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Memoirs of Ruth Hooper

items 18 of 28 items
  • wcu_ww2-458.jp2
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  • ward of Japanese and that was “Obenjo” which means “Honorable Toilet”. I got this word out someway and then he said to me – “Obenjo Maam, thank you”, and he turned and walked away. I continued on with my errand but when I got back to the shack it took a while to simmer down – I was really scared. The Japanese Commandant and his staff occupied a small building right in the center of the camp. This was their private office. One day a rooster was brought in and tied to a stake with a long string just outside these quarters. He walked proudly up and down, crowing in the dawn of each new day. And then, over the much feared loud speakers which were used to call us to stand in line for this or that message, came the announcement. “The Commandant’s rooster has disappeared and must be returned immediately”. We were all scared to death because if the rooster was not returned everyone in camp would be punished. This message came every few hours telling us that the rooster had not been returned. I will leave the rooster story now and go on with other events, but will tell you the ending later. We had the rainy seasons and went through those, a few earthquakes (one was a pretty bad one) and several severe typhoons. We waded water above our waists but those things didn’t really matter I guess. Our clothes were falling off, we looked like skeletons. Our friends were then dying by the hundreds. When we saw them rolled out on a crude hand pushed cart, with a cruder pine box on it, we never asked who – we knew that within a few days………….. Finally, late one afternoon, a lone plane bearing the wonderful Stars of the United States flew very low over camp (I did not see the plane although it was flying very low it had to come and go fast).
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Object’s are ‘parent’ level descriptions to ‘children’ items, (e.g. a book with pages).