spirits wilting? Hugh Hubbard took boys
and girls on bird watch walks. Group
walks. Private walks. He showed them
stuffed birds. He taught them the songs
of birds. He lectured on birds of
Well,
not all.
Jamie didn’t write about hunger or terror or
bayonet drills or guard dogs or homesickness.
When he wrote about daily roll call, it was only to observe “November
10. 17 bustards passed
during roll call.”
In the
Weihsien internment camp, it is just as much what Jamie DIDN’T write about -- that honors with an everlasting tribute the
quiet heroes of Weihsien: our
teachers, Boy Scout, Girl Guide,
Brownie, and Cub Scout
leaders, men and women like Hugh Hubbard, Eric Liddell,
Brigadier Stranks who poured their unique spirit into saving us
children.
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent:
Subject: Re: birds
Leopold,
Your exquisite presentation of James's WEIHSIEN BIRDS diary is bringing me
such joyful responses from family members and from former
I'm not
familiar with a bird called blue start. Jamie was the bird watcher in our
family. I wonderf if Peter Bazire might know. Peter wrote to me
today to comment on Jamie's diary and said he himself had made a very small
bird diary in Weihsien.
By the
way, I did find a few mis spelled words -- that add to the charm of this diary.
Thank
you so very much.
Mary
From: Donald
Menzi
To: weihsien@topica.com ; weihsien@topica.com
Sent:
Subject: Re: birds
Mary,
Aha! At last I got a chance to consult the 700+ page book on Birds of
Northeast China by George Wilder and Hugh Hubbard and found that the
Bluestart is also known as the Blue-tailed Robin and the Siberian Blue-tail.
I was going to copy out their description when I realized that the
Internet would be even better.
You can find out all about it at:
http://www.mangoverde.com/birdsound/spec/spec142-144.html
Donald
Menzi
From: Tapol
Sent:
Subject: Re: birds
Thanks very much Donald
:-))
In fact --- I took the
"red start" and changed it into "blue" --- but that's not
very scientific !!
I did find an interesting
database with the English and Latin denominations but no "blue start"
I copy/pasted your link
into my "favourites" for the future --- I still have more than 22
pages of James's Diary to explore. Knowing nothing about "birds" I
find it very interesting!
Just give me time to finish
the work --- slowly but surely !!
Best regards,
Leopold
From: David
Birch
Sent:
Subject: Re: WEIHSIEN BIRDS -- Jamie Taylor's diary for
a Naturalist Badge
|
It's quite amazing
how glamorous these old memories have become in the decades since the events
happened! Jamie Taylor's bird diary reminds me of other boys' bird
diaries in Weihsien at the same time in our youthful history! |
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent:
Subject: Saute to Weihsien Liberator Tad Nagaki
Liberation
Day is almost here. And only one of our American liberators is still
alive -- Tad Nagaki
Would
you like to join me in a special tribute to Tad? The
Internet can help us create a miracle. If we were once overwhelmed with a
shower of parachutes, let's overwhelm Sgt. Tad Nagaki with a shower
-- of Letters to the Editor to his local newspaper, the
Scottsbluff, Nebraska, Star Herald.
In your
letter, you might mention a memory from Liberation Day.
Send
your letter to news@starherald.com (I've cleared this
with the editor.)
Letters
to the editor are limited to 400 words and must include your name and contact
information. If you live outside the USA, please be sure to put your
country -- Canada, U.K., Australia, New Zealand, Belgium, Hong Kong
Let's flabbergast the farm community where Tad lives.
I'm
timing this shower of letters for Wednesday, August 12, when the largest
vernacular newspaper in the
Just to
refresh your memory about Tad Nagaki, I've attached here a biographical sketch
i sent out on Weihsien Topica last year when Tad fractured his pelvis in a
fall. See below.
Tad Nagaki, the only living member of the American team that liberated Weihsien
in August 1945, is recuperating at home after fracturing his pelvis in a fall
from his truck. He's home now and in good spirits after six weeks in the hospital.
Still farming corn and beans in
Tad was the Japanese-American interpreter on the
Duck Mission that liberated the camp. Born in America and growing up in a farm
family in Nebraska, he had starred as a high school athlete -- basketball,
football, track (hurdles) -- and played with a Japanese-American baseball team
in the Nebraska-Denver area during his summer vacations, which explains why he
delighted teenagers in Weihsien by playing baseball with internees. (See the
following entry from 14-year-old Peter Bazire's diary entry for August 23,
1945.)
"Thursday 23rd
The 3
schools ? Chefoo ? Weihsien ? American school were photographed with a small
Kodak camera ? 2 photos each
In the
evening there was a softball
After Tad graduated from high school in 1938, he
went to
His is a remarkable story -- a Japanese-American
fighting for
In my interviewing Tad for over a year -- month
after month after month of questions in 2001 as I prepared to write a magazine
story about him --never once did I hear him complain about America or of his
treatment for years during the war -- mistrusted as a Nisei, sidelined with
about 40 other Japanese-American soldiers in Ft. Thomas, Kentucky, limited to
pruning trees and loading trains -- when he was itching to be out front
fighting for America. When he passed his physical and collected recommendations
to be an air cadet, his commander sent him a personal letter: They could not
accept him because he was Japanese-American.
No matter how I dug to find his feelings -- Did he
resent being sidelined and mistrusted? -- Tad's answer was always the same:
"I am American."
What an astonishing turn of events! Tad
was accepted by the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) for a special Nisei
combat unit to operate behind Japanese lines in
I prodded Tad: "What would the Japanese do to
you if they caught you?" Of course he knew.
"I never gave it any thought," he said.
"I am American."
"And in
He made it sound so simple. " In war, if you
think about that, you're not going to be a very good soldier. I am
American."
On
Tad tells me he's not a hero.
Tad was one of about 25,000 Japanese-American men
and women who served in U. S. Armed Forces during World War II.
