angels in weixian

7/17/2019 Angels in Weixian

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Angels in Weixian.

By Bridgette Burton

The Weixian Concentration camp house approximately 1800 people during the

second world war. This included a group of young boys and girls who were thechildren of missionaries. These children were seized and locked up for periods of years and longer. They were separated from their parents. !"eryday# the interneeswoke up to star"ation# guard dogs# prisoner badges and numbers# daily roll calls#bayonet drills# bed bugs and horrible sanitation.

$n older woman % preferably as old as possible &the actual 'ary (re"ite is 80).'ary is a mid western $merican woman. Cheerful# sweet natured.

Mary: Well, let’s see. I would have been 12 years old. My parents were inChina as missionaries you see. I was a irl !"out, you "all them uides I

believe # oh I $ust loved it. It was a tremendous way to ma%e &riends. Wewere all around the same age. 'nd all our parents were there &or the samemission. We be"ame very "lose o& "ourse.

It’s a great way to live your li&e I believe.

(*he says the creed) )I will do my best to be honest and &air, &riendly andhelp&ul, "onsiderate and "aring, "ourageous and strong, and responsible &orwhat I say and do, and to respe"t mysel& and others, respe"t authority, useresour"es wisely, ma%e the world a better pla"e, and be a sister to every irl!"out.*

+hin% about that. ust thin% about that. esus said the same thing in essen"e,but I thin% that the !"outs do it ni"ely too.

'll o& us girls were at Che&oo !"hool in -antai. Most o& our tea"hers wereBritish, they were very proper. +hey were !"out leaders too, Brown wls.!"outing was a whole part o& our lives there, impossible to separate. Whenwe weren’t doing "lass we were getting our badges # and there was"ompetition, healthy "ompetition. But ladyli%e o& "ourse.

+he apanese mar"hed into our s"hool in 1/02 and we were shipped to

Weiian immediately. ur tea"hers and us. ur parents were sentsomewhere else, I didn’t see them &or years.

&$+ects a ,ritish accent)

)Mary, do not slou"h over your &ood while you are eating. 3o not tal% whileyou have &ood in your mouth. 'nd there are not two sets o& manners, one set



o& manners &or the prin"esses in Bu"%ingham 4ala"e and another set o&manners &or the Weiian "on"entration "amp.*

+hey were determined that we wouldn’t lose our manners, they were $ust asvigilant there as they had been at s"hool. I thin% that they needed us all to

be the best we "ould be. Con"entration "amp wouldn’t "hange that, starvingwouldn’t "hange that, the apanese wouldn’t "hange that. 5ules help, don’tthey.

I saw the Brown wl entry &or the day that we were interred into the "amp.What was it6...

('7e"ts British a""ent again8

)9ello. Whats this6 Behind bars. -es. Its Weiian "amp. Well, I guess theres

a good deal o& &un to be got out o& this. ust the pla"e to earn some badges.;

+hey were &unny weren’t they6 But it was serious, it was all serious.

But you %now, that’s what we did. We earned out badges ea"h day, and wedid our lessons and we helped others and we were irl !"outs. We sang too,singing is good &or the soul. It brings you "loser to od.

'nd there was "ompetition, healthy "ompetition. What was her name. hyes< -es< Mar$orie +hompson< Mar$orie.

&*he pauses for a second struck by another sadder memory % then shemo"es on)

h we had the most terri=" rivalry going on, she was every bit as smart asme and had as many badges, she was popular and an e"ellent athlete # Isound li%e she was my best &riend don’t I6 ust being a sister>(-aughs8 !hewas a veation to me< It isn’t very !"outing to say that someone’s od giventalents annoyed you, and anyway I drove her near mad too.

3uring the winter months it was bitter "old there, you &elt it more too # wewere so s%inny. We had this little "ompetition going on # it was to see how

red hot you "ould ma%e the pot belly stove, Mar$orie and I were head to headon this one. Both o& us running with logs o& wood through the snow, her hairwould be ?ying in &ront o& me. We’d ea"h have a turn to load that stove upand we’d be yelling and pointing at the stove as it got redder and redder. Itreally was &un. I won sometimes and so did she. I thin% I won more, betweenyou and I.



I don’t wonder about how we %ept our spirits up, I %now that it was thetea"hers. +hey made sure that we had a way to behave all the time that wasso strong in our hearts, and having od> we were unassailable.

!ome o& us went to 9im. +o od. We only had that porridge to eat, li%e gruel

# made with ri"e. We didn’t have &resh &ood and we were meant to begrowing. 'nd there was sadness. !adness "ould "arry people o7.

I %new that my Mom and 3ad would want me to stay strong and trust in od# I %new that’s what they would do. +hey were allowed to write to me, butsometimes the guards wouldn’t give us the letters. +hey would %eep them&rom us.

(sings Taps/ 8)3ay is done. one the sun &rom the sea, &rom the hills, &rom the s%y. 'll iswell, sa&ely rest. od is nigh.*

We sang that sometimes, we sang it when we wanted hope. It’s so stirring.

Mar$orie +hompson died in there. !he was a small thing really, smart and &astthough. !he might have had me beat on the pot belly.

n 'ugust 1@, 1/0A, we were res"ued. +hey "ame &rom the s%y # huge whitepara"hutes, li%e beauti&ul wings. 3ropping outside the "amp, with their homesounding a""ents.

I thin% about it o& "ourse. I thin% about my tea"hers. 'nd I thin% about the

"amp and singing. I thin% about Mar$orie, I "an see her hair ?ying in &ront o&me in that "old. I "an go right ba"% there in a moment. It $ust ta%es a se"ondand I’m right ba"% there.

angels in weixian

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