De:
<grannydavies@aol.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Yule-tide greetings
Date: mardi 26 décembre 2006
2:33
Have a blessed Christmas= Phyllis
De: "Greg Leck"
<gregleck@epix.net>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: RE: Weihsien photos
Date: jeudi 4 janvier 2007 20:20
I sent a message to Topica relating to the Weihsien photos but did not receive the message myself.
Did anyone else get it?
Greg
De: "Buddy Graant"
<jlgrant@sympatico.ca>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Weihsien photos
Date: vendredi 5 janvier 2007 7:06
Greg,
I got the email without any photo attachments.
John (Buddy) Grant
De: "Tapol"
<tapol@skynet.be>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Weihsien photos
Date: vendredi 5 janvier 2007
9:16
unfortunately not
:-(
Question: Is there a link to your other web-site?
--- could you send it again? :-))
Best regards,
Leopold
De: "Greg Leck"
<gregleck@epix.net>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Weihsien photographs
Date: lundi 8 janvier 2007 2:24
Gay Talbot Stratford mentioned she received a photograph taken in Weihsien.
(Gay - was this recently? What was the source?) From her description of it, it sounds like the same photo I found and published on page 158 of my book, Captives of Empire.
I have now forwarded the photographs of 53 individuals, taken in March of 1943, shortly after the arrival of internees in Weihsien, to Leopold.
Hopefully he can get them up on his website and we can identify some of these individuals.
Leopold recognized his mother in a shot of internees leaving camp on a transport plane, and Judith Hamin recognized herself and her husband Boris playing the piano. I'm sure others in the photos are still out there.
Greg
De: "Marti Suddarth"
<MarthaSuddarth@aol.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Weihsien photographs
Date: lundi 8 janvier 2007 17:28
In a message dated 1/7/2007 7:24:38 PM Eastern Standard Time,
gregleck@epix.net writes:
> I
have now forwarded the photographs of 53 individuals, taken in March of 1943, shortly
after the arrival of internees in Weihsien, to Leopold.
>
Hi, Greg! Can you tell me where these photos are being posted? I'd like to
look for my grand-aunt, Martha Kramer.
THANK YOU!
Marti (Kramer) Suddarth
De: "Tracy Strong" <tstrong@weber.ucsd.edu>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: RE: Weihsien photographs
Date: lundi 8 janvier 2007 19:43
Might I trouble you for the url of Leopold's website?
Thanks
Tracy B. Strong
De: "Gay Talbot
Stratford" <stillbrk@eagle.ca>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Weihsien photographs
Date: lundi 8 janvier 2007
22:18
Greg,
I received a copy of the photograph from Desmond Power, who was an old family friend. He explained that it was taken by a Japanese press photographer in 1943, and it had come to light from one of his sources. There were three girls in the foreground, one i recognised as Barbara Barnes. The other two were Greek I think. I have not read your book, so cannot confirm or deny that the photograph was in your book. Perhaps Desmond can help.
Best wishes,
Gay
De: "Pamela Maters"
<pamela@hendersonhouse.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Weihsien photographs
Date: lundi 8 janvier 2007 22:30
If they were Greek, they were probably the Marinellis girls. I don't recall their names, but they would be the sisters of Alex Marinellis
Pamela
Pamela
Masters - Author/Publisher
Titles:
The Mushroom Years, Sass & Serendipity
Phone:
530-647-2000
Fax:
530-647-2002
pamela@hendersonhouse.com
http://www.hendersonhouse.com
De: "Greg Leck"
<gregleck@epix.net>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: RE: Weihsien photographs
Date: mardi 9 janvier 2007 1:19
I'm sure the photo was the one I found in the archives, and Desmond recognized you and passed it on.
Yes, you do look kind of dour!
I'm glad that another face has been identified!
De: <MTPrevite@aol.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Weihsien photographs
Date: mardi 9 janvier 2007
16:38
_http://www.weihsien-paintings.org_
(http://www.weihsien-paintings.org
)
De: "Tapol"
<tapol@skynet.be>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: greg's portraits
Date: mardi 9 janvier 2007 18:57
Hello,
Could "07b" be Father deJaegher?
Best regards,
Leopold
De: "Tapol"
<tapol@skynet.be>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Weihsien photographs
Date: mercredi 10 janvier 2007
0:56
Dear Greg,
On which page of your book can we find that photograph?
---
I just finished adding the 53 portraits on the Weihsien-paintings' web-site. To do so, I created a new chapter --- "From Greg Leck" and there is a lot of free space to add whatever. If anybody recognises somebody --- just click on the "send-me-a-mail" sign and I will add the info on the who's who page. Of course, you can also send a mail to Weihsien Topica if you have a mail-box open there. Oh! Yes! --- don't forget to put the "number" of the picture of the person you have identified ---- Thanks :-))
Click on: http://www.weihsien-paintings.org
All the best ---
Leopold
De: "Tapol"
<tapol@skynet.be>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Weihsien photographs
Date: mercredi 10 janvier 2007 7:12
Ooops --- I read too fast ---- The picture is on page 158 !!!!
De: "Pamela Maters"
<pamela@hendersonhouse.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Weihsien photographs
Date: mercredi 10 janvier 2007 8:08
I'm sorry, but I didn't recognize anyone in Greg Leck's photos.
Pamela
Pamela Masters –
De: "Greg Leck"
<gregleck@epix.net>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: RE: Weihsien photographs
Date: mercredi 10 janvier 2007 10:11
The photo described by Gay Talbot is, I believe, the one on page 158.
De: "Alexander
Strangman" <dzijen@bigpond.net.au>
À:
"Weihsien-paintings" <info@weihsien-paintings.org>
Objet: Re: Re; Mug shots
Date: mercredi 10 janvier 2007
13:59
Leopold, by now you will also have the e-mail I sent marked to Greg's attention which I think is self explanatory and concerns 30d and 30e possibly being one of more in the group.
To be quite honest, I can't remember what Mrs. De Jong looked like now, except that she was a big woman. (a bit on the fat side.) And at 41 years of age, with 8 kids already, she couldn't have looked as young as the girl in 30e. Sorry, Janette.
Now, 10e and 10f could be sisters, don't you think? That's why I think it could be a help to know where they came from. And I'm getting into more trouble with my wife for living in the past! Ha, Ha!
Take it easy, Z
----- Original Message -----
From:
Weihsien-paintings
To:
Alexander Strangman
Cc:
Janette & Pierre @ home
Sent:
Wednesday, January 10, 2007 9:01 PM
Subject: Re:
Re; Mug shots
Hello Zandy,
I just had Janette on the phone this morning and she thinks that "30e" could be Mrs. De Jong who lived in our block-22! She also told me not to put it on my web-site because she wasn't sure about it. What do you think?
all the best :-))
Leopold
----- Original Message -----
From: Alexander Strangman
To:
info@weihsien-paintings.org
Sent: Wednesday, January 10, 2007 2:52 AM
Subject: Re;
Mug shots
Hi Leopold,
Here is one 'certainty'.......
#10b is W.H.(Tony) Tolland (aged 58 at release) A Brit. from
!7a I have no idea who he is, but he looks like the same 'bakeryman' in that picture watching the girls playing softball.
By the way, do we know which camps these 53 people are from?
All the best , Zandy
De: "Alexander
Strangman" <dzijen@bigpond.net.au>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: greg's portraits
Date: jeudi 11 janvier 2007 6:59
Sorry Leopold, absolutely not! Fr. de Jaegher wore glasses and had a round face. If I can locate the photo (I mentioned earlier to you) I'll forwarded it and you will see what I mean.
I've been looking long and hard at #08e and
the boy looks very much like John Beruldsen (14)who was a year older and a
grade above me at the
By the way, I did not read Greg's note
properly, so forget my question about which camp they all came from, and amend
the ages I put on my earlier email which was estimated age at 1945 in lieu of
1943. And further more, some look too
happy to be arriving in camp, but with so many wearing hats, I admit they do
look like they are going some where ! Zandy
De: "Alexander Strangman"
<dzijen@bigpond.net.au>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Weihsien photographs
Date: jeudi 11 janvier 2007
22:04
Attention Greg Leck
#10b was an easy I.D. W.H.(Tony) Tolland was a pre war friend of our family.
And it could aid the identification process if we knew or saw the setting from which the remaining 52 came.
ie; #17a's face has obviously been extracted from the photo of the man watching the girls softball game at Weihsien, and therefore unlikely to have been one of those 'snapped' upon arrival.
The girl's face in 30e is partially visible in 30d and they could be part of a larger group.
Also if 04a and 04b had been together, I'd have a good idea who they were. Further more, if the little girl in 03b happens to be the focus of their attention, I'd then have no doubt who they were.
In closing, let me also repeat that it was a pleasure to finally meet you in person, in December, and that my wife and I really enjoyed your book's terrific presentation on that warm evening at the State Library of NSW.
All the best,
Zandy
I have
now forwarded the photographs of 53 individuals, taken in March of 1943,
shortly after the arrival of internees in Weihsien, to Leopold.
Hopefully he can get them up on his website
and we can identify some of these individuals.
Leopold recognized his mother in a shot of
internees leaving camp on a transport plane, and Judith Hamin recognized
herself and her husband Boris playing the piano. I'm sure others in the photos are still out
there.
Greg
De: "Tapol"
<tapol@skynet.be>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Fw:
Date: vendredi 12 janvier 2007
9:17
Dear Joyce,
Thanks very much for your help :-))
--- I just added the name to the list
Best regards,
Leopold
----- Original Message -----
From: Bob Bradbury
To: info@weihsien-paintings.org
Sent: Thursday, January 11, 2007 11:44 PM
I think 16D is photo of one of the Turner twins, probably Michael who were in compound No. 2 right next door to our room. The other twin was Peter and he had a limp and wore a brace on one leg. Barbara Turner, their younger sister was also in the same room. Jopycer Bradbury/Cooke
----- Original Message -----
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent: Monday, January 15, 2007 9:19 PM
Subject: Article
about Eric Liddell in
________________________________________
Hero honored
By Douglas Williams 2007-1-13
________________________________________
Olympic gold medal-winning runner Eric
Liddell will be celebrated tonight in a show called "Beyond the
Chariots," looking at the man's life and faith, from when he returned to
There was no small amount of hype
surrounding Eric Liddell in the run- up to the 1924 Paris Olympics. The British
public was quietly confident that their lightning-fast sprinter, born in
He did bring home gold, but not for the 100 meters.
Liddell's Scottish father, a missionary
working in
One of the qualifying heats for the 100m
final fell on a Sunday, the Sabbath, and Liddell refused to take part. One
Sunday, one race, Olympic gold at stake and the hopes of a nation - but the
Astonishingly he won, took gold and smashed the world record in the process. His refusal to run the 100m was big news but his victory sent shockwaves around the world.
It inspired the film "Chariots of
Fire," which won four Oscars, and the one-man show "Beyond the
Chariots" by Rich Swingle, which plays tonight in
"Beyond the Chariots" looks at
Liddell's life beyond the Olympics when he returned to
"Despite all the fame and adulation he
was showered with after the Olympics and all the career opportunities that were
presenting themselves at the time, Liddell chose to return to
"His daughters told me they found the show a cathartic experience," says Swingle. "It brought them a sense of closure."
Liddell sent his wife and daughters from
their
Swingle, also a runner, is returning to the
Chinese mainland for the first time in 20 years. "I competed in an
International Sports Exchange program in
As a competitive runner, Swingle listened to the "Chariots of Fire" Vangelis soundtrack before races.
"Liddell was obeying his calling when
he returned to
Liddell taught and worked as a missionary
in the
"Even as a prisoner Liddell continued
teaching and carrying out pastoral duties," says Swingle who bares a
remarkable similarity to Liddell. "In our research we've met several of
his students from both his time in
The show looks at how Liddell gets on with one of his students in the camp, the fictional Maiker, a Chinese who is also played by Liddle. "The two have a volatile relationship, with Maiker holding some resentment towards Liddell due to familial history. Maiker is basically anti-Westerner," explains Swingle.
"In the show I want to show that
although there were Westerners who came to
"I also hope to get across some of Liddell's philosophy. He was a great believer that if something is worth doing then it's worth doing well. I also think the message of Liddell's life is to love each other wholeheartedly no matter where we come from."
Liddell died in the camp in 1945, six
months before the end of the war, from a brain tumor brought on by overwork and
malnourishment. He is interred in the Mausoleum of Martyrs in
Time: January 13, 8pm
Venue: Community Center
Tel: 6247-2880
Tickets: Free
De:
<grannydavies@aol.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Article abiout Eric Liddell
in Shanghai Daily
Date: mardi 16 janvier 2007 2:20
Thanks for the article on Eric Liddell, we
all knew him in Weihsien, If saints walk on earth he was one of them MY family came from
Phyllis (evans) Davies
De: "Joyce Cook"
<bobjoyce@tpg.com.au>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Article abiout Eric Liddell
in Shanghai Daily
Date: mardi 16 janvier 2007 7:29
Phyllis. Do you remember me? - Joyce Cooke
(Now Bradbury) from
Regards. Joyce.
De:
<grannydavies@aol.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Article abiout Eric Liddell in
Shanghai Daily
Date: mercredi 17 janvier 2007 5:03
How nice to hear from you, yes, I remember you and Serge Chunehen and I have corresponded all these years, He.s outside Sydney I also fondly remember Lucy Attree and Brian Clark I. Grannydavies @AOL.com and a great grandma.of two.
De: "Tapol"
<tapol@skynet.be>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: portraits,
Date: mercredi 17 janvier 2007 13:24
Hello,
I met Father Hanquet this morning and showed him all the portraits. At first, he didn't recognize anybody but told me that 17a could be J. Goyas --- who was very active in the black-market business ---
All the best,
Leopold
http://www.weihsien-paintings.org
De: "Alexander
Strangman" <dzijen@bigpond.net.au>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: portraits,
Date: jeudi 18 janvier 2007 4:00
Fr. Hanquet is too kind in pointing out Goyas was simply 'involved in the 'black-market' business'! Because in our Weihsien terminology, camp 'black-marketeering' was almost considered an honorable 'profession' but there was nothing honorable about our FAT 'friend' Goyas' activities there.
You see, even in camp he was not adverse to doing a bit of trading (solely for his own benefit) in jewelery, preferrably of the golden variety. I've got no idea where his money came from, but no surprise, he always came out the winner in each of his lop sided deals.
But what Goyas was more notorious for in camp, and Fr. Hanquet may remember this, was his blatant avoidance of any work detail and shamelessly refusing to do his share of work in camp?
I'm sure Langdon Gilkey covered this episode in his book, and who better placed to report on the fat man's LAZY trait than the author of 'Shandung Compound', who just happened to be on the 'Work Detail Committee' himself, at the time.
Finally, it was also common knowledge the WDC discussed various options to try and force him into complying with his obligations but for one reason or another, it was all to no avail.
However, in my opinion the face in 17a isn't that of Goyas! The 17a 'snap' looks like an extraction from the photo of the girls playing softball. 17a matches the face of the man wearing white overalls and being near the bakery suggests he was having a break from all that heavy work, 'kneading' dough! But that sort of dough was definetly not Goyas' type!
Furthermore, he was a lot more rotund than the man watching the game.
De: "David Birch"
<gdavidbirch@yahoo.com>
À: "Weihsien"
<weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: portraits, and "Uncle
Jacob" Goyas
Date: jeudi 18 janvier 2007
5:05
Very interesting observations Zandy! Your reminiscing causes memories to flood back to me too! I clearly recall some of the younger children facetiously referring to Goyas as Uncle Jacob. I don't think anyone really had any sort of respect for the old slacker! I also recall hearing, way back in those far-off days, that when Jacob Goyas refused to do his share of work at the pump by the ladies' showers, Mr Stewart, whom we all respected greatly and who trained many of us boys in Block 61 in a sort of Weihsien Camp Cadet Corps, Mr Stewart was reputed to have given this rotund sluggard a well-deserved black eye! Whether it actually happened or was just part of camp legend, Goyas certainly had it coming!
Again Zandy, thanks for the recollections - you certainly have a sharp memory after more than sixty years since liberation!
Regards
David Birch
De: "Joyce Cook"
<bobjoyce@tpg.com.au>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: portraits, and "Uncle
Jacob" Goyas
Date: jeudi 18 janvier 2007 5:54
I also recall stories about him lending people money in the camp on condition the borrower signed an IOU for redemption after the War ended. My girl friend told me ( and she is still alive) that he had a pile of IOU's in his hand one day and he was counting them up. My mother remarked in the camp that he was disgusting. He was short, fat and with a tanned complexion. My father was wary of him because he was told that he was a spy for the Japanese. He was very affable when met walking around the camp but nobody trusted him. Joyce Cooke (Bradbury).-----
De: "lucy lu"
<lucy9859@hotmail.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: portraits, and "Uncle
Jacob" Goyas
Date: jeudi 18 janvier 2007 6:20
how intersting story!
I’m lucy from foreign and overseas Chinese
affairs office of weifang city (the former weihsien),
In 2005, we held a series of commemorative activities to mark the 60th anniversary of the liberation of weihsien camp. Before and after that, we’ve made a lot for it, and been keeping in touch with the former internees or their friends.
In 2007, we’ll make a documentary and film about the weihisen camp. So we’ll go abroad to interview the former internees or their friends and relatives, and collect materials for them. I think all of you here would like to provide us with something about the camp, like Eric Liddel or children in Cheffo prep-school and so on.
Anything about the camp will be warmly welcomed.
thanks!
keep in touch.
lucy
De: "Greg Leck"
<gregleck@epix.net>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: RE: portraits, and "Uncle
Jacob" Goyas
Date: jeudi 18 janvier 2007 6:48
I think Goyas, who was a Uruguayan merchant, was beaten up by two taipans in camp, after he refused to do his assigned duty rotation at manning a pump..