On Liberation Day this year, I asked Tad how the
war changed him. It didn't really change him, he said. Like so many Americans,
he returned home and picked up where he had left off. He married the girl he
had met in
Mary Previte
From: Tapol
Sent:
Subject: James's diary
Hello,
I just finished the layout with James's bird diary.
http://www.weihsien-paintings.org/JamesTaylor/BirdDiary/Pages/p_photos_01.htm (two
pages)
The complementary pictures mostly come from Google Images. I tried to
add complementary URLs to the pictures but abandoned that because too
complicated.
James's knowledge about birds is amazing. Was it the same for all you
Chefoo kids. Did you all have Diaries? What about the non Chefoo children of
your age? Did they do bird watching too? Did Hugh Hubbard do bird teaching
for all the children in camp?
James mentions Chinese Kites flying in the sky. Did we fly kites in
Weihsien? I remember reading a book about a Dutch boy prisoner of the Japs in a
civilian camp in Java ---- one of his favorite occupations was flying kites and
the strings got meddled up with the kites of the Chinese children on the other
side of the electrified fence.
My sister was 7 in 1945. She often mentions the birds ---- Birds were
"
Best
regards,
Leopold
From: Tapol
Sent:
Subject: Fw: James's diary
James ends his bird diary on
Leopold
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent:
Subject: Re: Fw: James's diary
Exquisite,
Leopold! Thank you a thousand times. I shall go to this
precious site over and over again. Looking at the pictures of the birds
floods me with memories.
My
brother, James, would have celebrated his 80th birthday yesterday,
August 12
In
Weihsien, Chefoo teachers continued school. even in the summer to
keep us occupied with positive activities. However, because of unbearable
heat in the summer of 1945, they gave us a few days' holiday. On
Mary Previte
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent:
Subject: Tad Nagaki story in Japanese-American newspaper
The following
story appeared yesterday on the front page of The Rafu Shimpo, a newspaper based in
Columnist Wimpy
Hiroto tells me that he has already received A warm response from
Japanese-American veterans.
Mary Previte
Crossroads to Somewhere:
T H E
S A G A O F T A D
N A G A K I :
by w t wimpy hiroto
Fhlop. Fhlop.
Fhlop. Fhlop. The parachutes seemed to open on cue. Fhlop.
Fhlop. Fhlop. Seven cotton balls in synchronized unison.
The morning of
The military saga of Tad Nagaki does
not follow the well worn path of evacuated Nisei internee to a slogging 442nd
Regimental Combat Team
soldier
in
Drafted in November of 1941, he was
just a farm boy being sent off to fight a war with other fellow
A
star-crossed military experience continued to sour when, as a signal corps
trainee, everyone shipped out for overseas duty except him. While assigned to such menial tasks as
pruning trees and loading supply trains (with 40 other Nisei), Nagaki spotted
an ominous notice on the bulletin board:
“Volunteers for a Special Nisei Combat Unit” were being sought for
“highly secret intelligence work more hazardous than combat. “
There is
a standing axiom for military survival. Never volunteer for nothing.
To
Private Nagaki anything would be better than gardening and manual labor for the
duration. He signed on without any
reservations, one of 23 to make the harrowing decision. In the final reckoning only 14 would complete
the training regimen, three from
The
rigorous preparation began with radio training in
(The
Office of Strategic Services was a military orphan. Known today as the forerunner of Central
Intelligence Agency (
The
Japanese Imperial Army conducted an Asian version of Blitzkrieg early in 1942,
rampaging through sieve-like defenses at will. With the fall of Singapore, Java, the
Philippines and China proving to be inept ally , the loss of all Southeast
Asia’s rich and important natural resources loomed imminent. The string of conquests also gave the
Japanese a potential jumping off point to invade
Strained supply lines and unfriendly
jungles were seemingly the only obstacles they couldn’t overcome. Confronting such an impasse became a greater
hurdle for the invaders than Chinese, British, Indian and Australian troops.
Seizing upon this unexpected
opportunity
Combat was not John Wayne and Gary
Cooper single-handedly winning the war.
It was constant danger and peril, especially for the Nisei. The brotherhood of OSS Nisei was a combination
of versatility and commitment. Their
duties ranged from sabotage, guerilla warfare, hit and run harassment,
translating captured documents, preparing propaganda leaflets, building
airfields, reporting troop movements, helping rescue downed American
pilots.
Calvin
Tottori, a detachment member, authored “The OSS Nisei in
Tad
Nagaki added, “I never had the chance to interrogate Japanese prisoners (since)
they resisted capture with such fanatical zeal. It seemed surrender was never
an option (with them).” Being mistaken for the enemy was always a clear and
present danger.
2nd
Lt. Ralph Yempuku, the only Nisei field grade officer, pointed out the
depth of Kachin
native hate for the Japanese. “They had
a history of torture and bayoneting villagers to death.” Capt. Joe Lazarsky, lst Battalion Kachin
Ranger leader, carefully made a production out of Yempuku’s first introduction
to the natives. The captain ordered the
warriors to carefully study Yempuku’s face to guarantee he wouldn’t be mistaken
and killed as an enemy Japanese in a
As the war wound down in
“The Nisei bought an awful hunk of
In recounting his time in service
Nagaki dismisses any sense of heroism or extraordinary duty. “Just served my time like any other GI,” is
his simple explanation. As if living
among 120 Shan tribesmen, sleeping in a basha
(hut), eating native cuisine of chicken curry and rice (not too bad compared to
K and C rations) and riding elephants bareback was routine army duty. Not to mention a constant battle
fighting superior numbers of the enemy.
After
being honorably discharged from the Army in 1947, he married Asako “Butch”
Nakazono whom he had met on a blind date while training in
According
to Nagaki, it was no problem transitioning back to the uncluttered life of
tilling the soil. With bride in tow he
returned to
[Little did Tadashi Nagaki realize his 1945
parachute jump into eastern
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent:
Subject: The Saga of Tad Nagaki:
Subj: The Saga of Tad Nagaki:
Please see The Saga
of Tad Nagaki: Nebraska farmer to OSS Operative on Page 1 of August 12, 2009
issue of The Rafu Shimpo
From: "Donald
Menzi" <dmenzi@earthlink.net>
To: "weihsien"
<weihsien@topica.com>
Sent:
Subject: James' Bird Diary
> Hi, all,
>
> James' bird diary is, indeed wonderful. I think that there is also a
deeper lesson that it teaches us, beyond the obvious talent, skill and devotion
of James himself.
