IN REVERSE!

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 79, 11 January 1944, Page 3

IN REVERSE!

Stanley Tefft, an aerial gunner from Toledo, Ohio, disclosed to-day that natives made Christians by American missionaries before the war on a South Pacific island had won 7 converts among U.S. Navy fliers who were shot down in combat with the Japanese.

With 2 companions he reached the island on a raft after 2 days at sea For the next 87 days they hid on the Japanese-occupied island, watched over by the natives, whose first act was to give them a Bible.

“That and our experiences made us Christians,” Tefft said. “Every night they would gather around us. and we took turns reading the Bible. They sang songs which we knew, such as ‘Red River Valley’ and ‘Carry Me Back to Ole Virginny.’ When we left them they were beginnig to learn ‘When Johnny Comes Marching Home.’ ”

Their presence was known to the 200 natives, Tefft said, but the Japanese patrols never found out. All put out on rafts and were picked up by Navy planes.— (Alameda, California, correspondent of “New York Times.”)