Such beatings also occurred in other camps, though usually as the result of personal animosities.
De: "David Birch"
<gdavidbirch@yahoo.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: RE: portraits, and "Uncle
Jacob" Goyas
Date: jeudi 18 janvier 2007
7:22
Greg,
That is interesting! I was thirteen years old when I manned that very pump at the ladies' showers'!
Weihsien had a very well-organized and run camp committee, as I'm sure you well know through all your research for your book. This committee was in turn broken down into other committees, one of which was Weihsien Camp's highly respected Discipline Committee. Any acts of violence would certainly have been reported to the Discipline Committee which was headed by a very fair, but firm, Scotsman named Mr McLaren. No one wanted to be reported to McLaren and so such incidents would have been few and far between.
Uncle Jacob was a bit of a legend to us youngsters in the camp. Actually, as Joyce recalls, he was quite friendly. But just don't try to enter into business dealings with him.
David
De: "Alexander
Strangman" <dzijen@bigpond.net.au>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Fw: portraits, and "Uncle
Jacob" Goyas
Date: jeudi 18 janvier 2007
11:04
This is getting more amusing by the day, so what will we have by the end of the week ?
So far we've got this Ol' uncle Jacob sporting a black eye and coming away with a fist full of IOUs, (according to reliable sources.) But my better judgement tells me it is most unlikely 'he' would have lent anyone hard cash for a 'pile' of IOUs, especially for redemption after the war. How much money could he have had?
My earlier statement was made on a first hand bases. You may remember we were all 'dying' for that extra little bit of 'grub' that our comfort money just couldn't cover and after hearing about this 'fella' who was actually dealing in a pawn shop type way, my mother called him in. For the sake of her growing teen age son, she had to turn up something of value, and all she had to part with, was one English Gold Sovereign.
What etches this incident so indelibly in my mind, is that I got back to our room just in time to catch him standing over my mother, pressuring her to show him what else she had in her 'steamer trunk'.
At the time, that was certainly no laughing matter but I've just pulled out my old camp list and had to have a bit of a chuckle to see my notation ........"ROGUE"......marked between his name and " 44 M Uraguayan Merchant "
David, regarding your comment on memory, it's an interesting subject.....why do we remember certain things?
When you find out, let me know the answer and the reasons. Maybe then I'll be able to 'delete' those scary moments!
Take it easy,
Zandy
De: "Pamela Maters"
<pamela@hendersonhouse.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: portraits, and "Uncle
Jacob" Goyas
Date: jeudi 18 janvier 2007 19:19
I'm johnny-come-lately to this discussion, but wasn't Goyas the gentleman -- and I use the term loosely --who was kicking himself in the butt because he had 7 passports to countries in Central and South America, and happened to show the wrong one to the Japanese, so ended up in camp? It's understandable, under those circumstances, why he felt he didn't have to raise a finger to help...!poor guy.
Pamela
Pamela Masters –
De: "Tapol"
<tapol@skynet.be>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Fw: Pictures
Date: dimanche 21 janvier 2007 9:22
Hello :-))
Three new name added on Greg’s portrait gallery ---
Thanks, Sylvia for your help!
http://www.weihsien-paintings.org
Best regards,
Leopold
----- Original Message -----
From:
"Sylvia Walker" <salollers@internode.on.net>
To:
<info@weihsien-paintings.org>
Sent:
Sunday, January 21, 2007 3:30 AM
Subject: Pictures
> Hi Greg
> 03b is me - Sylvia Tchoo
> 04a is my Mum Lillian Tchoo
> 04b is my Dad Roy Tchoo
>
> What a magnificent job you have done - it's all amazing Regards and thanks
>
> Sylvia Walker in
De: "Tapol"
<tapol@skynet.be>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Fw: Names
Date: mardi 23 janvier 2007
9:23
Dear Brian,
Thanks very much for the info --- that I just added to the portraits at
http://www.weihsien-paintings.org All this is real team-work --- everybody is helping --- thanks again :-))
Best regards
Leopold
----- Original Message -----
From: <brianb65@telus.net>
To: "Tapol" <tapol@skynet.be>
Sent: Tuesday, January 23, 2007 3:35 AM
Subject: Names
Hello Leopold,
I don't know if you received my last email about the pictures in Greg Leck's book but I am certain that 8B is my mother, Elsie Butcher; 8D is my father, Will Butcher, and 8C is me, Brian.
Brian
De: "Tapol"
<tapol@skynet.be>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Fw: Picture i.d.
Date: mardi 23 janvier 2007
9:28
Dear Albert,
Thanks for the info :-))
I corrected the name and hope to get more names soon from other visitors of the Weihsien-picture-galley-web-site.
---
Dear Greg,
Do you have any other photographs you would like to identify?
Best regards,
Leopold
----- Original Message -----
From: Albert de Zutter
To: info@weihsien-paintings.org
Sent: Tuesday, January 23, 2007 7:09 AM
Subject: Picture i.d.
Picture No. 16d is Peter Turner, not Michael Turner. The Turners lives in the same block as the De Zutters. The boys were my age and I knew them well. They were fraternal twins, and did not look much alike.
Albert de Zutter
De: <MTPrevite@aol.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Name change
Date: mercredi 24 janvier 2007
23:45
Mr Sui Shude in Weifang:
The "Weifang No. 2 Middle
School," where the west part of the
Weihsien Camp was located, has changed back to its older name, "
De: "lucy lu"
<lucy9859@hotmail.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: RE: Article abiout Eric Liddell
in Shanghai Daily
Date: vendredi 2 février 2007 4:35
I’m Lucy
from foreign and overseas Chinese affairs office of Weifang city (the former WeiHsien),
In 2005, we held a series of commemorative activities to mark the 60th anniversary of the liberation of WeiHsien camp. I think you've joined us on that occasion. And I’m reading your book <forgiven but not forgotten>, to know more about the camp.
Thanks for your book and great efforts to doing something for the camp.
In 2007, we’ll make a documentary and film about the WeiHsien camp. So we’ll go abroad to interview the former internees or their friends and relatives, and collect materials for them. I think all of you here would like to provide us with something about the camp.
Anything about the camp will be warmly welcomed.
thanks!
keep in touch.
Lucy
Bob Bradbury wrote:
> Phyllis. Do you remember me? - Joyce
Cooke (Now Bradbury) from
----- Original Message -----
From: MTPrevite@aol.com
Sent: Sunday, February 04, 2007 4:08 AM
Subject: Have you memories of the HUMAN
SIDE of our guards?
What Weihsien memories do you have that show the human side of the Japanese during World War II?
Today, I watched Clint Eastwood's movie, LETTERS
FROM IWO JIMA, which recently won the Golden Globe award for
Best Movie of the Year here in the
I saw the human side in some of our guards in Weihsien. A few left me tender memories.
Remember my perspective. Separated
from my parents by warring armies, in Weihsien I was eleven and
twelve years old, a student in the
To the Japanese guards who missed their own families, our roll call district, with more than 100 children, was their pride and joy. When visiting Japanese officials monitored the camp, our roll call was the highlight of the show -- little foreign devils with prep school manners, standing with eyes front, spines stiff at attention, numbering off in Japanese: Ichi...nee...san... she... go...
I thought about it once when I was
young, how curious it was that children watching enemy bayonet drills at
dusk could know no fear. In Chefoo, we had watched
those drills -- Japanese soldiers practicing how to kill in close range
combat. What I did fear, though, were the Weihsien guards'
Alsatian police dogs. I hated the dogs. You could play with the
guards, but never with their dogs. The dogs were trained to kill.
Housed on the second floor of the hospital, we girls often played close to the Japanese guard tower which was positioned atop the wall near the hospital. We played in the underground air raid shelter not a stone's throw from the guard tower. With some of the Japanese guards we had a game. We would "accidentally" throw our ball over the wall then rush in desperation to the guard tower and its ever-present Japanese guard. He would lift us over the wall and let us frisk in freedom until we found the missing ball. This would have become a ritual -- but our teachers found out.
In 1945 when the "bamboo
radio" said that
It made me shudder. The Japanese guard who lifted us so gent;ly into the guard tower and dropped us into the field beyond the wall -- would he commit hari kiri?
Norman Cliff, who has captured so much of Weihsien internment history for us, writes in COURTYARD OF THE HAPPY WAY about the Japanese commandant Kosaka who oversaw our first internment camp in Chefoo: "This immaculately dressed man, with a kindly face, impeccable manners and a good command of English, stands out in my memory as unique and superior to any Japanese officials with whom we dealt up to that time and subsequently. He never raised his voice in anger and always approached us with courtesy which removed all fear and tension of those difficult days. He would inquire after our health and wellbeing, and showed a special concern for the older missionaries.
"We gathered that Kosaka had come
under the influence of Christian missionaries in
I'd liketo hear from you. What memories have you of the human side of our Japanese guards?
Mary Previte
De: "Joyce Cook"
<bobjoyce@tpg.com.au>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: RE: Article abiout Eric Liddell
in Shanghai Daily
Date: dimanche 4 février 2007
14:30
Dear Lucy. Thanks for your message. My book Forgiven But Not Forgotten is an authentic
account of WeiHsien and Tsingtao Camps as I experienced them during the War and
all names given in the book are real names of the persons involved. I will be happy to assist you with
information at any time and if you do come to
De: <grannydavies@aol.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Have you memories of the
HUMAN SIDE of our guards?
Date: lundi 5 février 2007 1:07
I was in my late teens in camp. Only one
time did I see anything like sympathy from the guards. Had broken my leg, in a
cast, getting late so was trying to hurry, boyfriend on my left helping, guard
came up on my right, placed hand on my shoulder, I slid
around in front of Steve so he
was between us. The guard then pointed
to my cast. Coming up to us with rifle, affixed with bayonet did not give me a
"friendly" feeling. He made friendly noises then left. We
hurried home before curfew. The guard
seemed to be about our age. I stayed
away from them as much as I could. I
enjoyed your book. Also attended the Old China Hands reunion in
Phyllis(Evans) Davies
De: "Joyce Cook"
<bobjoyce@tpg.com.au>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: RE: Article abiout Eric Liddell
in Shanghai Daily
Date: lundi 5 février 2007 1:54
Dear Lucy, yes I did attend the
commemorative activities to mark the 60th anniversary of the
liberation. My three sons and granddaughter Danielle accompanied me and we had
a wonderful time. My book 'forgiven but Not Forgotten' gives an account of my
experiences and recollections of camp life both at Tsingtao Camp and WeiHsien
Camp. Names I mention are of the actual persons involved. Please let me know if
you intend coming to
De: "David Birch"
<gdavidbirch@yahoo.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Have you memories of the
HUMAN SIDE of our guards?
Date: lundi 5 février 2007 3:03
Thank you Mary for your recollections! I have several pleasant memories of the guards at both Temple Hill and Weihsien! Let me share a couple.
After Tipton and Hummel escaped from
Weihsien Camp, many of the Chefoo youngsters from the Boys and
But moving away from Block 23 held one major disadvantage for me personally. You see, a number of us youngsters, me included, had had small flower and vegetable gardens in the park out behind Block 23. We planted the gardens, weeded and watered them and were fully responsible for tending them ourselves. I recall that my younger brother, John, shared a garden with Robert Clow. They were in the Prep School and remained in Block 23 until war's end. Of course those of us in the Boys' School lost our gardens when we had to move. Block 61 and Block 23 were too far apart for us to walk all that way to attend to our horticulture.
Some months passed and I was determined to replace my garden. So I borrowed a Chinese hoe (a big, bulky, heavy tool) from someone. I had my eye on a suitable patch of soil next to the camp wall. But it needed to be cultivated. Well, the soil proved to be rock-hard clay - parched by the blistering Weihsien summer sun. I bravely wielded my heavy hoe (or mattock) and began bashing away with it at the unyielding baked clay! About twelve years old, I was a bit undersized from malnutrition, and I s'pose I wasn't making much headway, if any!
At this moment a Japanese guard, probably either waiting to go on sentry duty at the nearby tower, or maybe just off his shift, approached me. He gave me a very friendly smile and gestured to me indicating he would like me to pass him my mattock! I quickly realized that he wanted to help me, and of course I handed him the heavy tool. Well, that friendly guard went to work on what was an impossible task for me. He dug up the entire patch and did not quit till he had pulverized the chunky clay into workable soil.
I have never forgotten that very friendly gesture and I shall always be grateful for the memory of that good man and his kindness to twelve-year-old David Birch.
The Tennis Match -
I also recall a tennis match between Japanese guards and some of the older Chefoo boys and/or masters at Temple Hill. It all seemed very normal and was certainly a pleasant thing to watch!
Company's Coming to Dinner on Sunday
Also at Temple Hill, I clearly recall Mr
Kosaka and his deputy being our guests for roast chicken at dinner time in the
A Gift of Appreciation for Mr Martin
Goopy (Mr Martin) one of my most respected teachers of all time, told several of us boys one day that a Japanese guard whom he had recently befriended actually gave him a cigarette as a little gesture of appreciation. Goopy said, "Of course, I did not tell him that I don't smoke, but I will keep that cigarette as a reminder of this man's kindness."
There are more good memories of Japanese guards. I for one thank God for those fellows, many of whom I know must have been homesick for the little farms and fishing villages back home in Japan.
David
De: "lucy lu"
<lucy9859@hotmail.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: RE: Article abiout Eric Liddell
in Shanghai Daily
Date: lundi 5 février 2007 6:44
Dear Joyce,
Glad to get your email.
Hope more information about the camp from all of you.
Best regards.
Lucy
From: "Pander"
<pander.nl@skynet.be>
To: <weihsien@topica.com>
Sent: Monday, February 05, 2007 10:54 AM
Subject: Re: Article abiout Eric Liddell
in Shanghai Daily
> Dear Lucy,
> Have you already clicked on this link?
> http://www.weihsien-paintings.org
> --- it is all about Weihsien-concentration-camp and free access to all ---
> It is a great disorganized sum of information --- documents -- photos -- paintings -- sketches of all sorts. Extracts of books in English and French --- The résumé of our Topica-messages --- etc --- etc ---
> Hope you find your way in this labyrinth ----
> Let me know :-))
> Best regards,
> Leopold
>
De: "Joyce Cook"
<bobjoyce@tpg.com.au>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Article abiout Eric Liddell
in Shanghai Daily
Date: mardi 6 février 2007 6:24
Dear Lucy. Thanks for your message. My book
Forgiven But Not Forgotten is an authentic account of WeiHsien and Tsingtao
Camps as I experienced them during the War and all names given in the book are
real names of the persons involved. I
will be happy to assist you with information at any time and if you do come to
De: "Joyce
Cook" <bobjoyce@tpg.com.au>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Article abiout Eric Liddell
in Shanghai Daily
Date: mardi 6
février 2007 6:30
Dear Lucy, yes I did attend the
commemorative activities to mark the 60th anniversary of the
liberation. My three sons and granddaughter Danielle accompanied me and we had
a wonderful time. My book 'forgiven but Not Forgotten' gives an account of my
experiences and recollections of camp life both at Tsingtao Camp and WeiHsien Camp.
Names I mention are of the actual persons involved. Please let me know if you
intend coming to
De: "Joyce
Cook" <bobjoyce@tpg.com.au>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>; "Georgeanna Knisely" <jknisely@paonline.com>
Date: jeudi 8
février 2007 8:14
Dear Georgie. So nice to hear from you. No I have not seen the article in the
Regarding that scoundrel Goez I have an
extract from a letter that describes him as a jew from
Regards Joyce.
De: "lucy
lu" <lucy9859@hotmail.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Article abiout Eric Liddell in Shanghai Daily
Date: jeudi 8
février 2007 11:34
Dear Tapol,
Thanks so much for your kind help. Glad to say that just now i visited the website you advised. It’s a wonderful world.
thanks again.
I’m wondering if you attended our activities in august 2005.
I’ve read Joyce's memoir, I remember, but not sure, maybe one of your relatives have helped supplying foods and drugs to the camp.
please tell me yes or no.
keep in touch .
best regards.
Lucy
De:
"Tapol" <tapol@skynet.be>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Article abiout Eric Liddell
in Shanghai Daily
Date: samedi 10 février 2007 12:59
Dear Lucy,
Hello, :-))
Unfortunately, we missed the 2005 summer meeting in Weifang but did manage to visit our old Weihsien compound in January 2006 ---
http://www.weihsien-paintings.org/pander/Weifang2006/Slide_Show/01_KiteFabric/p_Kite_01.htm
I took quite a lot of photos and organized them the best I could on the web-site. We were greeted at the Quindao airport by Mr. Sui Shude and spent two exceptional days in Weifang.
I was not yet two years old in 1943 when we came to Weihsien and our parents never told us much about our captivity during WWII.
I was very interested in assembling the
pieces of the puzzle with the help of so many people from all over the World.
Father Hanquet, who is 91 years old now, told me a lot about the old
concentration camp. He lives in
Best regards,
Leopold
De: "peter
bazire" <psbazire@yahoo.co.uk>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: The Salvation Army Band in
Weihsien
Date: mardi 13 février 2007 19:25
Hello Everybody,
I hope this article on the SA Band in Weihsien will bring back some memories. The two pictures are NOT attached, but I hope they can be sent later on.
Best wishes,
Peter
The Salvation Army Band in Weihsien: 1943 to 1945
Article put together by Peter Bazire
I was born in
My mother, Mrs Eileen Bazire, B.Mus., took charge of music in the school and she soon had Theo and me learning musical instruments: piano and violin respectively. I did not practise as much as I should, but a flair for music (perfect pitch, a good sense of harmony and an unusual memory) carried me along.
Later my mother assembled an orchestra for 10 to 17 year olds, which I joined when I was 10. We played simple, but enjoyable, pieces and gained experience in ensemble playing.