>
> James' teacher of bird lore was, of course, Hugh Hubbard. Hubbard,
in turn, first got bitten by the bird bug through his contact with my
grandfather, George Wilder, Going through some old family documents, I
found the following in a Feb. 25, 1917 letter from Wilder to his mother back in
the U.S.: "Hubbard is so interested in birds now that he kept me up
late each night asking questions about them and then took my books to bed with
him to read." Again, on Nov. 9, 1917 he writes, "Hubbard is doing a
lot of fine work on the birds. He has the disease badly."
>
> Wilder had begun keeping a daily bird diary as a teenager in South Dakota
in the 1880s one of hundreds of volunteer contributors to a nation-wide effort
to track patterns of bird migration, a practice that he kept up his whole life
and which he apparently passed on to Hubbard.
>
> The "disease" Hubbard caught from Wilder in 1917 was in turn
passed on to Jamie in 1943, and the daily bird diaries that a teenager had
begun keeping on the frontier in South Dakota in the 1880s eventually resulted
in the beautifully illustrated web book that Leopold has crafted from Jamie's teenage
work in Weihsien.
>
> To me, this illustrates the fact that we can never know all of the
eventual consequences of what we do, and that we are often connected to each
other in ways that we may never even know about.
>
> Donald Menzi
>
> P.S. Leopold you have inspired me to do something similar with
George Wilder's journal of the repatriation voyage of the Weihsien inmates who
were exchanged for Japanese prisoners in 1943, about a week after the Chefoo
students arrived, which he titled "Birds Seen from the Decks
of the Exchange Ships Teia Maru and Gripsholm."
>
> DM
From: "Mitch
Krayton" <mitch@digital-res.com>
To: <weihsien@topica.com>
Sent:
Subject: Re: James' Bird
Diary
Ř That would be a great follow up Don. You know I
have an interest in one
> of those folks, Helen Burton on the Gripsholm. Looking forward to your
> Sea Bird journal.
>
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent:
Subject: Re: James' Bird Diary
The
links of the story go on.
Estelle
Cliff Horne,
Please
tell us the story of your bird walk with Hugh Hubbard in Weihsien and decades
later in
Mary
Previte
From: "Donald
Menzi" <dmenzi@earthlink.net>
To: <weihsien@topica.com>
Sent:
Subject: Re: James' Bird
Diary
Ř Mitch,
>
> I think that you already know this, but anyone else who is interested can
view/download the Wilders' description of the Gripsholm voyage, and also watch
a video of the trip, based on Gertrude Wilder's paintings and Life
Magazine's photos, from:
>
> http://menzi.org/Wilders/Gripsholm.htm
>
> I'm not sure how long before I will be able to get to adding the bird
photos, but Leopold's example is certainly inspiring.
>
> Donald Menzi
>
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent:
Subject: Next installments of Tad Nagaki stories
Columnist
Wimpy Hiroto says that installment 2 and 3 of the Tad Nagaki saga
will appear on the next two Wednesdays in The Rafu
Shimpo. Mr. Hiroto says he chose that arrangement
because his columns usually appear on Wednesdays and that's when his readers
expect to see them.
He says
he has had a flurry of appreciative letters from Japanese-American veterans in
response to this Wednesday's story about Tad Nagaki.
Thank
you to those who have written tributes to Tad Nagaki in the form of
Letters to the Editor in the Scottsbluff,
Mary Previte
From: Tapol
Sent:
Subject: rafu shimpo
Dear Mary,
I don't remember if you wrote that I could (or not yet) reproduce the
first part of The Rafu Shimpo's article about Tad Nagaki --- but here it is:
http://www.weihsien-paintings.org/The7Magnificent/Tad_2009/RafuShimpo/p_09-0812-part(1).htm
--- also click on the book with the flipping pages --- (the reading is
more comfortable)
Best
regards,
Leopold
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent:
Subject: Liberation Day
Who
could EVER forget this day!
Leopold,
would you post a link to the photo of Weihsien going mad with joy, surrounding
American liberators?
Mary Previte
From: Tapol
Sent:
Subject: Re: Liberation Day
Hello,
go to:
http://www.weihsien-paintings.org/NormanCliff/liberationDay/p-liberation.htm
and left-click once on the
yellow magnifying glass
--- and the B-24 ---
"Armored Angel"
http://www.weihsien-paintings.org/The7Magnificent/photos/p_ArmoredAngel.htm
Best regards,
Leopold
From: Estelle Horne nee Cliff
Sent:
Subject: Re: Hugh Hubbard
|
We girls were not involved in the bird-watching
like the boys, but there came a day when we were invited. Hubbard had
obtained permission to go into the out-of-bounds area, where the Japanese
officers' houses were, to show a special bird, and we were invited to come
along too. The special bird was a golden oriole, and as we
silently crept up on it, it was singing in a tree high above us. This was my
first encounter with wild birds, and I didn't especially remember the song,
but decades later, when my family were in the foothills of the great
Drakensberg mountains in It reminded me of those few minutes of freedom
enjoyed so long ago, and of the adults who went out of their way to lift our
spirits above the hardships of everyday life. We owe them a lot. Estelle Cliff Horne |
From: Peter
Bazire
Sent:
Subject: Chinese kites. Golden orioles
Hullo,
In Aug 2005 when I
was in Weifang, I met a Chinese lady doctor, who worked in the nearby hospital,
and her young daughter. A few weeks after retutning home I sent her some of my
mother's paintings, mainly of Weihsien Camp. In return I was amazed to receive
from her a parcel about 2 cubic feet, and even more surprised when it contained
3 kites: a butterfly, a dragonfly and a bird of prey. Chinese students visiting
us here in
Estelle, you mention
golden orioles. I well remember often hearing a distinctive bird
sound in Chefoo (Yantai) but never seeing the birds. It was not until we moved
to Weihsien in Sept '43 that I saw them: golden orioles! Here they would fly
from branch to branch or tree. A beautiful sight. I mentioned them in my
"Scout 1st Class Journey" (see Weihsien web-site).
