INTERNEES' VIGIL

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 251, 23 October 1945, Page 6

INTERNEES' VIGIL

WATCH FOR JAP FLEET PATIENCE WENT UNREWARDED O.C. WELLINGTON, this day. Japanese who were interned on Somes Island kept a daily vigil for the arrival in Wellington Harbour of a Japanese fleet. Every day for more than a year they gathered on one part of the island and with patient confidence waited to see the coming of their countrymen, who were to liberate them. They sat quietly for hours and talked little. The men had a peculiar habit of twisting rushes into small rings to pass the time. Before taken away they had covered the ground with thousands, which rotted as pathetic symbols of their unshakeable faith. All but two of the Japanese had been' brought from the Pacific—3l from Fiji, 14 from Tonga, and one from Bougainville. They were landed on Somes Island at the end of 1941, and were shifted with the rest of the internees to the Pahiatua camp early in 1943. Later they were taken to Australia. All had been residents in the Pacific when Japan attacked Pearl Harbour. Two from New. Zealand were interned, one from Wellington, the other from Ruatoria. The Wellington man was aged 60, coming to New Zealand as a member of an acrobatic troupe when he was 15, and staying. The one from Ruatoria had been a storekeeper. Both had little to do with the other Japanese They were, on Somes Island when Japan sur-" rendered, and expressed their wholehearted pleasure at the news.

The internee from Bougainville was one of a small number of Japanese which an American raiding party from a submarine had taken off the island when it was occupied by the enemy.

The Japanese arrived from the Pacific poorly clad and ill-fea, but soon put on weight. The diet of Army rations was new to them, but they used their imagination in describing its effect. The sergeant-major of the camp was told that a man must have died in their dormitory, for every night evil spirits jumped on their chests, keeping them awake. The sergeant-major explained to them what indigestion was. Model Internees Though sure that Japan would win the war, the men were model internees, working willingly and well. Only once was any angei displayed at the authorities. When one of them was punished for taking seagull eggs they protested vigorously, asserting that the wrong man had been accused. When asked how they knew that, the leader of the Japanese gravely explained that the alleged thief was the one honest man among them. At Pahiatua one Japanese escaped from the camp and was at liberty for several days. He was found in bush on the side of a nearby hill by a farmer, who coaxed him down and gave hirp food. Returned to the camp the man said he escaped because he wanted to find out whether he could see Japan from the top of the hill. Not long after, the same man made another attempt to escape. He was over the wire when spotted by a guard, who ordered him to stop. He made a break for it and the guard save chase. Another guard came on the scene, levelled his rifle and filed to wound. The shot was mis-aimed. The strange little Japanese who wanted to find out whether he could see his homeland from the top of a hill was killed.