I now fast forward to Sept. 1943 when we in
Chefoo were taken to Weihsien to join the many who had already come from other
parts of
The SA Band was put together in the spring of 1943 by Brigadier Len Stranks, soon after many people had arrived in Weihsien.There was a strong nucleus of Salvation Army officers, plus two sons, and they were augmented by a few other players. Brig Stranks conducted, and he also played the E flat bass (tuba).
Early that autumn I was kindly invited to join the band. My classmate Doug Sadler had blown my trumpet at a Chefoo concert and Adjutant Fred Buist, the principal cornet player, who heard Doug, invited him to join too, and supplied him with a cornet. Norman Cliff from Chefoo also joined, and played the trombone.
Here I must mention the kindness of Brig
Stranks’ younger daughter Mrs Joyce Ditmanson/Cotterill for letting me quote
excerpts from Marcy Ditmanson’s diaries. Joyce herself also supplied me with
valuable information, both from
In
__________________________
I gradually learnt enough to play the 2nd cornet part for hymn tunes. It took some time before I could join fully in playing more difficult music such as marches.
Let me quote from Marcy Ditmanson’s diary: Sept 28 (1943) “…..I’ve joined the Salvation Army band. It gives me something to do, and gives me good practice on my cornet. We practise on Tuesday evenings in the sewing room, and play three times a week at meetings or the open air….”
I well remember the cold winters, and how we cornet/trumpet players could not wear gloves as the valves were too close together. Our hands and lips were chapped but it did not occur to us to stop playing.
Let me turn again to Marcy’s diary, an entry on Feb 27th 1944; “…..I had pancakes today after a two-hour clothes wash. I mixed in my this week’s egg with yesterday’s bread porridge, and added some flour, baking powder and salt begged off Gene (Huebener). It was quite a treat. Finished just in time for band-playing at 11.30. We played marches and hymn tunes for about an hour and a half, -outside the hospital, near the Italian camp, and in front of building 23. A lot of people turned out to hear us. Two new pieces are being written in camp for the band,- a march by Gene, and a selection by Major (sic) Stranks and Mrs Bazire….”
We now move on to July 4th, and a most fascinating entry in Marcy’s diary:
“We’ve celebrated the ‘Fourth’ with a full day’s program of athletic, religious and social events, with the whole community, regardless of nationality, either participating in or enjoying the goings-on. We had to have permission, of course, for the celeb(ration)……..We had a special church service at 11:45, well attended by both Am(ericans) and Brit(ish). The band played. Most of the selections we played, (Am)erican) were instrumented in camp: “Star Spangled Banner”, “O Beautiful for Spacious Skies” “God Bless America”,…..The (base)ball game in the evening was between the Am(ericans) and the (Brit)ish). It was a closely fought game…..The band played from its march books in between innings. At the close of the game we played “God Bless Am(erica)” and “My Country, ‘tis of Thee”. All the spectators, numbering 5-6 hundred, I suppose, stood at attention as we played the latter piece. It was a most impressive moment. To the Br(itish), of course, we were playing their nat’l anthem; to the Americans one of the best- loved patriotic hymns……”
July 5th(1944): “There have been
some repercussions from yesterday’s celebrations. The Jap(anese) objected to
our playing ‘national anthems’. (Answer to the Japanese) “‘
It has occurred to me : what did we use for valve oil then? Perhaps some members of the band had valve oil, but I think I spat on my valves for lubrication!
There is an entry in Sept 30th (1944) in Marcy’s diary which is interesting in itself, and which has a bearing on band practice:
“…..The scouting movement here has gotten into trouble thrice during the past week or two.
1 A cpl(couple) of boys were caught pacing out a certain area within the camp and drawing a map based on their findings. An order promptly came forbidding the sketching or painting of walls, bldgs or other structures along the main walls of the camp.
2 Chefoo boys ran afoul of the authorities a few days later because they had a campfire. The J(apanese) wanted to know where the logs came from. They could only see it as wasting precious fuel, and they threatened reprisals. So no more campfires.
3 Last night the rangers had their regular meeting in the Kindergarten room. Sergeant Pu Hsing Te (Marcy wrote the Chinese characters) somehow took offence to this and stopped the gathering, taking the leader, Miss Phare, down to the guardhouse. The upshot of it all was that the compound in which the campfires and meetings were held had been declared “out-of-bounds” after dark. In that compound are also the book-binding room, barber shop, shoe-shop, post office, electric power house and sewing room. Hereafter our band practices, which were held Monday nights in the sewing room, will be held elsewhere, probably in the church….The band too met with disfavor Thursday night. It was playing just outside the church per custom to draw people to the evang. meeting inside. Serj. Pu Hsing Te came along, took Brig. Stranks down to the guard-house and reprimanded him for playing outside the church without permission. The band had perm. to play inside, but not outside! Serj. Pu Hsing Te is not very popular.”
“Oct 1. Sunday…..The band played outside the church again tonight, but were stopped by the J. We were told hereafter not to play after dark. It is all right to play inside tomorrow.”
Here is an interesting and amusing story kindly told me by the Rev Joe Cotterill, who will be 90 in March 2007.
“ Gene Huebener, who played the tenor horn in the band, had an interest in helping boys in Weihsien.One of his activities was to get boys to construct recorders in bamboo. So up to a dozen boys would gather in Gene’s dormitory, much to the annoyance of the other men who slept there, and be shown how to make recorders from sticks of bamboo, and then how to play them. It was the latter which annoyed his fellow dormitory members! But the boys enjoyed it and profited from it.
“Unfortunately one of the boys later developed appendicitis, and a slither of bamboo was found in his appendix!”
We come to February 1945. It was a bitterly cold winter. On Feb 18th the band was playing outside the hospital where Eric Liddell, the Olympic runner, was lying seriously ill. He sent a request to the band to play one of his favourite hymns, “Be Still My Soul”, to the tune “Finlandia”. At the time we did not know that Eric would not have much longer to live. The memory of playing that day will live with me for ever. It was such a privilege, playing for our great hero, Eric.
We move on to the summer of 1945 and to that most glorious , most memorable of days: Aug 17th, when we were liberated by the American paratroopers. Again let Marcy speak:
“Aug 17,1945. Brigadier Stranks got the band together and we lined up on an
elevation overlooking the north wall (by the gate) and began playing national
airs and marches. The band struck up “God Bless
I well remember that occasion. I had hoped to go out through the gate to enjoy the freedom of being in the surrounding countryside, but someone (Doug?) had brought my trumpet along, so instead I enjoyed playing in the band. Later I joined in the activities outside the camp.
I should add that earlier that summer we began practising the national anthems of all the countries represented in the camp, but NOT the top line, so as not to arouse the suspicion of our guards. These tunes were arranged as a medley by a band member, and on Aug 17th, we of course played it with all the melodies.
Again, may I remind readers that excerpts from Marcy Ditmanson’s diaries have been used by permission from Mrs Joyce Ditmanson/Cotterill
A Footnote
After coming to
In 2000 my three children had my Weihsien trumpet restored for my 70th birthday. Later I joined the Bath Spa Training Band. I occasionally play 3rd cornet in the main Bath Spa Band in their lighter concerts. The violin is still my main instrument. I have played in the Bath Symphony Orchestra (amateur) for the last 43 years..
I hope to write a short article on the Weihsien orchestra and on recitals later on.
Attached: (a) Photos of the SA Band in Weihsien
UPPER: (All standing) from left to right
Donald Littler, Adjutant Fred Buist, Marcy Ditmanson, James Dempster, Peter Bazire, Doug Sadler, Josh Clarke, Major Henry Collishaw, Gene Huebener, Steve Shaw, Norman Cliff, Major Ollie Wellbourn, Ian Sowton, Major Charles Sowton, Major Len Evenden, Brigadier Len Stranks.
LOWER: (1) Standing:
Steve Shaw, Donald Littler, Adj, Fred Buist, Doug Sadler, Josh Clarke, Peter Bazire, Marcy Ditmanson, James Dempster, Major Len Evenden.
(2) Crouching:
Major Ollie Wellbourn, Norman Cliff, Gene Huebener, Brig Len Stranks, Major Henry Collishaw, Ian Sowton, Major Charles Sowton.
(b) Peter Bazire, (Summer 2006) in Bath Spa Band uniform.
De:
"Tapol" <tapol@skynet.be>
À:
<weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: new chapter
Date: vendredi 16
février 2007 0:32
Hello,
New chapter on the paintings' web-site --- "From Peter Bazire"
--- text and photos ---
click on:
http://www.weihsien-paintings.org --- and then on "Peter Bazire" in the left column and then click on whatever inspires you ---
---
Best regards,
Leopold
De:
<grannydavies@aol.com>
À:
<weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: The Salvation Army Band in
Weihsien
Date: vendredi 16 février 2007 3:47
did notget message or pictures, would love to have them Phyllis EvansDavies
De:
"Tapol" <tapol@skynet.be>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: The Salvation Army Band in
Weihsien
Date: vendredi 16 février 2007 10:06
Hello,
Click on this link: http://www.weihsien-paintings.org
then, click on "Peter Bazire" at the bottom left of your screen ---
click on the pictures --- to see them "bigger" ---
--- and click on the symbol representing a book --- and you will have the complete text ---
Best regards,
Leopold
De: "Stan
Thompson" <thompson@ginniff.com>
À:
<weihsien@topica.com>
Cc: "peter
bazire" <psbazire@yahoo.co.uk>
Objet: The Weihsien Salvation Army Band
Date: vendredi 16 février 2007 20:56
Peter,
Thanks for the Weihsien memories, and the stories about the Weihsien Salvation Army band. Finlandia was seared into my memory as a child (perhaps especially at Eric Liddell's funeral) and the tune has stirred warm memories for me ever since.
When I consider that, in retrospect, my most vivid memory about the Salvation Army band is the characteristic way that Mr Buist sucked air in at the left side of his mouth, I realize what a complete musical moron I was then - and still am today ! This may have been genetic - (or possibly mimetic, a la Dawkins). I remember no music at home in my childhood - only at church, and our children remember only a handful of 76 rpm records in the house - literally, less than 10, and even now, our shelves have few CDs, but thousands of books ! Our children have worked at repairing this defect in their up-bringing - with varying success !
All the best,
Stan Thompson
De:
"Tapol" <tapol@skynet.be>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Fw: portraits - Greg Leck's book
Date: samedi 17 février 2007 16:18
Dear Greg,
--- a new add to the gallery of portraits in your chapter ---
click on this link:
http://www.weihsien-paintings.org/GregLeck/pages/p_portraits01.htm
Best regards,
Leopold
----- Original Message -----
From: bobbie backhouse
To: info@weihsien-paintings.org
Sent: Saturday, February 17, 2007 7:54 AM
15a is Sheila Livingston McNeil
De:
<grannydavies@aol.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: The Salvation Army Band in
Weihsien
Date: dimanche 18 février 2007 4:02
Thanks for the pictures of the Salvation Army band. Many memories, Phyllis
De: "Tapol"
<tapol@skynet.be>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Fw: portraits
Date: dimanche 18 février 2007
9:22
Dear Greg,
Just got this message from Albert on the Weihsien-paintings-web-site ---
I'm sending it on Topica --- hope that Joyce will be able to help :-))
click on:
http://www.weihsien-paintings.org/GregLeck/pages/p_portraits01.htm
Best regards,
Leopold
----- Original Message -----
From: Albert de Zutter
To: info@weihsien-paintings.org
Sent: Sunday, February 18, 2007 3:53 AM
Subject: portraits
Leopold,
I believe that portrait No. 22b is Yvonne,
originally from
Albert de Zutter
----- Original Message -----
From: Stan Thompson
Cc: peter bazire
Sent: Monday, February 19, 2007 5:29 AM
Subject: note to Peter Bazire
PETER BAZIRE
Peter,
Good to hear
from you and get re-acquainted after 62 years ! Delores and I have been
married for 54 years and we have spent 47 of them in Iowa City, and the last 40
of them living on a farm just 10 miles out of town – raising sheep for 36 of
those years !. I came to
All the best,
Stan Thompson
PS. Jack Graham came to visit me and left me a clearer copy of that
familiar picture of Chefoo Weihsieners getting off the train at
--^^---------------------------------------------------------------
De: "Joyce Cook"
<bobjoyce@tpg.com.au>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: portraits
Date: lundi 19 février 2007 18:28
Yes I thought it might be Ivonne Ozorio now Rozicki and when I see her I will show her that photo. Joyce.
De: "Tapol"
<tapol@skynet.be>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Fw: portraits
Date: mardi 20 février 2007
14:57
Thank you very much --- I'll add that on the web-site --- and I also got 2 new identifications in my mail-box this morning :-))
Best regards,
Leopold
----- Original Message -----
From: bobbie backhouse
To: info@weihsien-paintings.org
Sent: Tuesday, February 20, 2007 7:52 AM
16a is Dennis Carter
11a is C.T. "Tommy Hall
De: <MTPrevite@aol.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Fw: portraits - Greg Leck's
book
Date: mardi 20 février 2007
20:34
Leopold,
You're a genius! You keep spreading joy around the globe.
Mary Previte
De: <smallchief@aol.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Greetings from New Member
Date: mercredi 21 février 2007 16:12
Hello, all
I just joined the list and look forward to
reading your posts. As background, I was
not an internee in World War II, but I got interested in the subject from
reading Langdon Gilkey's book and "The Call" by John Hersey and
reading and seeing "King Rat" and that Spielberg movie about an
internee camp near
I'll be ordering the more recent books written on internees and I would certainly welcome any recommendations from you -- especially oral histories of detainees.
My background is international affairs and I recently retired after spending some 39 years wandering around the world on behalf of the government and humanitarian organizations.
Thanks and I look forward to talking to all of you.
Smallchief
De: "Tapol"
<tapol@skynet.be>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Greetings from New Member
Date: jeudi 22 février 2007 13:26
Hello from
Dear Smallchief,
You can click on this link:
http://www.weihsien-paintings.org/books/Topica/BibliographyTopica.htm
--- When we were liberated by the Americans in August 1945, I was 4 years old --- and don't remember much about our captivity during WWII.
A few years ago, I discovered "The Internet" and wanted to know more about Weihsien and finally made a blog.
It's a labyrinth with a lot of interesting data --- extracts of books, books in English and French, documents, paintings, sketches --- etc. Hope you find your way and have a good time ---
Best regards,
Leopold
De: <smallchief@aol.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Greetings from New Member
Date: jeudi 22 février 2007 18:39
Hi, Leopold
I found your weihsien-paintings website a few days ago and have been reading some of the material on the site. I really appreciate what you've done -- and I'll read some of the books on the subject. Four or five years ago I looked on the web for information about Weihsien internees and found very little. It's good to see there's a lot more information available now.
A question: You're familiar with Gilkey's book about Weihsien. He changed all the names in the book -- partially because his comments about many people were not complimentary. Have any of the former internees gone through the book and tried to identify the people he mentions?
Thanks for everything.
Smallchief (Larry Thompson)
De: "David Birch"
<gdavidbirch@yahoo.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Greetings from New Member
Date: vendredi 23 février 2007
10:36
Hi Larry!
Welcome aboard Weihsien@topica!
It is probably fifteen years since I read
Langdon Gilkey's book, 'Shantung Compound' so I do not remember it in detail
however I do recall some things in it. As you said, he tried to hide the
identities of individuals in the camp by changing their names. However, I
definitely recall one name he either forgot to change or simply did not think
it mattered. That was the name of a highly-placed Japanese official named
Watanabi. I clearly remember, after nearly 62 years, Mr Watanabi waving goodbye
to us from a flat car on a railway siding as our train, loaded with
just-released internees, pulled out of the railway station at Weihsien in
September 1945 bound for
On another note, I believe Gilkey was about 24 yrs old at the end of the war. He was one of the cooks in Kitchen One at Weihsien. I don't recall any of the dishes he created but I do remember that I was always happy when he was on duty. That must mean that he was more imaginative than some of our other more 'prosaic' cooks. In their defense I'll say that none of the cooks had a great deal to work with. But there was some real slop produced in that kitchen, more fit for swine than human beings. Gilkey somehow managed to do a better job then some. His associate chef was a 'Miss Hinckley.'
Sincerely
David
De: "Tapol"
<tapol@skynet.be>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Fw: Greetings from New Member
Date: vendredi 23 février 2007 12:14
Hello,
Father Hanquet worked in kitchen No.1 with Langdon Gilkey ---
Try this link --- it's in the "books" chapter:
http://www.weihsien-paintings.org/books/Gilkey/txt_Suggested_Key.htm
best regards,
Leopold
-----
Original Message -----
From: Donald
Menzi
Sent:
Friday, February 23, 2007 9:38 PM
Subject: Re:
Fw: Greetings from New Member
Welcome, Larry,
As part of Weifang's celebration of the 60th anniversary of Weihsien's liberation, I prepared a "slide show" that includes a virtual "walking tour" or the camp, based on the paintings and drawings of over a dozen artists who were interned there. It also includes a segment on the prisoner-exchange voyage of the Gripsholm, and the 2005 celebration.
If you will send me your mailing address, I
would be glad to send you a copy of the CD.
The same goes for anyone else who would like a copy. The updated version includes
appropriate musical accompaniments.
Donald Menzi
De: "Alison Holmes"
<aholmes@prescott.edu>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: RE: Fw: Greetings from New
Member
Date: vendredi 23 février 2007 21:52
I'd love one, Donald, and would gladly
reimburse you. My address is
-----
Original Message -----
From: Donald
Menzi
Sent:
Friday, February 23, 2007 10:31 PM
Subject: RE:
Fw: Greetings from New Member
Alison,
There is no charge. As with Leopold and the other "Weihsieners" the pleasure from being able to share this material with others who appreciate - not to mention the enjoyment of creating new ways to present it - it is more than enough compensation.