Peter
From: Dwight W.
Whipple
Sent:
Subject: Re: Chinese kites. Golden orioles
Peter,
This is a long
shot. I am Dwight Whipple, son of Elden & Marian Whipple of the
CIM. We were in Weihsien in 1943 too but I am interested in your
reference to "
~Dwight
From: Tapol
Sent:
Subject: Re: Chinese kites. Golden orioles
Hello,
It is a very nice sound indeed !
When you are in James's bird diary, go to page "two". There
are several thumbnail pictures of the "Golden Oriole" on that page
--- Just underneath the picture(s) there is a nice (small) round face with two
blinking eyes. Click on that!
You will see in a new window a URL with much more info about the Golden
Oriole --- click on LISTEN/PLAY.
Best regards,
Leopold
From: "Peter Bazire"
<psbazire@yahoo.co.uk>
To: <weihsien@topica.com>
Sent:
Subject: RE: Chinese kites. Golden orioles
Hullo Dwight,
Thanks for writing. No, the
Peter
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent:
Subject: RAFU SHIMPO, Tad Nagaki story, installment 2
You can
see the full front page of the Wednesday, August
19 issue of Rafu Shimpo at http://digital.olivesoftware.com/Olive/ODE/RafuShimpo/. The Tad
Nagaki story is on the lower right corner.
The 3rd
installment will appear next Wednesday telling the astonishing coincidence
that columnist Wimpy Hiroto discovered in interviewing Tad Nagaki, that
he (Mr. Hiroto) had been interned with and knew the parents of Tad Nagaki's
fiance in the Poston Internment camp in
Mary
Previte
CROSSROADS TO SOMEWHERE
Tad Nagaki: The Savior Angel
By W.T. Wimpy Hiroto
This is the second installment of a series, which started last
Wednesday.
Fhlop. Fhlop. Fhlop. Fhlop. The Angels of Mercy suddenly appeared
from the belly of the lumbering, lowflying B-47 bomber. Fhlop. Fhlop. Fhlop.
Seven parachutes, one after another, popped open in the sweltering heat of that
Fifteen hundred civilian prisoners of war cheered in unison as the parachutes
floated earthward. They laughed and cried. They cheered and prayed. Men ripped
off their shirts to give them something to wave skyward. The cacophony
impossibly increased with the appearance of each ensuing jumper.
In the midst of the madness stood a strangely calm young child, Mary Taylor, a
12-year-old who had been separated from her missionary parents at war’s onset.
At the age of 9 she and her siblings had been marched into captivity with other
children, Christian missionaries and teachers. By this time the four
As the American bomber disgorged it’s final parachutist and banked to safety,
Mary smiled knowingly after spotting the name painted on its nose, “Armoured
Angel. “ It couldn’t have been otherwise. She was reminded of her mother’s long
ago recitation of Psalm 91: “And He shall give His angels charge over you to
keep you.”
The celebration and rejoicing was unending. The rescuers were escorted into the
compound, everyone seeking some remembrance of the occasion, a button, shards
from a parachute, autographs, insignia, a lock of hair.
It seemed appropriate they break into American song: “You are my Sunshine” and
“Happy Days (are here again).” Seeking anything remotely Yankee, an impromptu
few innings of baseball were also played.
Despite the imprint of war and its lasting impact, a child’s resilience and
ability to recover converged as young Mary and siblings were united with their
parents (as well as a new brother) and returned to the
•
Fifty two years later, Memorial Day week of 1997, Mary Taylor Previte was
campaigning for a seat in the New Jersey Assembly when asked to be a substitute
speaker before a group of veterans of the
[Twelve years earlier Previte by chance had discovered a declassified military
report on the Weihsien internment camp mission; it also contained the names of
the seven members of the Duck rescue team. The list was tucked away in a drawer
all those years, but was now nervously retrieved as she outlined the talk she
planned to give. Vivid memories of that memorable 1945 morning returned as she addressed
150 elderly
There was no miracle recognition. But there was total agreement amongst the
audience that a search should be launched to find her long ago hero Angels.
They urged her to write a story in their national magazine to publicize and
seek outside assistance. She sat down and wrote her poignant account of the rescue.
Results and reaction were almost immediate. After the meeting a
A trickle of responses came in. “God bless you in your search”, they said, but
no hero was uncovered. The first break came in September of 1997. A nurse,
having read about the search in the
Hanchulak’s widow answered the telephone. He had died a year earlier. Previte
began to wonder if her contacts would all end in conversations with widows. The
second call, tracing radio operator Peter Orlich, seemed to confirm her fears.
He had died four years earlier. Third name on her list was Tadashi Nagaki,
Japanese American interpreter on the Duck roster. Holding her breath she
carefully dialed
“I’m calling for Tadashi Nagaki,” she whispered when the telephone was
answered. “Speaking,” the voice replied.
•
Mary T. Previte had found her first live hero! Between sobs of happiness and
relief she was able to explain the complete history of her determined search to
a stunned
There are no guidelines on what to talk about under these stressful
circumstances. During the course of the *get-acquainted conversation she did
most of the talking, learning about his background, family (a recent widower)
and farm. She asked how he felt with all of the camp children following him
around like he was the Pied Piper. He was reticent and rather stoic throughout,
admitting to feeling like being on an undeserved pedestal. He remembered
a girl cutting off a chunk of his hair so she’d have a souvenir.
(*“I remember that first telephone call from ‘the lady’,” Nagaki states matter
of factly. “I really didn’t know what to say or how to react. It was just such
a weird experience, a call like that from out of the blue.”)
