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Memoirs of Ruth Hooper

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  • stray cats and dogs wandered into camp but these quickly disappeared. The Japanese delighted in bringing in pigs, chickens, etc. which were slaughtered before our eyes – never a mouthful given to the children who watched. They liked to make us assemble for hours to hear them tell of their victories. The bombing of San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago. They told us soon we would be eating the bark from the trees and grass from the ground. I never saw anyone eat bark from the trees, but I certainly saw them eat plenty of grass. When every fiber of your body is crying out for food, you will eat anything. The days, the weeks, the months rolled by slowly and to us seemed hopelessly. We kept looking and hoping for our planes but always the ones we saw had the insignia of “The Rising Sun”. One thing I will tell you here which possibly I have not been clear about. There were several hundred Japanese in Santo Tomas at all times so you found yourself bowing about every minute because they were all around you. I failed to bow to the Commandant one morning on my way to the hospital. He was on a bicycle and it was raining. I didn’t know whether I should under the circumstances or should not. Anyway, I found out in nothing flat. He stopped quickly, got off the bicycle and came up to me jabbering and waving his big long sword under my nose. I knew what I had done wrong so I backed up a few paces and gave him one of my very best bows. He saluted me, got back on his bicycle and pedaled away. And another incident. One night after curfew when we were all supposed to stay put, I found that I just must visit the outside toilet which was provided for the internees who lived in shacks on the grounds. I skittered across in the dark but came face to face with a soldier. I had to cross a road that was patrolled day and night by the Japanese. He started shouting at me and this time also waved a sword in my face. I knew only one
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