Donald
De: "Dwight W. Whipple"
<thewhipples@comcast.net>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: RE: Fw: Greetings from New
Member
Date: samedi 24 février 2007 1:37
Donald~
We would love to have a CD and would be glad to pay for it. You can find us at:
Dwight & Judy Whipple
4728A
360.456.4300
thewhipples@comcast.net
De: "Pamela Maters"
<pamela@hendersonhouse.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Langdon Gilkey's AKA's
Date: samedi 24 février 2007 1:41
For anyone who's interested, I pulled up Landon Gilkey's page on weihsienpictures. org and glancing over his AKA List (also known as) I came up with some new identities, and a couple of changes (*).
Page 22 -- W.T. Roxby-Jones =
Pierre Travers-Smith, RA. (
Page 23 -- Jacob Strauss =
Teddy Nathan, General Manager and CEO of the Kailan Mining
Administration (not company), better known as the KMA. The name Kailan was derived from the
Kaiping and Lanchow mines when they joined forces and
became the huge Chinese/British coal mining consortium, one of
Page 25 -- Johns = Wilfred Pryor, Asst. General Manager, KMA
Page 25 -- Jameson =
"Rich"
Page 31 -- Chesterton = Bill Chilton, KMA Port Administrator, Chinwangtao, promoted to a top executive position in the Kailan when he out-bluffed the Japanese Imperial Army in North China. (See page 31, The Mushroom Years for details, it's worth a read)
An interesting side-bar: Bill Chilton was actually a Texan who ran away to sea and joined the Royal Navy, retiring with the rank of commander. He was not short, as Gilkey has him, but tall and lean, with the sad face of a bloodhound. And yes, he spoke very, very slowly and distinctly.
page 57* -- Doctor Kailon (sp?) = Grice. That should read "Kailan Chief-of-Staff" = Dr. Grice
Page 121* Ian Campbell = Ted McLaren
Have a great day -- Pamela
Pamela
Masters - Author/Publisher
Titles:
The Mushroom Years, Sass & Serendipity
Phone:
530-647-2000
Fax:
530-647-2002
pamela@hendersonhouse.com
http://www.hendersonhouse.com
De: "Alison Holmes"
<aholmes@prescott.edu>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: RE: Fw: Greetings from New
Member
Date: samedi 24 février 2007 2:05
Thank you so much! And may your rewards come long before heaven!
Alison
De: "Alison Holmes"
<aholmes@prescott.edu>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: RE: Langdon Gilkey's AKA's
Date: samedi 24 février 2007 2:05
You are just a marvel, Pamela! What a fund of information and delight you are. Never over the top, just fascinating and factual and putting the emphasis on the material...I just wanted you to know how much I appreciate your tone. Alison Martin Holmes
De: "R. E.
Stannard Jr." <restannardjr@yahoo.com>
À:
<weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Fw: Greetings from New
Member
Date: samedi 24 février 2007 2:34
Donald -- I'm a lurker on this listserv --
actually an interloper from the Chaipei camp in
So if your offer extends this far, it would
be very welcome. Let me know of any disk or postage costs you'd like in advance
or after. I stumbled onto this listserv, and hope some traffic will begin on
the listserv Greg Leck just started for Chapei & all the
One of my long-term ambitions, which I poke into every few years, is to persuade the family of the late Carl Mydans (the LIFE photographer who was an internee and on the Gripsholm, and managed to wangle a camera at the Goa exchange point) to search out the negatives of that Gripsholm voyage and make the entire set available on line or CD. I've met son Seth Mydans, and he said any negatives would be among his effects, but it might be quite a long time before anyone got into that stuff.
Regards,
Ted Stannard (R.E.Stannard Jr.)
De: "Donald
Menzi" <dmenzi@earthlink.net>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Fw: Greetings from New
Member
Date: samedi 24 février 2007 5:49
Ted,
I'll be happy to send it to you, but no charge, please.
I have included some of the photos from
Life magazine in the "Gripsholm" portion. You probably already have the Life edition
that covered the stopover in
Donald
De: "R. E.
Stannard Jr." <restannardjr@yahoo.com>
À:
<weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Fw: Greetings from New
Member
Date: samedi 24 février 2007 7:16
Much Thanks! Yes, I have that LIFE -- saw it listed second hand a few months ago and couldn't resist sending for it. (Cost like a new book!) But I'm confident Carl Mydans shot many rolls of 35mm film, so there could be a lot of photos people would like to see and identify for historical purposes.
Ted
De: "Ron
Bridge" <rwbridge@freeuk.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: RE: Fw: Greetings from New
Member
Date: samedi 24 février 2007 11:22
Donald,
When you scan them and send could you add my address rwbridge@freeuk.com
Many thanks
onetime Blk42 rm 6 and Blk13Rm 12 after the internee exchange
De:
"Eddie Cooke" <shedco@optusnet.com.au>
À:
"Weihsien@Topica.Com" <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Mailing List
Date: samedi
24 février 2007 13:19
I have not received mail from Weihsien@topica for some time. Can anyone explain why? I have now re-subscribed and looking forward to latest news.
Eddie Cooke
De: "Tapol"
<tapol@skynet.be>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Langdon Gilkey's AKA's
Date: samedi 24 février 2007 14:24
Dear Pamela,
Thanks very much for the adds and corrections ---
Could you check? I also added a link to Pierre Travers-Smith's painting ---
Best regards,
Leopold
http://www.weihsien-paintings.org
go to "books" and click on "Weihsien"
De: "Alexander
Strangman" <dzijen@bigpond.net.au>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Langdon Gilkey's AKA's
Date: samedi 24 février 2007 19:32
Thanks Pamela, this is the most interesting e-mail to hit my screen in a long time!
Take care,
Zandy
De: "Pamela Maters"
<pamela@hendersonhouse.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Langdon Gilkey's AKA's
Date: samedi 24 février 2007 20:15
Leopold, there's no doubt about it...you're very special!
Thank you so much for all your entries, especially listing The Mushroom Years under Weihsien's books, and then putting in such neat links
.
I sure admire people who can waltz around the Internet and get it to come alive with hardly any effort.
And thank you also for adding the additional names to the Gilkey/Hubbard AKA List. I wonder if Langdon would have been so rough on "Chesterton" if he'd known he was actually a Texan!?!
Have a good one -- Pamela
Pamela
Masters - Author/Publisher
Titles:
The Mushroom Years, Sass & Serendipity
Phone:
530-647-2000
Fax:
530-647-2002
pamela@hendersonhouse.com
De: "Tracy Strong"
<tstrong@weber.ucsd.edu>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re Gripsholm trip
Date: samedi 24 février 2007 22:08
Dear Donald --
Might I ask if you might also send me a copy of this scan --if this was the second Gripsholm trip I was a babe in arms (well, in a basket). I doubt the picture will prompt any memories (1) but it would be nice to see it.
Many thanks.
Tracy B. Strong
De: "Tracy Strong"
<tstrong@weber.ucsd.edu>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: RE: Langdon Gilkey's AKA's
Date: samedi 24 février 2007 22:09
I cannot seem to pull up weihsienpictures.org (as below) - what mistake am I
making?
Tracy B. Strong
De: "Pamela Maters"
<pamela@hendersonhouse.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Langdon Gilkey's AKA's
Date: dimanche 25 février 2007
2:16
Sorry, you didn't make a mistake, I did.
That should read www.weihsien-paintings.org
Note: it also has a dash in it. Once
again,
Pamela Masters –
De: "Pamela Maters"
<pamela@hendersonhouse.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: My AKA???
Date: dimanche 25 février 2007 2:38
I am still trying to figure how my last posting had me listed as Pamela "Maters." Please be advised that is not one of my AKAs. The only other name I ever answered to was Bobby Simmons, and that was over sixty years ago!
Regarding Greg's photos: I've just checked
them over, and I believe 10e is Sharon Talati, a gifted pianist who put on
several terrific concerts for us in camp. 10f could be her mother, Mrs. Talati.
She and her husband owned Talati House Hotel in
De: "David Birch"
<gdavidbirch@yahoo.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Langdon Gilkey's AKA's
Date: dimanche 25 février 2007 3:05
Thank you, Pamela! You've made a very valuable contribution!
David
De: "David Birch"
<gdavidbirch@yahoo.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: My AKA???
Date: dimanche 25 février 2007 3:06
Pamela!
You are really enriching our memories! I well recall Miss Talati practising the piano! She was one of the few people in camp who were privileged to play the few pianos there. She used to spend hours on end doing her scales, chords and arpeggios - I think on the piano at the camp church!
I was so conscious of her privilege because
at the age of nearly eleven, when the Chefoo folk (including me) were interned
at Temple Hill, I lost the privilege of having piano lessons and doing piano
practise - there just weren't enough pianos after we left our school compound.
So I ended up teaching myself how to play, in
David
De: "R. E. Stannard Jr."
<restannardjr@yahoo.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: My AKA???
Date: dimanche 25 février 2007 3:20
> Pamela Maters <pamela@hendersonhouse.com> wrote: I am still trying to
> figure how my last posting had me listed as Pamela "Maters."
Pamela, it appears that somewhere in setting up your system you dropped the first "s" in Masters and so all your emails are faithfully carrying that version in front of your email address. Somewhere in your mail program....
Cyberspace does the darndest things!
Ted Stannard
De: "Pamela Maters"
<pamela@hendersonhouse.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: My AKA???
Date: lundi 26 février 2007
3:44
Hey, that's wild! I went back to my Weihsien file just to check, and ALL my postings show my correct name ahead of my e-mail address!?!
Pamela Masters
De: "Pamela Maters"
<pamela@hendersonhouse.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: My AKA???
Date: lundi 26 février 2007
5:03
And if I recall correctly, David, that lovely old piano in the Assembly Hall was a Steinway. What a lovely plug for such a venerable name in pianos!
Pamela
De: "Pamela Maters"
<pamela@hendersonhouse.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: My AKA???
Date: lundi 26 février 2007
7:53
Ah, the mystery of my misspelled name is solved! Obviously, when I signed up for Weihsien Topica, I must've entered it wrong. I just got my last posting back, on this very subject, and there is was. I hate like heck going back into Weihsien Topica, as I've been dropped me so many times, and had to re-sign up so many times, I shudder to think what would happen if I did it again...
Pamela Masters
Pamela Masters -
De: "Tapol"
<tapol@skynet.be>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: My AKA???
Date: lundi 26 février 2007
14:39
http://www.weihsien-paintings.org/pander/Weifang2006/Slide_Show/02_Weihsien/p_01.htm
click on the link and scroll down to picture a13 and a14 ---
--- is this the piano?
When I visited Weihsien last year in January I was shown this piano in one of the Japs' houses now a museum.
Best regards,
Leopold
De: "Pamela Maters"
<pamela@hendersonhouse.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: My AKA???
Date: lundi 26 février 2007
19:44
Hello, Leopold --
If memory serves me, the piano in the Assembly Hall was a Steinway concert grand, not an upright, like the one you photographed. I do believe that was the one that a Mr. Grimes, also a musician and piano player, used to play. It was housed in one of the administration buildings. I have to admit, memory is hazy on this -- Pamela
De: "Gay Talbot Stratford"
<stillbrk@eagle.ca>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: My AKA???
Date: lundi 26 février 2007 21:52
Good morning Leopold,
You are a wonderful lynch pin for us all. Thank you so much.
I remember that at aged twelve , I was honoured to be able to play the piano at a concert It was a thrill; however, I do not know how great the performance was, since I was only able to practice on it twice beforehand.
Greetings to you both,
Gay Talbot
De: "Sonya
Grypma" <sonya.grypma@uleth.ca>
À:
<weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Interned nurses
Date: lundi 26 février
2007 22:20
Hi everyone,
My name is Sonya Grypma & I am a nurse
historian with a special interest in missionary nursing in
I hope you don't mind me joining your web group here - I've found it so helpful to better understand what Weihsien was all about. Thanks, too, to all of you who have worked on the Weihsien website - I've found it very interesting!
I visited Weifang last October with three Canadian "missionary kids" (now in their 70s and 80s) whose family or friends were interned there (Eric Liddell’s wife Florence MacKenzie was a Canadian nurse, and also a “missionary kid” with the United Church North China Mission in Henan, and later Tianjin, where she met Eric).
From what I can gather, there were up to
five Canadian nurses interned in
In addition, it is possible that
Do any of you know about any of these women? In particular, Susie Kelsy, RN or Mrs. Mary Stanley (Block 15, I think)?
As you know, the hospital is still standing at Weifang. I am also very interested in knowing more about how the hospital was organized. Susie Kelsey was repatriated on the Gripsholm, and I remember her writing that she was a bit concerned about what would happen to health care after she left since a number of doctors and nurses were leaving at the same time.
Very sincerely,
Sonya
De: "John Stanley"
<stanley@kutztown.edu>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Interned nurses
Date: lundi 26 février 2007 22:40
Weihsien list members:
I have recently signed up for the listserve and have found it very interesting to hear about the experiences and activities of those in the Camp.
Although I was not in the camp (I am too young), my father, grandfather and grandmother were there from 1943-1945. For my dissertation I looked at the history of the camp as the American Presbyterian mission station between 1883 and 1920.
I hope to hear more about the recorded experiences of the list members.
John Stanley
(grandson of "John" and Mary Stanley and son of Charles)
De: "David Birch"
<gdavidbirch@yahoo.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: My AKA???
Date: mardi 27 février 2007 4:43
I would have to agree with Pamela! The piano in the Assembly Hall/Church was a grand, a really big piano! I know there were several other pianos in the camp. I believe Block 22 had one.
David
De: "Alexander
Strangman" <dzijen@bigpond.net.au>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Interned nurses
Date: mardi 27 février 2007
9:17
Hi Sonya,
I couldn't help noticing your interesting e-mail and admiring your dedication to the task ahead.
You are quite right,
The Weishien Camp listing does show a Mrs. M.B. Stanley (Canadian) living in Block 15.
This is how the listing appears:
15/12 Stanley, C.J. American 30 M
Student
" Stanley, Mrs. M.B. (Canadian) " 30 F
Housewife
"
M Child
Even though I was 14 at the time, and situated in Block 22 ( which was located along side Block 15, end to end) andhad friends living midway along that block, I can't recall that particular family, though.
With a bit of luck though, someone else who lived in that block may remember the lady. Alison maybe?
Sorry I couldn't find Susie Kelsey listed as such, for you.
Regards,
A. (Zandy) Strangman
De: "Alexander
Strangman" <dzijen@bigpond.net.au>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: My AKA???
Date: mardi 27 février 2007
9:44
Sorry David,
I don't think a piano of any shape or form could have been squeezed into any of those rooms in OUR Block 22.
Earlier in our stay, I had the lone of a piano accordion for 2 weeks BUT I didn't think it had been that ‘noticeable’!
I shouldn't have got carried away with 'Roll Out the Barrel', like I did! That must've given the game away !
Cheers, Zandy
De: "Tapol"
<tapol@skynet.be>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Interned nurses
Date: mardi 27 février 2007
11:50
Hello,
I'm Zandy's neighbour from block-22
Try this link:
( maybe you have already found it in
http://www.weihsien-paintings.org )
http://www.weihsien-paintings.org/RonBridge/habitants/weihsien02.xls
It's a "exell" file of about 400KB --- too big to send via "Topica". It's a complete listing of all the ex-internees at Weihsien during our captivity.
Hope this helps
Best regards,
Leopold
De: "Donald Menzi"
<dmenzi@earthlink.net>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Interned nurses
Date: mardi 27 février 2007
17:11
Zandy,
The
They are the ones referred to in John's February 26 email.
Donald
De: "Sonya Grypma"
<sonya.grypma@uleth.ca>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: RE: Interned nurses
Date: mardi 27 février 2007
18:50
WOW - Thanks to all of you who have written here & who have also contacted me directly in the past 24 hours (!!). I cannot tell you all how exciting it is for me to finally get in touch with people who remember Mary and her family. I have been searching dead ends for about 5 years. Thank you all for your suggestions & leads - I will follow up on each of them.
John, it is such a pleasure to have contact with you. I had lost hope of meeting up with anyone related to the Boyd/Stanley family. I do have a fairly good understanding of the mission that Mary grew up in, but not of her life after she married. You might be interested to know that I have a couple of photos of Mary that will be included in my book - one group photo that includes Mary, her sister Dorothy, and the young Florence MacKenzie, as well as the wedding photo of Mary and Charles ("John", right?). She was gorgeous all right!
Mary was one of 7 "missionary
kids" from the United Church North China Mission (Honan/
I would love to read your dissertation, John: Is there a way I can get a hold of it? Because of the way the missions worked, it is difficult to follow the tracks of the nurses once they married. For that reason, I lost "track" of your grandmother after she married your grandfather. I would love to know more about her life after her marriage, and especially between 1941 and ~1946/47.
For John and anyone who might have any information/ documents about Mary that you are willing to share, feel free to contact me directly at sonya.grypma@uleth.ca (for example, Donald, I would be very interested to read the letters written by your grandfather).
With my sincerest thanks,
Sonya
Sonya Grypma, RN, PhD
De: "Donald Menzi"
<dmenzi@earthlink.net>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: RE: Fw: Greetings from New
Member
Date: mardi 27 février 2007
18:52
Sure, Ron,
Would anyone else like a copy of the Life
magazine pictures and story about the Gripsholm transfer in
Don
De: "Brian Butcher"
<bdbutcher@telus.net>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Greetings from New Member
Date: mardi 27 février 2007 20:17
Hello Don,
I would like a copy please. Our family did
not leave on the Gripsholm. Instead we
were evacuated to
Brian Butcher
bdbutcher@telus.net
De: "David Birch"
<gdavidbirch@yahoo.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Greetings from New Member
Date: mardi 27 février 2007 21:25
Hey Brian!