Finally reaching a mutual comfort level, Nagaki explained that he had stayed in
touch with fellow team member Jim Moore. What a relief, thought Previte. There
were 150 James Moores on the search log she now would not have to
canvass. He, in turn, later located Stanley Staiger by checking a program which
listed every driver’s license in the
Previte then made it an additional mission to criss-cross
When she traveled to
•
Nagaki is now the sole living member
of Duck Team. He suffered through a bout with pneumonia and more recently had a
serious fall from his truck resulting in the fracture of his pelvis. Due to
physical infirmities he has sharply reduced his active hands-on farming
supervision but still oversees some acreage to remain involved. He will
be 90 years old next January.
[In next week’s third and concluding column on the Nagaki-Previte story, a
personal view of Nagaki, his wife, family background, how Crossroads to
Somewhere came upon the story and why it took two years to complete.]
W.T. Wimpy Hiroto can be reached at wimpyhiroto@att.net Opinions expressed in this
column are not necessarily those of The Rafu Shimpo.
Prisoner artist’s sketch of Duck Team parachutists autographed by the seven
liberators. Nagaki was the second jumper.
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent:
Subject: "You are my sunshine."
With the death of Senator
Ted Kennedy (youngest brother of President John Kennedy), the NEW
"You are my Sunshine" -- now THAT floods
me with memories. After our American liberators came in August
1945, we children trailed them unmercifully everywhere. We begged for
their autographs, their buttons, their insignia, pieces of parachute.
Remember sitting with them in the evenings in the spot just outside the
Japanese commandant's office (where they took up residence) and begging
them to sing the songs of
They taught us to sing "You
are my Sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are blue." After
nearly 65 years, I sing it still.
What else do you remember doing with our heroes in those days
after our liberation?
Leopold, would you
give us the link to the National Public Radio interview with Major
Staiger, Jim Moore, and Jim Hannon that includes reference to the
song, "You are my Sunshine"?
When National Public Radio
was preparing this interview, the producer asked me what version of "You
are my Sunshine " was popular in
All I remember is
wanting sit on the laps of these heroes, to be near them, to touch
them. They were my favorite version of "You are my Sunshine."
What do you remember?
Mary Previte
From: Albert de
Zutter
Sent:
Subject: Re: "You are my sunshine."
|
Dear Leopold,
dear Mary, I bet you will like this
link on U-Tube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfXkt6Wn0Bw&feature=related besr egards, Leopold |
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent:
Subject: Letters to the editor honoring Tad Nagaki
Weihsien
liberator Tad Nagaki was spotlighted today (Sunday, August 30) with a full-page
story and nine tributes in the form of your letters to the editor in the Scottsbluff
(
Thank
you, Thank you. Thank you to each of you who sent tribute letters
to the Star Herald. You've given joy to a hero.
Tad told me tonight that letters came from
Under
the headline, An Unknown Hero, the tribute also
includes photographs of Tad Nagaki receiving the Soldiers Medal in 1945 for his
role in the liberation of Weihsien; a picture of him with Major
Stanley Staiger, Ensign Jim Moore, and medic Raymond Hanchulak.
and a photo of him with the OSS Detachment 101 elite Nisei team
that operated behind Japanese lines in the
Tad is
delighted. Now, believe me, that's
something. Tad expressing delight? Tad, who always tells
me he's not a hero, usually shuns the spotlight, and is most
comfortable in the solitude of his tractor and .hangs out in the local tractor
supply store. He says in liberating Weihsien, he was doing
only what any American would have done. Bless you all! Today he's
delighted.
A FULL
PAGE SPOTLIGHT -- As you can guess, the phone calls and greetings have
already started coming in to him. I'll touch base with Tad tomorrow
evening to hear all about the comments he gets when he goes into town tomorrow.
At age
89, Tad still farms in
You
computer experts, see if you can access this page about our last living
American who liberated Weihsien.
By the
way, Columnist Wimpy Hiroto, who wrote the three-part series about Tad
Nagaki in the Rafu Shimpo newspaper, tells me that this is the
first time in his memory that stories by a columnist have appeared on the
front pages of Rafu Shimpo. Rafu Shimpo is based in Los Angeles.
Mary Previte
From: Mitch
Krayton
Sent:
Subject: Re: Letters to the editor honoring Tad Nagaki
You need no
further proof of the power of the Internet. Well done to all in honoring Tad.
Giving him delight is a small price to pay for his acts of heroic liberation.
Mitch
From: Kay Rictor
Sent:
Subject: Re: "You
are my sunshine."
I love that song. I was writing to find out how to get the
third article and then also how to access the newspaper surprise for Tad
...........Thank you .......so much ..thanks again for all you do to keep us
Chefusians informed
Kathleen
Rictor (Nordmo)
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent:
Subject: Tad Nagaki tribute letters and story
Alas,
I too, have been unable to find on the Internet this story about Tad
Nagaki. My information comes from phoning Tad last night and
asking him to tell me all about it. However, Tad has
promised to send me the full page. I'll phone the Star Herald today
to thank them for this beautiful tribute page and ask if they
would forward to me via e-mail their article and the tribute
letters to the editor.
If any
of you who sent letters to the editor to the Star Herald prefer NOT to
have us post your letters, please let me know.
Getting
public recognition for a very private 89-year-old hero involves respecting his
right to privacy and, at the same time, recognizing a newspaper's enthusiasm
for a powerful human interest story about a local farmer. Before I
suggested our sending letters to the editor, I sent my own letter and
telephoned the editor and asked if he would print other letters if they
came from around the world. He was IMMEDIATELY interested and also wanted
to write a story about Tad Nagaki.
But I
didn't want to offend Tad Nagaki -- who has suffered from some inaccurate
reporting in the past . So I phoned him and told him
that I had sent a tribute to him in a letter to the
editor -- timed for Liberation Day. That wasn't a big shock
because I always phone him on Liberation Day. When he didn't
object, I told him that the newspaper wanted to interview him.
Would he like to talk to a reporter? I assured him that I would respect
either a YES or a NO answer. When he said yes, it
took some coordinating to connect the reporter with Tad Nagaki
when Tad was available at his home.
