Establishing a Recovery Camp in China
October 6, 2008 – 6:00 amIn 1939, Alice was attending a university in the city of Foochow, a large port of entry across from Taiwan. She had lived in China many years where her father was a technical lubrication engineer. Everything changed in 1939 when the Japanese set up a blockade along the coast of China. It was necessary to evacuate to safer territory.
Alice and almost 400 other people from the coast, along with 127 students and 11 staff members from the college, began a long trek on foot with mules and carts carrying their equipment and other belongings. They traveled twenty to twenty-six miles a day until they reached a site they felt safe, about 1700 miles inland. Occasional Japanese planes flew overhead and communications were nil.
Plans were underway to set up a recovery area for men returning from battle. Alice wanted to head up that job, but she knew the commander wouldn’t want a woman. Her name was sent to the commander with just her first initial. When she got off the plane, the commander thought she was a stowaway, but since she had a thorough knowledge of the Chinese language, he ended up welcoming her.
With the help of the villagers in the area, they cleared out an area of the jungle. Villagers continued their normal activities so that planes overhead would not suspect a camp was being set up. The workers cleared sections of the jungle a mile or more apart, again so that the Japanese flying overhead would not be suspicious.
At one point, Alice faced a mutiny. The workers knew the Japanese crept through the jungle one inch an hour, so that they could not be detected. The workers were frightened and wanted the tables in the dining room to be arranged so that someone always could be aware of any unwelcome Japanese. This meant enlarging the dining area, which Alice agreed to. Seating was staggered in sets of 4 people, with no one sitting opposite anyone else.
When some British evacuees arrived, a new problem occurred. They didn’t want tea; they wanted coffee, but didn’t like the way it was made at the base. They wanted percolated coffee, so Alice sent scouts out to retrieve parts from downed planes. They were able to assemble a percolator, however no one thought it made sense to put the holes in the sieve part, so Alice did it herself. The next problem was that they were unable to pour the coffee out of this large percolator and needed to siphon it, but couldn’t figure out how. Finally, after a five-day delay, a hollow bamboo stalk did the trick.
More of Alice’s story tomorrow.
For more stories of World War II, go to www.peggeorge.com
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