I remember you as a little boy in Weihsien camp. If you were six at the end of the war, you are about seven years younger than I. I think you parents were missionaries with the Salvation Army at the time, were they not? I recall your dad giving his testimony at a service in the camp (in Block 24 I think). It was a gripping story that even today, over 60 years later, I will never forget. He was a wonderful man - you have a rich heritage!
I'll continue in a personal email rather
than on Topica. But first I'll say that I am Canadian and live in
David
De: "Dwight W. Whipple"
<thewhipples@comcast.net>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: RE: Fw: Greetings from New
Member
Date: mercredi 28 février 2007 0:36
Don,
Would love to have the pictures and articles.
~Dwight W. Whipple
4728A
360.456.4300
thewhipples@comcast.net
De: "georgeanna knisely"
<jknisely@paonline.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Fw: Greetings from New
Member
Date: mercredi 28 février 2007 5:54
Yes, please. I was not on it, but knew people who were. Thanks so much for this catchup. Georgie Reinbrect Knisely
De: "R. E. Stannard
Jr." <restannardjr@yahoo.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: RE: Fw: Greetings from New
Member
Date: mercredi 28 février 2007 7:59
Don, actually, I'd be happy to get both, even though I already have the LIFEmagazine, as it would be nice to have them in digital form to share with siblings.
I may actually be in that NYTimes story, though not by name. Half a century ago, as a grad student working in the Cornel U library, recalling that I had been interviewed ships-side on Gripsholm arrival a dozen years earlier, by some reporter, I decided to look up the microfilm for that day just in case it had gotten in.
It turned out I DID find the NYT story, and
deep on an inside page found an interview with an unnamed boy about his
experiences. I recognized things I had told him about biking in
If it is the same story in its entirety, it would be a particularly welcome keepsake!
Thanks, Ted Stannard ChapeiCamp/Gripsholm 1943Mar-Dec
De: "R. E. Stannard
Jr." <restannardjr@yahoo.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: RE: LIFE & NYTimes Gripsholm
stories on CD
Date: mercredi 28 février 2007 8:40
Don -- I believe I forgot to provide a postal address. See the signature box below. Ted Stannard
______________________________________________________________________
R.E.Stannard Jr. (Ted) & Femmy T. Stannard
e-mail :
restannardjr@yahoo.com
femmystannard@yahoo.com
backup : stannard@cc.wwu.edu phone: (360) 392-0712
postal :
Western Washington U. prof.emeritus;
De: "Tapol"
<tapol@skynet.be>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Fw: Fw: Greetings from New
Member
Date: mercredi 28 février 2007 8:57
> Yes :-)) I'd like to have a copy --- thanks in advance ---
> Best regards,
> Leopold
>
De: "
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: RE: Interned nurses
Date: mercredi 28 février 2007 14:27
I am in direct contact with Sonya as she has queries re people in other camps.
Ron
PS the
De: "Donald Menzi"
<dmenzi@earthlink.net>
À: "weihsien"
<weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: More on the Gripsholm
Date: mercredi 28 février 2007 18:12
Those of you with an interest in the Gripsholm may also want to visit the web site I set up to distribute materials to Wilder and Stanley family members.
Once on the site, go to "Directory", then to "4.b Repatriation Journey." where you will find Gertrude Wilder's paintings of ports visited by the Gripsholm on the way back. The links to documents listed on that page aren't working, but you can download descriptions of the trip by going to "4.c Documents to Download" and scrolling down to "1943....." Unfortunately, you may find that when these were copied from Word Perfect, the punctuation formats didn't translate well, so you'll have to interpret some characters as ", ' :, etc.
I'd be interested in your feedback on these pictures and documents.
Donald
De: "Donald Menzi"
<dmenzi@earthlink.net>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Fw: Fw: Greetings from New
Member
Date: mercredi 28 février 2007 19:11
TO: All those I promised to send the Life Magazine story
For some inexplicable reason, I am temporarily unable to locate the "safe place" where I stored my copy of Life with the Gripsholm photos. I've ordered another copy, which should be here in a few days, so there will be a slight delay.
By the way, would one of you who has a copy
please check the date for me to make sure that I'm getting the correct
one? The photos were from their time in
Goa, which was October 1943, but the issue that lists a photo-essay about the
Gripsholm is December 22, after they had already landed in
In the mean time, I am attaching my
grandmother's humorous description of conditions on board the Teia Maru, which
took them from
Donald
ON THE GOOD SHIP TEIA MARU –
A SATIRE
By Gertrude S. Wilder
ON THE GOOD SHIP TEIA MARU: A SATIRE
Have you only $2 million to spend on your vacation trip? You can spend it all on the beautiful M.S. Teia Maru (formerly the Aramis)!
Let us help you plan your holiday. Why spend your days on an ordinary ship when
you can spend four weeks on the Teia?
Sail up the glorious Whangpu to
Why spend tedious hours sightseeing when you can sit in sulky boredom on such a floating palace, where the use of a deck chair costs but $100 and your friends are all around you - and on you?
Have you never had a chance to meet the best people? Bible-thumping missionaries that you never knew existed; shake a murderer’s hand; call the jail birds by their first names, and remember all the mugs you see are not mugs B some are priests.
See
the movie you saw 15 years ago, if you are able to get near it. On the Teia it will seem new to you. Spend entrancing hours absorbing the Japanese
propaganda so thoughtfully provided.
Take long hours away on the line for soda pop B you won’t need to spend your
money, as it will all be sold out before you get to the window. Stifle in the airy, spacious second-class
dining salon, playing bridge in boiler-room temperature. Or one can have a cup of so-called coffee and a minute piece of
cake for a mere $15 B no, not for the whole party,
but $15 each! Where do you think you are, at the Ritz? Keep up your fighting spirit and get your
deck chairs early!
You won’t miss your boozy atmosphere, as your bed mates smell like a brewery. Are you afraid to sleep in the dark? There is no need to be, as 60 watt lights will shine in your eyes all night long on this grand ship Teia.
Are you sleepless? Try the luxurious coffin-sized mattress, stuffed with wooden clothes-pegs as a bed on the hardest ball-room floor afloat. No blankets needed -- the other 250 bed-fellows will keep you warm.
Don’t worry about clothes for the cruise - on the Teia it’s smart to be shabby. Have you worried about packing on other ship lines? Travel by N.Y.K and avoid it all. You’ll never unpack a thing on the Teia - there won’t be enough space! To the sophisticated traveler washing and ironing present no problem whatever aboard this luxury liner. Just throw your things overboard. Think of how glad the fish will be to chew your rags!
Have you ever been thirsty? Don’t risk it. To ask for a second glass of water elicits nothing but a steward’s vacant stare. Can’t read the signs? Don’t let an ignorance of French handicap you. The smell will guide you to where you want to go!
Rise with the lark, get ahead of the nuns and wash in a teaspoon of cold water in a basin with no stopper. Try our Japanese style bath once after the crew members have finished with theirs. Salt water, free of charge, provided for your teeth - both natural and false.
Do you want to reduce? Are you ashamed of that ugly rubber-tire bulge of your waist line? Rise from the table feeling that you could repeat the meal. Do not eat between meals B it can’t be done unless the boy first gets his $100 B from you. Does the sight of fruit in various ports make your mouth water? Forget about it - it is not for you. The Japanese police will chase the fruit boats away, and throw the fruit into the water in true co-prosperity fashion.
Try cold rice curry for a midnight snack - no spoons, just use your fingers or the handle of your tooth brush. The 60 watt lights will enable you to snare the dehydrated worms in the nick of time.
Don’t worry about the correct tips - the boy will be sure to tell you how much he wants. No steward can get a job on the N.Y.K. luxury liners unless he has served an apprenticeship of ten years with Ali Baba and his forty thieves. Have you paid a $10 cover charge and got no cover? You will on the Teia Maru!
On other lines you have never had occasion to use a life belt. On the Teia it is not so. You use it daily for a pillow and have it handy in case of ship wreck. Not less than ten other people will want the one you have, so be smart and get yours early.
Book early on this luxury liner, the gem of the N.Y.K. fleet. Travel exclusively by her and you will never have a moment’s comfort from the internment camp ‘till you leave the ship. And remember the Teia motto – “Nothing could be worse than this!”
De: "Dwight W. Whipple"
<thewhipples@comcast.net>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Fw: Fw: Greetings from New
Member
Date: mercredi 28 février 2007 20:03
Donald~
The correct date of the Life Magazine in question is December 20, 1943 [10cents]!
~Dwight
4728A
360.456.4300
thewhipples@comcast.net
De: "Dwight W. Whipple"
<thewhipples@comcast.net>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: RE: LIFE & NYTimes Gripsholm
stories on CD
Date: mercredi 28 février 2007
20:49
Hi Ted~
Couldn't help but notice your
~Dwight W. Whipple
4728A
360.456.4300
thewhipples@comcast.net
-----
Original Message -----
From: Donald
Menzi
Sent:
Wednesday, February 28, 2007 9:06 PM
Subject: Re:
Fw: Fw: Greetings from New Member
Thanks, Dwight,
When I get my replacement copy of Life, I will scan it and send it to Leopold along with copies of the New York Times articles chronicling the Gripsholm's journey.
By the way, it's very nice to have new people join this group, making it an ever-widening circle with a common interest, however tangential.
Donald
De: "David Birch"
<gdavidbirch@yahoo.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: My AKA???
Date: jeudi 1 mars 2007 3:32
Thank you, Pamela, for sharing your recollection. I did not realize that the piano was a Steinway, the Prince of Pianos, Wow!!! But I do remember listening to it being played many times. Do you remember Mr Percy Gleed? He was an outstanding pianist and often accompanied Sunday services. Miss Talati spent countless hours making the piano speak eloquently and sing impressively!
I also remember Mr Elden Whipple Sr, Dwight's father playing that piano just before so many of the Americans were repatriated!
Wonderful memories! I hope the piano received a good home after the war. A Steinway should last for generations if it is well maintained!
David
De: "Pamela Masters"
<pamela@hendersonhouse.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: My AKA???
Date: jeudi 1 mars 2007 3:54
Thanks, David, for mentioning Percy Gleed. I certainly remembered him, but I couldn't recall his name.
Isn't it lovely how time always smoothes out the rough spots in our lives ?
Pamela
Pamela Masters –
De: "R. E. Stannard
Jr." <restannardjr@yahoo.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: RE: LIFE & NYTimes Gripsholm stories on CD
Date: jeudi 1 mars 2007 4:32
We moved here from
years after you left. Yes, let's work out a rendezvous some time. Ted
--- "Dwight W. Whipple" <thewhipples@comcast.net> wrote:
De: "Donald Menzi"
<dmenzi@earthlink.net>
À: "weihsien"
<weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Gripsholm Articles
Date: jeudi 1 mars 2007 5:59
I tried emailing some NY Times articles about the Gripsholm, but they were over Topica's size limit.
I'll 'll have to send them to Leopold and he will put the on the web site to be downloaded.
Donald
De: "Donald Menzi"
<dmenzi@earthlink.net>
À: "weihsien"
<weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: The Gripsholm in the New York
Times
Date: vendredi 2 mars 2007 5:20
Hello, all,
I just emailed Leopold about two dozen articles about the Gripsholm that appeared in the New York Times from Sept. through Dec. 1943. He will post them somewhere in the Weihsien labyrinth and let us all know where to find and download them.
Donald
De: "Joyce Cook"
<bobjoyce@tpg.com.au>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Fw: portraits
Date: vendredi 2 mars 2007 10:56
Dear WeiHsieners
As you can see from the email from Ivonne Ozorio (Now Rozicki) she has looked at her photo No. 22b and here is her response. I think it is her! Joyce Bradbury
----- Original Message -----
From: Tony Rozicki
To: Bob Bradbury
Sent: Friday, March 02, 2007 2:22 PM
Subject: Re: portraits
Hi! Bob/Joyce,
I finally figured out how to find the famous photos. With the help of Nathan,my grandson.
The one of me or supposed to be me, I am not sure because I dont remember what I looked like.
The more I look at that photo, the more I think that Albert is right, As far as the other photos are
concerned, I recognised Dennis Carter and The Tchoos, also Marinellis, the two sisters. Gay Talbot
I remember her. I know Joyce would know many more.
Sorry took so long. Thanks again.
Ivonne
-----
Original Message -----
From:
Bob Bradbury
To:
Tony Rozicki
Sent:
Tuesday, February 20, 2007 11:33 AM
Subject: Fw:
portraits
Dear Yvonne. There is a photograph that looks very much like you amongst some taken about the time of the liberation, Have a look at it and let me know. The photo can be found at http://www.weihsien-paintings.org/GregLeck/pages/p_portraits01 photo No. 22b. If you can identify anybody else amongst the photos let me know. Joyce.
De: "J. EDWARD IMMERGLUCK"
<IMMER0808@MSN.COM>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Copies of Life mag pictures
and articles re Gripsholm
Date: dimanche 4 mars 2007 4:59
Thanks for your generosity, Don. I too would enjoy and appreciate receiving those articles and pictures.
Sincerely,
Ed Immergluck immer0808@msn.com<mailto:immer0808@msn.com>
Co-organizer of 2006 OCH
-----
Original Message -----
From: Donald
Menzi
Sent:
Sunday, March 04, 2007 7:04 AM
Subject: Re:
Copies of Life mag pictures and articles re Gripsholm
Many of you have indicated an interest in the Life magazine photo essay about the Gripsholm. I have now scanned them all and sent them to Leopold Pander who will be creating a page for them along with the series of New York Times articles on the Gripsholm that I sent him last week. I think that this will satisfy most people's needs. If not, I am open to sending them on a CD to each of you separately, but I would guess that the Weihsien web site will work well enough for most of us.
In the mean time, if you want to read all
of the New York Times articles, tracking the Gripsholm as it went from
http://www.weihsien-paintings.org/DonMenzi/indexFrame.htm
After you get there you can click on the thumbnail on the left margin to see the complete text of each article. Many of them are just brief notices, but the series shows how people all over the world were following the progress of the "mercy ship."
Leopold says this is a new format, so let him know how well it works for you. He will be setting up something similar for the Life photos.
Once again, this has proved that the web site has really become an invaluable archive for all of us.
Thank you again, Leopold.
Donald
De: "Dwight W. Whipple"
<thewhipples@comcast.net>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Copies of Life mag pictures
and articles re Gripsholm
Date: dimanche 4 mars 2007 8:28
Thanks, Don, for the stunning pictures and articles of the repatriation voyage. I remember it well as a seven year old. It was a great adventure then and a lot of memories are being stirred.
~Dwight W. Whipple
4728A
360.456.4300
thewhipples@comcast.net
De: "R. E. Stannard
Jr." <restannardjr@yahoo.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Copies of Life mag pictures
and articles re Gripsholm
Date: dimanche 4 mars 2007 10:48
Don -- much thanks for getting the set
posted. Everything was readable except the inside page on the
Could the individual clips on that inside page be posted separately, or is there away to "zoom in" that I haven't figured out?
By
the way, while on the Gripsholm trip I ran with a little "Gang of
Five" about my age(12) -- Carl Scovel, Charlie Loucks, Johnny Hayes, David
Phillipi (I'm not certain of that last spelling), and myself. Carl is the only
one I ever saw again, and we have remained in regular touch ever since renewing
acquaintance at
Does anyone on this list have any knowledge of the other three boys? I'd
be very interested in hearing anything about them -- then or now. Charlie's
father had been physician with a noted exhibition that gathered dinosauer eggs
& bones in
Our little gang turned entrepreneurial on the Gripsholm leg of the trip, setting up a shoe-shine business. Unfortunately we lost a pair or two along the way, and paying for them consumed whatever profit we might have made. Anyone recall anything like that?
On
the Teia Maru I remember the Japanese broke out a case or two of the English-language
propaganda books they had aboard for the returning Japanese from
I also remember we explored down into the bowels of the Teia Maru and found the darkened, spooky (and empty) swimming pool -- once an elegant place for a dip, I understand.
My
family did experience one remarkable coincidence on the TM: my mother and the
two youngest siblings were assigned to a cabin right next to one we had occupied
returning from a 1936 furlough in
Although my father and I had been assigned with the rest of the men & older boys to the wooden shelves in the hold, we were able to squeeze all five of us into the cabin together by having the two youngest double up in a bunk and my father sleeping on the floor between bunks.
Ted Stannard (chapei/gripsholm mar-sec1943)
De: "Tapol"
<tapol@skynet.be>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Copies of Life mag pictures
and articles re Gripsholm
Date: dimanche 4 mars 2007
12:20
Dear Ted,
On the right of the picture representing
the
If ever that doesn't work, I added the text as "attachment" to this mail ---
Let me know if this works OK for you?
Best regards,
Leopold
De: "Tapol"
<tapol@skynet.be>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Copies of Life mag pictures
and articles re Gripsholm
Date: dimanche 4 mars 2007 13:50
I remember the
Must have been in 1948-49 before we left on
board the s/s President Cleveland for
Best regards,
Leopold
De: "Donald Menzi"
<dmenzi@earthlink.net>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Copies of Life mag pictures
and articles re Gripsholm
Date: dimanche 4 mars 2007 19:34
Ted,
I'll re-send the
Don
De: "Tracy Strong"
<tstrong@weber.ucsd.edu>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Copies of Life mag pictures
and articles re Gripsholm
Date: lundi 5 mars 2007 0:06
Don -- is there any chance you could copy me on these
-- many thanks
TBS
--
Tracy B. Strong
De: "Donald Menzi"
<dmenzi@earthlink.net>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Copies of Life mag pictures
and articles re Gripsholm
Date: lundi 5 mars 2007 3:26
Sure, Tracy.
I'll copy you on what I send Leopold.