After
Tad seemed comfortable with being spotlighted in the newspaper, I asked if
others of you would like to send tributes in the form of letters to the editor.
These were a COMPLETE SURPRISE to Tad. And he was delighted.
Tad told
me last night that the reporter interviewed him in a local restaurant.
Tad avoids asking folks to meet him at his home because, when it rains,
some of the country roads, he says, are almost impassable.
We're
going through these same discussions with the producer of the proposed Eric
Liddell movie, who is hoping to interview Tad for background
information on the liberation of Weihsien.
Mary Previte
From: David
Birch
Sent:
Subject: Re: Letters to the editor honoring Tad Nagaki
|
Wonderful! Thanks for sharing this! Tad,
along |
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent: Monday, August 31, 2009
Subject: Re: Letters to the editor honoring Tad Nagaki
David:
The
Chinese interpreter was "Eddie" Cheng Han Wang. I've
tried unsuccessfully to find him. Last year during the Szechuan
Earthquake, when I saw the by-line , EDWARD WANG,
on a story from the New York Times, I wrote asking if he or his
family were related to the Eddie Wang who liberated
Weihsien. He said
he was not.
Mary Previte
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent:
Subject: Rafu Shimpo, Tad Nagaki, installment #3
Here is
story #3 from Rafu Shimpo,
CROSSROADS
TO SOMEWHERE
The Nagaki & Prevites Story: Final Installment
By W.T. Wimpy Hiroto
This is the final installment of a series, which started Aug. 12.
Compiling the Tadashi Nagaki and Mary Previte stories was one of the most
challenging assignments I’ve confronted in some time. Probably
on the same scale as the two-part series I wrote several years ago regarding
Pfc Joe Shiomichi of the 442nd RCT
andthetragiceffecthisbattlefielddeathhadonhiswifeandlater the daughter he never
saw. But why bother readers complaining about the difficulties faced in
composing a story?
If I happened to be a chicken rancher I don’t imagine you would be much
interested in an explanation of how to capon a
rooster;orifamechanic,howyougoaboutprimingaNASCAR racer. (In case anyone wants
to know, a rooster is castrated and raised as a capon for meat; I don’t know
nothing about cars.)
That being said, this story behind the story deserves a review. First to point
out why it took more than TWO years to finally appear on the pages of the Rafu
Shimpo and secondly, the obstacles overcome compiling this series of columns.
•
Nori Uyematsu, a Korean War veteran, initially provided the background
information regarding the Nagaki story, providing me with important details
about Mary Previte’s persistent hero search. (There had been an earlier story
about Duck Team that Nagaki was not completely comfortable with and thus leery
of any sort of reprise.)
•
After making contact with Previte I put the story on hold for additional
research and later direct contact with Tadashi Nagaki to get his
approval. Once the project was revived the first order of business was to
convince him the unique story was worth repeating. His inherent reticence and
modesty made him hesitate talking to a strange reporter calling from
Unconditional endorsement and encouragement by Previte was the deal-maker. She
was so pleased that a Japanese American publication would give her friend the
recognition she felt so strongly he deserved. Even at this late date.
I was most interested in his personal recollections and thoughts rather than
the usual
genre of combat and military stuff. Dealing with taciturnity and a
disinclination to open up makes telephonic interviewing a trying task.
Eventually talking about mutual widower status and having also experienced the
loss of a son helped create a level of trust. And the sheer coincidence of
knowing of his wife in
Using a Crossroads to Somewhere version of “Six Degrees of Separation” was the
final ice breaker. You know the game: Two complete strangers meet and it takes
only six names before you find a mutual connection. As created by W.T. Hiroto
for Tadashi Nagaki, the connection went like this:
I lived in Poston Unit One Block 53-1-C (which means absolutely nada when
talking to a native Nebraskan who had never experienced Evacuation). A friend
and teammate, Toshio “Joker” Okamura lived in 53-5-D. He had an older brother,
Henry Naohiko, who had a steady girl friend named Mary. She, in turn, had an
older sister, Atsuko, nicknamed “Butch”, who left camp for a job in
Finally gaining some semblance of trust I still couldn’t get him to reveal what
his exact thoughts were as he parachuted onto the corn field outside
•
No, unlike Ms. Previte, CR2S does not plan to visit the down-to and
of-the-earth
I readily admit to having an over abundance of material for this series, thanks
in part to the prolific and generous Mary Previte. I gained her attention and
cooperation when told I wanted to focus the series of articles on her hero and
friend, Tadashi Nagaki, the one who wants nothing to do with talk of heroism or
its accompanying accouterments.
It is truly a pleasure but a problem communicating with someone who doesn’t
enjoy talking about himself. But the several conversations I had with Nagaki
were as refreshing as a nor’easter, nary a single boast or “I” statement. (I do
wish the fact that only a Poston Recreation Hall building separating me
from his wife-to-be would rank higher on his list of astonishing
coincidences!)
Citing family history was once a staple in all Nisei newspaper stories, be it a
wedding, story of achievement or business venture; the information given to
inform readership of the principal’s background and history. Nagaki’s family
tree begins in 1881 in Saga, Yamaguchi prefecture, with Minosuke, 21, finding
himself in
Railroad employment took the Nagakis to the
With the untimely deaths of all three sons of Tad and Asako, it appears a near
century of
•
It is not exactly professional to tack on personal messages to public writings
but I have to thank Mary for her gracious sharing, Nori for identifying a good
story and Tadashi for his patience and understanding. Sir, stay well.
W.T. Wimpy Hiroto can be reached at wimpyhiroto@att. net. Opinions expressed in
this column are not necessarily those of The Rafu Shimpo.
Courtesy of The NAGAKIS
Nagaki with his wife, Atsuko on their 38th anniversary.
Mary Previte and Tad Nagaki at their first meeting.
From: Tapol
Sent:
Subject: Re: "You are my sunshine."
Dear Natasha,
click on the book with the
flipping pages ---
let me know if it works for
you?
