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