Donald
De: "R. E. Stannard
Jr." <restannardjr@yahoo.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Copies of Life mag pictures
and articles re Gripsholm
Date: lundi 5 mars 2007 7:39
---
Leopold <tapol@skynet.be> wrote:
"On
the right of the picture representing the
Splendid! Worked perfectly! I hadn't thought to try that page-flipper.
Interesting, though it didn't include the interview I remember finding in the NYTimes back in graduate school. Perhaps that was a feature sidebar rather than part of the main story. I'll have to look it up one of these days.
>
I remember the
>
Before we arrived in the school, there was a garden with a jungle-Jim.
>
Must have been in 1948-49 before we left on board the s/s President Cleveland
for
Just got up and checked my postWWII SAS yearbooks. No Leopold in the 1948 Columbian, but p.38 of the blue-bound 1947 Columbian shows a Leopold Pander grinning in the front row (second from left) of the kindergarten class picture.
That you? I'll try to CC a copy to you separately. (I was on pg27, junior class)
Also note a Jeanne Pander in 3rd grade.(front row, second from right) Sister?
00
That picture makes you an alumnus and a hot candidate for our next global
all-SAS
reunion in
If we can lure you to
Regards, Ted Stannard SAS 37-38,46-48, chapei/gripsholm mar/dec43
De: "Tapol"
<tapol@skynet.be>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Cc: "Janette & Pierre
@ home" <pierre.ley@pandora.be>
Objet: Re: Copies of Life mag pictures
and articles re Gripsholm
Date: lundi 5 mars 2007 12:23
Dear Ted,
Fantastic --- thanks for the pictures ---- It's me all right :-)) I never saw those pictures --- and the other picture with my sister Janette is also the good one. I'll be adding those photographs to our "family treasures" ---
Thanks again,
Leopold
-----
Original Message -----
From: Raymond
Moore
Sent:
Saturday, March 10, 2007 5:35 AM
Subject: Mrs
Lack re Weihsien
Hello everyone.
I have been silent for some time, but have avidly read every word that
has been contributed.
A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of meeting Greg Leck when he came to
I have also recently been doing some more work on my story which is on
my website, and came across this letter which Mrs. Lack wrote to parents of
Dear all of you,
How are you after nearly four years?
I have had one Red Cross letter in three years and nine months, and I am
afraid most of mine never left this camp.
I am afraid you must wait for the story of these years until I get out
as work is almost night and day now as two of us are sorting and packing for
the boys. We have used curtains,
mattress covers, table cloths, anything we could lay our hands on to cut out
and make clothes they can wear when they travel home. We have lost everything, and so has the
school, except for our dirty bedding.
The bed bugs have been at their worst during this hot weather, and I am
afraid our boxes will all have to be fumigated.
At last the war is over. We heard it whispered by a Chinese, but we
did not believe it because we have been hearing it at least once a week
anyway. Last Friday, on August 17th, an
American B24 flew over. We all knew it
was not a Japanese place because it flew lower and lower, backwards and
forwards and so low it blew our hats off.
We shouted and cheered and laughed and cried. You can have no idea what this meant to
us. One of the children ran to me and
said, AOh, Mrs. Lack, will Mummy know they are flying over us?@ AYes@ I said, Aby this evening it will be broadcast all over the world
Our children have been wonderful and it has not been easy for them. We have had no beds for over three years and
have hardly been able to keep clean with just one piece of soap a month. Mr. Bruce, Mrs. Houghton and the boys have
taken on the washing of sheets for the past eight months as we were all
breaking down under it. Four of us did
it most of the time until I was ill last summer, then we started a squad
arrangement, Mrs. Houghton, Miss Williams, Mrs. Henderson and I do the minor
wash, but others relieve us for the last basket, and the sheets are done by the
team I mentioned above. Mending and
finding clothes and bug fighting fill the rest of the time. Now we look forward to beds, clean beds, and
a meal set at a table.
To get back to August 17th. After
the American plane had flown back and forth over us for about 10 minutes, it
suddenly rose to about 600 feet and to our surprise, seven men parachuted down,
followed by 25 loads of supplies. What a
sight! It was nearly more than we could
bear. Men dashed to the West Wall and
over they went. Then we all broke bounds,
men, women and children ran past the Japanese guard and out through the gate
while the guard stood helpless. After the men had parachuted down, they said
they flew low because they thought they might be fired on, and also they had to
be sure it was the right place as nobody was quite sure where the camp
was. The first thing the Major told us
was that we must go back inside again as peace had not yet been signed, and it
was still dangerous. We are all quiet
again now and do not expect to move yet.
The sick will leave by plane first, possibly this week, including one of
our CIM boys.
We had a Victory supper yesterday outside on the playing field, where
each had a tomato and an apple - a real feast as we had all been longing for
some fresh fruit. The Chinese have been
sending in food too, so we are almost overwhelmed. When we ran outside the gates on the day the
Americans arrived, the Chinese were shocked at all the bare feet, and some of
them picked up the children to carry them to the camp. The men and the boys were all shirtless too,
so gifts of vests have been coming in from Chinese outside. I think the dear souls thought we had no
clothes at all. Chinese Christians keep coming
to the gate to bring us food, but after the lean fare of the past years, we
find we cannot eat so much now that we have it.
I was sick on Victory Day after eating an apple, but we will get used to
it.
This is a sample of the menu we have been used to:
Breakfast - bread and water
Lunch - stew and tea
Dinner - Soup and water.
Two slices of bread and clear tea once a day, no milk at all, a small
amount of sugar till May of this year and since then none at all. The little children and babies had a little
milk. We have had one Red Cross parcel
since coming here, though the airmen tell us America sent one every month.@
My mother comments on this letter as
follows:
"This
letter from Mrs. Lack was the first real news we had of the conditions Raymond
had lived under for the past three years at least, and we marvelled that he
looked as well as he did. Unpacking his
trunk, I was amused and moved to find one pair of pyjamas - one of the pairs I
had sent him to school with five years before.
They had been added to a number of times as he grew, and the material
was very thin and well patched. A note
from one of the staff apologised that the colour of the pyjamas and the few
sheets she had sent back were such a dirty gray, but they had had to wash
everything without soap, so it was impossible to get things really clean."
Bev & Ray Moore
Phone and Fax: (613) 5174 0531
Website: http://home.vicnet.net.au/~raymoore
Blog: http://raym82.blogspot.com
De: "Joyce Cook"
<bobjoyce@tpg.com.au>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Fw: Greetings from New
Member
Date: samedi 10 mars 2007 8:45
Hi Donald.
Yes please I would love one. Joyce Bradbury.
De: "Tapol"
<tapol@skynet.be>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Mrs Lack re Weihsien
Date: samedi 10 mars 2007 10:09
Dear Raymond,
Thanks for your web-site and blog address ---- fantastic :-))
Marvellous layout --- congratulations ---
Leopold
De:
<grannydavies@aol.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re:Donald Menzi.
Date: dimanche 11 mars 2007
2:33
Hello Donald Menzi, I would like to have your pictures from Weihsien,
Thanks, Phyllis (Evans) Davies@
De: "Eddie Cooke"
<shedco@optusnet.com.au>
À: "Weihsien@Topica.Com"
<weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Greetings from new member
Date: mercredi 14 mars 2007 1:25
Hi there Donald,
Yes please, I too would love a copy of your latest masterpiece! I just wish I had a fraction of your flair, creativity and computer knowhow .
Eddie Cooke,
De: "John Stanley"
<stanley@kutztown.edu>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Weifang No. 2 Middle School
Date: lundi 19 mars 2007 2:28
Dear topica list:
This summer I will be traveling to
John Stanley
De: "David Birch"
<gdavidbirch@yahoo.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Weifang No. 2 Middle School
Date: lundi 19 mars 2007 6:44
Hullo John,
I'm glad you are interested in Weifang. Our host while we were there in 2005 was a remarkable gentleman named Mr Sui Shude. I think Sui is his surname and Shude (probably pronounced Shoo Deh with accent on final syllable) is his given name. He acted as our tour guide and interpreter, and accompanied us nearly everywhere we went. He has an official position with the Weifang city government I believe. There's also a woman from Weifang city who has sent us some emails to keep in touch. She is asking us for information we may have that would help them to make a movie documentary of Weihsien Camp!
It's late and I must get to bed but I will send you the email addresses Monday morning!
Blessings!
David
De: "Donald Menzi"
<dmenzi@earthlink.net>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Cc: "shude" <suishude@sohu.com>;
"shude-1" <suishude@sina.com>
Objet: Re: Weifang No. 2 Middle School
Date: lundi 19 mars 2007 7:08
John,
Your host should definintely be Sui Shude, of the Weifang translator's bureau. Two email addresses I have for him are:
suishude@sohu.com
suishude@sina.com
There may be a more recent address, which I will send you if I find it. I think you find him and the other Weifang government people to be exceedingly graceous, wonderful hosts.
Donald
De: "Tapol" <tapol@skynet.be>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Fw: From Weifang
Date: lundi 19 mars 2007 9:07
--- This message must help you to contact Mr. Sui Shude ---
Best regards,
Leopold
----- Original Message -----
From: suishude@sohu.com
To: Neil Yorkston
Sent: Thursday, August 17, 2006 4:47 PM
Subject: From Weifang
From Sui Shude, Weifang
Dear Weihsieners and Weihsien Friends-related,
Today Last yyear, August 17th 2006, Weifang
People's Government and Weifang Foreign Affairs Office held the celebration on
"The 60th Anniversary of the Liberation of the Weihsien Camp" in
I am so proud that in that short period of time, with the help of many friends all over the world, to find, contact and invite so many Weihsieners and families for the occasion. Here I want to say THANK YOU to those friends who offered great help to me on my contacting job.
I especially want to extend my sincere thanks to Assemblywoman Mary Previte of U.S.A., Bill Einreinhofer, David Beard, David Birch, Desmond Power, Donald Menzi, Estelle Cliff Horne, Francis Joyce, Gladys Swift, Ian Grant, James Taylor, Jim More, Joyce Bradbury, Leopold Pander, Natasha Petersen, Neil Yorkston, Nicky Leopold, Norman Cliff,Pamela Masters, Roy Campbell, Tracy Strong and many other friends that all on my list.
We are so happy that all the people participated in the meeting enjoy their trip and stay. We are so happy that our government find the right time to hold a celebration like that. We are so happy that the celebration aroused the interest of so many people and sounded the whole world.
Weifang People's Government will try all the best to maintain the camp-site well, as well as the exhibition rooms and the old houses, and to furnish more and more new-collected articles, information and content to it, to preserve this historical site forever to tell and teach the younger generations. And most important, to keep it for memories and visits of all Weihsieners and their ! families all over the world.
Today, as the contacting organizer of the the celebration meeting, I am thinking of you all, who came to the celebration, who contacted me for information of the event and who visited the camp-site with me.....
I wish you all the best and look forward to see any of you again in Weifang.
Sui Shude
Foreign and Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of
Weifang People's Government
E-mail: suishude@sohu.com
E-Mail:
emailshude@yahoo.com.cn
Tel/Fax:++86-536-8233692
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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*用搜狗拼音写邮件，体验更流畅的中文输入>>
--^----------------------------------------------------------------
De: "guiying
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Weifang No. 2 Middle School
Date: mardi 20 mars 2007 13:19
Hello John:
This is jenny, director of foreign affairs office, Weifang municipal
Government. I am so glad that you are
interested in our camp, and hope to be of help now we are preparing to make a
movie documentary about it and scheduled to go to
RGDS
JENNY
De: "Donald Menzi"
<dmenzi@earthlink.net>
À: "weihsien"
<weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: NY Times and Life Magazine
Coverage of The Gripsholm
Date: mardi 20 mars 2007 17:08
I have finally figured out how to distribute copies of the NY Times and Life magazine coverage of the Gripsholm without having to make CDs for everyone. If you will go to my "family" web site - http://d.menzi.org - and click on the word 'Directory" at the top of the page, you will find a section called "Special Downloads." Clicking on the documents listed there will open them and you can copy them to your computer, saving them to whatever folder you wish. If you don't already have Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is necessary to the process, it also tells you how to get it.
This should take care of everyone who sent me an email asking for a copy of these articles - and anyone else who is interested, too. If you are unable to get this to work, let me know and we'll figure something else out.
By the time you have finished reading this, Leopold will probably have already made them available for downloading from the main Wehsien site, but you may find this route simpler to navigate.
Donald
De: "Donald Menzi"
<dmenzi@earthlink.net>
À: "weihsien"
<weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: 1945 Leaflet - also Life and NY
Times Gripholm coverage
Date: mardi 20 mars 2007 17:09
Hello, all,
A friend of mine who was interned in Shanghai as a young boy recently went back to his old stamp collection and came across one of the leaflets that was dropped by U.S. planes in August 1945 telling Allied prisoners that the war was almost over and they would be liberated soon. I have attached a jpeg file copy of the leaflet.
Does anyone remember this from Weihsien?
Also, I have finally figured out how to
distribute copies of the NY Times and Life magazine coverage of the Gripsholm
without having to make CDs for everyone.
If 
you will go to my
"family" web site - http://d.menzi.org
- and click on the word 'Directory"
at the top of the page, you will find a section called "Special
Downloads." Clicking on the
documents listed there will open them and you can copy them to your computer,
saving them to whatever folder you wish. If you don't already have Adobe Acrobat
Reader, which is necessary to the process, it also tells you how to get it.
This should take care of everyone who sent me an email asking for a copy of these articles - and anyone else who is interested, too. If you are unable to get this to work, let me know and we'll figure something else out.
By the time you have finished reading this, Leopold will probably have already made them available for downloading from the main Wehsien site, but you may find this route simpler to navigate.
Donald
De: "Donald Menzi"
<dmenzi@earthlink.net>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: 1945 Leaflet - also Life and
NY Times Gripholm coverage
Date: mardi 20 mars 2007 17:58
By now you have probably received at least two versions of my last email - one with the leaflet attached and one without, because Topica kept bouncing them back until I had reduced the size of the attached file sufficiently and I wasn't sure that the leafletted version would ever make it.
I would add that I have also made available
for downloading Howard Galt's memoirs of his time in Weihsien and the Gripsholm
journey. I learned about these documents
from the end notes in John Hersey's novel, The Call and obtained copies from
the
I have also posted a document describing my grandparents' Gripsholm experience. My grandmother's is a satirical piece about life aboard the Teia Maru, while George Wilder's describes the entire journey from an ornithologist's viewpoint, which may be mostly of interest to bird-lovers.
I'm happy that the Gripsholm material has turned out to be of interest to so many of you. It adds to the pleasure of assembling it.
Donald
De: "Tapol"
<tapol@skynet.be>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Fw: 1945 Leaflet - also Life and
NY Times Gripholm coverage
Date: mardi 20 mars 2007 18:37
Thanks Donald ---- all is absolutely perfect, readable and printable ---
Best regards,
Leopold
De: "Alison Holmes"
<aholmes@prescott.edu>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: RE: 1945 Leaflet - also Life and NY Times Gripholm coverage
Date: mardi 20 mars 2007 19:50
Oh I am so pleased to see this leaflet! I have remembered it vividly and so have been surprised that others have not been mentioning it, but in my memory I have conflated the pamphlets and the liberation on the same morning. I see us in the church having a singing lesson, seeing the plane out of the window, running past the ineffectively protesting teacher, out on to the roll call field, seeing the pamphlets, then seeing the plane re-circle and finally the seven brightly coloured parachutes and rushing to the main gate. What tricks memory can play!
Alison
De: "Donald Menzi"
<dmenzi@earthlink.net>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: RE: 1945 Leaflet - also Life and
NY Times Gripholm coverage
Date: mardi 20 mars 2007 20:32
Alison,
Your memory may not be faulty. This one came from
What do others of you remember?
Donald
De: "lucy lu"
<lucy9859@hotmail.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Cc:
<dmenzi@earthlink.net>
Date: mercredi 21 mars 2007 11:02
Dear Donald Menzi,
Glad to say that I’ve got your CD mailed which is so precious and interesting. I’ll value it very much. Now I’d like to, on behalf of Ms. Wang, director of Weifang foreign and overseas Chinese affairs office, say thanks very much for your kindness and helpfulness.
Best regards.
Sincerely,
lucy
interpreter and vice section chief,
section for
weifang foreign and overseas chinese affairs office
De: "rod miller"
<rmmiller@optusnet.com.au>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: 1945 Leaflet - also Life and
NY Times Gripholm coverage
Date: jeudi 22 mars 2007 5:07
Donald
>I'm happy that the Gripsholm material has turned out to be of interest to so many of you. It adds to the pleasure of assembling it.
>
>Donald
Many thanks for all your efforts.
Rod
De: <MTPrevite@aol.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Weihsie -- facts about its early
history as a college
Date: dimanche 25 mars 2007 0:17
Here's an early history of the COURTYARD OF
THE HAPPY WAY that later became the “
This fascinating excerpt comes from “The
First in
Mary T. Previte
The first college in
He believed that since social superstitions
had held
Usually he was stern and serious in manner, a splendid image in those days for a
school principal. Students nicknamed
him “Di Lao Hu,” roughly translated “Di, the Tiger.” He forbade the use of tobacco and alcohol either inside or outside the
campus. During Dr. Mateer’s tenure
at
Henry Winters Luce, a Presbyterian missionary, was also a teacher at the
college. (Luce was the father of Henry R.
Luce, who later founded and became Managing
Director of the
When an already-existing school at Weihsien was burned during the Boxer Rebelion of 1900, Henry Winters Luce raised money to rebuild it as a university.
In 1901, Watson M. Hayes, D.D., Calvin Mateer’s successor, left Tengchow College to establish a
provincial college in Tsinan (now called
Jinan, the provincial capital) and also
established the first daily newspaper in Shandong province. The college was
moved to Weihsien in 1904. Weihsien was
halfway by rail between Tsingtao (
College merged with a college founded by British Baptists in Tsingchow (now called Yidu).