Here is the short cut:
[click on the link]
http://www.weihsien-paintings.org/The7Magnificent/Tad_2009/RafuShimpo/p_part(3)text.htm
Best regards,
Leopold
----- Original Message -----
From: Natasha Petersen
Sent:
Subject: Re: "You are my sunshine."
HELP!
The third article(August 26th) is too small or to large to read.
What do
I do?
Natasha
Petersen
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent:
Subject: Tad Nagaki story,
Today,
the mailman delivered the full page story about Tad Nagaki from the
Scottsbluff,
Eight
Letters to the Editor (or excerpts) fill the rest of the page.
Letters are from Leopold Pander, Belgium; Bill Varnedoe;
Neil Yorkston, England; Peter Bazire, England; Jeanne
Pander, Belgium; Kathleen Nordmo Rictor, Ocean Shores,
Washington, USA; Audrey Nordmo Horton, Canada; Mary Taylor
Previte, USA
The
editor declined to send the article and the letters to me via e-mail. I've retyped
the story (see below). .
From:
Scottsbluff Star Herald (
An Unknowing HERO
By
Chabella Guzman
Tad
Nagaki entered the military in November of 1941.
He
figured he would do a year and be done but then World War II brokre out..
"I
was in
Nagaki,
now 89, would go on to become part of an elite team of Nisei in the Office of
Strategic Services (OSS) Detachment 101, where he acted as an
interpreter. He entered the Pacific Theater in 1944 and was part of the
"When
the war ended the
He
did not do much translating, but the impressions he and other members
that parachuted in to free the POWs have been remembered for years.
When
the Allied prisoners from the
"I
raced for the entrance gate and was swept off my feet by the pandemonium.
Men ripped off their shirts and waved at the bomber circling above.
Prisoners ran in circles and pounded the skies with their fists. The
wept, hugged, cursed, and danced. Waves of prisoners swept past the
guards into the fields beyond the camp," she wrote.
Nagaki
and his troop unknowingly had become heroes, not just to Previte, but also to
hundreds of the people who had been in the camp for years.
Another
POW, Jeanne Pander of
"A
very hot summer day, people at their various tasks, listless yet hopeful,
waiting, we knew the war was over, then suddenly a plane, yes
American, then the parachutes! Grown-ups were yelling, cheering,
crying we're free, we're free! We weren't forgotten after all! And
everyone rushed through the gates to welcome our American Angels! After
more than two years behind walls my world wet topsy-turvy. I had to dare
to go 'out of bounds,' discover the feel of the wind on my face, make my
legs run on unknown ground, learn to eat again. No more roll-call
rituals. I had yet to come to terms with the word Freedom,"
she said.
The
prisoners who were children at the time speak of gum and Nagaki and the others
playing softball with them.
When
he hears those stories, Nagaki smiles saying it all happened so long ago that
he doesn't remember a lot.
"They
asked for volunteers to go and help and I volunteered. We were there for
a week," he said.
For
him, it was just what he was there to do. He doesn;'t see himself as a
hero, but that's what heroes often say about their acts of kindness and
courage. #
From: David
Birch
Sent:
Subject: Re: Tad Nagaki story,
|
Thanks again, Mary, for faithfully sharing |
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent:
Subject: Re: Tad Nagaki story,
What a
beautiful story, David! I hope you'll post this detailed
account on the Weihsien site.
Tad
Nagaki was an ethnic Japanese and quite short. I'm guessing the American
to whom you gave the water was either 1st Lt. Jim Hannon or Raymond
Hanchulak, the medic on te team.
Mary
From: Tapol
Sent:
Subject: Fw: Liberation Day
Hello,
--- sorry for coming back
so late but the interview Mary wanted to remind you was dated May 11, 2000 and
had already been archived by the radio company.
So, --- with Mary's help,
we had to re-contact the radio
go to: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1073995
--- or, in Mary's chapter:
click on "national-public-radio" by scrolling the left-Frame.
You will need to download
"Real-Player" from the internet. It is free. The first time I clicked
to hear the interview, the program asked me to download a complementary
"codec" ---- which I did. It now works perfectly.
Hope it will be the same
for you all ---
Best regards,
Leopold
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent:
Subject: Smithsonian museum -- The Price of Freedom exhibit
Weihsien
artifacts continue to be part of the amazing THE PRICE OF FREEDOM
exhibit in the Smithsonian Institute's National Museum of American
History (NMAH) in
The
museum's Deputy Registrar told me today that 4.5 million visitors have
seen the display in the last year. The display had been closed for a while as
the museum underwent renovation.
The
Weihsien exhibit, of course, is just a small part of this monumental
recollection of
You will
find the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History at
Many of
you will remember that Pete -- at age 21 and the youngest member of the
team -- was the darling of many Weihsien ladies. Of the American
liberators, Major Stanley Staiger, Ensign Jim Moore, 1st
Lt. James Hannon were all married. Tad Nagaki was engaged to be married.
Pete was one of only two who were unattached -- Orlich and Raymond Hanchulak.
Some of
you may not know that Ensign Jim Moore had attended the
Many of
the
What an
amazing story!
Mary
Previte
From: Ron Bridge
Sent:
Subject: RE: Weihsien DR H H Louks
Dear All,
I have had query by someone living in the
All I have on Dr Louks is that he was from the Peking Union
Medical college and with this wife Mary and son Charles was on the
Gripsholm exchnage in late 1943 and that the NY Times gives his home-town as
Alverton PA.
If anybody can be of help come back on my own address rwbridge@freeuk.com
Rgds
Weihsein Bloc 42 then 13
From: Donald
Menzi
Sent:
Subject: RE: Weihsien DR H H Louks
Ron,
If you are ever able to track down the Louks family, let me know.
I've got a great letter from my grandfather describing a wild-boar
hunting trip that he, Dr. Louks and some other friends in
Don
Menzi
From: "R. E. Stannard
Jr." <restannardjr@yahoo.com>
To: <weihsien@topica.com>
Cc: "Donald
Menzi" <dmenzi@earthlink.net>; <rwbridge@freeuk.com>; "carl
scovel" <carlscovel@comcast.net>
Sent:
Subject: RE:
It is Loucks with a
"c" -- for those searching further...
