THE COQUILLg VALUT
PAOS TWtLVf
* CÙQÜtUK. ÛBBOON,
Mrs. Sayre Tells 5
Of Experiences
The Christmas light that shines
in our window is to illumine the
path back home—of those you
love, fighting for Victory this
Christmas time.
I
A
O. K. RUBBER WELDERS
SLATERS
VARIETY
★
THIS STORE
which for a great many years
has supplied the families of
this community with neigh-
__r# borly things, wishes every
family an unusually happy
1943 Christmas season.
T hursday ,
M. 1MJ.
4
¡County Employees'
Christmas Party
i
• The following, copied from
Winning the war is one thing, and
Eastern Oregon Review, of La Grande, winning the peace and preparing the
tells what Miss Geneva Sayre, of that post-war program is quite another, ac
city, a sister of Jos. Sayre of Coquille, cording to Circuit Judge Dal M. King,
told the reporter when she was in main speaker at trie fourth annual
terviewed about her experiences as a Christmas party sponsored by, and
prisoner in Japan. She was one of given tor, thé employes of the court
the repatriated V. S. citizens who ar- I house and given at the Episcopal
rived in New York Hirbor recently Quild hall in Coquill- Friday nightr
• ¡The ordinary citizen—the employe,
aboard the Gripsholm: \
' 'the farmer, the local merchant, the
“United States has declared war on ,nuin in the »‘reet-is »e one to whom
Japan,“ "Have A’ou known this al) officials in Washington are looking
the time?"—that is the way the Jap loday f°r Ho‘da nee in the mainten-
guards greeted Miss Geneva Sayre anco
the democratic form of gov-
and her companions on the morning ernment *n this country, said Judge
!of December 8. 1941, which would Kin«- and “ 18 they who mU8t think
be December 7, 1941 here. Imme-|thnm«h the P“«‘-war problems and
diately the missionaries were held make the,r opmtons heard.
The lar
largest
as Jap prisoners, though left jn their
««8t gathering
«“‘hering of county
'
Later employes, their mates, friends and
own general surroundings.
they were moved to concentration Ü nests, ever to attend the.traditional
party partook of the turkey dinner
camps.
and
engaged in the singing of Christ-
And it was not until four months ,
—— —
—Ninety-five were seated
later, or near the end of April, that l !mas
c*rol*-
these Americans learned about the around the long tables,
treacheries at Pearl Ha'rbor and of
County Jud«e L- D- Felsheim made
the events which caused the United the opening remarks and Vted as
States to declare war on Japan. And ; toastmaster for the evening.
The
this was the way the La Grande girl !theme ot l,is remarks was the motto
found out. Immediately after war ,or t,le nasion: «Efficiency through
was declared, the American embassy cooperation and good-will.'
By
started the publication of a small I working together, regardtes of politi-
news sheet, a mimeographed affair |cul or personal differences, maximum
which
circulated to all Americans 8ervice ean
giv,n the P“1»110' and
in freeChina. Honan province where Iin doin« »°’ aU wU1 * “ivin“ the.lr
Miss Sayre was, was half in free ut^“‘ *“**
¡Ct\ina and half was occupied terri ing the home-front, Felsheim said.
Other speakers during the evening
tory. In some way a copy of this
Included County Commissioners Lars
reached- the Americans who were In
P. Peterson and P. W. Culver, Mrs. L.
occupied territory and at the time
Da
Felsheim and Mrs. Georgiana
were under the surveillance of Jap
Group singing was di
guards. Waiting until after guards Vaughan.
rected
by
Ellis
Selander, with piano
were asleep at night, then stuffing
all the cracks which might allow light accompaniment by Mrs. Ellis Selan
through, the American women read' der.
the bulletins and then burned them
as fast as they were read.
• On Feb. 22, the sheet contained an
account of President Roosevelt's
Washington’s birthday address, which
was short-waved
which gave the
reasons back of
declaration of
war, the attack, the loss of men and
ships. The news was Included in the
paper, which was two months reach
ing Miss Sayre, and that was when
they first knew what it was all about
—late April, 1M1
Any interview with the recent re-
\ patriotes would be
inadequate.
Through the coming months and
years bits of information and exper
iences will continue to sift through.
Furthermore, there must never be a
word said. Miss Sayre insisted, which
would in any way jeopardize the
other 1800 Americans who are still
being held in the internment camps.
“How were you chosen to be re
patriated?” she was asked.
All
Americans, Canadians, etc., were
grouped under 21 different classifica
tions.
Names were selected from
these lists—she believes her name
and that of her companion were
chosen by the Japs. When the first
Gripsholm trip was made,
Miss
¡Sayre’s name was included but her
companion was very ill and unable
to travel. Such information was sent
to the Japs and while nothing was
ever heard from it, others who were
coming back had been gone five days
before Miss Sayre* knew of it. “How
ever,” she said, “if you“ are chosen
now, you have to come."
Miss Sayre was interned at Wei
Hsien, in the Shantung province—
an old mission compound of the Pres
byterian church, consisting of 18
acres, and earlier the seat of Cheloo
university where medical doctors
were trained.
The food was terrible, and there
was little of it, “we were hungry all
the time,” was her only comment.
There were 1800 people In her kit
chen. Soup, which was made of any
thing you had, was made in big
cauldrons which held 12 large buckets
full of water, each, five of these to
each kitchen. Bread was made of
sweet potato flour, and the mission
ary made her own.
However, food conditions in Japan
were worse than in the concentration
camp, she said. Rationing was most
severe; a servant would go and stand
in line for hours and perhaps be
I hdhded only a carrot. A piece of
meat, the smallest imaginable, per
(week. This rationing was going on
even before Pearl Harbor, she said.
I Of course, these American mission
aries knew about food snortages be
fore. Miss Sayre said that the fam
ine which was going on right now in
the province in which she worked in
China was the worst known in 60
years.
“Are you glad to be away?” For
it will be remembered that the La
Grande woman returned to China five
years ago, when conditions were very
uncertain. "Xes.i I am, especially
when I know thé condition of things
There we knew nothing of what was
going on—nothing about the tide of
the great war—our radios had been
take* away and we had no way of
communicating
with the outside
world. Things are bound to be in
creasingly hard, and I am glad to be
home.”
All the internees suffered great loss
of weight, from tack of food and
lajjj of vitamins in the food which
was given. The trip home was a won
derful opportunity for regaining
much that was lost. The company
on the Giipsholm, Miss Sayre said,
were almost entirely old people ar\d
missionaries. There were 18 stretch
er cases taken on to the boat.
Insurance Specialist, F. R. Bull.
BEST WISHES
FOR A
CHRISTMAS
FILLED WITH
r
%
JOY!
MOUNTAIN STATES
POWER COMPANY
'A Self-Supporting, Tax-
Paying, Private Enterprise
SEASOH'S GREETincS
E PAUSE, oil. the Eve of Christina*, 1943,
to contemplate how much we owe the per
ennial character of our customer». With
gratitude and pride we scan the list. Some
of these customers have been with us for-
more than a quarter of a century.
'
To these old customers, to new ones, and
t<? potential ~ncs . .cry member of this
organization now joins in wishing “Merry
Christmas.**
Coquille Laundry Co