The new school at Weihsien became a university with colleges of the arts,
medicine, and theology with 120
students. Due to primitive transportation
using only mules, it took more than a year for the laboratory and workshops to
be set up on the new college campus. Living
on the campus during his retirement, Calvin Mateer erected a windmill near his
workshop, a landmark visible for a few
miles southeast of the city of
In 1917,
the college moved from Weihsien to Tsinan and merged with medical colleges from Hankow,
Naning, Peking, Mukden and became known as
Today, the
During World War II (1941-1945) after
Among the prisoners interned at Weihsien were Watson M. Hayes, his wife and son. Hayes was a successor to Calvin Mateer and a founder and principal of the North China Theological Seminary established in Tenghsien. For many reasons, he refused to be repatriated under the 1943 prisoner exchange arranged by the International Red Cross. Watson Hayes, 86, died in 1944 just one year before the camp was liberated.
(Note from Mary Previte: What memories have you of John Hayes, the son of Watson Hayes, in Weihsien?)
(Moses Chu, a scholar, businessman, and prolific writer, grew up in
De: "R. E. Stannard
Jr." <restannardjr@yahoo.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Weihsie -- facts about its
early history as a college
Date: dimanche 25 mars 2007 1:43
---
MTPrevite@aol.com wrote:
>
Among the oprisoners interned at
Weihsien were Watson M. Hayes, his wife and son. Hayes was a successor
to Calvin Mateer and a founder and
principal of the North China Theological
Seminary established in Tenghsien.
>
For many reasons, he refused to be repatriated
under the 1943 prisoner exchange arranged by the International Red
Cross. Watson Hayes, 86, died in 1944 just one year before the camp was liberated.
>
(Note from Mary Previte: What memories have you of John Hayes, the son
of Watson Hayes, in Weihsien?)
Mary, I was at Chapei, not Weihsien, but on the Gripsholm I ran with a fellow 12-year-old named Johnny Hayes -- not likely the son of an 85-year-old! But quite possibly a grandson, if Watson's son John also had a wife & son there.
Anybody know? I've wondered ever since what happened to
Johnny and two other members of our Gripsholm gang of five, Charlie Loucks and
David Philippi. The fifth, Carl Scovel, was my schoolmate at
Ted Stannard [R.E.Stannard Jr.]
De: "R. E. Stannard
Jr." <restannardjr@yahoo.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Weihsie -- facts about its
early history as a college
Date: dimanche 25 mars 2007 2:35
I did google up this information on John
David Hayes, Watson Hayes son, and learned there that his wife and two youngest
of their fivechildren had been sent to the
Ted Stannard
=================
http://webtext.library.yale.edu/xml2html/divinity.127.con.html
John David Hayes
Chronology
1888 Feb 23
Born in Tengchowfu,
1910
A.B.,
1911
Appointed Rhodes Scholar from
1914
B.A.,
1914-1915
Service with Y.M.C.A. in
1916 Married Barbara M. Kelman
1917
B.D.,
1917-1952
Presbyterian Church in the
1918 -1931 Involved in various flood and famine relief projects
1925 -1942
Served on faculty and administration of
1943 Mar - 1945 Sep Interned by Japanese authorities in Weihsien
Civilian Assembly Centre,
1948
Returned to
1949 -1951 Mar Taught at government university following Communist takeover
1951 Oct - 1952 Sep Jailed by Communists
1955
Went to
1957
Died from injuries suffered in an automobile accident in
=================================
http://www.mundus.ac.uk/cats/3/28.htm
Hayes, John D. (1888-1957) and Hayes, Barbara M. (b 1893)
Administrative/Biographical history:
John David Hayes, American Presbyterian
missionary in
Barbara Hayes did mission work with women and with the children of missionaries as well as raising five children herself.
The Hayes were on furlough from 1923-24 and
from 1936-37 when Hayes studied in
The Hayes were assigned to the
After his death Barbara Hayes travelled
throughout
De: "georgeanna knisely"
<jknisely@paonline.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Weihsie -- facts about its
early history as a college
Date: dimanche 25 mars 2007 3:00
John Hayes was our neighbor in Weihsien
with his parents. He married my husband and me in 1955. Johnny Hayes and John's
mother were in the
I am now 74 years old. Do not have an
address for him. John Hayes was killed in an accident in
John Hayes' experience in Communist prison was written up in Reader's Digest - don't know when and not certain I have a copy - will look.
Georgie Reinbrecht Knisely
De: "Eddie Cooke"
<shedco@optusnet.com.au>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: re 1945 leaflet
Date: dimanche 25 mars 2007
11:49
Alison and anyone else interested--
I'm pretty sure we didn't have any of the
I clearly remember being in the hospital, which is still standing, having my lower lip dressed after I had split it a week earlier playing, looking out the window and seeing the B24 "Armoured Angel" with a pin up girl in a bathing suit painted on the side. The nurse dropped everything and ran out followed by me. I hightailed it back to my Block 2 and of course the rest is history. I haven't got a scanner but I'll try and have someone else put it on the Topica site.
Regards to all, Eddie Cooke.
De: "R. E. Stannard
Jr." <restannardjr@yahoo.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Weihsie -- facts about its
early history as a college
Date: dimanche 25 mars 2007 20:35
Georgeanna, thanks for the interesting
detail on John Hayes and Johnny. Do you have any idea what Johnny went on to
do? The name is too common to be much use in an internet search without some
other defining details. I've tried searches for John Hayes with other cue-words
like "china" "
Ted Stannard, Chapei/Gripsholm'43
De: "georgeanna knisely"
<jknisely@paonline.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Weihsie -- facts about its
early history as a college
Date: dimanche 25 mars 2007 22:55
John Hayes ran for State Congress in
Thank you or Mary for the John David Hayes papers at Yale. Hoping to look them up.
Georgie (John would probably remember me as Dusty)Reinbrecht Knisely
----- Original Message -----
From: Donald Menzi
Sent: Monday, March 26, 2007 12:21 AM
Subject: Re:
re 1945 leaflet
Eddie,
Daqvid Michell includes a reproduction of the leaflet you remember in "A Boy's War." Norman Cliff also has the text of two other leaflets by General Wedemeyer, stating that they were dropped in August 1945 by American planes, but doesn't specifically say they were dropped on Weihsien.
Leopold already has them all somewhere in his site, but I'd love to get a scanned image of the one you have. Could you email it directly to me at dmenzi@earthlink.net.
Thanks.
What do others of you remember about this?
Donald
De: "Tapol" <tapol@skynet.be>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Fw: re 1945 leaflet
Date: lundi 26 mars 2007 8:37
http://www.weihsien-paintings.org/NormanCliff/escape/p-AlliedPrisonners.htm
http://www.weihsien-paintings.org/NormanCliff/escape/p-Wedemeyer.htm
Try these shortcuts ---
Leopold
De: "R. E. Stannard
Jr." <restannardjr@yahoo.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: John Hayes & others
Date: lundi 26 mars 2007 18:32
georgeanna, thanks for the information, though I'm not turning anything up on the internet about his campaign for office.
Do you know which party? Have any other personal details? A middle initial can be very useful. His profession? Where he went to college? Wife's name, perhaps?
Names of brothers or sisters?
The internet is a wonderful data base to search, but has so many thousands of hits for a common name like John Hayes that the problem becomes bringing the right John Hayes to the top. So these small things can help sort.
So far you are my only link!
Meanwhile, it's a long shot, but I'd also be delighted if anyone on this listserv should happen to know anything about my two other Gripsholm gangmates, Charlie Loucks and David Philippi (sp?)
Charlie's father was teaching medicine in
David Philippi came on board at
Thanks, Ted Stannard
De: "georgeanna knisely"
<jknisely@paonline.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: John Hayes & others
Date: mardi 27 mars 2007 6:10
Sorry, I do not remember anything more. I will try to see if I can find someone else who might know about him. I will keep your email. Georgie
De: "rod miller"
<rmmiller@optusnet.com.au>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: John Hayes & others
Date: mercredi 28 mars 2007 3:14
Ted
Have you thought about writing to Yale?
From the link below the family of John David Hayes donated his papers.
http://webtext.library.yale.edu/xml2html/divinity.127.con.html
Divinity Library Special Collections
<mailto:divinity.library@yale.edu>divinity.library@yale.edu
Perhaps they could put you in touch with the family.
Might be worth an email.
R
De: "David Birch"
<gdavidbirch@yahoo.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Weihsien -- facts about its
early history as a college
Date: mercredi 28 mars 2007 5:19
Mary,
This material is utterly fascinating. Thank
you for providing it! John Hayes was my guardian coming home from
With love
David Birch
De: "David Birch"
<gdavidbirch@yahoo.com>
À: "Weihsien" <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Some notes on the life and times
of John David Hayes 1888 - 1957
Date: mercredi 28 mars 2007 11:19
'The Brainwashing of John Hayes' Readers Digest July 1955
Written by Frederic Sondern, Jr
The above article was developed into a television drama with the teleplay written by George Bruce based on Sondern's article.
The television drama aired 7 November 1955 and was sponsored by TV Readers Digest.
In the TV program, the role of John Hayes was played by the actor Vincent Price. The TV program was also titled, "The Brainwashing of John Hayes." A number of ethnic Chinese actors took the parts of the communist jailers.
The following notes are based on the Guide
to the John David Hayes Papers, Compiled by Martha L. Smalley, Yale University
Library, Divinity Library Special Collections.
You will find the material if you search on Google specifying,
Missionary John Hayes, Rhodes Scholar.
Chronology
1888 Feb 23 Born in Tengchowfu,
1910 A.B.,
1911 Appointed Rhodes Scholar from
1914
1914-1915 Service with YMCA in
1916 Married Barbara M Kelman
1917
B.D.,
1917 - 1952
Presbyterian Church in the
1918 - 1931 Involved in various flood and famine relief projects.
1925 - 1942 Served on faculty and administration of College
of Chinese Studies,
1943 Mar - 1945 Sep Interned by Japanese authorities in
1948
Returned to
Province
1949 - 1951 Mar Taught at government university following
Communist takeover
1951 Oct - 1952 Sep Jailed by Communists
1955
Went to
1957 Died from injuries suffered in an automobile accident
in
There is quite a lot more. If you are interested you may find it through Google as I mentioned.
Blessings! John Hayes was a truly great man who gave his life and energy unstintingly in the service of the Lord Jesus Christ and his fellow humans regardless of race.
Sincerely
David
De: "Jie Lu"
<ljoverseas@126.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: wf camp
Date: jeudi 29 mars 2007 9:15
Dear Sirs/Madams,
I'm from Weifang, formerly WeiHsien, and so interested in the history of Weifang internment camp from 1943 to 1945. recently I've read so many messages here about internees and Japanese guards that I wish to find some former Japanese guards and talk with them. Any information about them will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks so much.
Jie Lu
weifang
De: <MTPrevite@aol.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Some notes on the life and
times of John David Hayes 1888 - 1957
Date: dimanche 1 avril 2007 3:20
Good job, David! What fascinating information from you and Georgie Knisley!
Thanks to both of you.
Mary Previte
De: "Eddie Cooke"
<shedco@optusnet.com.au>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: re 1945 leaflet
Date: mardi 3 avril 2007 9:37
Hi all,
I've not been able to get the leaflet on to the Topica site, so far, but I will keep trying. In the meantime, a Happy Easter to everyone.
Eddie.
De: "rod miller"
<rmmiller@optusnet.com.au>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Comfort goods Teia Maru
Date: mardi 3 avril 2007 12:33
Hello
The following is from http://www.salship.se/leck/captives_of_empire.asp Gregs book.
Loaded aboard the Teia Maru were 1,600
short tons of humanitarian supplies valued at over US$1.3 million. The cargo
included 140,000 thirteen pound food parcels, 2,885 cases of medical supplies,
7 million vitamin capsules, 950 cases of comfort articles for men and women, 24
million cigarettes, and clothing. These items were eventually unloaded in
According to the Rabaul nurses diaries the
Teia Maru arrived back in
Do any of you know if there was any
correlation between those chosen from Weihsien to go on the 2nd American
exchange, Teia Maru to Goa, Gripsolm to
The reason for all the questions is that I
have been researching the exchanges for many years now, for the Australian
women were specifically chosen by a Japanese prince in Rabaul, for political
purposes, to be part of the first British exchange. But as was typical for the
times, completely illogical politics and bureaucracy [both sides] prevented
their departure. There was only one British exchange and the women were trapped
in
Sorry about all the questions but there aren't to many people who were there left to ask any more...
Kind Regards
Rod
De:
<grannydavies@aol.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Comfort goods Teia Maru
Date: mercredi 4 avril 2007
0:56
My name was Phyllis Evans from Weihsien,
We did get some Red Cross packages but the Japanese opened them and took whatever they wanted out .then we got the meagre remainder. We also had visits from the Swiss consul. He was able to get an X-ray into camp badly needed .One death I know of might have been saved had we received the machine earlier.
Mostly the poor man was just wasting his time and efforts,
Our commandant was not very friendly.
De: "rod miller"
<rmmiller@optusnet.com.au>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Comfort goods Teia Maru
Date: jeudi 5 avril 2007 0:31
Dear Phyllis
Thank you for your reply.
At 08:41 AM 4/04/2007, you wrote:
>My
name was PhyllisEvans from Weihsien, We
did get some red cross packages but the Japanese opened them and took whatever
they wanted out .then we got the meagre remainder.
I wondered if this isn't what happened in
The Rabaul nurses were in a funny situation
for they had been taken and held in
> We also had visits from the Swiss consul.
I wonder if you could remember what year this might have been?
>He was able to get an Xray into camp badly needed .
Ahh this is interesting. Did you ever wonder why the Japanese suddenly let him bring such a item to your camp?
>One
death I know of might have been saved had we recieved the machine
earlier.Mostly the poor man was just wasting his time and efforts,Our commandant was not very friendly.
Well at least you had a commandant! The Rabaul girls only had guards and they changed all the time because they got bored to death doing nothing. At one point they had a couple of guards who were quite vicious and they were lucky to survive their reign of terror. From what I've read on these pages that is where you were a little better off. There were a lot of you and you had enough to do. The Rabaul women were kept together in close quarters for 3 years 9 months. Near the end I suggest it was almost "every man for himself" for them. But as Lornatold me just last year when we were discussing the Red Cross boxes that arrived in Dec 1943 "miracles do happen".
In
Thanks again.
Rod
De:
<grannydavies@aol.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Comfort goods Teia Maru
Date: jeudi 5 avril 2007 6:26
Dear Rod, you are welcome, for the reply. I
was able to attend the Old China Hands Reunion in
De: "rod miller"
<rmmiller@optusnet.com.au>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Comfort goods Teia Maru
Date: mardi 10 avril 2007 3:07
Dear Phyllis
At 02:04 PM 5/04/2007, you wrote:
>Dear
Rod, you are welcome, for the reply. I was able to attend the
>Old
China Hands Reunion in
>people
from Shangai and Hongkong. am glad I went.My father was
>friends
with most of the consuls in
>to
the Danish consul.
>The
Japanese consul came to our house when he heard we were being interned.
So your sister wasn't interned due to her husband’s diplomatic status?
>The
diplomatic service had no knowledge of
>was
very upset.He told us he would do anything he could to help us
>but had no control over camp as it was military.
When my father was
>dying
he gave mysister and her husband a very generous pass to come
>down
and see him, but the camp commandant only let them in twice.My
>father died there.Phyllis
I'm sorry to hear about your father it must have been very hard for you.
If I understand this correctly the Japanese consul gave your sister a travel pass to come down and see you but the camp commandant was reluctant to let her visit. Any idea why?
It must have been confusing for your family
outside of
Kind Regards
Rod
De: "David Birch"
<gdavidbirch@yahoo.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: John Hayes & others
Date: jeudi 12 avril 2007 6:27
Hi Folks,
I remember Mr Hayes well. He was my
guardian, and the guardian of all the Chefoo children being repatriated on the
USS Lavaca, an attack troop transport vessel from
When Mary Previte ( a former classmate of mine at Chefoo and Weihsien) asked recently on Weihsien@topica, if any of us had memories of John Hayes from Weihsien Camp days, I decided to do my own research.
I remembered from long ago hearing that Mr
Hayes had, as a young man, been a Rhodes Scholar from the
So I simply typed in to the search engine, GOOGLE, a few particulars. Within a minute or two I had information about the Digest article, as well as particulars on actual copies of the relevant magazine issue. As I recall, you can obtain a copy of this magazine, the original, for a little over $9.00 US.
Then I typed in to Google, Missionary John David Hayes, Rhodes Scholar. Again, within moments, I had pages of valuable information including a timeline of his life, date of birth, etc., dates of colleges attended and graduation date. Date accepted as Rhodes Scholar, date of marriage and name of spouse. You can get it all by simply typing in what I typed in to Google (mentioned above).
Incidentally, while we were traveling
across the
Mr Hayes made sure that the captain saw the results of our work. The final result was that the captain gathered us youngsters together and awarded us special certificates of recognition of our services to the United States Navy. To this day I have my treasured certificate giving my name and stating that in recognition of my services performed at Latitude such and such and Longitude so and so, I was hereby made an honorary cockswain in the United States Navy.
Of course, after that, regardless of Mr
Hayes's academic achievements at Princeton and
I am privileged to have known Mr Hayes as a personal friend!