I'm only an occasional lurker on this listserv, since my internment (at 11) was
at Chapei in
But I too was on the Gripsholm in fall 1943 (at 12), and ran with a little Gang
of Five that included also Charlie Loucks, Johnny Hayes, David Filippi, and
Carl Scovel.
Carl, a Weihsien kid and now a retired Boston Unitarian minister, has
been a friend since we met again postWWII at
But my Google search for information on the other three in recent years hasn't
turned up much except on Charlie, who was the son of
The Charlie I knew grew up to be mountain climber Charles L. Loucks, a legend
among fellow alpinists, especially in
I'm appending only an excerpt of the most informative source, but will e-mail
my entire file directly to anyone who wants to see it, including scanty
information and references on both father and son, and a group photo of
H.H.Loucks with the expedition in the desert. Would like to share in
anything turned up further.
-- Ted Stannard
Here's the Charlie story, with URL:
www.americanalpineclub.org/AAJO/pdfs/1977/inmemoriam1977_306-315.pdf
CHARLES LOUCKS 1932-1976
“Chuck” was born in China, the son of American medical missionaries,
educated in the United States and taught in a Long Island school.
For the past fifteen years, climbing was his real vocation. Spring and fall his
habitat was the Shawangunks, though on long weekends he could be
found at Poco-Moonshine or the
Come summer he climbed mountains. He ranged from the
He climbed gracefully, smoothly, with a rhythm and balance always admired by
onlookers. He brought enthusiasm and puckish humor to every climb. On Easter he
was known to have climbed Bunny in the Gunks to distribute jelly beans and a
plastic rabbit. He shared his enthusiasm by introducing young
people to the sport and teaching them the wonder of the classic routes.
Essentially a private person, few people could say they knew him
well. Yet he was highly prized as a climbing, tenting, traveling or
bivouacking companion.
For several years he served as the
collector of Alpine literature and spent many evenings at the Club library
sharing his knowledge of the books and photographs.
Charles Loucks died of injuries sustained in a fall while climbing with
friends in the Tetons on
. . . .
=== Alan Rubin, climber From:
Chuck Loucks was one of the all-time nice guys in climbing----a gentle
soul with a dry but excellent sense of humor. He was missing several fingers on
one hand (I don't know the reason), but climbed smoothly and solidly. My
recollection is that he died in an unexplained, roped, but unprotected, fall on
the Jensen Ridge of Symmetry Spire, a climb well within his ability. It was,
and remains to those of us who knew him, a very sad loss.
=== rgold, Trad climber, From:
I stand corrected: Chuck died in a very long (80-100 ft) roped fall on
easy ground on Symmetry Spire in 1976. Still not sure whether it was the Jensen
Ridge or the SW Ridge.
=== the idle rich, climber, From: Estes Park, CO
Though before I worked in the Tetons, I'm pretty sure Chuck fell while
leading on the Jensen Ridge on Symmetry Spire...well within his abilities. I
think he was climbing with the Westmacott's (don't quote me on this) and was
not feeling well before they began the climb. I recall that there was
speculation that he had some sort of episode that caused him to fall. I didn't
know Chuck well but I remember that he had quite a repertoire of old climbing
songs and wasn't hesitant to perform. I also recall the jelly beans on climbs
and the time it rained, leaving a sticky residue on all of the holds.
=== Harold H. Loucks, surgeon ===============
[Haven't found anything on Dr.Loucks postWWII history except a couple of
medical publication citations that seem to suggest he WAS back in
www.questia.com/googleScholar.qst;jsessionid=K2VYWYsT2nmPMQrHnbGH4nDqhThm0Fv1ygdpJzPLxTlZGRpWMwT7!1795388119!-1366559283?docId=5002516086
The Mysterious Expulsion of the Roy Chapman Andrews Expedition
Magazine article by R. Lamborinchin; Focus, Vol. 47, Fall 2002
Magazine Article Excerpt
...
Roy Chapman Andrews was the quintessential explorer and adventurer of his time.
He grew up and went to college in
It was in the summer of 1922 that the Expedition left its bases in
In
The American team consisted of Walter Granger, Chief Paleontologist; Charles P.
Berkey, Chief Geologist; Frederick K. Morris, Geologist; Clifford H. Pope,
Assistant in Geology; N.C. Nelson, Archaeologist; Ralph W. Chaney,
Paleobotanist; Harold H. Loucks, Surgeon; B. Roberts, Chief Topographer; and B.
Shackelford, Cinematographer.
Roy Chapman Andrews, Zoologist, was the leader.
From: "Donald
Menzi" <dmenzi@earthlink.net>
To: <weihsien@topica.com>
Sent:
Subject: RE:
Ron, et. al.
FYI, Harold Loucks is mentioned seven times in Charles Gallenkamp's book titled
"Dragon Hunter - Roy Chapman Andres and the Central Asiatic
Expeditions" (Viking Press, 2001).
Most are just mentions of his name along with others involved in some incident,
but one(p. 204) states:"...Here Olsen excavated a hube titanotere skull
discoverd by Loucks and latrer named Embolotherium loucksi - a
remarkable-looking beast with a snout shaped like a battering ram."
He must have had a lot of fun.
Don Menzi
From: Rich
Cc: Mary Previte
Sent:
Subject: Charles Walker
Mr. Pander,
I wanted to be sure you and
those who visit Weisien-Paintings.org knew about this...
in Christ alone,
Rich
Begin forwarded message:
From: Rich and Joyce Swingle <Rich@RichDrama.com>
Date:
Subject: [The Swingles'
Dramatic Developments] Charles Walker
I was grieved to read of the death of Charles
Walker. He saw a performance of Beyond the Chariots at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, after which he
told us how he found Eric Liddell's grave in
Here's
--
Posted By Rich and Joyce Swingle to The Swingles' Dramatic Developments at
Rich Swingle
@ The Helen Hayes Theatre