Earleen Allen Francis Memoir - University of Illinois Springfield

Earleen Allen Francis 34
having rank. So they wired Tokyo and asked them what to do with these
wmm with rank on their shoulders. Well, it took Tokyo six weks to
armer. In the meantime, they lohd the nurses up in a building and
kept than there with guards. Tokyo finally wired back and said that the
wren should ke put in the civilian camp. As Ear as they =re concerned,
all vmen wre civilians. So then they wed than into Santo Tanas with
the 3,000 civilians. Ihe civilians had a lot of clothes and they could
send out to their hams and get things. They shared with the nurses.
They gave us shorts-there eren't any slacks then because everyone over
there lived in shorts. bk wt barefoot and that sort of thing. There
were no shoes-if you had one pair of shoes you tried to make them do.
We got a Red Cross package once. That nas when the Nips =re winning the
war, they let this carve through. WE got sane twls in those Red Cross
packages, I don't lmm haw the people hew that e needed them, but now
w had sane -1s to dry ourselves with and a couple wash cloths and no
food. Those canre only one tw. Lk got om package for each person.
Q. Was the clothing always adequate?
A. No, it wsn't adequate, w just made dol It didn't matter.
Q. And it was £ran the other civilians, not frm the Japanese?
A, The Japanese? They didn't give us anything. krcy no. They ddn't
know haw to dress us.
Q. Mas there rmch trading with the guards?
A. 021, no, you couldn't talk to them. Q kept out of their my. They
had a big long bayonet on the end of the gun. No way--if I saw one
comislg this way, I'd go around that way. You kept away *an them.
Q. Did yau ever talk to then?
A. & -11, with these tm or three dm could speak Rglish and said
they w e West Point graduates--they could have been. But yau bw Tojo
and Hitler wre planning this together for years, for years and years.
They platmed to strike at the sam tlm, and they did. w e
fighting
tm ms, you 1PICIW, at the same th. It rmst be that ='re mde of
pretty goud stuff if w can do what e did, I'm telling you1
Q. Did ytxs ever talk to the tw guards who spoke English?
A. Yes. They told us they w e bkst Point graduates.
Q. Did you ever talk about than as people or you as people?
A. No. No. (Ine said he was going to be in San hancisco in a week.
me man said 'Wd you take a letter to my wife?" He said "Yes ," but he
never came around to pick up the letter. Japan told their soldiers they
=re winning this and winning that, and that they *re going to be in the
kited States in slx rneks, and all that junk. And their people believed
it, fl~lturally. We had no c~cations with the outside mrld whatsoever.
Q. Did you say the civilians =re able to maintain their property?