Sincerely
David Birch
De: "Donald Menzi"
<dmenzi@earthlink.net>
À: "weihsien"
<weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Weihsien and Gripsholm
"Slide Shows"
Date: mardi 17 avril 2007 3:53
Hello fellow Weihsieners,
For some time now I have been trying to figure out how to get the Weihsien "Walking Tour," Gripsholm Repatriation Voyage and 60th Anniversary Celebration "slide shows" onto a web site so anyone could see (and hear) them whenever they might want to. I finally found a program (Camtasia Studio) that made it possible, and have posted them on my "family" web-site where you can view them if you care to. The same page also contains links to the New York Times and Life Magazine articles on The Gripsholm journey and also the Wilders' and Howard Galt's memoirs of Weihien and the Gripsholm, all of which you can download to your computer and print.
The animation on the slide shows is a little more "jerky" than I would like, and I still plan to send CDs to those of you who have specifically requested them.
To view the videos, go to the following web site: http://d.menzi.org (note that there is no "www." Then click on the "Weihsien-Gripsholm" link at the top of the page. Be sure your speakers are turned on so you can to hear the background music, which starts after the first few frames.
It is possible that you will need to download some free software to play them. Just follow the on-screen instructions and that shouldn't be too difficult. Let me know if you encounter any insurmountable problems.
All the best,
Donald Menzi
De: <MTPrevite@aol.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: unabridged article about 1st
college in
Date: mardi 17 avril 2007 5:16
Hello, Everybody:
You'll be interested in the unabridged
article written by Moses Chu for eBao
Magazine. The first college in
_http://www.ebaomonthly.com:2480/ebao/readebao.php?eID=e01822_
(http://www.ebaomonthly.com:2480/ebao/readebao.php?eID=e01822)
Leopold Pander has also included it on his Weihsien web site:
_http://www.weihsien-paintings.org_ (http://www.weihsien-paintings.org/)
You can access it at the logo listed below. Thank you, Leopold.
(http://www.weihsien-paintings.org/Mprevite/EbaoMonthly/CalvinMateer.htm
)
Mary Previte
De: "Dwight W. Whipple"
<thewhipples@comcast.net>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Weihsien and Gripsholm
"Slide Shows"
Date: mardi 17 avril 2007 21:09
For some reason the Menzi file would not open for me.
~Dwight
--
4728A
360.456.4300
thewhipples@comcast.net
----- Original Message -----
From: Donald Menzi
Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2007 9:41 PM
Subject: Re: Weihsien and Gripsholm
"Slide Shows"
Dwight (and anyone else having trouble opening it)
Be sure you use the exact address: http://d.menzi.org - with no www in front of it. If clicking on the link doesn't do it try copying this into your address line. You might also try http://wilder.menzi.org ,
Let me know if this works. If not, I'll try to trouble-shoot it from here.
Donald
De: <smallchief@aol.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Weihsien and Gripsholm
"Slide Shows"
Date: mardi 17 avril 2007 23:04
The downloads worked perfectly for me. The "Walking Tour" of Weihsien is
quite a production. Thanks for making it available. S. Chief
De: "Tapol"
<tapol@skynet.be>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Weihsien and Gripsholm
"Slide Shows"
Date: mercredi 18 avril 2007 10:40
Dear Dwight,
Try clicking on one of these links ---
http://reced.org/dmenzi/wilders/Weihsien_04-10-07/Weihsien_04-10-07.html
http://reced.org/dmenzi/wilders/Gripsholm_04-10-07-b/Gripsholm_04-10-07-b.html
http://reced.org/dmenzi/wilders/Gripsholm_Chinese_04-12-07/Gripsholm_Chinese_04-12-07.html
http://reced.org/dmenzi/wilders/Weifang_Web_4-11-07/Weifang_Web_4-11-07.html
if that doesn't work --- make sure your computer has "flash player" installed ---
--- Click on this link:
http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash
Good luck and best regards ---
Leopold
De: "Tapol"
<tapol@skynet.be>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Fw: Weihsien and Gripsholm
"Slide Shows"
Date: mercredi 18 avril 2007 16:49
I clicked too fast on the "send-a-message" icon ---
I wanted to add that Don has done a marvellous job and it's real nice of him to share it with all of us :-)) ---
Best regards,
Leopold
De: "Dwight W. Whipple" <thewhipples@comcast.net>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Weihsien and Gripsholm
"Slide Shows"
Date: mercredi 18 avril 2007 18:26
Thanks, Leopold. The flash player did the trick. Somehow it must have become uninstalled on my computer. Works fine now.
~Dwight
--
De: "rod miller"
<rmmiller@optusnet.com.au>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Donald's must see slide shows!!
Date: jeudi 19 avril 2007 5:36
Dear Donald
As a complete outsider to this topica group I have to tell you that your new slide show web sites are just amazing!!!
I only arrived here through researching the internee exchanges and knew nothing of Weihsien till I happened upon Leopold's terrific site. I was lucky enough to start reading here just prior to your return trip to Weihsien. The story of the trip,the photographs, stories of Weihsien and your liberation have been unfolding before my eyes ever since. Your new slide shows, with the little water colours and other information, just bring it all together beautifully.
I could go on about how interesting and educational your sites are but I'm sure all others who read this topica groupand view your sites will agree that you, Leopold and all those that have written books are to be congratulated for what you have achieved.
If I ever get to
Thanks again for making the story of Weihsien come to life and finally [for me anyway] putting faces to names.
Rod Miller
P.S. I never knew there had been escapees from Weihsien. In Rabaul the Japanese threatened to kill 10 men for every one that escaped.
P.P.S Nothing about the animations seemed to jerky down here. But I do run a very high end video card with a lot of on board memory.
If you would like some completely pedantic feed back it would seem to me that on the walk tour site some of the music may have been digitized at fractionally to higher level as it seems to be distorting ever so slightly at the top end.
De: "Tapol"
<tapol@skynet.be>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: google earth
Date: jeudi 3 mai 2007 11:48
Hello all,
I recently found out that you could insert your photos on Google Earth. It's very interesting and free :-)) There are some marvellous photographs from all over the world.
Click on this link: (for the few views I selected for Weihsien)
http://www.panoramio.com/user/422240
--- of course, you can add your personal pictures too --- and locate them very exactly on a map.
Best regards,
Leopold
De: "georgeanna knisely"
<jknisely@paonline.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Donald's must see slide
shows!!
Date: vendredi 4 mai 2007 17:14
I would love a CD if you can, then can have ready whenever. Great appreciation. Georgie Knisely,
De: <MTPrevite@aol.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Norman Cliff
Date: mercredi 16 mai 2007 3:58
Sad news, Everyone. I've received the following e-mail, dated May 13, from Estelle Cliff
"Norman (Cliff) didn't wake up this morning, Sunday - except in Heaven. He was 82. Joyce took him a cup of tea and couldn't wake him. A terrible shock for her, but a wonderful way to go."
What a loss to all of us!
He
was a major contributor to a recently-published
book about teachers in the
Mary T. Previte
De: "Joyce Cook"
<bobjoyce@tpg.com.au>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Norman Cliff
Date: mercredi 16 mai 2007
10:51
Dear Mary. I am profoundly saddened by the sad news about Norman Cliff. I knew
him very well in camp. He was such a lovely man in every respect. He taught me
shorthand that helped me get my first job both in
De: "Leopold Pander"
<tapol@skynet.be>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Norman Cliff
Date: jeudi 17 mai 2007 0:10
I got to know many of you by the Internet
but visually very few --- I have a great friendship for
--- It's a sad day ---
Nicky and Leopold
De: "Leopold Pander"
<tapol@skynet.be>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Armored Angel
Date: jeudi 17 mai 2007 1:24
Hello all,
Found an interesting link on the Internet ----
http://www.b24bestweb.com/armoredangel.htm
---
Best regards,
Leopold
De: "Natasha Petersen"
<np57@cox.net>
À: "weihsien"
<weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: emails
Date: jeudi 17 mai 2007 3:06
I am so sorry that some of you are having trouble sending emails to Weihsien/Topica.
My deep condolences to the family of Norman Cliff. He shall be missed. May the kingdom of heaven be his.
Natasha
De: <MTPrevite@aol.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Norman Cliff
Date: jeudi 17 mai 2007 4:53
Thank you so much, Natasha. Some of my messages to Topica register. Some do not. I'll keep trying.
You've given all us such a WONDERFU:L means of communicating.
Mary
From: David Birch
<gdavidbirch@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: Norman Cliff April 4, 1925 -
May 13, 2007
To: weihsien@topica.com
Thanks to Mary for passing on the sad news re Norman Cliff's death.
Norman Cliff was a true Christian gentleman
and a great "Old Chefusian!"
I well remember Norman Cliff, from Chefoo,
Temple Hill and Weihsien. At the end of the war, when I was a thirteen-year-old
boy,
A final observation I want to make of
One very well-meaning former Weihsiener had told me that Canadians did not qualify for this compensation for some technical historical reason. I explained that when I had learned this, I had withdrawn my application.
I believe there are many, many people around the world who will agree with me that Norman Cliff was truly a great Christian man!
Respectfully submitted
David
G. David Birch
De: "Dwight W. Whipple"
<thewhipples@comcast.net>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>;
<weihsien@topica.com>
Cc: "Natasha Petersen"
<np57@cox.net>
Objet: Re: Norman Cliff
Date: samedi 19 mai 2007 6:34
We, also, send our sympathy to the Cliff family. He was so gracious in sending me a copy of his book, signed as I requested. What a great contribution to our collective memories. A truly great loss.
~Dwight W. Whipple
--
De: "Ted Margrett" <yanshida@Yahoo.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Last Summer
Date: mercredi 23 mai 2007 4:18
Dear Friends,
It is indeed with great sadness to hear the news of Norman Cliff's death. However, like a bird in a cage who has been set free, his soul has winged its flight to join his Heavenly Father.
Last summer, while Mr. Cliff was in Yantai for a short visit, I had the
opportunity of intereviewing him in connection with my on-going research into
the history of Yantai. The interview, which was videod, took about two
hours. What struck me was his incredible
memory. I had lots of questions that
needed to be answered. I had details
that only he could clarify and substantiate.
Patiently and with the utmost courtesy, he set the record straight.
Later, along with a local reporter, a few local officials and historians I was
able to accompany him on a visit to the
dedicated to the Glory of God. Following lunch, hosted by local government officials, he headed back to his hotel for a rest. He had several appointments to keep later that afternoon followed by dinner and more appointments. As we approached his hotel, he said that what I was doing was wonderful. That day I had witnessed someone whose life in Chefoo had been re-lived in a short space of time, because our interview, conversations, and subsequent visits to various places had conjured up a myriad increadible memories for him. And for that I will always be grateful. It's one thing to read about history, but it's another to converse with a living breathing maker of history.
The following day, there was a full-page article, along with several photographs, written about Norman Cliff's visit to the city of his birth. I know from talking to several of my Chinese friends, Norman Cliff was a famous man, who was born in Chefoo - a great foreigner. To most of the population, who did not know him, he was a celebrity, but to those who knew him, he was the epitome of all that is good in a human being.
Best regards,
Ted Margrett
Yantai
De: "Dwight W. Whipple"
<thewhipples@comcast.net>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Last Summer
Date: mercredi 23 mai 2007 7:07
What a great event you describe in Yantai,
and what a wonderful thing for
~Dwight W. Whipple
De: "Ted Margrett" <yanshida@Yahoo.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Last Summer
Date: jeudi 24 mai 2007 2:05
Dear Mr. Dwight Wipple,
Thank you for your letter. I was very fortunate that Norman Cliff took
the time in what was a very busy schedule to spend time with me. Your having
been born in
Best Regards,
Ted
De: "lucy lu"
<lucy9859@hotmail.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Norman Cliff
Date: vendredi 25 mai 2007 2:56
Dear Ms. Cook,
Mr. Sui have told me about your email. I’ve been so busy with the work and something in my family. So sorry for my delay to respond you quickly. About the publish of your book in china, I’ve reopted to my boss, but she didn't tell me more. I think maybe she willn't think about it, if she would, maybe only a little amount just for the concerned people.
So don't worry about it, if we'll think about it again, I’ll contact you as soon as possible.
Best Regards.
Lucy
Weifang foreign and overseas Chinese affairs office
De: "lucy lu"
<lucy9859@hotmail.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: RE: Norman Cliff
Date: vendredi 25 mai 2007 3:08
We, from Weifang foreign affairs office, from Weifang city, are so sad to get this piece of news. I’d like to pay my great tribute to Mr. Norman Cliff.
In 2005, I’ve received him during his trip in Weifang city, from which I till now have a great impression. But it's a pity that he couldn't join us on the occasion to mark the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Weihsien concentration camp.
I’ve been planning to pay a visit to him
this June, because I'll with a government delegation go to
A great loss for all of us and the weihsien concentration camp.
Best wishes to Cliff's family.
lucy
De: "Shude Sui"
<suishude@sohu.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Norman Cliff's Last Visit to
Weifang
Date: vendredi 1 juin 2007 18:47
The loss of Norman Cliff is so heavy to us. He made a great contribution to the successful reunion of the 60th Anniversary of Weihsien Camp Liberation.
With my invitation, after his trip to
Yantai(Chefoo),
He provided us many historical information and told us many true stories of the Weihsien Camp and internees, which were so valuable and important for us to understand that part of history in exact.
He donated many books to the
Fortunately, during his stay in Weifang, he
was fully interviewed and pictured by reporters from Weifang TV. Videos and
pictures, as well as books and stories of Norman Cliff, are all exhibited in
Norman Cliff will always be remembered.
Sui Shude - Weifang
De: "David Birch"
<gdavidbirch@yahoo.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Norman Cliff's Last Visit to
Weifang
Date: samedi 2 juin 2007 1:20
Dear Friend, Shude Sui,
Thank you very much indeed for sharing this
important information with us. Although Norman Cliff was several years older
than I, we attended the
I think there are many of us, former prisoners, who also have a lot of respect for you Shude. I had the privilege of meeting you at the 60th anniversary of the liberation, in 2005.
Peace to you!
David Birch
De: "Joyce Cook"
<bobjoyce@tpg.com.au>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: test
Date: samedi 2 juin 2007 9:41
Hi Natasha, I got your message all right
here in Sydney Australia on the WeiHsien site. Nice to hear from you. We are
well here and hope you are too. Thanks
again for giving me the Weishien site in the first place at the re-union in
From:
Natasha Petersen
To:
weihsien
Sent:
Saturday, June 02, 2007 9:42 AM
Subject: test
This is a test email. I have been having a problem with getting my emails to Topica/Weihsien. I did get the email sent by David Birch. I have also written to Topica support.
Natasha
De:
<grannydavies@aol.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: test
Date: samedi 2 juin 2007 20:40
Evidently no problem gettingfrom you. Did you know that Serge Chunehen died, ?
Got a pone call from his wife(in
We corresponded all these years, haven’t seen him since 1947.
De: "R. E. Stannard
Jr." <restannardjr@yahoo.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Made in
Date: dimanche 3 juin 2007 7:20
Anyone on this WeiHsien list who is within
theater-traveling distance of
He has made extensive use of old film footage and interviews with Americans revisiting scenes of their childhoods.
Excerpts from his announcement are appended below.
Ted Stannard
===John Helde===============
When I set out to understand my American
father’s
I'm excited to announce that MADE IN CHINA will have its world premiere at the 2007 Seattle International Film Festival. Thanks to all who have helped along the way!
John
Made in
Sunday, June 10, 7:30 pm
Neptune Theatre
(206) 781-5755
2007
http://www.seattlefilm.org/festival/film/detail.aspx?id=23158&FID=32
Mailing list for news and updates ~ email info@trythisfilms.com
More info ~ www.trythisfilms.com
De: "Sui Shude -
Weifang" <suishude@sohu.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: NBC Olympics to Weihsien Camp
Date: dimanche 3 juin 2007
11:41
Quick News From Sui Shude - Weifang:
On May 27th 2007, I entertained two story-editors of NBC Olympics, the U.S.-Rights holder of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and the two gentlemen visited the Weihsien Camp place with my guidance.
In contact letter to me, the NBC friends wrote:
"To prepare for next year's Olympic
program coverage, we want to learn more about the Scottish runner Eric Liddell,
who won the 400-metres at the 1924 Paris Olympics. For research purposes, two
people from NBC Olympics are going to Weifang to visit the places where Eric
Liddell spent the last part of his life. The two NBC gentlemen from the
So, if the story is selected, topics of Eric Liddell & Weihsien Camp will be put in programs for 2008 Beijing Olympics.
April and May 2007, 4 groups/families from
the
Sui Shude
Translation Dept.
Weifang Foreign & Overseas Chinese Affairs Office
De: <MTPrevite@aol.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Weihsien liberator, Jim Hannon
Date: lundi 4 juin 2007 4:37
Jim Hannon, one of the six Americans who liberated Weihsien, has recently suffered two strokes and is being supported at home with Hospice care.
Jim was in good spirits this week when I spoke to him and his wife. He has regained full use of his speech. He has been in frail health for some time.
If you have a vivid memory of our euphoria, our adoration of all things American, and our giddy celebrations on liberation day -- and if you have a thank you, now would be a good time to drop Jim an "I remember" note.
His address is: James J. Hannon,
In late August, 1945, when
liberators Major Stanlrey Staiger,
Jim Moore, Tad Nagaki, Raymond Hanchulak, and Peter Orlich were reassigned to start an
Mary T. Previte
De: "David Birch"
<gdavidbirch@yahoo.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Weihsien liberator, Jim
Hannon
Date: lundi 4 juin 2007 17:13
Thank you, Mary, for your faithfulness in keeping in close touch with our liberators. These men were true heroes to us when they dropped from the sky at the end of WWII to set us free from our captors in the concentration camp!
David
De:
<grannydavies@aol.com>
À: <weihsien@topica.com>
Objet: Re: Weihsien liberator, Jim
Hannon
Date: lundi 4 juin 2007 20:29
Appreciate your telling us about Jim Hannon, will drop him a thinking of
you note of cheer Phyllis Davies
***