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Memoirs of Ruth Hooper

items 14 of 28 items
  • wcu_ww2-454.jp2
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Item’s are ‘child’ level descriptions to ‘parent’ objects, (e.g. one page of a whole book).

  • who were forced to leave. They left behind some of their equipment, mattresses of a sort, steel double-decker beds and a few other things. I found a place in the corner of one of the rooms and just down the hall on the same floor Carr found a place also. We women and children huddled together, frightened and confused, but I could at least see and speak to Carr occasionally. We tried to make do with what we had brought and shared our small amount of food with those who were not able to bring any with them, until a kitchen of a sort was set up. The Japanese helped us in no way except at the beginning when they were on the winning side. We were provided with plenty of food if you could eat rotten vegetables, wormy rice and cornmeal, spoiled fish. Nothing else was provided. People became ill from this sort of diet. I saw many, many of them faint waiting in line (lines it seemed were all we had) to get a needed bath, the toilet, a ration of food. To be thrown into a community of more than 5,000 people, all confused and scared is in itself an experience never to be forgotten. The rich, the poor, the different nationalities. I saw women whom I had considered members of the “upper crust” fight over toilet paper. This commodity gave out very shortly and then we were on our own. There were prostitutes from Shanghai and beach combers from all across the world who became some of our best and most helpful citizens. As soon as possible some rules and regulations were set up for us. This was done by the internees themselves which included jobs for all who could help. With that many people there were things that had to be done – a sanitation crew, cooks, people to sit for hours picking worms from the rice and cornmeal, others to try to salvage something edible from the decayed vegetables. We gathered and cooked what you would call pig weed
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Object’s are ‘parent’ level descriptions to ‘children’ items, (e.g. a book with pages).